Devereux Cleo Wallace |

ReCap. Heads Up!

Good day friends! First and foremost, we at Youth On Record and Flobots.org would like to extend to anyone reading this a warm thank you for your interest in what we do. We have had an incredibly busy summer doing all the things that it takes to run a program such as ours. We are so inspired by those we serve and work and look forward to the future we are creating together.

We are so fortunate to share our lives with so many incredible people and the daily events that these folks inspire lead to experiences that shape who we are becoming as, not only as individuals, but as productive members of our community. The connections we have made through Youth On Record affirm and support our mission to help others, and for this we are most grateful. Particularly, we are excited to navigate the logistics of a long term working relationship with each of the residential treatment centers with whom we are partnered. New times demand innovation and together we hope to exhibit the very characteristics we wish to instill in the students we serve.

Here are some of the highlights of the past month, as it has been a busy one:

This past week we exposed close to one-hundred youth to the world of music production at the Sunnyside Music Festival in the Highland’s area of North Denver. It was a fantastic event featuring local music, art, as well as many activities for the area’s young people. Youth On Record and Flobots.org is proud to be a beneficiary of one of the many charitable donations made by the Sunnyside Music Festival.

: Sunnyside Music Festival

Youth On Record students are writing a monthly article in the Colorado Music Buzz Magazine. CMB is a Denver staple, informing the public on everything music related, while highlighting music's dynamic nature. Check out what our students and other great minds have to say about how music effects our lives.
Flobots.org and Youth On Record are proud to announce the beginning of our first program outside the boarders of Colorado. Youth On Record-Alaska began programming this week at the Haven House in Homer, Alaska. Cody Davidson heads the ship in the mighty North and we look forward to the challenges and successes we will inevitably encounter. Go get ‘em Cody, we are so proud of you!
Devereux Cleo Wallace hosted the first ever Youth On Record “recording night” this past week. Recording night is an opportunity for students to record lyrics and reflects the ongoing attempts of us, and those with whom we work, to establish a working schedule that optimizes our student's chances of success in our program. This is also an opportunity for those not in the class, but who have shown consistent progress in their treatment, to partake in some of what Youth On Record has to offer.

: Recording Night, Devereux Cleo Wallace

This month Youth On Record represented Flobots.org at the Green Route Festival in the Larimer district of Denver. This was an opportunity for us to showcase our program among many of the progressive, green businesses of this great city. Local music and food was also featured and contributed to the good times. Thank you to all our neighbors and we cherish the relationships that events like this reinforce.
The Shiloh House of Denver invited Youth On Record to present what we do with their students at the September all-campus assembly. It was an opportunity for us to highlight each of our Shiloh student’s music and explain our program. We have worked with three of the five Shiloh campuses, so it was also an opportunity to reunite with some folks from our recent past. Thank you to the Shiloh Home for their warm welcome and continuing commitment to helping us help their students.

We need to mention that part of the reality of working with our specific population is that all of those with whom we work leave our program. Although we often contribute to the success of their treatment and their leaving is frequently an indication of this success, it is never the less difficult to see them go and we very rarely have a chance to say good bye. So, on behalf of all those with whom we work good-bye and congratulations.

Finally, the annual fundraiser of Flobots.org is rapidly approaching. This year the event will feature many of the best local musicians bowling and performing with members of our community. Check out all the details at our website!

Thanks again for everybody’s support over the past few months and we look forward to moving forward with all of you!

End of the Year at Devereux Cleo Wallace

by Aaron

This week marked the completion of our first full term at Devereux Cleo Wallace. Each student completed their final assignments, and they received credit toward their High School diplomas. The students were required to demonstrate an proficiency in the following areas:

Song Arrangement
Sample Editing
MIDI
Recording
Mixing/Mastering

Once each student finished their final assignments, we compiled them into a class album. Everyone was given three copies in time to send them home for Christmas if they liked: check it out.

Devereux Class Album - Fall 2010

(click to listen to the students' music)

In retrospect, we had an excellent year full of surprises that taught us a lot about what is possible when people combine their efforts for a single purpose. We have a lot to look forward to in 2011, with the budding partnership with Flobots.org emerging as we speak, and a new term at Devereux begins in the beginning of January. We want to thank Devereux Cleo Wallace for their support, partnership, and for honoring Youth On Record at their holiday party.

Another Adventure!!

Monday

Devereux Cleo Wallace

by Nate

I rolled into class on my motorcycle with one minute to spare. I began the class at Devereux Cleo Wallace, in northwest Denver and then rushed to Kepner Middle School, off Federal and Kentucky, to teach with Cody and Robbie. It was imperative that the students knew the importance of their final project, at Devereux, for their song was not only going to be graded, be on the Christmas album that was going to be distributed to the staff at Cleo, along to family and friends, possibly going to be played on the Everyday Show with DJ Ripm on Channel 2 , but most importantly, was the final showcase of the skills that they had developed over the past six months. These kids are awesome and I wanted to make sure that they knew that we had all the confidence in the world in them!!! We are trying to arrange for them to record their final song, a collaboration between all the students and Cody, at Dub Media in the Highlands District of North Denver. We hope it can be arranged.

