Read about the once in a lifetime trip taken by students at Morpeth School, to the Big Apple to find out more about music state-side
On November 5th, a group of 18 students from Morpeth School and Cambridge Heath 6th Form travelled to New York to take part in a week of creative music making and performances. Modelled on previous projects we have led with the British Council School in Madrid, schools in Liverpool and a Music Conservatoire in Iceland, the students formed two ensembles - Urban Playground (Big Band) and Pulse (Afro-Reggae style percussion group). Before leaving for the Big Apple, our students spent two days creating new music that could be used as a starting point for the creative process in New York. This was led by two tutors who run Pulse and work for Barbican Education and Guildhall School of Music and Drama/Connect - Jo Wills and Ross McDouall.
The first school we worked with was an American Sign Language School (“47 ASL”), based in the East Side of Manhattan. We began by performing to the school then workshopping with a selected group of 24, some of whom were sign language students. This was a unique experience for all involved and gave our students the opportunity to lead aspects of the workshop and develop musical ideas with the students from ASL. By the end of the session, students had created a piece that would form part of a larger performance in a school in Brooklyn as well as having swapped Facebook and email details.
On our 2nd day we were privileged to have been invited to take part in a workshop at Jazz at Lincoln Centre with musician Alvin Atkinson. This was truly inspirational and our students and tutors gained an enormous amount from the advice and enthusiasm Alvin gave. In the evening we were then treated to a performance by Nilson Matta-Brazilian Voyage w/Kenny Barron, Filo Machado, Paulo Braga, Anne Drummond & Jorje Silva in the wonderful Dizzy’s Jazz Club overlooking Central Park and the Manhattan Skyline.
On Wednesday and Thursday we worked with Sunset Park High School in Brooklyn, a new school that had recently opened. Unpacking and setting up their music department was an unexpected job but enabled us to find the equipment needed to run the workshops and the performance on Thursday evening. Again, our students and tutors ran workshops and together with Sunset Park, created a piece that was inspired by the sounds of New York. Our final rehearsal day on Thursday was a chance for all three schools to work together and combine creative ideas to form a piece that included funky bass lines, London and New York influenced Samba rhythms, melodies and lyrics reflecting similarities and differences between the two cultures and haunting brass lines that reappeared throughout the pieces. The performance lasted for about forty-five minutes and had the audience enthralled throughout. Having only had two days to create and rehearse such a piece this was truly a remarkable effort by all students and staff.
Another important aspect of the tour was to invite external partners that we work with in the UK and look at ways of developing projects for the future both in the UK and abroad. We were joined by members of Barbican Education, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, THAMES and Boy Blue,and are now engaged in discussions about other exciting projects including working with the Lincoln Jazz Orchestra in June, a visit to the UK next year by ASL “47” and other tours abroad.
