[Dixielandjazz] New Orleans Musical Mentors

[Stephen G Barbone]

A program at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park invites  
young musicians to play with some of the Big Easy's best-known  
musicians.

If you can open it, the following link is a video of Older Musicians  
mentoring kids in Dixieland in New Orleans. It is a weekly program by  
the local Brass Band members.

http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=78a49cda2aa27c37b6ae522bb32b4c7c2ad0c3c3

And try this link:

http://www.nytimes-institute.com/?p=148

If you can't see the videos, the story is below.

Jazz Music Program for Kids Draws Crowds

May 25th, 2008 | Category:  NY TIMES

By Jhenelle Johnson

As the steady beat of a bass drum signaled “Bourbon Street Parade,” a  
steady stream of people came into the visitors’ center of the New  
Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, drawn by the high-energy sound  
of an alto-saxophone.

Heads bopped and feet stomped. A toddler, snug in her mother’s arms,  
cracked her miniature cymbals in tune with the low-pitched musical  
stylings of Mark “Tuba” Smith, the tuba player for the New Wave Brass  
Band.

Every Saturday since January 2007, young people armed with various  
instruments walk into the visitors’ center of the park ready to play  
their hearts out in front of an audience of mostly strangers.

“The program is called ‘Music for All Ages,’ ” said Bruce Barnes, park  
ranger and outreach and partnership coordinator at the park. The  
program was created with grant money from organizations like the  
United Parcel Service, the National Park Service and the African- 
American Experience Fund, which is administered by the National Park  
Foundation.

The children play under the tutelage of several professional jazz  
musicians, delighting audiences with melodic trumpets, smooth  
saxophones and booming bass drums.

The music is advanced, but Barnes said some of the children in the  
program are not yet professionals and there is no age limit.

“We have children from as young as 4 years old up through 18,” he  
said. “They can be complete novices, never touching an instrument.”

Barnes said the program is important because “it teaches young people  
traditional music.”

“They learn from the older musicians,” he said. “They learn brass band  
music, music played at funerals, string line…music that has been a  
part of New Orleans history for over 100 years.”

The music program has received support from New Orleans jazz musicians  
like Benny Jones Sr., Uncle Lionel Baptiste, Kenneth Terry, the  
Storyville Stompers Brass Band led by Woody Pinel, and the New Wave  
Brass Band led by Oscar Washington, among others.

“We also got a Lake Eden Arts grant,” Barnes said of the grant, which  
is provided by the Lake Eden Arts Festival, a nonprofit collaborative  
outreach program that matches youths worldwide with instruments and  
mentors.

“They donated instruments; a lot of kids didn’t have any. We provided  
them with instruments; it takes the burden off the parents,” he added.

On Saturday, the children put those instruments to use alongside five  
members of the New Wave Brass Band.

The seven youthful musicians, whom Washington calls the New Orleans  
Young Traditional Brass Band, were armed with trumpets, alto  
saxophones and a bass drum, and easily matched the veteran players  
note-for-note and solo-for-solo. The audience, now more than 40 in  
number, applauded loudly.

The musicians moved into “When You Smile” and then “Closer Walk With  
Thee,” a dirge, which Washington said is a slow funeral march used to  
carry the body to its final resting place. They then surprised the  
audience by going into an up-tempo jazz number.

“This goes to show you that from a very sad thing, losing a loved one,  
which is definitely the deepest sad, there is supposedly a joyous  
occasion at the end,” Washington said.

He encouraged visitors to participate in a jazz funeral if they ever  
saw one. “Join in, with your handkerchief,” he said. “It’s all about  
living and dying.”

 From “Second Line” to “When the Saints Go Marching In,” the jazz kids  
held their own.

Audience members were left in awe.

“We came down for the weekend,” said Stephanie Henderson, an Atlanta  
resident who was visiting the Crescent City with her family. “We were  
just walking by and I think we must’ve been living right because we  
just stumbled upon it. It’s wonderful.”

Henderson said she enjoyed the performance, which was exactly what her  
family came to New Orleans to hear – traditional jazz music.

“I was really impressed by the children,” Henderson added. “And also  
I’m so glad my children were able to see people their age playing so  
well. They all play instruments and my 7-year-old just started playing  
the trumpet. So this is a huge inspiration for him.”

The parents of the young band members were also proud.

Angie Bradford, whose son John Michael sings and plays the trumpet,  
said he changed after Hurricane Katrina.

“After Katrina, my son just had this passion to play jazz music  
because we evacuated with one of our friends – Big Sam from Big Sam’s  
Funky Nation,” Bradford said. “It was quite a while before John  
Michael got a trumpet, because we couldn’t afford an instrument.”

Bradford said John Michael’s grandfather gave him a trumpet, but he  
was afraid to play it. She said she began seeking professionals to  
teach him “because I felt like that New Orleans sound can only come  
when you are sitting under an older musician.”

However, Bradford was unsuccessful, until she found an advertisement  
for the program in a paper. She said her son has been a part of it  
ever since.

“It’s like a dream come true because I feel like if it wasn’t for this  
program I don’t feel like my son would be where he is today because  
they don’t have a band at his school,” Bradford said. “So the program  
has really taught him stage presence, how to manage money, how to  
interact with band members and just how to play the true traditional  
New Orleans music.

“It’s been invaluable, I’ve seen him grow by leaps and bounds,” she  
said. “In the beginning he was so shy, he was afraid to play the  
trumpet in front of people. Now he’ll go out to Jackson Square,  
anywhere, and play and sing.”

Barnes’ son Aurelien Keenan-Baba plays the trumpet in the program.  
Barnes said he is proud of his son and the other children.

“They’ve grown tremendously,” he said. “I see a lot of confidence in  
the ones that have come back, the fact that they get the chance to  
show what they can do.”

Barnes added that he tried to teach his son to play other instruments  
and joked that “anything I try to show him directly he probably won’t  
do it.” He said his son realizes his love for music and that brings  
Barnes “a lot of joy.”

Barnes, a musician himself, said it is important to understand one’s  
musical roots and to bring something new to the table.

“You have to be able to produce the music that’s yours and have a  
voice,” he said. “That is the tradition of the music that I came from.  
It’s OK to play other people’s music but it’s not really making your  
mark, not making a difference as much as if you create music of your  
own and you’re able to leave that and have people enjoy it.”