September 2010

Devereux Cleo Wallace

We are in the practice now of working hard on Mondays, and then Tuesdays having a lesson. This week was no exception. Four students recorded on Monday on two songs, meaning that each was a collaboration! The students who are recording are under time constraints, and up to now, have not wasted a single moment. A fifth student recorded on Tuesday, an original composition for guitar. We are consistently surprised at the quality of work from this group- each student bringing something unique to enrich our experience. Each are approaching difficult subjects with enthusiasm and determination, and are demonstrating the ability to learn quickly and apply what they have just leaned to the task before them.

Jordan and Kiara - I Miss You

Justin and Jared - Play The Game

We began Monday's lesson with a chapter from, The Dao of Wu, by the RZA, of the Wu-Tang Clan. The RZA produced much Wu-Tang's music and was influential in defining the East Coast sound in hip-hop. This book is a chronicle of lesson's learned by the RZA and brings together wisdom acquired via the many adverse situations and environments in which he found himself, many if which contributed to his successes. The chapter we read was named "The Island, a Parable of Solitude," in which the RZA comments on how living on Stanten Island, away for the other New York boroughs, was a blessing that he took advantage of- the distance and isolation from all that was New York allowing him, and the others of Wu-Tang, to cultivate a totally unique approach to music. We likened what the RZA had to say to the situation these students found themselves in. Being in residential treatment, the students are much like the RZA of Staten Island, in that they are removed from society in general, and have an opportunity to develop a unique sense of self, if they so choose.

Dillon - I Don't See

Our inspirational video was a dub-step song on Monday, and a drum solo by Neal Pert, of Rush, on Tuesday. Dub-step has been a keen interest of some of the students recently, due to the underground popularity and newness of the style.

Because our lesson, this week, was to make a drum beat using one-shots cut form a single drumbeat sound wave/sample, it made sense to show the variety by which one can approach beat making, hence the second video. The students were asked to cut one-shots (a single hit of a drum, for example, one hit of the bass drum or one hit a hi-hat) from a full drum beat, then they were asked to rearrange those one-shots into a beat all their own. Lastly, the students were asked to make three variations of the original beat. Then, and only then, were the students free to work on their personal projects.

All succeeded in varying degrees, and we are most encouraged by ability of these kids to work together and try something new each time they come to class.  Not all finished their assignment, but all put in hard work. And it is this hard work, this facing the task frustrated but motivated, this not giving up when the fun had ceased, this eye on the not yet tangible but believable, it is this that endures throughout our time together, and it is this which insures our successes. There were many smiles and hi-fives, and we look forward to what the future may bring!!!

Devereux Cleo Wallace

Looking back over the year, it occurs to me that it is important to talk about the past at this time, because we are genuinely hitting our stride as teachers and as an organization.  Shiloh House gave us our first shot at a couple of programs, but we mainly taught by intuition and through relying on our experience as music producers.  Having worked with a few rounds of beginners at this point, we've begun narrowing down a nice set of lesson plans and implementing them in the classroom.  The structure is having an impact, because the students take some comfort in it, and their trust is evident in their attentiveness and in the respect they embody in the classroom.

inspirational video:

Monday was a recording day, and we were able to get to three students during the period.  Jordan continued to use material he bought off of the internet to underlie his vocal tracks, and this makes sense, because he has an intense interest in lyricism.  We allow him to use purchased material at this point, because he is still learning how to produce, but a time will come when he will be limited to student- created music.  We negotiated a deal with him that stipulates that he has to use one of his own beats for every two that he buys.  Here is one of his newest releases:

Jordan - Fury

Dillon was a bright and interested student from the beginning, and he obviously has a lot of talent and creative ability.  He was removed from the class recently, because of his behavior, but we went to bat for him and he is back in the classroom.  I don't mean to make it sound like he was allowed back in despite his behavior, in fact he was required to demonstrate a willingness to work with the staff in their requirements, and he did meet their expectations.  It's great having him back, he is a nice guy who has a creative courage that is absolutely valuable.  Here is Dillon's new song:

Dillon - The River

A Lesson In Creating a Structured Song

The Devereux kids have classes back to back on Monday and Tuesday (and Wednesday without us), and this week was a lesson in creating song structure.   We took a few moments to name the parts of a song (introduction, verse, chorus, interlude, outro), and then had a pretty insightful conversation about the role each part plays.  We then used the following videos to demonstrate what they had learned:

The students were then given the task of creating a song with the following structure: introduction, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, interlude, chorus, outro.  Everyone did very well, and we left the class feeling very confident that the kids were receiving the information we wanted to convey, and it makes us feel like they are ready for the next level.  It was another great week.

Devereux Cleo Wallace

The thing that sticks out most about this class is how balanced it was.  Since it was a Tuesday, the students had the majority of the day to work on music.  Nate reminded me how important it is for them to have individual attention, so we split up and moved from station to station listening to the students' songs and giving them encouragement and direction.  I've been making a lot of music lately, so my head is really into it, so it was genuinely enjoyable for me to see what everyone came up with and to participate in their creative processes.  I look forward to mixing and mastering some tracks in class so that the students get to see how that can really  enhance the sound of their songs.  It was a great week - we're hitting our stride.

Devereux Cleo Wallace

We opened the class with a couple of inspirational videos:

The Guru video emphasizes our theme of positive expression through hip-hop, and The Band's  song is a classic moment in American music history.  We had a young lady join our program recently, and she had prior experience working with Flobots.org at the Denver Children's Home.  She brought in a track that they had prepared for her, and we recorded her vocals, which will be the basis of a new song.

We also covered some of the technical details of working with the music software, which makes the workflow smoother and more efficient.  Overall, it felt like things were stable and normal this week, which is where we want to be at this point.