Sometimes I worry that some might be bothered by receiving a Community MusicWorks monthly email update in their inbox. Then we get an email like this:

Hi Sebastian! Hi Minna! Though we’ve only made it to one concert since I met you two, I just had to take a minute to tell you how much I appreciate staying on the mailing list…

I get sooooo many emails in my line of work that I sometimes think: "oh, I should just go past this and not keep it in the in-box." I’m soooo glad I did. I always end up reading almost every word of the news, but then this time there are so many links that I want to go back to, that I have to keep it a while longer.

Great to see all the AMAZING activities and response from the community. So sorry about the break-in but glad to see the rallying support.

Keep up the WONDERFUL work you are doing. We aren’t financially able to support you, but always know that our thoughts and moral support are behind you!

——

So, with that in mind, we’ve got a special conference announcement email on its way to you soon… enjoy!

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

How was your holiday break? We had one more than expected!

Community MusicWorks staff returned to find we’d had a break-in here at the office, and our main computer and a videocamera were stolen. Luckily, or perhaps just plain wisely, we’d backed up our data online and, thanks to insurance and the help of some tech savvy friends, we’ll be up and running in no time.

However, this incident played out the transformation theme we’d touted as we reached year ten. Community MusicWorks turned an incidence of theft into an opportunity for members of our community to pitch in with support: the torch wielding dudes at The Steel Yard, who are creating custom ornamental door reinforcements, our lovely and talented board member Paula Bodo, who left a family outing to be first on the scene for the Providence police, our volunteer tech guru Gabriel Read who painstakingly retrieved our data during his school vacation, J.J. Jacobson, who, dressed as indie Santa, donated the videocamera in the first place and helped with our insurance claim, and the quick response of our fantastic landlords Gary and Teresa, among others.

CMW’s Top Model

The cherry on top of our make-lemonade-from-lemons cocktail is our new iMac and it’s popular feature Photo Booth. 

Sebastian and Josh count to four

This organization has witnessed and participated in the comfort and spirit of community support in the face of adversity more than once this past year. For that gift we are truly, truly thankful. So, in the event our computer thief is surfing the blog on our five-year-old slow-as-molasses stolen PC, I say: Take that!! …or just try to.

Minna glows in the New Year

-Liz Cox, CMW staff

Attention Chloe’s viola students: Chloe and Kareem’s daughter Suha was born at 12:50 a.m. on January 5th weighing 7 lbs. 13 ounces. Chloe and Kareem are doing fine, and Suha is an amazing baby! Here she is (pictured with her aunt Tai):

Happy 2008 to everyone!

While the Providence String Quartet and Minna spend the week on rehearsal retreat in an extremely beautiful northern location (hint: think mountains, skiing, elk), here are a few tidbits to share from Providence:

1. Remember all the commotion about Gustavo Dudamel and El Sistema? (If not, see my November post.) WGBH has posted audio from the panel discussion at the New England Conservatory which includes Sebastian, Mark Churchill, Steve Seidel, and a number of other folks who have interesting things to say about whether/how El Sistema might conceivably work in the US. Moderated by Eric Booth, who you hear very skillfully greasing the wheels of the conversation and keeping the energy level high.

2. Pianist and CMW adviser Jonathan Biss released a Beethoven CD in October that is wonderful. Check it out here. Speaking of Jonathan, did you hear his performance on Saint Paul Sunday almost a year ago?

3. Is everyone aware of Music Haven, the neighborhood-based program in New Haven, CT, inspired by Community MusicWorks and run by the Vinca String Quartet? Their inaugural Performance Party on December 16 was reportedly a big success!

4. Kudos to the Interaction Institute for Social Change. Gibran Rivera visited CMW in the fall to facilitate a fantastic full-day staff workshop that still lingers in our minds…

5. There’s a new Providence String Quartet on the scene. If you live in North Carolina, don’t get confused. And that goes for the Providence Quartet in South Carolina as well!

