DIScovering ABILITIES:

Sidney Lanier School Music Ensemble

Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, May 21^st 2010

8 p.m

 

 

This evening of inclusive music in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall is a performance workshop based on published research projects between university music majors from around the world with the Sidney Lanier School Music Ensemble under the direction of 2010 Florida CEC Teacher of the Year, Dr. Donald DeVito. Sidney Lanier is a public school for children with moderate to profound disabilities including autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and other special needs. The general public and New York schools and colleges are invited to observe and interact in this uplifting and inclusive music workshop demonstrating the abilities of students with special needs to excel. Included in the performance are:

Leading Beyond the Walls:

Dr. Don DeVito and a Sidney Lanier student in a virtual classroom lesson

Music majors and their professors from Syracuse University
(Dr. Emma Rodriguez Suarez), Universidade Estadual de Londrina (Dr. Magali Kleber) and Weber State University (Dr. David Akombo) will perform selections taught to Sidney Lanier musicians through the published study: Leading Beyond the Walls: Interdisciplinary Cooperation Through the Virtual Classroom for Children with Disabilities Project. The paper was published in the proceedings of the 2009 International Society for Music Education Conference in Italy.  

Meu Balaio: Original and Traditional Music of Brazil



Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Brazil

Another portion of the performance highlights both original and traditional Brazilian music including: Meu Balaio and Marche de Pifano. This performance will also include original music from a published internet research project that paired students from Sidney Lanier with Dr. Magali Kleber and her music composition majors of the Universidade de Londrina in Brazil.  Dr. Magali Kleber is a music education professor at the Universidad de Londrina in Brazil. She integrated her music composition majors into the curriculum of the project. Universidad de Londrina music major Rafael Rosa composed Meu Balaio for the Sidney Lanier students and taught it to them using the virtual classroom. While the simple translation of the title is “My Basket”, the meaning behind these words is significant. The basket, referred to by the composer as a balaio, is a wicker container for items of importance or emotional value in Brazilian culture. The lyrics are a comparison between the virtual classroom and a balaio for collecting the musical experiences shared between the participants of the study.

 

Speaking Through the Beat:



Lyndon White II and Sidney Lanier Drumline          Dr. Steven Bingham Santa Fe College Jazz Band

In this 6 month project the Sidney Lanier School Drum Line performed Benny Goodman’s arrangement of Sing Sing Sing with the Santa Fe College Jazz Band. This was accomplished through rehearsals, community based instruction and interaction with the college jazz band over the course of the year. Though many of these children cannot even speak, they have found a voice through this music program created by Dr. Donald DeVito. Eager to learn and play the drums, these children have been given unique opportunities to interact with the community and share their love for music. One inspiring moment arose when Sidney Lanier’s Drum Line performed at Festival Disney, a music competition for hundreds of musical ensembles across the nation. Now these talented musicians take a further step in their groundbreaking journey, stepping outside their simple roles as drummers to taking part in a live band. Alongside students without disabilities from the Santa Fe College Jazz Ensemble, they prove that with music, there are no boundaries. The lead dummer in the Lanier ensemble is Lyndon White II, winner of the 2009 National Yes I Can Award for overcoming cerebral palsy, seizure disorders and being born with profound hearing loss. You can see a news broadcast on Lyndon on the Sidney Lanier website (the link is at the bottom of the page).

Rock and Pop Classics:



Bergen County Community College Music Ensemble

Music students from Bergen Community College (New Jersey) under the direction of Prof. Andy Krikun, will join students from Santa Fe College and the Sidney Lanier School, to perform classic R&B hits such as Hold On. Featured vocalist, BCC alumni and Montclair State University student, Jimmy Vonderlinden, blind and physically challenged, will sing a duet with Sidney Lanier student Lina Coutier, a native of Haiti.

Jambo Bwana:



Dr. David Akombo

Dr. David Akombo, author of research in the field of music and medicine, will perform the music of Kenya including arranging the the selection of Jambo Bwana performed by the Sidney Lanier School and Syracuse University Choral students. ensembles. He will also give a brief discussion on techniques in the field of music and medicine.

Traditional Music of Ireland:



Phil Mullen, International Society for Music Education and community music practitioner

Phil Mullen, board member of the International Society for Music Education and leader in the field of community music will share a performance of traditional Irish folk music with the students. Students from the Irish World Academy of Music in Ireland are organizing a peformance with our students.




Selina Oleary  Irish World Academy of Music (The director of the program is Julie Tiernan)


Group Laiengee: Conakry, Guinea, West Africa




Lansana Camara, community musician and director of Group Laiengee


A performance by the Sidney Lanier World Music Ensemble and Lansana Camara, founder of Group Laiengee, a world music ensemble for children with disabilities in Conakry, Guinea, West Africa. The performance will include an inclusive performance on traditional instruments including the kora (African harp), balofone, and djembes. The Lanier students have rehearsed with Group Laiengee through the use of international phone cards and speaker phones set up in both locations. The results of this project were published in the International Society for Music Education newsletter which is distributed to music educators in 60 countries.  
 
For more information contact Dr. Donald DeVito at 352-262-6533 or devitodr@gm.sbac.edu