African American Musical Tradition Workshop
Greetings from the U of L School of Music! As you make plans for the rest of the school year, we would like to invite you to participate in a special music workshop program at the U of L School of Music. This will be an excellent opportunity to introduce your classes to African American music and the culture that has created it. It is also a great way to initiate your celebration of Black History Month and address arts and diversity in preparation for end of the year testing. This event is one of several being presented by the U of L School of Music this year.
On Monday, February 20, 2012 we will present an educational workshop on the heritage of the African American musical tradition. Guest artists the Core Ensemble will be the presenters. The 75-minute presentation that includes music from the Harlem Renaissance and the poetry of African American poets is called Of Ebony Embers: Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance. Of Ebony Embers is a unique performance format created by the Core Ensemble, featuring a marriage of theatrical narrative to chamber music performance where an actor portrays multiple characters while interacting with the onstage musical trio of cello, piano and percussion. Celebrating the music and poetry of the Harlem Renaissance era in New York City, Of Ebony Embers examines the lives of three outstanding but very different African American poets - Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay - as seen through the eyes of the great painter and muralist Aaron Douglas. This event is part of the 16th Annual African American Music Heritage Institute, which is presented by the U of L School of Music in cooperation with several other campus organizations.
We will be offering this opportunity for you and your students to participate in this educational and cultural event at 10:00 am on Monday, February 20. The workshop, which lasts for 75 minutes and is suitable for upper elementary, middle school, or high school students, will be held in the School of Music Comstock Concert Hall at 1st & Brandeis on the Belknap Campus of U of L. There will be a nominal charge of $3.00 per student for the workshop. Should there be an issue with weather, we will make every effort to reschedule the workshop. In order to facilitate the collection of the fee, we would prefer that you pay by one check made payable to the U of L School of Music with AAMHI as a notation.
We are sure that you will want to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Indeed, this event is just one of several in a series of programs that will be offered to area students by the School of Music. As a part of this event, The Core Ensemble will present the full program for the general public on Monday evening, February 8 at 8:00 pm in the Comstock Concert Hall at the School of Music. There is a $5.00 admission charge for the evening event. If you are unable to bring students to the workshop, bring them or encourage them to attend the evening performance.
For the benefit of those who will be in attendance at the workshop, a study guide will be made available to teachers prior to our guest’s appearance so that students will have an opportunity to do some pre-study and follow-up study about African American Music. You may use the enclosed registration form to secure your reservations for the workshop. Be sure to make your reservations early, as space will be limited. If you have questions regarding this event, please contact Jerry Tolson at the School of Music at the number listed below. Please share the information about this program with any other interested teachers in your building, and we thank you for your support of the U of L School of Music. For more information visit music.louisville.edu.
Sincerely,
Jerry Tolson
AAMHI Director
Professor Jazz Studies/Music Education
School of Music
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
(502) 852-0520 (fax)
