​Have an old guitar lying around collecting dust that you’ve been meaning to play but somehow just never get around to actually playing? Yeah? How about putting it to use?

Youth on Record, the only program of its kind in Colorado, provides music production classes to students in residential treatment centers. This visionary program is inspiring students – and their teachers – throughout the state!

“Nathan (founder of Youth on Record) has brought a great, positive energy to class. Students have been able to express themselves through the use of their own music, which for them is a healthy, therapeutic and a lifelong coping mechanism.” - Tanya Houle, teacher, Devereux Cleo Wallace Treatment Center

Flobots.org, the Playing for Change Foundation and Denver Housing Authority are building a state-of-the-art Youth Media Studio right here in Denver! Join us from the ground level as we make our dream a reality– from designing the studio to opening our doors. Things are going to get pretty wild – in the best way possible!

Learn more at Youth Media Studio Denver!

Another Change to Give!

• First Place: Air Dubai
  

• 2nd Place: OneRepublic
  

• 3rd Place: Rapids

  

• Giving Round 1st Place: OneRepublic

• Giving Round 2nd Place: Flobots
  

• Giving Round 3rd Place: Devotchka
  

• Community Round Winner: Fam Damily – sponsored by Jamie Ashworth

• Business Round Winners: Devereux Cleao Wallace Center Staffers (this is one of our treatment centers!)

We have announced our Celebrity Teams for the Bowling Ball 3!  Check out who you have a chance to play against!

Flobots.org is partnering with Vail Soul to present the Vail Soul Music Festival Youth Day on Saturday, August 20. More than 150 youth from across Colorado will meet in the mountains to learn about the history and impact of soul music. Suzi Q. Smith, Adrian Molina, Melissa Ivey and DJ Cavem are among the professional artist mentors who will make it a day to remember.

See the story here:
http://www.9news.com/news/article/202772/339/Artist-makes-the-violin-cool-for-kids

For more information on the Vail Soul Music Festival Youth Day, visit www.vailsoulmusicfest.org

Emceeing is a discipline. It is a legitimate art form that can be taught, and lessons should be passed down by experienced emcees. The voice is an instrument. The art of emceeing is a craft. Great emcees study, strategize, practice, revise, and grow with each performance, each recording. We are constantly schooling ourselves. Should we also be teaching the craft?

People take piano lessons, guitar lessons, drumming lessons. Hip-Hop heads take dance lessons and sit in on graffiti and DJ workshops. Spoken word artists workshop with each other on a regular basis. The equivalent for emcees is the cipher, where you learn by example and practice, but there is rarely an instructional or mentorship element. Not to mention that fewer emcees are ciphering these days.

Rappers are modern-day griots, storytellers, transmitters of ideas and culture. Emcees paint the streets, the clubs, and community centers with lyrical representations of reality. Words manifest. We create realities through our flows.

Lyrical mentorship, breaking down the craft, is something that has been missing from Hip-Hop, not entirely, but notably. As Hip-Hop evolves and changes, what do we need to pass down to the next class of emcees? What rituals do we sustain?

Emcee School
Pilot program coming Summer 2011

Molina
Molina Speaks

Art2Action Live @ DCH

Serafin Sanchez and I teach the flobots.org music program at the Denver Children’s Home. The DCH music therapy program is the longest running at flobots.org. The Program started in 2007, and continues to this day. DCH is a residential treatment center. It also has a day treatment program and a school. In the music classes, we see 30 kids a week. 3 group classes on Wednesdays, and individual lessons on Fridays.

We touch on various aspects of music. From playing musical instruments and basic music theory, to recording. We are currently working on group projects where each class is going to create, and record their own song. We chose group names. “The Telepaths”, “X Kids”, and “The High Road”. This week we are going to work on lyrics with Jonny 5 from the Flobots. It’s going to be a great day!

I attached a video of Kevin G. the math rapper doing his thing in one of the group classes. We recorded stomps and claps to make the beat in the background, and recorded Kevin’s freestyle about school.
He totally rocked it!

Here is the link!  Art2Action Live @ DCH

There will be more good stuff to come!

Christopher Guillot
Art 2 Action Program Coordinator