Education
Teachers participating in How I See Music workshops are invited to use the classroom kit as a resource to complement and enhance student learning
How I See Music began in 2021 as a free interactive arts education activity provided by Festival Napa Valley as part of its Arts for All initiative. Conducted as on-site workshops at schools, senior activity centers, and community centers, How I See Music combines “ears-on” and “hands-on” learning to explore symphonic music with all ages, teaching deep listening skills and the concept of abstraction in the visual arts.
The program proudly serves 800+ elementary students, seniors, and veterans throughout Napa County each year.
Led by Festival Napa Valley education staff, the How I See Music Workshop is designed to explore ideas of creativity, abstraction, spontaneity, and emotions through music and visual arts. It combines a deep listening exercise with the creation of original works of art (small format paintings) by workshop participants in response to listening to a specific piece of symphonic (classical) music.
Each year, a curated selection of the artwork created by workshop participants is presented as part of a live performance onstage during the Festival's Summer Season. This tapestry of community artwork represents the culmination of the How I See Music experience. In addition, each July and August a video installation of work from recent How I See Music workshops is exhibited at CIA at Copia.
If your school or senior center is interested in bringing a free How I See Music workshop to its site, please contact Festival Napa Valley’s Education Department.
The composition for the 2025-26 school year is the American classic, "Hoedown" from the ballet, Rodeo by Aaron Copland. The workshop includes background information about the conductor and the creation of the piece. How I See Music’s delivery and content at the elementary school level is tailored for 3rd to 5th graders.
2026 - Aaron Copeland's Hoedown
2025 - Felix Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream
2024 - George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
2023 - Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2
2022 - Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony
How I See Music is funded in part by Kaiser Permanente.
