ISLA

In connection with Carnegie Hall and the Weill Music Institute’s Cultural Exchange program Young Producers Project led a month-long audio and video production workshop at the International School for Liberal Arts (ISLA) in the Bronx. The workshop synthesized themes students, the majority of whom were born in the Dominican Republic, had been learning about all year during the cultural exchange program.  They used the rhythms of Mexican harp virtuoso Celso Duarte’s music as a jumping off point for the creation of a new piece of music. Students assumed the role of ambassadors as they observed their community in light of what they wanted to represent and share with their peers in Mexico. The goal of the resulting song and music video was a portrait of the vibrant community surrounding ISLA from the unique perspectives of this young generation. The music video, directed by Jon Vitagliano, premiered at Zankel Hall on May 6, 2010.

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“Una Vaina Bien” track from music video

RIKERS ISLAND, HORIZONS & CROSSROADS

This past year Carnegie Hallʼs Weill Music Institute invited YPP to join the pilot year of its Musical Connections Program. Through Musical Connections, we’ve had the opportunity of leading music composition and production workshops with patients at Beth Abraham Hospital’s Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), and with young inmates on Rikers Island in collaboration with the Charlie Porter Quartet. This winter YPP joined forces with vocalist Jo Lawry and percussionist James Shipp in two successful and emotionally charged projects at Horizons and Crossroads Juvenile Detention Centers in the Bronx and Brooklyn.

Featured Tracks:

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“Crossroads Podcast” featuring interviews and music produced by residents at Crossroads.

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1: “Sky Super Fly” featuring Charlie Porter and Joseph Lepore
2: “On The Corner” featuring Jo Lawry and James Shipp
3: “Untold Story” featuring Charlie Porter

BCAM HIGH

YPP is now in its third year at Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School (BCAM), which has been the site of some of our most successful projects. Our videos ‘Yin & Yang’ and ‘Right About Now’ feature musicians who came out of this program. We owe our success at BCAM to its talented students, as well as support from Principal James O’Brian and Assistant Principal Samantha Charles-Pierre. We have also had the pleasure of collaborating with BCAM teachers Adam Mendola (video), Christy Herbes (art), and Kevin Greer (English).

Featured Tracks:

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1: James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake: Remixed
2: Real Lives
3: Rock Paper Scissors Say Shoot (RPSSS)
4: Ya Dig
5: Welcome to Brooklyn
6: Bang On A Can

APV IN INDIA

YPP co-director Chris Marianetti spent the month of July 2009 living, working, teaching and studying at the Ashram Paryavarn Vidhyalaya School (APV) in the northern Indian Himalayan region of Uttarakhand. The project was directed by Marc Alongi and Anand Dwivedi and sponsored by the Himalayan Mindful Learning Project and the Young Producer’s Project. Chris writes: “Our initial goal was to setup a small sustainable recording studio at the school and to introduce APV teachers to various music composition and production elements. We used Ableton Live to do this. I worked primarily with two teachers, Naresh Bhai and Mohan Panwar Singh. The resulting project was more interesting and complex than I had expected. Combining field recordings we made of APV and surrounding towns, studio recordings we produced of tabla, harmonium, flute, and mouth percussion, with Anand Dwivedi’s discussions on meditation and education, we created what could be described as both a half an hour long dynamic guide to meditation, as well as a sonic portrait of the life and world of the ashram.”

Click below to listen.

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SCHOOL FOR EXCELLENCE

Our students from the Bronx-based School for Excellence are a highly collaborative and creative group. During eight two-hour sessions we developed a hip-hop beat, a radio ad campaign commercial against smoking, and a short-length comic-thriller soundtrack/radio play. Students also designed their own musical scores using graphic notation, and developed an impressive library of sound effects. Featured tracks from SFE

1) Horror Pizza: An Original Radio Play

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2) No More Pain: Anti-Smoking Ad Campaign

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