The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/28554
Getting funky for high school music program Though it often seems that they live in different worlds, students at SUNY Oneonta and Oneonta High School attend classes that are less than a mile apart. Now, several years after the college’s music industry department began to feature cutting-edge produc- tion technology as part of its academic programs, the high school is poised to take the same steps. Creating a sustainable music produc- tion program from scratch requires funding that the school has yet to ac- quire. However, in these early stages, it has found valuable benefactors in both liveLIVE! Productions, a local music production company that was founded by several SUNY Oneonta graduates, and current student-based college ensembles. The result of this relationship will be a benefit concert titled “Funk’d on Phonics” that will take place at The Au- tumn Café on Thursday, April 7. The show will feature SUNY Oneonta’s two student funk bands, which are directed by Jeremy Wall, assistant professor of music at SUNY Oneonta and a found- ing member of the influential jazz-fu- sion group Spyro Gyra. Mr. 6, SUNY Oneonta’s student jam band directed by Joe Pignato, assistant professor of music at the college, will also perform. Fifty percent of all proceeds from the concert will go to Oneonta High School’s music department. According to Michael Depauw, the OHS band director, the school plans to use the funds to purchase professional-quality music production software such as Pro Tools and Reason. After the materials can be secured, the department’s overall goal is to use those tools to begin a music production program that will introduce students to the software and its practical role in today’s music industry. “When we started the company, we knew that we were going to be as devoted as we pos- sibly could to local arts and music,” said Daniel Sternstein, one of liveLIVE!’s founders and a SUNY Oneonta graduate. “I wish I had had a class that dealt with music production when I was in high school, and hearing about what OHS is planning to do got us really excited. It made us ask: what can liveLIVE! do to help out?” That question will be answered a week from today, as the first steps towards a new high school program will be taken by liveLIVE! and the college musicians from that other academic world across the street. “Funk’d on Phonics” is open to concertgoers ages 18 and older, and will begin at 10 p.m. Thursday, April 7. Tickets at the door are $5 those younger than 21, and $3 for those 21 and older. Donations to the high school will also be accepted throughout the event. _ Sam Spokony March 31, 2011 O-Town Scene 19 Featured Musician Citizen Cope PARTIAL PLAYLIST Brother Lee I Couldn’t Explain Why Bullet and a Target Healing Hands Lifeline Contributed Each week, SUNY Oneonta-based NPR affiliate WUOW features a worthy mu- sician in its Friday Night Featured Artist radio program from 8 to 9 p.m. at 104.7 FM in Oneonta and online at wuow.org. This week’s Friday featured artist is “Citizen Cope.” Born Clarence Green- wood, the Brooklyn-based artist has crafted an artistic rendering redolent of such classic tunesmiths as Randy Newman and Stevie Wonder – both major touch- stones for his emotively penned songs. As such, it’s virtually impossible to put a finger on Citizen Cope’s idiosyncratically inimitable sound.