6. Do you have some time on your hands? A few interesting (and sometimes provocative) music-related blogs I like to visit:
The Rest Is Noise
Greg Sandow (especially his post about classical music press coverage)
Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog (especially his ten-part series on freelance musicians)

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

This past Saturday, December 15th, 2007, the Fellows at Community MusicWorks and the resident ensemble, The Providence String Quartet, presented a concert at the Music Mansion that featured quartets by Schumann, Jobe and Dvorak. The Fellowship Program introduces and trains people from across the country in the work that has made CMW, through its music education and enrichment programs, such a vital presence in the community.

The Fellows began the evening with Robert Schumann’s String Quartet No. 1 in A Minor. It’s a well known work, noted for its lyricism and formal mastery, and their performance contained all the verve and assuredness of the seasoned players that they are.

A natural outgrowth of CMW’s mission is the Listen Local initiative—a commitment to Providence composers, whose works they have incorporated into their concert programming. This concert featured Steve Jobe’s Four Movements for String Quartet and Soprano, and featured Ellen Santaniello, soloist, and the Providence String Quartet. Repeated melodic phrases joined in the minimalist style, rising to culmination points, the voices coming together to give the occasional wisp of an unsettled tonal cadence before setting off again. The work gives a satisfying sense of continual propulsion

Old World composers have always enjoyed the jumbled influences that make up American music. We’re very lucky that Dvorak, one of the great composers of the nineteenth century, was one of them. Sometimes so much has been written about a particular work—in this case his opus 96, the “American” quartet—that it’s better to simply revel in a great performance of it like the one the Providence String Quartet gave this night. They played as if with a single voice, a singular quality that comes from a long collaboration, the kind of ensemble playing that develops as each member grows and matures, both by themselves and with one another.

One final mention: there was another ensemble present, the community. A palpable joyous spirit, no doubt ignited by the love of sharing music, was present in the room. The experience is quite unique, so consult the Community MusicWorks website to participate in upcoming events.

-Garrison Hull, local composer

[Editor’s note: view Channing Gray’s concert preview in The Providence Journal by clicking here.]

Providence String Quartet dress rehearsal


A standing ovation for Dvorak’s "American" quartet


Minna and Sebastian with CMW alumni (l-r: Marconi, Elizabeth, Vanessa, Ruth)

Jessie was a featured guest at the Third Street Music School Settlement’s 113th anniversary luncheon earlier this fall. She received the school’s inaugural Rising Star award and joined Joshua Bell, the event’s other honored guest, for a performance of Bach accompanied by Third Street students.

Third Street Music School Settlement is the oldest community music school in the nation, founded in 1894 with the idea that music could provide the immigrants of NYC’s Lower East Side "some respite from their daily struggles." Jessie and the rest of the PSQ will be visiting Third Street on January 26 to present a program entitled "Dvorak in America" that is very relevant to the idea of access to the arts for all (more about this later).

Go here for more photos of Jessie and Josh Bell at Third Street’s big event.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

Did you miss the Providence String Quartet’s concert at the Bell Street
Chapel on October 26? Thanks to longtime CMW friend Justin Baker, you
can view clips from the concert on YouTube.

Justin’s videos are beautifully edited and credited. In fact, they are so professionally presented, you might think CMW was involved in this effort. (We weren’t.) Justin, thanks for providing CMW with these great clips to share!

1. Beethoven "Harp" Quartet, 1st movement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URHCY5p3v_c

2. Beethoven Quartet Opus 18, No. 4, 1st movement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aryBrwVWuYY

3. "Chance" by Providence composer Anthony Green:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZQuUcsc7mE

4. "Was that the rain thrush singing in the blue olive tree?" by Providence composer Mitchell Clark (CMW Players: Minna, Chloe, and Laura on this occasion):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve8ZPgJ4SnI

While you are visiting YouTube, you can find several other short videos, including our self-produced 7-minute interview [see photo] with CMW founder Sebastian Ruth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_vYQ7CsAE0

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

I love making music with Community MusicWorks. This weekend, I had the privilege of playing in the all-Bach concert at the John Carter Brown Library in Providence. We played Brandenburg concertos and other great pieces that really move people.

