ScrapArtsMusic Makes the Most Out of Trash

We have almost all heard the phrase “one man’s trash is another one’s treasure”. In the case of ScrapArtsMusic, one city’s industrial scraps, trash and throw away items have yielded a treasure trove of inventive, innovative and, yes, even beautiful, hand-crafted and to-be-treasured musical instruments. It just takes some ability as a welder, an eye for useable material and a wild imagination to envision just what a junk piece of aluminum scrap, an artillery shell or a piece of PVC pipe can become!

It has taken ScrapArtsMusic founder and percussion virtuoso Gregory Kozak and designer Justine Murdy – the heart and soul of the group- all the way to a performance at the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, an opportunity that helped launch an amazing career expansion.

“It certainly raised our profile!” Greg and Justine commented. “It raised our confidence level, too. We got a lot more internet inquiries. People from all walks (of life) still talk to us about it. It was an incredible experience to see from behind-the-scenes…from costumes, to rehearsals, to pre-recording music, to staging on such a MASSIVE level with performers all being coordinated for a global telecast.

“Another highlight to the whole experience was that Canada had won the gold medal in men's hockey just hours before the Closing Ceremonies began, so there was an especial magic in the air that all Vancouverites -- and international visitors too -- were feeling high from. The weather had been so perfect... people were happy and high-5-ing complete strangers. It was such an unbelievable honor to be a part of something SO big. And we were the last group officially recognized during the Closing Ceremonies, so we felt pretty special to be part of that climax... the closing seconds of the biggest party Canada has hosted -- possibly ever!! Whoa! Sends shivers just remembering how cool it was!!!!!”

The duo established ScrapArtsMusic in July 1998. Greg Kozak is joined in performance by percussion artists Spencer Cole, Christa Mercey, Greg Samek, Malcolm Shoolbraid and Simon Thomsen. Their intricately choreographed routines with over one hundred forty-five instruments made from recycled materials makes them one of the “greenest” groups of performers out there, and one of the most electrifying to watch.

Kozak took a welding course to acquire the needed skills to make their unusual instruments. The instruments create visual art on the stage with their unique shapes and arrays. The performance is very physical and precision-driven, a percussion and movement mania that is both a visual and a sonic treat! They made scrap into art and art into music – thus the name!

Their music is a groove-based fusion of world music rhythmic traditions and twenty-first century pop demonstrating that there are potential musical instruments in many things heretofore unimagined. Some of the instruments include: Annoy-O-Phone, B-52 Drum, Humunga Drum, Junk-On-A-Stick, Sigh-Cordian, Ziggurat Drum and Whirlies, just to name a few.
Now, as they have become world travelers people will bring them scrap and challenge them to create an instrument.

“I’ve had springs from pilates machines, an F4 fuel baffle, a mini-submarine ballast tank casing, a giant cast metal marine propeller and so many other cool forms brought to me from people who "get" my sensibility,” Kozak relates. “ I love taking unexpected materials and re-contextualizing them by making cool-sounding instruments from them. They aren't so much a challenge as they are an inspiration!”

Greg began as a street performer busking around Vancouver and was “discovered” and invited to perform at an NBA half-time show. That led to performing at a high-profile music awards show, and soon the performance began to evolve as Greg worked to develop a precise choreography for the group. They now perform at large-scale professional sporting events, award shows, at performing arts centers, with orchestras and dance companies….the possibilities are endless and challenging.

We asked, “What will young people and families learn or gain from attending a performance?

“Our scrap materials are actually a manifestation of our ideas... so, before you throw away an idea or a scrap or whatever, we hope kids and families might give a second thought to how they might be able to re-use these in an even greater way than simple landfill,” Justine and Greg responded.

“Humanity could benefit from this big re-think! Hopefully we inspire people with a ‘Can Do’ attitude. For example, music making is not limited to patented instruments that can be bought at a store - why not design your own? And not all acceptable ways of performing have been figured out. Push the envelope. You might discover something amazing! Similarly, what one must do to live a good productive life has not all been charted out. You "can" create your own way! Our athletic choreography is a manifestation of our belief in the positivity of being physical on a regular basis, the benefits of eating natural whole foods, and the reward of working together for a common goal.”

Greg and Justine emphasized that it's never too late or too early to start studying any instrument. In order to have full expression with an instrument though, you have to develop technique and that comes only with putting in practice time.

“It's true for our invented instruments ,too,” Greg affirms. “Practice makes perfect.”

