Music

Keith Herrmann
Music/Musical Theatre/Composer
P.O. Box 237, 801 Fox Run, Buck Hill Falls, PA 18323
570-595-9236
jolly12345@aol.com

Musical theatre is my passion, and gratefully I have had the opportunity to pursue it at the Broadway level. I received a Tony nomination for creating the musical score to ROMANCE/ROMANCE, which played on Broadway for over 300 performances and enjoyed over 500 subsequent productions around the world, including London's West End. The same year I was a Tony nominee, the other competitors in my category (Best Score of a Musical) included Andrew Lloyd Webber (for Phantom of the Opera) and Stephen Sondheim (for Into the Woods). I have also had the opportunity to perform as a pianist and/or synthesist on numerous Broadway shows and recorded their cast albums, including the Grammy Award-winning Cats, for which I also served as musical conductor at the Winter Garden Theatre. I have also had the privilege of working with young singers and musical instrumentalists, both as private students and as performers in musical theatre pieces I have developed. In my residencies, I examine with the students what makes a song work: how does this lyric make us feel and why did the composer choose to write it that way. The time spent together builds to a live "cabaret-style" presentation of musical theatre pieces studied in class, as well as original offerings crafted in collaboration with the students themselves.

Depending on the theme and age group, residency activities may include:

1. To enable students, with or without a specific musical inclination, to experience the joy of the creative process
2. To foster a heightened awareness of music's often-unexplained effects on each of us
3. To vitalize the students' appreciation of the indigenous American art form we call musical theatre

Students benefit from my residencies because:

1. They receive a working theatre professional's insight and experience in an up-close and personal setting
2. They build self-esteem in the process of creating a successful song which reflects their personal creative expression
3. Those who perform in front of others hone their vocal/acting presentation skills under the watchful eye of a Broadway veteran composer and conductor
4. Those who are not necessarily musical by nature develop courage and confidence through music, much as they would in a public speaking class, as they are called upon to share their personal experiences with others in a relaxed environment

Example topics for my residencies include:

1. Musical theatre collaboration on Broadway: The Role of the Composer
2. Crafting a musical theatre song
3. Audition techniques: For the student actor, the amateur, and at the Broadway level
4. Musical theatre repertoire and its preparation for performance
5. History of the American musical and its influence on and reflection of the times

Janet Lawson
Improvisational Jazz Singer
RR 5, Box 5361, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301
570-421-3525
scatproductions@hotmail.com

I am a Grammy-nominated jazz singer offering improvisation, in performances and residencies, as a vehicle for communicating in a way that transcends barriers of ethnicity, background, or any limiting perspective that separates us as human beings. In my interactive residencies, students from all populations participate in a JAZZ JOURNEY, starting in W. Africa, where the origins of jazz and present day music began by imitating polyrhythmic sounds of nature and animals. The Journey continues with syncopations of the Caribbean, Call and Response of the Deep South of the U.S., Story-Songs of the Blues, New Orleans Romps and ends in the Big Cities with Bebop and Scat. It includes learning the structures of these different styles of music, together with the historical and social links, and an essential element of jazz-improvisation. Improvisation (spontaneously making up your own music offers students a rich experience of musical expression as a human connection to oneself and others...AND IT'S FUN!

Three main goals I have for all residencies are:

1. For the children to have fun
2. That children discover something new and daring to do: improvisation
3. That children learn the history, geography and human aspects of jazz

Depending on the theme and age group, residency activities may include:

1. Imitating many animals at the same time (polyrhythms)—translating those sounds into instruments Africans invented imitating those sounds.
2. Syncopated Latin rhythms — both singing and dancing them to an original song, "In The Caribbean" in order to feel the beat
3. Students composing original Blues — Story songs about their feelings learning a 12 bar blues form.
4. Imitating New Orleans instruments (tubas, trumpets, slide trombones, clarinets in the style of Dirge and Romps, all sung to "When the Saints Go Marchin' In".
5. Scat singing — each child creating their own made up language to a fast paced jazz tune.
6. Interacting in call and response musical conversations.

Students benefit from my residencies because:

1. They have permission to be who they are, feel what's true for them, experience a larger sense of themselves other than being right or wrong.
2. Improvisation is a direct line into natural abilities — being acknowledged for those abilities builds self esteem — self esteem supports self expression — it's a circle of how to be whole in the world.
3. Students make connections with the music that extend beyond only music — they discover historical, geographical, social, moral and ethical aspects to the music and how it evolved, stylistically as well as in all those societal ways.
4. Students develop social skills of interacting on a level of mutuality with musical conversation.
5. They have fun and learn profound and sophisticated concepts at the same time.

Example topics for my residencies include:

1. Jazz Journey
2. Improvisation is Fun
3. Bedoodleya Do Bop — Scat Singing

Additional residency information can be found at:
http://janetlawson.hypermart.net

Jackie Tice
Music/Singer/Songwriter
P.O. Box 333
Center Valley, PA 18034
610-967-1487
Jackie@jackietice.com

I am a songwriter, guitarist, visual artist and mother. These equally important disciplines create a balance and synergy in my work with students which creates a bridge to deep learning and downright fun! Born of mixed Native American and Old European ancestry, my philosophical and relational values focus on the interdependence of life - Nature and Human Nature. As the founder of All Nations Peace, Art for the Sake of Peace is the guiding principle in my personal, performance and teaching capacities. My work with students involves: dialogue, creative percussion, sound improvisation, exposure to the art-music connection, culturally- diverse media and materials, development of themes through an arts-based model, musical education of forms, patterns and vocabulary, and creation of visual and musical creations to support learning.