Today The New York Times has an article about a program called the Academy that offers fellowships to graduates of leading music schools to receive high-level coaching and lessons in a two-year program. In return they commit to teach music one and a half days in New York public schools.
It was early in the school year. A young professional French horn player named Alana Vegter, a thoroughbred musician trained by elite teachers, took a handful of trumpet and trombone players into an equipment supply room. Speaking in the flat tones of the Chicago suburb where she grew up, Ms. Vegter tried to coax notes out of each player. A tall sixth-grade trumpeter named Kenny Ocean, his pants sagging around his hips, played too high, then too low. A smile spread across his face when he hit it right.