Blog Archives

Author Archives: Nathan

Roarin’ Through the New Year x 3!!!

by Nate

Youth On Record roared through January, continuing to teach in Devereux Cleo Wallace, and beginning classes with the Shiloh House, Littleton, and Savio House, Denver. We could not be more excited and look forward to a prosperous sophomore year- meaning, of course, that we continue to inspire students to make music that express what they are feeling inside themselves.

We have begun to work closely with the Flobots.org and have lots of exciting things on the drawing board.  By working with many of Denver's dedicated artists and teachers, our explicit  intention is to inspire students to become artists, and in turn, contributing members of our society.

During the break, Youth On Record has formalized our lesson plans, instituted new, professional level, software, established assessment tools by which to gauge our student's progress, re-focused our fund-raising efforts, all the while maintaining our full-time jobs and obligations to the students. Most exciting, however, is the our acquiring of our tenth laptop, thereby fulfilling a promise to the Savio House student's to return to their campus, which we had to cut short, in 2010, due to the incapability of their computers to function according to the demands of our software. 2011 has thus proven to be a monumental success and we look forward to each day and the potential fruits that dedication to positive change can bear.

Thank you to all the students who dedicated themselves to understanding something new in 2010, and to our partners and contributors who helped make this a reality! Together we are defining the future of our world.

A New Beginning at Deverux Cleo Wallace

Devereux Cleo Wallace

by Nate

We began our program with a new group this week at Deverux Cleo Wallace. Tanya, whom we work most closely with, hand picked this group based upon the student's  interest in music production and their previous willingness to participate in their own treatment- and she couldn't have picked better. All the students were attentive and respectful and exhibited exceptional behavior throughout our first class. We shared with the students the premise of our program and what their role will be over the course of the semester. We read through the worksheets entitled "Expectations," which covers what they can expect of our organization, and what we expect of them, and "Headphone Safety," which covers the dangers of headphone use and the means by which they are expected to protect their hearing. The student's signed and dated both worksheets as a prerequisite of their participation in the program.

We showed them the website and music from some of the program graduates.  Finally Aaron did brief demonstration of Ableton, the software they will be using  most throughout the semester. The students were thoroughly impressed with what the program could do.


A Great and Busy Day

Escuela Tlatelolco

by Nate

Today we finished our initial involvement in the mural projects at Escuela Tlatelolco. Check out last year's video of the mural project! Our objective for the day was to get each student to record the lyrics they wanted to contribute to the poem (which is the inspiration for the mural), and then record the words they had chosen to read from the previous semester's class. All the students participated with enthusiasm, even though much of what they said,, and read, was very personal. The courage with which many of the students shared these experiences and observations was commendable, and lent a very special touch to the overall sincerity of the project. We informed the students of basic microphone and recording processes, all of which they implemented. Thank you for opening your home to us and we look forward to working with you in the future.

Chad

I then rushed to Deverux Cleo Wallace to attend a graduation, of which one of our students was a participant and another performed, and to record another student who was working on his final project, playing both guitar and bass. It was a lot of fun, and it was really something to see all one-hundred of the students in the same place, caring for, and supporting, each other. One realizes quickly, working with these students who haven't had the same access to resources that others have, how special and important each accomplishment is, not only to them personally, but to all of us who live in their community. These students have challenges that many of us will never understand. Let us not forget that, and let us celebrate each of their accomplishments with a happy heart and renewed enthusiasm for what the future can be when we remain vigilant and supportive of one another.

Open House at Kepner Middle School

Kepner Middle School

by Nate

The open house, hosted by  Angelina of the YESS Institute, a mentoring program in the greater Denver area, was a bunch of fun. We debuted the video and music that we had done with the students at Kepner Middle School, the previous week, and performed a song for the students. We had thought that, because we had asked the students to participate in something that may have been out of their comfort zone, it would be a nice gesture if we did something out of ours. It was rather well received, but notice that there is no video posted of it here;) Food was provided, as well as entertainment by Melissa Ivey and Chris Guillot (of flobots.org and Cherry Sound Studios). The food, the music, the video, and the company was all great. Thanks so much for the wonderful experience Kepner! Hope to see you in the new year!

On Track(s)!!

Devereux Cleo Wallace

by Nate

It was another great day with this group. There was much to do with a lot on the line (see previous Deverux post) and the students were up to the challenge for sure. Three of the students broke new ground with their their newest projects, incorporating many of the skills that they ave learned up to this point. Its really all coming together!

Three of the students also recorded short interviews to be used for the feature that Hot 107.1 FM is doing on Youth On Record (and will air next Sunday). These student's music will be featured during the program. Krystal, the daytime DJ at Hot 107.1 FM, was able to score us a radio shout out from Mix Master Mike, of the Invisible Skratch Picklz and the Beastie Boys, that will air the same day as the feature! Krystal, you are the best and thanks for going to bat for us!