The Mannes Preparatory Division, also known as Mannes Prep, is the music education program at the Mannes School of Music for students at the pre-kindergarten to high-school level. Mannes Prep is divided into a program for the very young (ages four to six), a junior program (grades one to four), the pre-senior program (grades five to eight), and the senior program (grades nine to twelve). Since the school’s foundation in 1916 as the David Mannes Music School, Mannes offered instrumental lessons to children as part of its curriculum, as well as general music courses for children four to seven years of age preparatory to the study of an instrument. Beginning in 1934, a Junior Orchestra for non-adult students with sufficiently advanced technique was organized under conductor Edgar Williams. The preparatory curriculum also organized periodic student recitals, although participation was not required in either the orchestra or the student recitals.

In 1953, the Mannes College of Music became accredited as a degree-granting institution, and its preparatory courses were organized into a separate department with its own director and faculty. Shirley Van Brunt, a member of the Mannes music theory faculty since 1945, was the first director of the preparatory department, a position she held until 1961. In 1956, the preparatory department was further divided into the preparatory and intermediate departments, both under the direction of Van Brunt, with the preparatory department including students four to thirteen years of age, and the intermediate department organized for students fourteen to eighteen. Also in 1956, the Junior Orchestra was re-named the Mannes Young Players’ Orchestra, which included both preparatory and intermediate students of sufficient instrumental ability, conducted by Mannes preparatory faculty member Hugh McElheny.

In 1961, Miriam Kartch took direction of the preparatory and intermediate departments, having served as assistant to Shirley Van Brunt since 1955, and on the piano faculty of Mannes since 1945. As head of the Mannes preparatory division, Kartch developed a recruitment program for talented children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and during her tenure, enrollment in the preparatory division increased from 157 students to 410. In 1961, the Mannes Young People’s Chorus was created for teen-aged students within the intermediate department, conducted by faculty member Elizabeth Aaron. By 1965, the preparatory and intermediate course program divisions were combined again as the preparatory department of Mannes, with varying course levels offered to suit a student’s abilities.

Under the direction of Alan Braun, a member of the Mannes preparatory flute faculty since 1968 and director of the preparatory division from 1981 to 1985, the preparatory division began offering a certificate program to high school students who undertook a four-year course of study, as of 1983. Performance options in the preparatory division at this time included the orchestra and chorus, chamber music ensembles, and piano ensembles. As of 2021, performance ensembles within the preparatory division at Mannes include the Mannes Prep Philharmonic, with participation by audition, Symphony, for ages thirteen and older, with orchestral chairs seated by audition, the String Orchestra and Concert Orchestra for the youngest string and wind players respectively, as well as the Senior Chorus, and the Junior and Intermediate Choruses (grades three to eight.)

References

Course Catalogs. “Mannes College of Music.” College of Performing Arts Course Catalog Collection. 1916-2006. The New School Archives Digital Collections, New York, New York.

“Mannes Prep.” The New School. Accessed May 10, 2021. https://www.newschool.edu/mannes/prep/.

“Mannes Provides Opportunities for Ghetto Children.” Notes from Mannes 4, no. 1 (December 1970): 1-2. https://digitalarchives.library.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050601_MannesNotes_197012.

Scola, Allison. “Miriam Kartch ’70.” The Owl: the Alumni Magazine of Columbia University School of General Studies (2014): 39. https://issuu.com/columbiags/docs/columbia-gs-owl-magazine-2014.