Carnegie Hall050

You don't HAVE to practice, practice, practice to get to Carnegie Hall, you can just pop in for a Family Concert.

Usually held on Saturday or Sunday afternoons throughout the season, The Family Concert series treats families with kids ages five to 12 to an hour-long concert preceded by a variety of informal pre-concert activities - all for only $9 a ticket! Kids and their families are introduced to musical instruments and concepts through hands-on activities, musical demonstrations, stories, commentary, and performances by a wide variety of well-known soloists, ensembles, and orchestras.

For these concerts, the traditional Playbill is replaced by KidsNotes, a musical activity book written just for kids. Children can also participate in an art contest to design the cover of the next issue of KidsNotes. The winner receives free tickets to an upcoming performance.

The McGraw-Hill Companies CarnegieKids, for preschoolers, is typically offered four weeks a year and includes age appropriate musical participatory concerts and stories. Tickets are $6.

Tours of the renowned concert hall are offered Mon-Fri, at 11:30am, 2pm, and 3pm; Saturday at 11:30am and 12:30pm; and Sunday at 12:30pm, during the season, as the concert schedule permits. Ticket prices for tours are $10/Adults; $7/Seniors & Students; and $3/Children (under 12) and are available from 11am-3pm at the Box Office on tour days. Each tour lasts approximately one hour and departs from the main lobby. [212.903.9765]

Carnegie also offers an innovative online educational initiative, Listening Adventures. While listening to a symphony, kids can learn about the composer, find out what instruments were used, and become familiar with musical terminology. The site can also be accessed through Carnegie's main web site - look under Explore & Learn.