Overview

Temple Music Prep enjoys a reputation nationwide for program innovation and teaching excellence. It offers individual lessons and group enrichment opportunities for children and adults. Music Prep’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians is designed specifically for the training of young instrumentalists (strings and harp) who demonstrate great potential for musical achievement. The Community Music Scholars Program (which includes the Philadelphia String Project at Temple University) provides opportunities for school-aged Philadelphia children.

Mission

The mission of Temple Music Prep is to provide high quality, non-credit music and dance instruction, and related activities to the Philadelphia Community on behalf of the Boyer College of Music and Dance, and Temple University at-large. Featuring a broad spectrum of offerings, we seek to provide access, excellence and equity in lifelong arts learning. Music Prep also serves as a significant point of access for the Boyer College and Temple University to impact and interact with the community. The organization provides all services with Access/Equity/Excellence as a guiding principle.

History

The Temple Music Preparatory Division of the Boyer College of Music and Dance was established in 1968 as the Community Music Program in collaboration with the Philadelphia School District, Settlement Music School and Temple University to better serve the musical needs of Philadelphia school children. During the 1970’s, Temple University assumed the sole administrative and financial obligation of the program demonstrating its commitment to the community. The administration of this outreach program was delegated to Temple’s Music College (now the Boyer College of Music and Dance) and became the “College of Music Preparatory and Extension Division.”

Founded by Temple’s College of Music in recognition of the importance of music, and offering people of all ages and abilities continuing opportunities for musical growth and enrichment, the College of Music Preparatory and Extension Division had a two-part mission: the Preparatory Division designed for pre-school through high school students who may be considering music as a future career or a serious avocation; and the Extension Division for anyone wishing to develop musical skills and interests through a varied curriculum of private lessons and classes in music literature.

Over the years the program has undergone several name changes, eventually becoming Temple University Music Preparatory Division of the Boyer College of Music and Dance which continues to provide high quality music and dance instruction to children and adults of all ages. Temple Music Prep continues serving the Philadelphia region through the Community Music Scholars Program (CMSP), which celebrated its 50th anniversary during the 2018-2019 academic year, as well as offering challenging chamber music, harp and larger string ensemble experiences to the members of its Center for Gifted Young Musicians (CGYM) who are among the finest young musicians in the region. The 2016-2017 academic year marked the CGYM’s 30th anniversary.

Professional Affiliations

Temple Music Prep is housed within the Boyer College of Music and Dance, which is part Temple University’s Center for the Performing and Cinematic Arts.

Temple Music Prep is a proud member of the following professional organizations:

Thank you to our generous funders:

  • Associated Chamber Music Players
  • Christopher Ludwick Foundation
  • Entercom Communications Corp
  • Friends of CMSP
  • Loeb Performing Arts Fund of Philadelphia Foundation
  • The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia
  • Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
  • The Philadelphia Cultural Fund
  • PNC through the Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Program
  • Presser Foundation
  • Sheila Fortune Foundation
  • and many more generous individuals.

Philadelphia Music Alliance For Youth (PMAY) Artists’ Initiative

Temple Music Prep is proud to be a founding member of The Philadelphia Music Alliance For Youth (PMAY) Artists’ Initiative.

The PMAY Artists’ Initiative supports 5th-12th graders from underrepresented communities and low-income households to pursue their dream of becoming a professional classical musician. The PMAY Artists’ Initiative will offer students financial support to make lessons, music classes, youth orchestra participation, and summer music camps affordable. Students will be able to attend free college and career preparation workshops, and PMAY teachers and staff will work with each family to make sure each musician has a strong planto be accepted into a music conservatory, college or university music school majoring in music.

It is meant to address a major issue in American classical music. Less than 5% of musicians in professional American orchestras are African American or Latino, and the numbers of South Asians, Pacific Islanders, American Indians, and Alaskan Natives are similarly low. Yet the cities that support these orchestras are racially and ethnically diverse places. The PMAY Artists’ Initiative will eventually change the face of classical music.

While each PMAY Artist’s plan for study will be different, the estimated value of what each PMAY Artist will receive in financial support is in the thousands of dollars annually.

The PMAY Artists’ Initiative is designed for serious music students who have a high musical aptitude and the motivation to pursue a professional music career on a standard orchestral instrument.

Eligible instruments include:

  • Violin, viola, cello and double bass
  • Flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon
  • French horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba
  • Percussion
  • Harp

This program is open only to orchestral instrumentalists.Applications for piano, saxophone, guitar and voice students will not be accepted.

The PMAY Artists' Initiative is a collaboration among ten Philadelphia organizations that believe in providing access to music education for all students. PMAY Artists may work closely with one of many of these organizations and their programs, based on the individual needs and goals of the Artists.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies. To this end, it supports exemplary institutions of higher education and culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work.

PMAY Partner Organizations

​Support Temple Music Prep

Help Temple Music Prep continue to "Celebrate Excellence" by contributing online or mailing your contribution to:

Temple Music Preparatory 
1515 Market Street. Suite 501
Philadelphia, PA 19102

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