Justin - Everything

Oh yeah!!! Catch three of the student's songs and interviews on Hot 107.1 FM, next Sunday morning, as part of a feature the station is doing on Youth On Record. I will post the times as soon as I get them. Shout outs to Krystal, the DJ at Hot 107.1 FM, who is simply the coolest person we have met in the business, and Josh Estrada, DJ Ripm, who has always supported what we do by volunteering his time in the classroom and continuing to advocate on our behalf. You guys are the best!!

Dylan - Untitled

Kepner Middle School

At Kepner, all the classes of the previous week were combined into one final class. Our intention was to get each student to record at least two lines of lyrics that were to be added to the songs which they had helped arrange last week, and finally to record the video for the open house on Wednesday. This was a tall feat and we only had one hour!

The kids came through. There were about fifteen students in the class and they killed it. If they were shy, they got over it for the most part, and we all had a great time recording, scratching on the turntables, and shooting video all over school grounds. By the end we were most satisfied because all of us pulled together to do something special. We will post the student's music and video later today! See you at the open house.

Some Days are Simply Great

Monday

Kepner Middle School

by Nate

I thought to myself, on the way home from Kepner Middle School, that this feeling was the reason I teach. While I sat in the back seat of my friend's car on the way home, a flock of pigeons, that I mistook for golden eagles, flew high across Federal Boulevard. The three of us quickly began assessing the class. Only moments before, we were sitting with the students making music. Each sample, in each song, named for the student who picked it.

Prior to class, I prepared a video using Sony Vegas, a program I had never before used. The intention of the first half of the video was to demonstrate the history of music production from Duke Ellington to Miles Davis, from John Coltrane to Puff Daddy Combs; the second half was dedicated to playing videos of songs the students would know and then playing the original song that it was sampled from. These videos included Lil Jon, Ozzy Osborn, the Isley Brothers, Biggie Smalls, and James Brown among others. We did this to show them that music is fluid, that it is a conversation, and the cool thing about conversation is that it takes many to further the dialogue. I narrated for the students over the video.

Next, we covered the basics of music software and basic sample arrangement and editing using the overhead projector. Then, we compared the similarities between audio and video production software using the video we just watched and the music we just arranged for them in Acid. The students then heard some of the other student's music, featured on the website, and were treated to a live performance by the three of us using a MIDI keyboard, acoustic guitar, and a turntable. We played for the students in order to demonstrate to them the superb quality of music that can be made with little more than a computer.

We then split into two groups, each group responsible for picking samples from the sample bank and arranging those samples. We are with these students for a total of two hours, one this Monday and one next, and we hope to have two songs completed, including lyrics and video, for Kepner's open house next week. If we can do this together in this short of a time frame, then maybe anything is possible. Look for the student's songs on the website a week from Tomorrow!

I heard Aaron had a great class at Deverux and I can't wait to hear about it. Cody and Robbie will be teaching the class I lead today, at Kempner, tomorrow. It is the first time they will be teaching by themselves. It seems we are all growing in neat ways.

Devereux Cleo Wallace

by Aaron

(Youth On Record accepts vehicle donations)

I can't stress enough how impressed I am with the attitudes that the students bring to the classroom. After spending the morning preparing, and half the car ride rehearsing what I would say to the class, stepping into the role of the teacher was effortless, because everyone remains receptive and willing to fully participate in the classroom.

I explained to everyone that we are putting together a class album, and we want the class to demonstrate everything they've learned in one final song. We will dedicate December to this project, and each student will get three copies of the class album to give to their friends and family.

We got a lot of work done today, thanks to Matt who lent us his office, with Kiara, Tamika and Justin, and Dylan and Nina all recording songs in less than an hour and a half. This track was initiated way back when Kiara was in the Flobots.org program, and Cody from Youth On Record created a new track for this song based on the previous work. The song is called "Make You My Boo"; check it out:

Kiara - Make You My Boo

We'll post the other music tomorrow after the students put their finishing touches on their tracks. Stay tuned!

Tuesday

Kepner Middle School

by Robby

An unexpected twist demanded that Cody and I think quickly and come up with a new lesson plan on the fly. We were excited for our first class teaching together and had the lesson plan and lecture nailed down. When we arrived at Kepner Middle School, we were surprised to see that the same students we had just taught the previous afternoon were sitting in the class room. Cody and I, under the impression that we were going to have a new set of students, were prepared to teach a similar 'intro to production' class. Instead we adapted quickly and had a chance to work personally with the students and produce a new song, putting to use the techniques that the students had learned yesterday. This gave us a chance to further their music production skills and come up with a brand new song. All of the kids were very excited and look forward to recording the lyrics they will be writing through out the week in class on monday. Nice Job Kepner Dolphins!

Devereux Cleo Wallace

by Aaron

We have some very exciting things in the pipeline for the Devereux students, but first, here is a new track produced and performed by Tamika:

Tamika - Listen to the Bass

We're very proud of Tamika, because this was her first recording, and she was fearless and flawless on the microphone. She dreamt up every part of the song, from the voice overs to clicking clock, and it came out wonderfully.

Well well well...what do we have here? Check out the upcoming opportunities that the Devereux students have waiting before them:

This Sunday, students are invited to be on the radio at 107.1 in Denver, where their music will be played on-air.
DJ Ripm hosts a show at 107.1, and he is offering to use one lucky student's song during some of his segues on-air.
Karl Bartholomaei, owner of Dub Media, has invited the students into his professional studio to record a class song together and to experience a professional environment firsthand (more on this in a future post).

Class today was a lot of fun; we welcomed back Jared, and everyone was in good spirits. We worked on some album covers, and you can check those out in the student music section, and everyone worked hard on the December project.

Raechel B. Noel Middle School

by Aaron

Rachel B. Noel hosted an evening assembly this Tuesday, and we set up a table and represented the Art to Action program of Flobots.org and demonstrated our own programs as well. We had a lot of interest and made some new friends, because it was a good opportunity to connect with the parents of some of our past and future students.

Sylvia Bookhardt - Principal

Karl BartholomaeiK

What a Week!

This was a week of milestones as Nathan took a big step and resigned from his day job to focus on Youth On Record full time. We also managed multiple simultaneous classes throughout Denver, innovated a new class format out of the ether of sheer inspiration, and banded together to create a video entry to the Sambazon Warriors of Change Contest. The river is beginning to flow very fast now, so stay tuned as we document our adventures with students across Colorado and beyond.

Devereux Cleo Wallace

by Aaron

On Monday, Robby joined me to gather film footage for the video we mentioned above, and we had two students, Justin and Dylan, record some new music. They demonstrated the capacity to share limited time on the microphone in a way that made me proud, check out their songs and play 'em loud:

Justin - My Wife

('My Wife' uses the instrumental tracks from the song 'My Life' produced by Cool & Dre)

Dylan - Silo

On Tuesday, Robby joined Nathan and myself again to finish taking shots for the video, and we initiated a set of lessons that will culminate in a final project at the end of the month. We're calling the program 'Mashup December', and that means the students are working on a production technique that involves layering two popular songs over one another in a way that is often funny or surprisingly good. The ability to do it well takes time and calls into play most of the skills the students have acquired up to this point, so we will expand on what the students did on Tuesday, but Kiara and Justin nailed it on their first try. We can't wait to see what comes of this, look to this space near the end of the month to see what the Devereux class comes up with.

Rachel B. Noel

by Cody

Monday we conducted our second class at Rachel B. Noel Middle-School as part of our partnership with the Flobots.org after school program. We had less students than we had hoped but the students we did have were there for one reason, the love of music production. As a result of such a low number of students we were able to sit down with them as individuals and be as personal mentors to them. Serenity finished a complete song, including lyrics, fearlessly singing the lyrics she wrote just minutes before.

Serenity's Song

Another student, Marshown, buried his head in some of the most advanced music software and created a song out of scratch using advanced techniques in which he was able to understand due to the amount of individual teaching we were able to give him The song for the video "Cobras" is the result. We gave the students Cd's with the music they had put together in the previous week, this seemed to inspire them, for now they had a tangible product of their art. We look forward to continue working with these students and cant wait to hear the music they produce. "Whispering Chocolate" is the result of last week's collaborative efforts at Rachel B. Noel.

Whispering Chocolate

by Nathan

We thought long and hard about ways in which we could approach today, Wednesday, at Rachel B. Noel. Although we had great things happen on Tuesday when our attendance was low, we wanted to drum up some support for our program while at the same time try to leave an impression with those with whom we worked. It occurred to us that production includes video documentation, for we, as instructors, use it not only in displaying the student's work, but also in teaching the students. It would make sense, then, to include video production with this group since exposure to all kinds of media production is what is important in a production survey of this length (three days as opposed to the many weeks we work with other groups) . The student's collectively decided which sequences they wanted to shoot, and we helped them produce them on film. It was more fun than we could have imagined- the video entitled "Cobra" is the result. Oh by the way, we also recorded group vocals and scratched records. What a great day!