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Performance Tours for Student Travel Groups

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At Educational Travel Consultants, our tour guides are specially trained to take performance groups on tour. We take pride in the fact that our tour guides are trained for performance groups. When my full time profession was education, part of my duties included oversight of a student choral group. This is where I first got to know these types of students very well.

After 24 years of coordinating and executing student travel tours, I can say that the musical and performance group tours are some of the most exciting, and complex tours we produce.

A performance group has different needs than a regular student travel group. At Educational Travel Consultants, we cater to this need. First of all, many are taking instruments along on tour with them. These instruments need to be accounted for prior to arrival at the airport. A list of carrying cases, instruments, and unusual dimensions must be collected by the tour guide prior to the trip in order for instruments to travel well and reach their intended destination.

A tour guide assigned to a performance group must have special skills. Not all tour guides possess these skills. But, it is my belief that a tour guide must be trained well, in order for the trip to go smoothly. When hiring tour guides for performance tours, Educational Travel Consultants looks for the following skills, or trains tour guides with aptitudes for these duties. These include: coordinating the set up of the performance group, an assessment of the room allocated, electrical, instrument, amplifier, and microphone placement, and the position of keyboards and larger instruments on stage. The tour guide must also be trained in how to work directly with the bus driver, so he or she can make certain that the parking and unloading location selected is appropriate for movement of instruments, equipment and students.

Educational Travel Consultants brings these value added services to our student travel groups because we know that assigning selected staff and providing proper training are key to the success we have with student performance tours.

Email info@educationaltravelconsultants.com if you would like more specific information on ETC performance tours.

Articles, Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. and Williamsburg Jamestown Yorktown Tour: How to Make it All Work

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If an educational travel group is bound for Washington D.C. and the educators wish to expand that group’s exploration of our nation’s history, a visit to Virginia is in order. Just 2 ½ hours south of Washington D.C. by bus, Early American history awaits in Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown Settlement.

In 2007, Historic Jamestown celebrates its 400th Anniversary of the settlement of the English Colonies. This year kicks off many living history programs that explain the early colonial era from diverse perspectives. Even after 2007 is complete, many of these educational programs and exhibits will stay in place so the student traveler may learn from them, even if they do not make their visit during the 400th anniversary year.

The challenge for any educational travel company is how to make all of these destinations work for one student travel tour. For a four to five day tour, it takes advance planning and coordination to include educational tour highlights of Washington D.C. and Williamsburg & Jamestown in one tour — with many participants.

Here are some of the highlights I include in my company’s student travel tour of Washington D.C., Williamsburg & Jamestown:

Washington D.C.
Student travel groups enjoy a guided tour of the complete Washington D.C. area that includes sites such as The Capitol, The White House, the Lincoln Memorial, Supreme Court, National Archives and more. Students may also visit sites in Northern Virginia such as Mount Vernon and the Arlington Cemetery. As with all of our student travel groups, accommodations are in three diamond interior corridor suburban hotel, with 24-hour security provided.

Williamsburg Virginia
After two days of touring the Washington D.C. area, students embark on a short 2 ½ hour journey to Williamsburg Virginia to experience the colonial era with living history on the educational program. The Colonial Williamsburg complete sightseeing tour will include a visit to 18th Century historical buildings such as the Capitol and the Courthouse, the Public Hospital of 1773, Raleigh Tavern, and the Peyton Randolph House.

Jamestown Settlement Virginia
Jamestown Settlement is a recreation of the first English settlement in Virginia, Jamestown Island. Student travel groups will see replicas of the ships that made the journey from England: the Discovery, the Godspeed and Susan Constant. They will enter a living history exhibit of an Indian Village, and see a recreation of James Fort, where the colonists first lived. This interactive approach to history, called living history or even active learning by some educators, is a great way to engage students in learning about the colonial era.

The educational student tour of Washington D.C. and Williamsburg/Jamestown is balanced by fun and educational experiences. Students benefit from a guided tour of Washington D.C. and historic Williamsburg and living history educational programs at Jamestown Settlement. With this approach to educational travel, students are given a great learning experience as well as a trip to remember for a lifetime.

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The Art Tour of New York City

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New York City is such a fantastic city for student travel. It can be viewed in so many different ways. I have found that student travel groups that focus on the academic subject(s) being explored are rewarded with a deeper educational experience.