If you are coming to the ScrapArtsMusic performance which begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday October 2nd in Loeb Playhouse, Stewart Center, on the Purdue campus, come an hour early. Youngsters will have the opportunity to make their own free shaker egg from 2:00-2:45 p.m. in the West Lobby Stewart Center. Pick a colorful plastic egg; choose a “filling” that makes a cool sound, tape it shut and decorate with stickers it to your liking. Keep it handy during the performance! Members of the Convos Voice Network will assist patrons with their creations!
What is the most important thing to remember about percussion instruments and listening to a percussion performance?

“Every culture around the world has percussion instruments,” Greg says. “Percussion is a universal language.”

For more information on ScrapArtsMusic visit the Purdue Convocations website www.convocations.org.

Click here for a downloadable study guide with instrument photos and ideas for instruments:
http://issuu.com/convocations/docs/sam_studyguide_keynotes

--Laura Clavio, assistant director of Purdue Convocations

Kennedy Center Teaching Artist: Melanie Layne

On April 14th, twenty students sat in a circle on the floor of their classroom with teaching artist Melanie Layne as she began an in-class demonstration.

“Today we are going to look, think and talk about portraits,” she told the first graders as she created a gesture for each of the needed skills. She laid out dozens of portraits for the students to see. Soon they were engaged with their partner discussing all of the things that they could see in a portrait or a photograph of a person or a group of people. Their task was to talk about what was similar and what was different in the portraits they observed.

What could a first grader notice? You’d be amazed! Melanie wrote down all the things she heard in the sixty seconds allotted for discussion on the smart board. All these things were then discussed as a group, and Melanie taught the students the most important things to always look for in a portrait. Soon they were playing "Pass the Portrait" and quickly pointing out to their partner all the things they noticed. Students soon realized that there were many things they could learn about a person from learning to see the many pieces of information contained in visual art.

The in-class demonstration was part of residency instruction for teachers conducted by the visiting Kennedy Center teaching artist as part of Lafayette School Corporation/ Purdue Convocations’ participation in the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education program. Over two days Melanie visited four classrooms twice so she could take the students further into the instruction which eventually connects to reading and writing.

Her work also included a three-hour long professional development workshop where teachers learned the theories and practices behind the demonstrated techniques. The method touched upon many parts of learning – visual and oral learning and exploration, attention to detail, interactive participation, and vocabulary to name a few. Teachers were able to see connections to many subject areas such as reading, writing social studies, music, art and biography as well as how this type of learning also naturally lead to assessment of students’ comprehension of the material.

Most participating teachers were from Edgelea Elementary where some curricular integration techniques are being adapted as a common format among their classrooms. The continuity of a common language used by teachers in discussing discipline and teamwork has helped create a larger sense of community within the school. Kennedy Center teaching artists help teachers explore methods of 21st Century learning techniques that lead to meeting multiple objectives in curricular instruction.

Laura Clavio, assistant director of Purdue Conovcations

Convocations Voice Network (CVN) Update

“You’re going to sit in our seats and like it” may seem like quite a flippant thing for an ushering club to say, but this line, found in the “About Me” section of the Facebook for CVN (The Ushering Club), is actually a pretty apt description of our main mission: To provide quality customer service to the patrons of Convocations. However, this is not our only goal. While many may only see the students showing them to their seats at shows such as Spamalot or Blue Man Group, there is much more going on behind the scenes.

Historically, CVN (which stands for Convocations Voice Network) was a club of students set out to publicize Convocations. This was, of course, before we had our lovely Convocations staff who have thankfully antiquated the need for our rather scary mascot, Artie the Culture Vulture. Presently, we still strive to raise awareness and exposure to the arts through other means such as assisting the Convocations staff in publicity events and making donations the Convocations educational outreach program. In addition to this we work to train new student leaders to work in teams, think on their feet, and act professionally. Finally, and most important of all, we do our best to make your Convocations experience a pleasurable one. We have a wonderful team of student volunteers, who are always glad to put on a smile, share their enthusiasm for the performing arts, and help you find your seat. So next time you hear “Can I help you find your seat today?” please, sit in our seats and like it.

Amy K. Tannahill, Convocations Voice Network

"MY HEART IN A SUITCASE"

Life influences art. If there is any question of this, one need only tour a museum, listen to music, read a book or, for those of us who prefer the comfort of our homes, a simple Google search will yield a plethora of results pertaining to art influenced by life. Yet, art is not limited to life’s influences. In fact, one form of art can often influence other forms of art. Convocation’s presentation of My Heart in a Suitcase will help demonstrate this cycle of art influencing art.

