Students, artists, and producers from our music production program released three CDs on Friday, June 10th, 2011. Teaching artists Entrfied and Emi hosted the event which featured performances by Brooklyn Future Records (IS 291) and the Black Jackets (BCAL). Congratulations to all the students and teachers on a successful year!
World Music From Mali at Brooklyn College
Students at BCAL were in for another great Tuesday evening of world music with a…
…great musician from Mali (central Africa) who shared his long history with student….
…students looked on and asked questions about the 900 year old instrument he played….
…not all students played, but stayed and supported what the musicians a were doing…
played for the students and staff like Wesley who played…
April played the drums and was great inspiration for the ongoing series
One student tries to eat his hand as he awaits pizza while eagerly keeping up with the beats..
and Mr. Danny does a one handed human beat box….
3rd Annual Open House — Community, Learning, and Fun!
High school students, parents, staff, college students, board members and special guests all enjoyed an amazing Saturday at BCAL.
It was the BCCP’s 3rd annual Open House. This year the goal was to have guests experience a typical BCAL Saturday. Six artists offered workshops ranging from electronic music to fashion to culinary arts to drawing, photography and product design. BCAL student ambassadors took guests on tours of the space, answered questions and talked about their experiences at BCAL and with BCCP in general.
Steve Ausbury, BCCP’s Program Director spoke eloquently about the philosophy and practice that drive the organization and result in teens feeling respected and heard in a supportive environment in which they can explore their interests and try their hand at a wide range of artistic endeavors.
Guests who had not been in the space since BCCP first took it over 5 years ago were amazed at the transformation from dreary old gymnasium to vibrant teen friendly arts and technology center.
The range of people who attended the Open House was as diverse as the workshops offered. They came from as far away as Larchmont, Yonkers and New Jersey and as close as down the street. But all the feedback was positive. Adults enjoyed the hands on experience of the workshops and sharing the space with the teens who attended. They especially enjoyed talking to the students and hearing what they had to say about BCCP and BCAL.
Guests were heard to remark on the fact that so many students would choose to come to BCAL on such a beautiful spring day.
All in all it was an extremely successful experience for everyone involved.
A student focuses on her fashion project.
Good times in the illustration workshop.
A self-portrait for the photography workshop.
Preparing food for the culinary arts workshop.
In Room 3W58, an After School Musical Journey
Bassam Saba, dressed in chinos and a white dress shirt, sits tuning a stringed instrument with a smooth wooden base, turning the keys on its bent neck. In one corner, a student is passing out plates for those interested in a slice of pizza. In another, Kemah Keita sets up a tripod as she and her film class prepare to tape the performance, the third in a series of six workshops presented by Musicians for Harmony in collaboration with the BCCP, in which performers and teaching instructors introduce high school students to world music.
This is the inaugural year for the program at the Erasmus campus. April Centrone, lead teaching instructor for the educational workshop program, hopes to build on the musical and cultural knowledge gained through this program by bringing the students and their parents to a world music concert following the last workshop.
The students sit in a semi-circle around the performers as Centrone introduces Bassam Saba, a musician originally from Lebanon, who begins to strum on the Oud, an instrument he describes as “the ancestor of the guitar”. The song he plays is an introduction to this week’s lesson, Music of the Arab World. Centrone joins him on the riq, a tambourine-like instrument, and it is not long before audience members begin to nod their heads in rhythm with the beat Centrone slaps out on the riq.
The whimsical beginning gives way to an hour and a half in which the cultural nuances of Arabic music are explored through a set of mini-lessons on universal musical concepts.
Centrone builds on the concept of rhythm, explored in a previous workshop, by having the audience stomp out rhythmic patterns common in Arabic music. Saba explains the role of the beat, likening musical rhythm to a “heartbeat”.
Saba continues with the concepts, playing songs to demonstrate ornamentation – in which musicians interpret a song by adding their own chords and notes — and improvisation.
For the next section, Saba switches to a new instrument, a bamboo pipe resembling a flute called the nay, used by civilizations that date as far back as the ancient Egyptians. Saba recounts the legend of the nay, said to have been discovered by a young shepherd who heard music passing through reeds on a windy day.
Arabic music, Saba explains, is used to “paint a picture with song”. Songs are often associated to specific times of day or particular events. Angling the Nay, Saba breathes in and begins a song, lilting and carefree. He asks the audience what they imagined as they listened. “Feels like a celebration,” is one response.
This week students discovered music played on instruments with a long historical lineage, used to evoke a world of camel caravans crossing through a desert, of suns setting on wedding celebrations that extend long into the night, of songs in which every component has its own unique name and purpose in the place of the composition.
For some, this uncommon musical education has a practical purpose. Mohammad, 16, has attended all three workshops so far. A guitar player, he was originally drawn to the workshops for the opportunity they allow him to learn new musical styles. Today’s workshop has inspired him to learn more about the music of the Middle East so that he can incorporate it into his guitar playing.
While students may have never previously sat down and knowingly listened to a piece of Arabic music, the global intermixing of cultures ensured that it wasn’t an entirely unfamiliar experience. “I heard it [Arabic music] in movies and video games,” says Mohammad, “now I know where it comes from”.
