We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Claire Casanova a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Claire , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally was when I started learning to play the clarinet in 6th grade. I was lucky enough to go to a performing arts middle school where I not only got to learn how to play an instrument in an ensemble but also perform on one of the major stages in Philadelphia, The Kimmel Center. It was something about being on that stage that made me feel like I wanted to keep doing this, which led me to The Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. There, I got to hone my craft, continue performing at the Kimmel Center countless times, and explore different routes of professionalism in music. During my time in high school, I joined Project 440. A nonprofit that focuses on teaching young musicians how to be entrepreneurs. I joined the Doing Good program, where my friend and I created a project to better our community. Our goal was to help diversify major orchestras by introducing classical music to young students in hopes of inspiring them to become musicians themselves. This project is now known as Generation Music and has grown so much since the first day. Through this experience, I was able to find my true passion in music, and it wasn’t performing, but teaching. I fell in love with working with kids, sharing what I know, and seeing their eyes light up when they get something right or find something cool. The more I taught, the more I knew that this was what I wanted to do and continue doing for a long time.

Claire , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi, my name is Claire Casanova, and I am a Music Educator at a Charter School in Philadelphia. My journey into the musical world did not start too early in my life. For elementary school, I first attended a catholic school where you had to pay to be a part of an ensemble, take lessons, or do anything arts-related outside of the mandated classes that were given during the day. My inability to partake in these activities, in addition to the music class not being the most entertaining, pursuing an art was not in my future until I was given the opportunity to attend a performing arts middle school in 6th grade. Here I started playing the clarinet and fell in love. I was able to focus on creating music, learning how to rehearse in entire school ensembles, and perform at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. After graduating, I attended the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. During my time here, I was able to hone my craft and become a well-rounded musician. I played the bassoon and participated in many ensembles, including PMEA District 12, All-City Band and Orchestra, and Philadelphia Sinfonia Players. I was accepted into the Philadelphia Music Alliance for Youth (PMAY) Artists’ Initiative. After graduating from high school, I graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor’s in Music Education. While attending I was awarded the Presidential Scholarship and the Stuart J. Best Memorial Scholarship for Clarinet. Since graduating, I have taught with Settlement Music School and currently hold a full-time job at a charter school in Philadelphia.

While in high school, I learned about a program called Project 440. This nonprofit offered a college prep program, Instruments for Success, and a program called Doing Good. One day I followed my friends to a Doing Good class and was instantly hooked. This program taught musicians that their talent isn’t only for entertainment but can be used to do just that, good. It taught how to take your craft and become an entrepreneur. For 15 weeks, students learned how to write a business plan, budgets, how to market themselves and projects, project management, public speaking, and overall how to be a professional in the music world.

I joined this program sophomore year of high school. I remember the first assignment: Find a problem in your community you want to change, and create a project to make that change happen. My first thought: Challenge Accepted. The problem in my community was the lack of diversity in major orchestras, including my own city’s. I did not see enough people who looked like me as I would’ve liked. My next thought was, “Well, how do professional musicians come to be?” and “How did I become one?” I was introduced to instruments at a young age, but did not fully tune into classical music until I was in high school. That is where my business partner and I thought that’s exactly where we need to begin. We found that focusing on young students in elementary and middle school was the target audience and a great place to start to working on our vision, more diverse orchestras. We thought, if young students can see someone like themselves creating in this art form, that they could do it too. Thus, Generation Music was born. A program focused on providing music education to students, no matter their background, in hopes of inspiring the next generation of musicians. This program focuses on peer-to-peer teaching to create mentors and representation among the classical music world. Since the beginning of the program, it has continued to grow and change. Our very first school visit was back to my middle school to teach general music. The students learned about different time periods in music and instruments. Since then, the programs have evolved, including how to read and write music, how to play instruments, and instrument families. As our nonprofit expanded, we have been able to produce programs not only during the school year but through summer programs as well. One of our goals is to meet students where they are. We find that going to the students rather than the students coming to us breaks down a barrier and creates more access to our music programs.

Currently, our programming offers three main workshops/courses: Night at the Orchestra, Music theory, and Mini-Masterclasses. All of our lesson plans and programs have been carefully crafted to ensure that it is culturally responsive, focused on pushing our students’ abilities, and creating a unique experience with music. Our Night at the Orchestra program is one of the first programs we provided. For our first audience, we visited the Settlement Music School, Mary Louise Branch in South Philadelphia. Here we set the room up with musicians from each instrument family in the orchestra. During this program, students had the ablilty go to each musician, listen to the instrument up close, touch the instrument, and ask the musician questions. Our Mini masterclasses provide an expansion of our Night of the Orchestra program. Mini Masterclasses provide a session with one individual instrument at a time. This breaks down and focuses on how an instrument works, what is needed to produce a sound, and a class instrument trial session. The goals of these programs are to prepare, inspire, and encourage young students to become musicians through peer mentorship and music exposure. As we continue expanding, we aim to start the next phase of offering instrument lessons for Fall 2025.

Joining this program in high school not only allowed me to open up doors for young musicians but for myself. I have had the ability to truly experience working with students and aid in inspiring young musicians, as previous teachers have inspired me. I found that teaching is where I can really thrive. A way to use my talents not only for entertainment but also to encourage, inspire, and nurture abilities that were not just my own.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

When I sit down and think about a mission driving my creative journey, the first thing I can think of is inspiring as many students as I can. I have been so lucky to have two amazing music teachers throughout my career who I have to thank for encouraging me to step outside of my comfort zone and try something new. I want to be that inspiration, mentor, and encouragement for my students. I want to be the person my previous teachers were to me. Without music, I would not have experienced the many opportunities that I have. Some include becoming great friends with professional orchestral musicians, performing on great stages, or learning how to use my talent to help others. I want to share the wealth of experiences with every student that I teach. I want to encourage them to follow their dreams even if it has nothing to do with music. Just believe in yourself.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing the impact my art leaves on other people. I have found that teaching is my passion. Though it is not creating music directly, I find that I am still creating music, but just through my students. When teaching my students something new, I am able to see them struggle at first, but continue to push themselves until they meet the goal that they set for themselves is one of the most rewarding things to watch. Another instance would be watching them take an individual project and make it their own. I find that allowing them to take charge of the activity and fully allowing them creative control not only makes the project fun to participate in but makes it more rewarding for me to watch as they are showing me their full personalities, creating music and having fun doing it

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.generationmusic.art/
• Instagram: generationmusic.philly
• Facebook: Generation Music