Showing posts with label BAM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BAM. Show all posts
Donald Byrd's Workshop at BAM
This is from "Four Measures of the Blues and a Bar to Spare: A BAM Line Review Supplement" by Kelly-Marie Berry.
April 9, 1974
Donald Byrd's Workshop was that of the educator-musician which is what Byrd has evolved into but I perhaps the reverse order: Musician-Educator. For years, a leading trumpet soloist and recording artist, in 1967 he received his doctoral degree in college teaching and administration from Columbia Teachers' College of Columbia University in New York.
Informative and thought provoking, Byrd's workshop was straight up lecture format and the contents of his lecture dealt with some fundamental aspects of educational philosophy. His remarks/direct and pointed:
"When you got to school, the reason why they teach you white Western history is because it is supposed to be part of your heritage. So when they talk about Beethoven they are not just talking about him because he was suppose to be a great musician, but because he was also German. And that is part of the German culture and heritage.
"When you go into a Black situation and you talk about Beethoven and Bach, well the students aren't supposed to relate to it because it is not part of their heritage. So people wonder why Black people are turned off by classical music. They are supposed to get turned off. It's alien. There is nothing absolute about Western history. Whites in this country get you to believe that everything that they teach you is absolute as if it were written by some divine person. So what the mistake is that by training Black people in the white tradition, the presumption is that their grand and great grandparents came from Europe. And that's not true. It's an alien thing."
April 9, 1974
Donald Byrd's Workshop was that of the educator-musician which is what Byrd has evolved into but I perhaps the reverse order: Musician-Educator. For years, a leading trumpet soloist and recording artist, in 1967 he received his doctoral degree in college teaching and administration from Columbia Teachers' College of Columbia University in New York.
Informative and thought provoking, Byrd's workshop was straight up lecture format and the contents of his lecture dealt with some fundamental aspects of educational philosophy. His remarks/direct and pointed:
"When you got to school, the reason why they teach you white Western history is because it is supposed to be part of your heritage. So when they talk about Beethoven they are not just talking about him because he was suppose to be a great musician, but because he was also German. And that is part of the German culture and heritage.
"When you go into a Black situation and you talk about Beethoven and Bach, well the students aren't supposed to relate to it because it is not part of their heritage. So people wonder why Black people are turned off by classical music. They are supposed to get turned off. It's alien. There is nothing absolute about Western history. Whites in this country get you to believe that everything that they teach you is absolute as if it were written by some divine person. So what the mistake is that by training Black people in the white tradition, the presumption is that their grand and great grandparents came from Europe. And that's not true. It's an alien thing."
John Handy with Joe Brazil in 1978
Black Academy of Music Workshops
The Black Academy of Music presented many workshops with name musicians:
1972 McCoy Tyner, Eddie Harris, Archie Shepp, Herbie Hancock
04/09/74 Donald
Byrd
06/15/74 Gary
Bartz
06/21/74 Stanley
07/22/74 Stanley
07/27/74 Cannonball
Adderley
08/24/74 Elvin
Jones
10/12/74 Dizzy
Gillespie
1972 McCoy Tyner, Eddie Harris, Archie Shepp, Herbie Hancock
Black Academy of Music Funding
My research turned up a list of grant funding in support of the Black Academy of Music:
Pacific Northwest Bell $500
1973 SMCP $22,000
1974 SMCP $44,000
1975 NEA $12,500
1975Seattle
1976 NEA $17,500 (Instruction), $4,000 (Jazz)
1976 Block Grant $25,000 over 2 years
1977 NEA $17,500
1980 NEA $17,500 (Brazil
Academy
1973 Seattle
1973 1973 SMCP $22,000
1974 SMCP $44,000
1975 NEA $12,500
1975
1976 NEA $17,500 (Instruction), $4,000 (Jazz)
1976 Block Grant $25,000 over 2 years
1977 NEA $17,500
1980 NEA $17,500 (
Interview with Elvin Jones
Joe Brazil introduced Elvin Jones by stating that Elvin had changed the whole concept of modern drumming. The dialogue of the Workshop which followed was centered around the technical aspects of drumming and percussion. Here are highlights from that Workshop:
Q. What size bass drum do you use?
A. I had a 24" when I first started out. I now use an 18" drum; it is compact and easy to carry. I don't have a valet so I have to carry my equipment myself and hauling these drums from city to city gets to be a very heavy job. I can get the same effect on the smaller drum as I can on the larger one.
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