Drumming and Poetry Workshop at Cesar Chavez
On Monday, June 18, guerrilla poet Jessica Philie teamed up with Joe and Bill from the Rhythm Workers Union to facilitate a workshop at Cesar Chavez School for Public Policy , Parkside campus in NE DC. Eighteen energetic and talented students learned about different types of drums and percussion, as well as performing poetry on the mic with accompaniment. The students worked on their own piece and also created a new melody and chant/hook that they performed at the end of the workshop. They are polishing up their group piece for the Class of 2010 and 2009 CAPSTONE Presentation at the school on Friday, June 22, at 11:30 am. They have been discussing issues surrounding the themes of racism, sexism, and discrimination, and created a spoken word/rap song, with at least four rappers spittin' their thoughts on the subjects. The workshop helped some of them come out of their shells a bit on the mic, and the students will get to test out those skills in front of their peers as part of their year end work. We had fun, learned new things from and about each other, and made some memorable music together. One of the best workshops yet!