Different tempos:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bellas-Lullaby-2.mp3|titles=Bella’s Lullaby 2] [audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bellas-Lullaby1.mp3|titles=Bella’s Lullaby]

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bellas-Lullaby-5-part3.mp3|titles=Bella’s Lullaby 5 part]

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bellas-Lullaby-5-part2.mp3|titles=Bella’s Lullaby 5 part]

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bellas-Lullaby-5-part1.mp3|titles=Bella’s Lullaby 5 part]

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bellas-Lullaby-5-part.mp3|titles=Bella’s Lullaby 5 part]

It's been a busy semester for the Media Lab, and there's still much more to come! Since Fall 2011, a dedicated group of students has gathered weekly with local composer, pianist, and piano technician Sakiko Mori, Media Lab Director Jori Ketten, and Media Lab #1 Volunteer/Liam's Chemistry Tutor David Lee to explore the wide, weird world of experimental music.

Most recently, the students performed as part of CMW and Ctrl+Alt+Repeat's Cage Centennial Concert.

Next up for this intrepid bunch is a new collaboration with composer Forrest Larson, a few other local musicians, and the June IMPS.  To read more about what the class has been up to, visit the Media Lab.

This week, Laura Cetilia and Jori are also starting a "Scoring for the Screen" class with a group of new students. Participants will make short narrative videos and create musical scores for the movies.

-Jori Ketten, Media Lab Director

A note from Sistema Fellow David France during his Venezuelan residency:

“Greetings from Coro, Venezuela. If I don’t return from Venezuela, you can find me in a small neighborhood in Coro called Panela. It is the most dangerous neighborhood in town, and here you will find a small music initiative founded less than one year ago by Isandra Campos. Since starting with five kids in her living room, she has moved out of her home and is now living with her mother so that the neighborhood kids can have orchestra rehearsals every day of the week in her former house.

Today when I arrived, there was no room for me to have violin lessons, so a neighbor across the street let me and three kids practice in their living room. By the end of our time the entire family was in the living room listening, and a crowd of kids fought for space in the window to listen to the music. At the back of her house Isandra keeps chickens, selling the eggs for one bolívar each to buy music for the students. It has been a profound week.”

Read more in the April edition of The Ensemble, Tricia Tunstall and Eric Booth's monthly publication about the growing El Sistema-inspired movement in the United States.

More photos by Jori is CMW's Flickr account. Download the concert program.

Visit our friends at Music Haven here.

Thanks to FirstWorks, CMW students were treated to a special workshop featuring visiting musicians from Pakistan, including Arif Lohar, a folk singer who performs contemporary interpretation of traditional Punjabi songs.

More photos by Jori in CMW's Flickr account.