For those unfamiliar with My Heart in a Suitcase, the play, which will be performed by the ArtsPower National Touring Theater, tells the story of a 12-year-old girl growing up in Nazi Germany and the struggles she must face when her parents make the decision to send her to the safety of England on the kindertransport when it becomes too dangerous for her to stay in Germany.

Although the story is wonderfully adapted to the stage, it was originally written in the form of a memoir by the author Anne L. Fox. Like all memoirs, My Heart in a Suitcase focuses the author’s recollections of a period in her life, specifically, her youth. The ArtsPower staging of My Heart in a Suitcase is a theatrical retelling of the memories Fox recounts in her memoir.

Because the play is based off of Fox’s memoir, the characters brought to life on stage are based on real people and events Fox experienced as a young girl. For example, the character Dorit, was truly a friend of Fox in her youth. Dorit Sasse is still alive and has even conducted interviews about her past friendship with the author. Even the author herself is represented as her young self on stage through the main character Anne Lehmann.

There are thousands of memoirs in print today, so what is it about My Heart in a Suitcase that influenced ArtsPower to adapt it for the stage? For one, Fox’s memoir is presented through the view of 12-year-old Anne. Anne’s perspective allows the young people in the audience to better relate to and understand such a character and her experiences. Although Fox’s memoir depicts events that occurred in 1939, many of the themes are relevant to today’s young people. Issues that young people still deal with in the 21st century, such as peer pressure, acceptance of differences, and standing up for one’s beliefs. Perhaps the selection of Fox’s memoir is best summed up in the idea that its young main character and the relevant issues that are depicted can reach many young people in audience.

Fox’s memoir was also selected to be adapted for the stage because it provides an important lesson on history, differences in personal beliefs, and separation from one’s homeland and family. The play is set in Nazi Germany and discusses historical events before and during WWII, including the Holocaust. Since the play is based off of Fox’s own experiences, the audience is made familiar with events on a personal scale. They are able to see the divide between two young friends over personal belief and also witness a young girl’s struggle to find courage in her separation from her family and home after she is sent to England on the Kindertransport.

In all, the ArtsPower production of My Heart in a Suitcase is a powerful retelling of Fox’s heartbreaking memoir. Like the memoir, the stage production touches on themes relevant to today’s youth. This powerful story inspires audience members to further pursue the history of the Holocaust and leaves them with a message about combating intolerance. The strength of the character Anne Lehmann, in light of a very discouraging situation leaves, the audience with a message about love and hope in a time of despair.

Stephanie Larson, Purdue Convocations student employee

Kennedy Center Meeting: A Glimpse of the Future

I recently attended the annual meeting of the John F. Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education program. Purdue Convocations and the Lafayette School Corporation (LSC) are partners in this program that pairs arts presenters and school systems to present top quality professional development training to area teachers. This is the fourth year for the local partnership. Cindy Preston, a second grade teacher at Edgelea Elementary attended representing LSC.

The meeting focused on a look into changes in education and how we can meet the challenges of 21st Century learning. Two major challenges to arts education are funding and keeping up with the rapid pace of changing technology.

The keynote speaker, Bill Capodagli, author of The Disney Way and Innovate the Pixar Way, emphasized the importance of leadership and innovation in moving an organization forward. He pointed out how less structured work environments led to more productive and creative employees in several companies who chose to try a new approach to their corporate environment.

Futurist Garry Golden, whose work is to help people learn how to anticipate and lead change, forecast an even greater leap forward in technology in the next ten years. He told the group that we are now entering a learner-oriented era in which learning is not so much institution, or teacher, - driven, but will be more about what we learn from those around us. It will not be so much about what is delivered as it will be about our own self-directed efforts. He predicted that soon almost everyone will have a hand-held electronic device and more and more content will be delivered through these devices. Learning is making the leap from formal to informal. He also predicted the emergence of what is termed, “Third Place”. These are locations that are not home and not work where people gather to interact or gather information, like cafes, malls, parks, etc. This calls for new ways of communicating.

Arts education researcher Eric Booth helped attendees look at the work of author Daniel Pink’s book Drive and how the arts and arts education can help deliver what our culture needs and wants – innovation, creativity, discovery, increased curiosity and engagement, authentic learning, sustainable rigor, and, most specifically, intrinsic-motivation.

Laura Clavio, assistant director of Conovcations

KENNEDY CENTER PARTNERS IN EDUCATION: FOCUS ON EDGELEA ELEMENTARY

Indiana 2007 is the team formed by Lafayette School Corporation and Purdue Convocations to participate in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Partners in Education (KCPIE) program. Now in its fourth year, the team is focusing on the staff of Edgelea Elementary School where teachers are working together to implement arts integration strategies and create common bonds among classrooms.

