Musical Resources for Black History Month

This morning's mail included information on a website that you may find helpful as you plan activities for Black History Month.

Dear Dr. Buck,

I am a retired administrative law judge and also have a background in Civil Rights. My mission in retirement is a nonprofit educational website on Black composers and musicians, http://www.AfriClassical.com

The African American composer William Levi Dawson (1899-1990) was born in Anniston, Alabama. He attended Tuskegee Institute and in 1931 he joined the faculty as a Professor of Music. During his 25 years in the Music Department he led the Tuskegee Institute choir to greatness.

Dawson is well known for his many arrangements of spirituals, and he combined three spirituals in his Negro Folk Symphony, which has been recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on Chandos 9226 (1993). Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, former Director of the Center for Black Music Research, www.cbmr.org, has made generously his research on William Levi Dawson available to this website.

Here are some other highlights of the website:
Audio: More than 100 sound samples, from spirituals to symphonies
Biographies: 52 Composers and Musicians of African Descent
Black History Quiz: 52 questions, organized on three levels of difficulty
Recent Endorsements: WDET-FM Detroit - Dec. 28, 2005; Teaching Tolerance Magazine - Spring 2006

An E-mail flyer on AfriClassical.com is available on request. Thank you in advance for your consideration of this resource for Black History Month.

Sincerely,
William J. Zick
Webmaster
http://www.AfriClassical.com
Ann Arbor, MI

Arts Initiative Planning Meeting

Graham School (Talladega) was one of the original six Arts Pilot Project schools. Serving as principal at that time in the life of the school was a extraordinary experience. I hope that our journey has left "footprints" that will be helpful to others schools who are beginning a commitment to providing an education that includes the arts as an important piece.

• Sing patriotic songs during morning announcements. Try piping the music through your intercom system. (4th grade Alabama history book comes with CD-ROM of songs)
• During every assembly, sing something together as a student body.
• Start a talent show
• Dialog builds reading fluency and helps kids move from "calling words" to adding emotion and meaning.
• Participate in Music in Our Schools Month, the National Anthem Project, the World's Largest Concert, and Youth Art Month. You can download a printed copy of the Nation Anthem or a recording.
  
• Your community is unique. You either have wonderful resources from which to pull or a wonderful opportunity to fill a void.
  

Also, please use this blog as a way to let others know about your progress, your ideas, your successes, and your challenges.

Welcome!

The purpose of this blog is to:

1. Provide your school with a way to publicize the arts activities in your school.
2. Provide a way for you to see activities being done in the other arts initiative schools.
3. Provide a very simple way to document our activities.

How can you participate in this blog?

1. Send an e-mail to Dr. Frank Buck requesting an invitation to become a member of this blog.
2. You will receive an invitation in your e-mail. You will click on a link to accept the invitation.
3. You will be asked to establish a Blogger account. You will choose a user name and password. Write this information down, because you will need it each time you post.
4. You will have an opportunity to create your own blog. While you are certainly welcome to do that, that is not the purpose of the invitation.
5. You will be taken to a window allowing you to compose a post, so go ahead and have something prepared to say. Your first post might simply be an introduction of who you are, a little about your school, why you wanted to become involved in the arts education initiative, etc. Use your imagination.
6. Anytime you want to post, you will go to http://www.blogger.com
7. Anytime you want to view the blog, you will go to http://AlabamaArts.blogspot.com
8. Only members can create a post. Anyone can view the log. Anyone can post comments, so encourage students, parents, and community members to visit this site often.