Next time we run into someone who has not migrated here from the Midwest or somewhere, you know, a born-and-raised San Franciscan, we'll have to ask: did you, as a kid, attend Adventures in Music> AKA: AIM, the school outreach program of the San Francisco Symphony? AIM organizes -- and pays for -- performances by smaller ensembles in each of the schools of the SFUSD for first through fifth graders, having them at all of the special morning concerts at Davies Symphony Hall. Did the introduction leave you with a taste for music? Were you looking forward for these performances by diverse small ensembles playing for small-ish goups of kids coming to your school? Was it the high point of the week? Did you discover new sounds, new instruments, new music styles? Did you teacher tie up the program into the curriculum? Were you able to comprehend music differently, to see connections with physics, geography, architecture?

The eduction program is blowing twenty candles this year, so a slew of kids who went through it (22,000 a year!) must be now SFist commenters. Teachers, feel free to give us your view too! We got questions, you got answers. Tell us how going to Davies Symphony Hall as a first grader was awesome, or exciting, or, goodness forbid, boring. Was it your first classical music experience? Your first time in a concert hall? Was your conductor at the time "kinda hot" (in the words of one of our commenters) like Benjamin Shwartz, who leads the orchestra for the AIM concerts nowadays? Did you notice kinda hot boys back then? Little perv, you were seven!

Quinteto Latino performing at Flynn Elementary School

We did not go through the program ourself, but we were offered a second chance by the SF Symphony education people. We found ourselves at Flynn Elementary, at the bottom of Bernal hill for a performance of Quintete Latino to 2nd graders.

Flynn Elementary is right across Army from some pretty rough projects, but it's actually quite cute with bright murals and well behaved kids. The performance was in a big auditorium with fifth classes worth of kids packed around a few long tables at the front of the stage. It's still early in the morning, and we're not particularly in the mood for a wind quintet performances, but the band, Quinteto Latino definitely is. They're one of the 4 ensembles who visit all the 93 schools, to expose the 1st and 2nd grade kids to different musical flavors (the other bands: Adorno strings, a string quartet, Drei Brass, a trombone-tuba-French horn combo, and Ritmo Vocal, a Cuban percussion and vocals band; another 4 ensembles take care of the 3rd and 4th graders).

Since musical education is usually the first victim of budget cuts, the smart AIM program attempts to squeeze some musical awareness into other parts of the curriculum. Slick! AIM is provided free of charge to the school district, by the SF Symphony. It is funded in part by the Black&White ball, so you too should go see Seal. This year, the program's theme is physics, so the ensemble has to convey some basic science concepts, illustrated with the appropriate music. Sound is vibration: everybody hums and feels their throat. The longer the instrument, the longer the sound wavelength? It's time for the tiny flute to sing the high-pitched Flight of the Bumblebee, and for the big bassoon to lead the March of the Elephants. Quinteto Latino's high energy crew (especially flutist Diane Grubbe and oboist Kyle Bryckmann) really connected with the audience, inviting them to participate with hand gestures.

By the time we saw them, Quinteto Latino had performed the routine, vetted by the SF Symphony education team, over 100 times. You bet it's delivered smoothly. The elevated stage, and the formal bow the ensemble takes after each piece, underlines that this is serious music. After all, these are professional musicians playing Saint-Saens, Gliere, or Rimsky-Korsakov. The laidback, engaging delivery demonstrates that nonetheless, music is fun. At the end of the performance, the kids will have learned about brass and woodwind instruments, about fast and slow beats, high and low pitches, soft and loud sounds.

We chatted a bit afters with the Flynn Elementary principal Charles Addcox, who loves the program. He pointed out that inspiring kids through music was especially important for those from pretty tough neighborhoods, where exposure to classical music is to say the least limited. It turns out that they have to turn away parent volunteers for the trip to Davies, too many being eager for the opportunity to check it out themselves.

We can help! Here's a snippet of what an AIM performance look like:

Groovy! And you, YOU!, can hear the classical music with your kids too! Just show up on June 29th at Stern Grove, or on July 20th (pdf doc) in Dolores Park for performances of the SF Symphony led by James Gaffigan. Or, you can see the opera for free in a family setting too: this Sunday in Dolores Park, on June 20th at the ball park (register here for free tickets to the simulcast of Lucia di Lammermoor at the baseball stadium), during Pride Week-end (June 28th-29th) at Civic Center, July 6th in the Yerba Buena garden (Merola program concert) and August 17th at Stern Grove.

So happy 20th anniversary to AIM, and you can write your well wishing note about the program in comments.