The Kennedy Center defines arts integration as an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.

Fifteen members of the Edgelea teaching staff are participating with a teacher-created steering committee to help build an arts integration plan with the goal of increasing student learning and motivation to learn. This begins with finding a common activities that can be used at all grade levels. The teachers found so much value in what they were learning from Kennedy Center workshops that they have volunteered to move forward another step with the program and begin looking at the idea of an all school focus on the arts integration approach to learning.

“The main goal for our staff this year is to get a common language”, says steering committee chair and second grade teacher Cindy Preston. “By doing this we can ensure our students will hear the same language/rules regardless of the teacher or classroom he/she is in. We have posted signs that remind students to make strong choices by controlling their body, voice, mind, imagination and cooperation.”

The school is working with teaching concepts developed by Kennedy Center teaching artist Sean Layne. Layne has more than twenty years experience as a teaching artist and has developed a method of teaching classroom discipline and curriculum for the Kennedy Center that incorporates theatrical techniques. His work focuses on creating a cooperative and supportive classroom atmosphere where group work and team work are essential elements. Students are taught how to make strong behavioral choices and how to make their activities inclusive of every class member. The program develops a strong sense of community first at the classroom level and later within the whole school.

Under the auspices of his company, Focus 5, Inc., Edgelea Elementary has worked with school coach Beth Radford, from Spartansburg, South Carolina, who was a classroom teacher for eight years prior to taking her new post as an arts integration specialist at Pine Creek Elementary. Beth has visited Edgelea three times over the past two years to conduct professional development workshops for teachers and to provide in-class demonstrations and coaching.

The teachers have seen the benefit of creating an atmosphere of uniformity among their classrooms and a common language of expectation that can benefit the school as a whole. From learning the basics of classroom cooperation teachers are now beginning to see demonstrations that show how lessons can be brought to life with an active approach to classroom participation and how students can be engaged in both a core discipline and an arts discipline simultaneously.

Laura Clavio
Assistant Director of Purdue Convocations

February Family Shows

Family programming from Convocations has a dual role. It must fill an education curricular need for school matinees so that teachers may bring their classes to campus for a field trip to an actual theatre. The show must also be a title that appeals to families that will come to see a public performance. When we look at titles, we work closely with our Education Advisory Committee to find shows that appeal to both schools and families. The two performances scheduled for February reach our goal. For our public performances we add to the theatrical experience with a pre-show lobby activity that the whole family can enjoy. Just look at what we have cooked up for February!

How do you make learning civics fun? TheatreworksUSA’s rockin’ show "We the People" presents civics with a modern twist. This musical revue fantasizes what it might have been like to have the founding fathers as members of a rock band. Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Franklin teach the reluctant heroine, Dawn Shapiro, who is running for Student Council President, the true meaning of our rights as U.S. citizens. They rock through explanations the three branches of government, the First Amendment, presidential elections and the judicial process, making social studies come to life for students of all ages.

On Saturday, February 19th, come to Loeb Playhouse from 2:00-2:45 p.m. to learn more about the constitution and how to be a good citizen from Purdue’s James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship. Part of Purdue’s College of Education, the Ackerman Center will present the Schoolhouse Rock Video “Constitution Rock” in the west lobby. They will also have computers set up where patrons may take a quiz on their knowledge of the constitution and a Jeopardy Board where teams of three can compete for a prize. Your whole family will be inspired to participate in our democracy. The program is recommended for ages 9 and up. The "We the People" performance starts at 3 p.m.

For our very youngest patrons, the puppetry of Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia and the charming stories of Eric Carle are combined for "The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favourites" on Sunday, February 27th at 3 p.m. Recommended for ages 3-8, Mermaid Theatre draws upon the magic of black light to present three favorite Eric Carle stories including The Very Hungry Caterpillar , the story of its metamorphosis into a beautiful butterfly, the fanciful account of Little Cloud’s travels through the sky, and The Mixed-Up Chameleon’s discovery of his own unique nature.
Prior to the show from 2:00-2:45 p.m. join us in the West Lobby for a chance to learn more about insects with Tom Turpin’s entomology students who will bring live creepy crawlers and their own hand puppet bug creations to entertain and educate young patrons about some of nature’s most interesting creatures!

We will have coloring pages for children to take home that explain the life of a caterpillar. Kids can also help us make a butterfly collage in the spirit of Eric Carle’s artwork.

Laura Clavio
Assistant Director of Purdue Convocations