Transforming lives one day at a time :: The online journal of Community MusicWorks

Phase III around town

Coach Chloe filling in for Alexis (sidelined with the flu) at a concert in Bristol


Phase III with Mayor Cicilline at the Lights On After School event in Providence

Musical Workshop: Quartet of Happiness

More photos by Jori (and Elvis) in CMW's Flickr account.

Giving - Receiving

Over the course of this year’s Friday night discussion at Phase II, students will be exploring the theme “Giving - Receiving” and how it pertains to music and social change. 

In October, we begin by reading Pablo Neruda’s short narrative, “The Lamb & the Pine Cone.” This story looks at what a giver and a receiver get out of a gift exchange and what role an anonymous gift can play. We ask, “Can music be a gift?”, “Do you give or receive it?”, and “Is performing the same as giving?”

In December we will examine Bertold Brecht’s poem, “A Bed for the Night.” Two alternate ideas about social change are presented here, and we’ll be exploring the idea of a “small act” of social change and what kind of a difference that can make. We’ll also place the poem alongside the story and photo of Vedran Smailovic, the cellist who played in the streets of Sarajevo during the war, in memory of those who had been killed in a bread line. We’ll talk about this act and the relationship between music and social change. 

These discussions lead us to the point in the year where students begin planning for the Youth Salon, a student-led performance night which raises awareness for a particular issue the students choose to bring to light. In January, students discuss what they hope to give and receive through leading the Youth Salon, and begin to generate possible theme options. 

February brings a vote on the theme and the beginning of work in action-oriented groups which focus on PR, music, issue awareness and design of the Youth Salon throughout March and April. 

In May, we’ll have a chance to reflect both on the Phase II year and on the Youth Salon. We’ll also take one of our last meetings to build on our public speaking skills through a series of exercises and games.

-Rachel Panitch, CMW staff

Congratulations New Urban Arts!

Today in a ceremony at the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama presented one of fifteen annual Coming Up Taller Awards to representatives from New Urban Arts, our Westminster Street neighbor and fellow member of the Providence Youth Arts Collaborative.

Photo borrowed from NUA's twitter feed from Washington...

Congratulations to everyone affiliated with NUA!

Parents Practicing Bow Holds

In Viola 101, parents of CMW students have been working hard on bow holds, keeping track of the names of the strings, and playing the D Major scale. Here they are with bow holds in tact! We'll be working towards a performance for the March Performance Party.

-Rachel Panitch, resident musician

Theodore Sizer (1932-2009)

CMW mourns the death of Ted Sizer, who, back in 1995, advised Sebastian (then a sophomore at Brown) that he should not be afraid to pursue such an outlandish idea as a neighborhood string quartet residency that combines music and music education with community building and social justice.

Dr. Sizer served as a member of CMW's advisory council, and was the featured speaker (along with Deborah Meier) at Education, Art, and Freedom: An Exploration of Philosophy and Pedagogy, the two-day symposium that CMW presented in May 2004.

"You need an adult community. You need friends, probably teachers who know the same kids, and you have to have a lot of time for “kid talk” because your impression through teaching the subject that you teach may be different than your colleague’s perception in the subject she teaches or the way the kid acts.

Good schools have multiple communities: there’s you, the teacher and your kids, and then there’s you, the teacher and the other teachers who teach the same class of kids. But there also has to be an adult culture. An adult culture should be full of critique. Not only of the adults’ work but also judgments about what’s going on with kids. Very few schools give time for that. That’s supposed to happen by osmosis. [laughter]"

Here is a link to a pdf containing his complete remarks from the 2004 symposium's Public Forum.

More about Ted Sizer's life and work here and here.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff