The program also has a partnership with Berklee City Music Boston, an out-of-school, student-centered music and performing arts educational organization. Others are on their way.Įvery high school band in the city has students from the Roots of Music, most serving as section leaders, Tabb said. Roots of Music graduates, like Jazz Henry, have gone on to have professional careers in music. “There’s no feeling like coming here and seeing kids happy and wanting to succeed,” Tabb said ![]() When he’s older, he wants to play in a brass band before branching out to work as a band director. Like Tabb, Peterson said music has changed his life. “I can get scholarships to schools now and travel all over the world playing music.” “Playing a horn isn’t just for the moment,” he said. ![]() “I just knew I wanted to join them,” he said.Īfter a quick application, he was learning the rudiments of music and playing the drums, before eventually moving on to horns.Īlthough he wishes he could stay longer, he said he is grateful for all that he has been able to accomplish with the group. He remembers hearing the band for the first time while looking up random bands on YouTube. “I know it’s going to hit me hard.”īefore Roots, Peterson said he had never touched an instrument. “I’m sad because, I’ve been here since I was little,” he said. It builds friendships with the whole family,” he said.įor ninth grader Imand Peterson, 15, who plays the French horn, the performance at Satchmo SummerFest will be his final with the Roots of Music, as it’s time for him to graduate from the program. “When you bring the kids together, you bring moms, dads and everyone else. Tabb said the added bonus of bringing the kids together is that it also brings entire communities closer. Now they have a positive reason to be together instead of being out doing whatever.” “It brings them together around a common goal at a neutral place. “It’s also like an anti-crime program,” he said, explaining that the band helps the kids build friendships and learn about teamwork. With kids coming from all over the city, Tabb said the program is about much more than music. “It gets them to see another part of the world, experience a different culture and meet new people that they probably wouldn’t have.” “It’s a good time for (the) kids,” Tabb said. The band also travels around the world for performance opportunities, having previously played in London, Canada, France, Amsterdam and most recently Switzerland. Throughout the year, they perform at conventions and festivals in New Orleans, in addition to parades. Since starting in 2007, the program has grown from a group of 42 student musicians to about 150. The program operates year-round, with students coming four to five times a week for music history and theory lessons, instrumental instruction and performance preparation, which includes honing the marching and drill skills that make them Carnival parade regulars. “Implementing them made this a no-excuse program.” “Those three things are the tools these kids really needed to succeed,” Tabb said. Tabb said he hopes that the tutors can serve as role models for his students and inspire them to pursue higher education. The tutoring program is led by students from Tulane and other local universities. ![]() As for food, each day students receive a hot meal, donated to the program from organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank. After practice, the buses take the kids back home. Roots of Music operates three buses that pick up the students from over 50 schools around the city, Tabb said. He has expanded on the music-program concept by introducing transportation, food, and tutoring. “He saved my life,” said Tabb, who then began to use music as a positive outlet. outside of the New Orleans Jazz Museum's gates on Esplanade Avenue.Įstablished in 2007, the Roots of Music is a nonprofit, after-school and summer music education program for kids ages 9-14 from low-income households.ĭerrick Tabb, Roots co-founder and executive director, said he was inspired to create the program after his junior-high band director took a special interest in him. The Roots of Music plays Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The festival will be held Saturday and Sunday. The band, known as the Roots of Music Marching Crusaders, is rehearsing for its upcoming performance at this weekend's annual Satchmo Summerfest, a two day-festival dedicated to the legendary New Orleans jazz musician Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong. With a wave of his hand, their director, Lawrence Rawlins, queues them in and they sound their instruments in unison, playing the notes to Starpoint’s “Object of My Desire.”
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