Music Education Program

Each spring, MAC presents the Cape May Music Festival,  a four-week music series featuring the residency of the New York Chamber Ensemble and the Bay-Atlantic Symphony.  During the school year, MAC also presents an educational outreach program in conjunction with the Festival. The project is "Song to Symphony" with composer Eliot Bailen. Each year, Mr. Bailen chooses a topic/story and visits classrooms to write songs with students to relate the story in music. The story this year is based on the Brothers Grimm and the two hundredth anniversary of the publication of their famous fairy tales. The project will culminate in the Fall at the Lower Cape May Regional High School Paul Schmidtchen Auditorium in a concert featuring a staged production of the story and the songs written and performed for student audiences by students. Admission to this concert is free but seats must be reserved.

For specific information, contact:
Chief Outreach Officer
Mary Stewart
609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278, extension 131
mstewart@capemaymac.org

In addition, MAC offers music history education programs that can benefit your students. The programs are presented by a professional musician who is one of MAC's trained Museum Educators:

  • John Philip Sousa: the Man and his Music: America’s March King tells how he changed American music and encouraged young musicians.
  • Music of the Civil War Era: Learn about the music that inspired the North and the South while also reflecting their competing cultures.
  • Music of the Victorian Era illustrates the rich variety of music of the Victorian era from Sousa’s patriotic marches, to Stephen Foster’s minstrel songs, to the great classical works of the era, to the birth of jazz.
  • Gilbert and Sullivan: The Masters of Musical Theater: Late in the Victorian Era, two Englishmen revolutionized the musical theatre, creating a series of witty, melodic operettas that set a new standard for stage professionalism.
  • Supernatural Music features music with macabre and spiritual themes, including many pieces still popular today.
  • Music of the War Years describes the music that accompanied America's war effort.  Famous big bands and their leaders and vocalists are featured.
  • Down Memory Lane lets your students enjoy the unique sounds of the 1950s and 1960s, including Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues and Doo-Wop, as they learn about Wildwood and the South Jersey seashore's important role in the era. 
  • Blues & Jazz: Uniquely American Music: Your students will learn about these American musical forms that swept the world.

For specific information and to schedule live and distance learning lessons, contact:
Museum Education Coordinator
Dr. Robert E. Heinly
609-884-5404, Ext. 134
rheinly@capemaymac.org

The Cape May Music Festival is funded in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State and the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey.