Shiloh House

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!

Love Songs, Folk Rock, and Hip Hop

Shiloh House - Longmont Campus

We made a visit to Longmont this week, and we tested out workshop that we will conduct with La Escuela Tlatelolco on December 19th.  There were five students from our previous program and five new ones.  We began the class by collectively selecting ten samples, one for each student, that were arranged into a song.  While Cody finished the arrangement, the students were asked to write two or four lines that rhymed to record over the class track.  For many of the students, this was their first time recording on a microphone, and we were very impressed with the attitudes of most of them.  Here is what the boys at Longmont created on Monday:

Shiloh House Longmont - Class Song

We felt like it was a lot to do in an hour and a half, but we were successful in finishing the program within the allotted time.  The lessons we learned will carry well into the workshop in December.

Devereux Cleo Wallace

Monday

This was Jared's last week in class, and we are both happy for his advancement through the stages of his treatment and sorry to see him leave.  He and his girlfriend recorded this wonderful song together on Jared's last day of class:

Kiara and Jared - Swagga Boy

We also had a really explosive recording session between Chad and Dylan on the acoustic guitar and mandolin.  They had built up a lot of excitement by the time we were ready to record, and it was a great experience watching them process the song structure on the fly.  Listen to this:

Dylan and Chad - Hands On Fire

and, one more:

Dylan and Chad - Reyna Waltz

The other students were working on producing new content and preparing for their turn to record next Monday.

Tuesday

Video for Class Discussion:

Dead Prez is a well known hip hop group that has highly politicized lyrics.   We used one of their videos to fuel a discussion and asked them to interpret what they saw.  Some of the student feedback:

  • It is disrespectful to display gang colors in a context that the gangs would not support.
  • The video used gang symbols in an ironic sense as a way of supporting their critique of corporate-media and the mainstream vehicles of expression of black youth in America.
  • The creators of the video were being hypocritical by depending on a system that they were criticizing.

Our intention for showing this video was to use media that the students can understand and relate to in order to engage a discussion about subjects that are important but often at the margin of public discourse.  We felt like it was a good exercise, and we were impressed by the students' willingness to form their own opinions and attempt to vocalize them.

Checking in With Our Longmont Boys

Shiloh House - Longmont Campus

Since the Longmont students finished their albums a few weeks ago, we haven't been up to their campus so that we could focus on organizational development.  We headed up to see the boys this week, so that any new songs could be added to the website, and so that they could record vocals if they had any.

It was a fun evening, and the students are coming along very well with their willingness to get on the microphone.  Here are a couple of tracks that are fresh out of the oven from the boys at Longmont:

Flava Son - Manny and Kieth

Double CC 2 - Chris

Completion of our Second Program!!!

Shiloh Home - Adams County

Week Sixteen

August 18, 2010

When we agreed to do this program we knew that we would be stretching ourselves. The ages of the students, which ranged from eight to twelve, presented some interesting challenges for us, especially in light of the fact that the program was designed for students much older than this. I will not go over these challenges again, since we have stated and discussed them in previous blog entries, yet in light of these challenges, the experience was well worth the effort and occasional anxiety.

Together we listened to the songs, and then the students were presented with their copies of the cds. After each students song was played, Cody, Aaron, and I, talked about the strength of each student, and those qualities that made each of them unique.

Cody mastered the songs and did a great job, but it did pose some interesting questions regarding the acceptable protocol for us when doing so. What is okay to change and what is not? If there are liberties taken by us, when mastering the student's music, how should that be represented on the website and cd jacket? Because these students were less interested in thee production quality, then say the older students, the raw material for the cds was just that, a bit more raw. Also, the vocals were a bit more sporadic and unrefined. This being the case, Cody took liberties in order their songs be interesting and polished, which offended one of the students. We, as a program, love when students are clear as to their work's vision, so we welcome the challenges associated with the issue of authenticity, and work hard to preserve the student's intention. However, we are constantly making difficult decisions regarding how much instruction and interference are optimal for the student's success.

We handed out evaluations and got great feedback. The staff was sure to make clear how important this class was to the students and how much they looked forward to it. We hope to work with this population in the future, in some capacity, we are just not sure, right now, what that may look like.

But we did it! It feels good, because this class was a huge challenge for us, and the fact that we got such a great response makes it all worth it. Thanks Adams County, you were great!!!!