Urban Gateways Artists Wired

[John] Culmination at Northtown H.S.

Jason Wolf and I finished up our residency at Northtown High School in Chicago.  The school is part of the Urban Gateways CEP program and has an international theme, so it was a nice fit for our world percussion workshops.  After visiting and studying many cultures like India, Brazil, Guinea, Japan and Cuba, each class chose a culture and performed it as part of the school's "Culture Fest."  

Here is the video of the Ms. Rousakis' class.  They chose to rehearse and present Brazil.  The students selected the country, helped build the arrangement, divided up the instruments and led each other in the performance.  Nice job guys!

[John] Day in the Life

I thought it might be interesting to track a day in the life of a drummer teaching artist. . . .

My wife Ashley and I got up around 7am.  I organized all of the drums we would need for the morning show (Ashley is in the show with me): six West African drums, three Middle Eastern drums, three Brazilian drums, two didgeridoos, a log drum, and a bag of assorted shakers, sticks and metal percussion.  After a quick breakfast, we're out the door with coffee in hand. 

We arrive at the school an hour early and meet Michael, our other expert drummer, who has brought his marching snare and drumset.  After meeting all of the school administrative staff we set up and wait for the students.  One of my favorite parts of the show is before we play any notes.  The students enter the gym and their eyes fall out of their heads as they see a stage filled with drums.  "WOOOAAHH" can be heard continuously as a preamble to our downbeat.  It always cracks me up. 

 

[John] Documentation: Part 2

So, we finished our documentation of the project mentioned in the last blog and I am excited to say it went extremely well. 

Bottom line: the students, teachers and school loved it.  The finished product was a slam dunk.  Urban Gateways loved it.  I understand people watching the video were crying because of the impact it had and the beliefs it validated about our work.  I must admit, it was pretty powerful to see a compilation of our 6-weeks encapsulated into a professional 3-4 minutes.  Much of the credit goes to Adil and Carrie for assembling it all into a great photo montage.

Just as a quick reminder, we documented using the following:

1) Adil videotaped one class

2) Carrie took many photos of 2-3 classes

3) We handed out cameras to the students to document their view of the classes

4) Carrie interviewed 3 children and 2 teachers about the project

5) I collected some recorded music from my group as intro and outro soundtrack

6) I had students write down their impressions of what community means to them and how music impacts community.  For the younger ones, we had them draw pictures of the work we did together.

[John] The Next Big Challenge: Documentation

PART I DOCUMENTATION : The Next Big Challenge

Designing and delivering a solid 7-week residency is tough enough.  It has to maintain energy and excitement, be thought-provoking and challenging, and take students on a journey from start to finish. A good residency pushes young minds, and yet makes them ask for more.  It adds value to their lives, both educational and personal.

But the question we ask ourselves afterward is: did it add value to their lives?  Since it doesn't show up as a grade on a big test, how do we know it achieved what we thought?

So, here comes the next big challenge: Documentation.

Documenting the arts might seem absurd, like that scene in 'Dead Poet's Society' where the students try to graph a poem.

But it is more nuanced than that.  And it is important.  We need a way to tell the story to others and get feedback about what we're doing and how well we're doing it.

So, when Urban Gateways offered their support this year to help artists document our work, I knew I had to take a stab.  I have been an artist on the roster for six years and I hadn't really documented much of anything, other than take some videos of my shows.  It was time to try to get some reflection from my 'customers'.

About John Knecht

Greetings and welcome to my blog.

I am the founder of Pulse Beat Music, a collective of world percussionists who focus on travel, education and building community.  Since 2003,I have worked with Chicago arts education organizations like Urban Gateways, the International House of Blues Foundation, the Chicago Symphony Learning Institute, Chicago Sinfonietta, Sherwood Conservatory and others. 

My goal is that each lesson I teach is an adventure.  To get students excited about world music, I fill each workshop with travel stories, drumming and dance from other cultures, and discussions about the importance of community in villages across the globe.  Lessons include musical trips to Guinea, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Turkey, South Africa, Australia, Puerto Rico, and many more.

We have an online site as well as a community site (a facebook-style site) for percussionists.

http://www.pulsebeatmusic.com

http://community.pulsebeatmusic.com

http://www.urbangateways.org/artists/music/john-knecht.php

Please email with any questions.  I look forward to sharing my insights from the classroom with you.