Purpose
The Ojai Music Festival is proud to sponsor the BRAVO! music education program, which provides vital and engaging music experiences to students in the Ojai Valley area. For ten years, BRAVO! has been enhancing the existing public school music curriculum by offering artist-in-residence workshops, concerts, and lessons that demonstrate both the power of music, and how it relates to core subjects. In addition to working directly with students, BRAVO! collaborates with teachers to enable them to make greater use of music in their lesson plans. Our goal is to help make music an integral, enjoyable, and exciting part of the everyday learning process.

Programs
Each year, BRAVO! educates more than 1,500 students through over 150 workshops and lessons. Additionally, we offer concerts that reach more than 1200 students.

Artist Residencies
The core of the BRAVO! program is its Artist Residencies. These multi-unit programs encourage musicians and teachers to work cooperatively to promote meaningful learning through reinforcement and mentoring.

A World of Music: Conducted by musician John Zeretzke, composer and highly respected presenter of world music, this program teaches students about the creation and purpose of music from a historic and cultural perspective during six one-hour workshops.

Adopt-A-Musician: This series of six 45-minute workshops conducted by musician and BRAVO! coordinator Andy Radford focuses on basic concepts of music such as pitch and instrument tone, and how these concepts apply to everyday life.

Composition 101: In a series of six residencies, musician Linda Holland teaches students how to write their own piece and perform it.

Singing and Songwriting Workshop: In a week-long residency, children’s singer/songwriter Douglas Day takes a subject that the class is learning about (for example, geography, history, language, or poetry) and helps students craft a musical on that topic. The final product is performed at an all-school and parent assembly.

Chumash Story: This workshop by local Chumash Indian, Julie Tumamaite, shares the history through music of the Native American population that lived in the Ojai Valley.

Workshops
The Workshops focus on teaching specific musical ideas in shorter lessons.

Music Van: Staffed by talented local musicians and music teachers, the Music Van brings instruments of every orchestral family to third grade classrooms. In this one-hour program, students are first given a brief demonstration of the instruments, followed by a hands-on period where students make music on their own. The program is coordinated to coincide with the music choice program at the schools.

Musicians Meet Musicians: In one-hour sessions, professional musicians teach skills clinics for Junior High and High School musicians.

Concerts
Every year, BRAVO! offers a series of interactive concerts designed to introduce young students to peer and professional musicians, and to give musicians of different ages the opportunity to make music together.

Lunchtime Concert Series: This series of lunchtime concerts performed at the elementary schools featuring musicians from Nordhoff High School, Matilija Junior High, and selected elementary schools. These concerts offer students a unique opportunity to be entertained and inspired by their peers.

Sing! Program: Led by singer Candice Delbo, fourth grade students in each elementary school learn four songs in their classrooms. They then participate in a concert where they all perform their songs along side the junior high and high school choirs.

"Imagine” Concert: Presented to over 1200 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, this concert features student ensembles from Ojai and Ventura schools performing with professional musicians.

Ojai Music Festival: Every year, the Festival invites interested high school students to observe rehearsals, to participate in the Festival as volunteers, and to learn more about the experience of professional musicians.