Over the last 25 years, I’ve been developing educational travel tours for a variety of school age groups. I began to notice a pattern in process. There were many art educators and art students who wanted to take a tour of New York City focused on art. I decided to develop a tour that did just that.

There are literally thousands of venues for visual art in New York City, if we include well-known galleries, public sculpture, and more. For the Educational Travel Consultants Art Tour, I decided to focus on some of the major art museums and add related entertainment.

There are several key areas of the city I chose to cover on the New York City Art tour. Many students are aware that Greenwich Village is the part of New York most inhabited by artists, so I schedule an afternoon in the Village for art tour groups so they may really capture a feel for the contemporary New York City art scene.

The major destinations folded within the art tour are: Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, Solomon Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Student groups focused on art or art history are more likely to request some of the bigger names in New York City Museums. As well they should. These museums showcase and collect the work of some of the greatest American artists. Some even collect the work of international artists, and offer glimpses into art history throughout the ages.

For the art student, the chance to see timeless works of art and learn about the history of the artist and the art is often a once in a lifetime opportunity. To help your educational travel group conduct a tour of New York City, visit http://www.educationaltravelconsultants.com/destination/subject/art_nyc.htm for additional art tour destinations of interest.

Articles

Itinerary for an Educational Field Trip to Orlando

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A student travel tour to Orlando Florida is a great destination for a high school class trip or a band trip. Orlando, Florida provides performance venues, education, and cultural diversity opportunities for students from various backgrounds. Educational tours that include performance and/or workshops are included in the student tour. Students can become a part of Disney Magic Music Days, with high school band performances and a wide range of other performance types to an international audience. Or, student groups more focused on active learning may choose to take part in Disney Performing Arts Workshops while visiting Orlando.

These two excellent Walt Disney World programs are a great way to focus an educational field trip experience to Orlando Florida. Any well-rounded student tour will also include visits to Universal Studios, Epcot Center, or other popular destinations at Walt Disney World. Culturally diverse dining and entertainment opportunities are also available at Walt Disney World.

Disney Magic Music Days

For the young musician, the thrill of performing in front of a live audience is critical to development and growth. While researching a school field trip for the band, choir, orchestra, dance ensemble, drill team or other types of performance groups, consider a visit to Walt Disney World to perform in front of a live international audience. Disney proudly proclaims on the website: ‘Become a star on the world’s greatest stage.’

Make the high school band trip a tour for all to remember. First, work with a qualified educational travel consultant to pull together a fantastic field trip and performance tour that includes Disney Magic Music Days. The educational tour company will work closely with your high school band or orchestra, or other type of performance group to schedule an appropriate Florida field trip that includes an audition for the Disney Show. Disney divides the auditions into three categories: instrumental, choral, and dance. If your student tour group is chosen, they will perform in front of a worldwide audience as part of Disney Magic Music Days.

The National Association for Music Education endorses Disney Magic Music Days performances by student tour groups. This program is an activity that contributes to greater musical learning and development. Overnight field trips to Orlando Florida to perform at Disney Magic Music Days are complemented by fun in some of Disney’s greatest theme parks including: Epcot Center, Universal and MGM Studios, Space Mountain, the Twilight Zone Mountain of Terror, and more. Rely on a qualified educational tour professional to schedule the Disney Magic Music Days performance and tour for your student travel group.

Disney Performing Arts Workshops

Student tour groups that visit Orlando Florida can become deeply engaged in the Disney experience through participation in a Performing Arts Workshop. These workshops inspire the student performance tour participants through direct interaction, coaching, and practice. Student tour groups are trained and coached by professional Disney performance artists.

Artistic techniques are taught under a wide range of programs, with participants from auxiliary units, pom squads, color guards, drill teams, orchestras, concert bands, jazz and marching bands, vocalists and dancers.

Walt Disney World Performing Arts Workshops are educational in nature and teach the student tour participants to improve their techniques, presentation and staging. Student travel groups are excited about learning from the professionals in the Disney Performing Arts Workshops. The enthusiasm builds if the student travel group is scheduled for a public performance as part of Disney Magic Music Days.

A student tour of Orlando Florida is greatly enhanced when an educational travel professional is engaged to take care of the details. Visit www.EducationalTravelConsultants.com for a complete overview of educational student tours.

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