LHA hosting Music Heritage Concert
Posted on July 18, 2009
Filed Under Concerts | Leave a Comment
Repost from: Laurel Leader-Call
Link to Story: http://www.leadercall.com/local/local_story_191103813.html
By Eloria Newell James, community@laurelleadercall.com
Young people who have been working this summer to learn about music and its heritage will showcase their talents Saturday.
The Laurel Housing Authority’s Mississippi Music Heritage Program will present its Music Heritage Concert at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Barbara Gavin, program coordinator for the Laurel Housing Authority, said the Housing Authority has been conducting the music program since June 1st.
The project is a part of the Housing Authority’s $4,250 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC). The grant is a portion of the $1.5 million in grants the Commission will award in 2009-10.
Gavin said the local music heritage program was open to the public.
“We worked to include as many young people as possible between the ages of 7-10,” Gavin said. “We targeted mainly the residents’ children, but other young people in the community were invited to attend.”
Gavin said the program has three phases: Physical Fitness, Solfege Choir and Recorder Flute Choir.
“This program is designed to reach young people in three different ways. Phase one is the physical fitness, praise dance group phase,” Gavin said. “In this phase, we had three teenagers from the community who served as role model interns. They were responsible for engaging the young people in physical fitness and physical activity.”
Gavin said Candace Jordan, Benonica Mann and Francheska Miller worked with the program and helped to expose the young people to aerobics, kickboxing and high-energy exercise done to the tune of gospel music. She said the group also engaged in some “stepping.”
Officials said the second phase of the workshop dealt with the Solfege Choir.
“The Solfege Choir is done based on the Mississippi sol-fa singing school tradition,” Gavin said. “The young people are performing to the music of Kumbaya, Go Down Moses, All the Pretty Horses and Amazing Grace. However, instead of singing the words of the songs, the young people sing the notes.
“The students actually learn how to read the notes,” Gavin added. “They are singing so-fa to American Folk Songs and Hymns.”
She said Arlandra Harvey of Hattiesburg has been working with the young people on this portion of the project.
Greg Smith, who has worked with the Housing Authority’s Arts Program for the past eight years, is conducting the Third Phase of the project, which is the Recorder Flute Choir.
“The Recorder Flute Choir is a project where the young people are actually able to use the authentic Native American flutes,” Gavin explained. “Mr. Smith’s method of teaching them is instructing them how to play like a handbell choir, using sing language letters.”
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