Rehearsal: Tim Macri was the flute soloist in Brandenburg No. 5 and the Polonaise and Badinerie from the B Minor Orchestral Suite.

The music was fantastic, but the people involved really brought it to life. Whether it was Fred making the audience roar in laughter about Bach’s letters; Chloe making her viola shine; Minna playing a beautiful cadenza; Sebastian adding color with his fun pink striped shirt [see below]; or Liz creating a wonderful meal for the musicians, each person helped to create an incredible experience for the audience and musicians alike.

Fred and Sebastian unwind after the concert.

The location was perfect–a beautiful library with tall ceilings and lots of fancy woodwork. A room surrounded by great books, with huge paintings and tapestries decorating the walls.

The audience was varied–retired folks, CMW families, CMW board members, friends, and many others. My favorite audience member was the little guy [a CMW sibling] in the front row who succumbed to sleepiness about halfway through the concert.

At intermission, I ventured out into the audience and was stopped several times by audience members expressing their appreciation and enthusiasm. They wanted to know about what was behind this incredible concert, and it gave me an opportunity to tell them about the amazing way CMW engages and involves the community.

Longy ladies (l-r): Sarah, Rachel, Arlyn (now a CMW Fellow)

What strikes me most about all of my experiences with CMW is the all-pervasive spirit of inclusiveness I sense whenever I am around CMW folks. They are a humble and fun group of musicians who genuinely desires to make life better for everyone else.

Thank you, Community MusicWorks!

-Sarah Glenn, violin

"The culture doesn’t speak, people do." -Maxine Greene

Reflections on Conversations Across Culture: Community Arts Education, Exploring Possibilities, a conference at Teachers College, Columbia University, November 9 & 10, 2007.

(Or, "Minna, Sebastian, Arlyn & Rachel’s trip to the Big Apple.")

We talk about empowerment. But what kind of power are we talking about? The overwhelming answer at this conference was the power of the individual voice. This conference reminded us of the long history of Community Arts Education, shared with us some of the great work going on in other branches of the arts, but also reminded us of what makes CMW so gosh darn unique in the field today. 

As for a history, the idea behind settlement houses was that the reformers would settle there rather than swoop in from somewhere else. Lillian Wald consciously worked to distance herself from the elite superiority of reformers that characterized the times in developing the Henry Street Settlement with immigrants on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. 

We saw students’ own work from the Education Video Center, where students have filmed a powerful documentary about Hurricane Katrina survivors, to students with incredible insights to share who started out in Harlem Children’s Zone’s TRUCE and are now nationally-competing slam poets. 

Sebastian was invited to be a part of a panel on the philosophy of community arts education. He referenced the 2004 Gifts of the Muse report and the ways that we need to value both the instrumental and intrinsic benefits of the arts in our programs. He talked about the inspiring work being done with the Baltimore Algebra Project and the many ways that seemingly abstract subject matter can give students the abilities to re-create, to experience empathy, to develop flow and the abilities to focus the mind and self-analyze.

As Geoffrey Canada, the director of the Harlem Children’s Zone put it, "Our job is expose young people to as many things as possible—-you never know what will change [them]." 

This conference was more than just a pat on the back for CMW, however. We did recognize the long-term elements that make our programming powerful, but we also saw some common struggles among arts organizations around the country. Here are a few examples:

1. The multifaceted effects of gentrification are being felt in so many cities. How can communities continue to feel ownership of these organizations when the community members are being pushed out by developers? Are there positive effects of gentrification that should be recognized? How can we talk about this issue with our students?

2. If community arts education has such a long history, why has the world not seemed to improve in so many vital ways? A founder of El Museo Del Barrio raised this heart-wrenching point. How do we stay so positive with more and more difficulties to overcome?

3. What’s the balance of finding out what the community really wants and having an ultimate purpose beyond those immediate wants and needs?

We were inspired, and we were challenged. And that’s what a good conference is all about.

-Rachel Panitch, Fellow 07-09