Special Bridge Sessions
with the Philadelphia Orchestra School Partnership Program
These sessions feature teaching artists from LiveConnections and the Orchestra's School Partnership Program in explorations of the links between classical music and genres from Jazz to Latin. Each session, appropriate for grades 2-8, will look at the ways music is created and feature performances by the artists and music making among artists and students. To hear a WXPN feature on LCO's Bridge Sessions, click here.
Two Sessions each date: 10:00-11:00 a.m. (for Orchestra SPP schools only) and 11:30-12:30 p.m.
- Monday, January 11
"Telling Our Story: Finding Common Ground"
From Bach to African percussion, classical to spiritual, a journey across genres
Diane Monroe, violin and Gabe Globus-Hoenich, percussion - Tuesday, January 12
"Note/Beat/Word"
How do melody, rhythm and lyric combine? Step-by-step improvisations in song, beat and poetry
Josh Robinson, percussion and Lauren Robinson, French horn with poet Lamont Dixon - Tuesday, January 19
"Dancing Vibrations: An Interplay of Strings and Percussion"
A tour of musical forms and their roots, from Europe to Brazil, Cuba to the United States, Bach to ragtime to hip hop.
Lugi Mazzocchi, violin and Alex Shaw, percussion - Monday, January 25
"Building A Groove"
How can you make music by listening, improvising and building on what's around you?
Germaine Ingram, voice/dance and Tom Madeja, trumpet - Tuesday, January 26
"It's All Music"
What happens when Alicia Keys meets Mozart, and old songs meet new styles? Discover ways to hear the fresh and familiar
Keisha Hutchins, voice and Luke O'Reilly, piano
If you'd like to check out one of our sessions, please contact LCO co-founder Hal Real at hreal@worldcafelive.com.
Additional Bridge Sessions in 2010
Two sessions each date: 9-10:30 and 11-12:30
To book one of these sessions, please contact Tamar Lelkes, School and Community Partnership Coordinator, at tamar.lelkes@gmail.com
- Tuesday, February 9
Just Sing It (Singer/dancer Germaine Ingram and singer/songwriter Kate Richards): As the old African proverb goes, "If you can talk, you can sing." This session uses techniques of call and response, circle songs and "voicestra" to create a memorable, community-building experience in which participants listen, improvise and sing together in a supportive environment that draws out the artist in everyone. Appropriate for Grades 5-Adult - Tuesday, March 9, and Thursday, March 18
The Rhythmic Body (Percussionist Alex Shaw and Movement Artist Lela Jones): What in music makes people want to move and dance? How do different styles of music inspire different movement? And how do music and dance express the identity of different communities and cultures? In a format that's safe, inviting and encouraging, artists take participants through a range of dance and music styles and their roots in African, Brazilian and Latin traditions, focusing on how dance and rhythm build community, communicate ideas and create connections. Appropriate for Grades 7-Adult - Tuesday, April 13
World of Percussion (Percussionists Doc Gibbs, Alex Shaw and Francois Zayas): Where does percussion come from? Where do we hear it in our everyday lives? How does the rain make a beat? How does a drum talk? And how can one set of drums take you on a trip from Philadelphia to Cuba to Nigeria to Brazil? An interactive session on the ways percussion crosses culture, with an emphasis on listening, music-making and cultural understanding. Appropriate for Grades 2-Adult
It's exciting to see our students so engaged, so enthusiastic about participating, filled with such authentic curiosity... You did such a wonderful job connecting, and bridging your musical passions with what's relevant and important to our students. I felt like we could have stayed there all day.
–Brett Shiel
Director of Community Relations
Freire Charter School
Philadelphia, PA
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Spotlight Profile:
Doc Gibbs
Philadelphia percussion mainstay Doc Gibbs has played with the likes of Grover Washington, Wyclef Jean, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker and Erykah Badu and for years was musical director for the Emeril Live! show. A committed educator, Doc has been an important part of LCO's programming.
"Music is gone out of most of the public schools of Philadelphia. When I was going to school there were bands and orchestras in every high school. For kids not to have music, they're missing a lot. That's why what LiveConnections is doing matters so much—it's getting kids to experience the power and change that music can bring."