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Programs

Blues History Program Overview:

A History of the Blues blends lecture, live performance, recorded music, and cross-curricular study guide materials to bring to life the evolution of blues music. Students will explore the colorful lives of various artists, with an emphasis placed on women and African American artists who embody the history of blues music.

There is hardly a style in popular music today that hasn’t been touched by the blues. In this program students learn distinctive lyrics, song structure, and rhythmic patterns of the Blues. The program includes the origin and history of blues as well as the evolution of sound recordings.

The goal of A History of the Blues with Kelly Richey is to enrich student learning of music and social studies core content standards. Students will be able to identify the 12 Bar Blues pattern, the origin and history of Blues music, key African American Blues Artists, and the influence Blues has had on modern music.

Guitar Instruction Program Overview:

Overview: Guitar Instruction with Kelly Richey is a six-week, residency program designed for 7-12 grade students. Each student will receive a student manual and a companion CD as well as have access to a guitar on loan at your school. Ms. Richey will conduct each lesson interactively with references to the student manual. Each lesson is aligned with academic state and national content standards.

Urban Voices Program Overview:

Urban Voices is an 8 week artist-in-residency program designed to teach urban youth how to write and record a song, relate modern music to historical contexts, and deconstruct song lyrics to find the story, message and meaning. Students are hand-picked by cooperating teachers within the school, up to twelve per small group. The students participate in weekly class lessons and interactive learning. Class lessons are designed to instruct students on: (1) the fundamentals of songwriting, storytelling and poetry put to music, (2) the historical roots of modern music related to African-American heritage, and (3) the deconstruction of modern songs into the message and meaning as it relates to urban experiences. Students will experience the workings of a mobile recording studio, participate in reading and writing exercises, write their own song, and engage in both improvisational and practiced performances. At the end of the program students have the opportunity to record their song and have it placed on a compilation CD representing the student work from the program. The Urban Voices Workshop is for grades 7-12 and is an academic standards-based curriculum.