Hi, Robert:

Well, nobody ever asked me before about the issue of what is is/was we're trying to actually accomplish with the UC&C shows----or the youth concerts, either.  My gut feeling was always that the UC&C shows were about

1. Introducing the kids to live, mostly classical music with the idea being that kids need to know that real live people produce real live music---and that, by extension, there are other (for example, FPO concerts) they can attend with their parents! (Hence the gift certs).

 2. Getting the kids interested in perhaps playing an instrument, which would probably get them in their school orchestra (when such things existed) which in turn might inspire them to attend---you guessed it---OUR orchestra concerts! Don't know that it's worked that way, however...

Of course there are the less concrete, nobler goals of, say,  just bringing something beautiful into the students' lives.  But who talks about THAT?!

My assumption was that the 4th- and 5th-grade levels were ideal because there is at least some sort of attention span by that age and kids are still open to new things at that stage (sometimes even 6th-graders are way too cool for a "classical" program.)  3rd-graders and their juniors can be a bit wiggly at that age.  And the audience size was limited because large crowds create a totally different experience. (I can remember times when, gazing out upon  the entire student body, I was reminded of the roiling sea just before a big storm hit.)

So those are my initial thoughts. Top of my head and all that. I'm not sure at this point there's anything else!

Claudia