Hill-Freedman World Academy Students to Release Entire Album 'FIRST VERSE'

On Friday, June 16, Hill-Freedman World Academy, a public high school in the School District of Philadelphia, will release the original album FIRST VERSE: Sounds from Hill-Freedman Studios, the first offering from its new Hill-Freedman Records label.

The label is an outgrowth of the school's new Music Studio. The album will be released at a ceremony featuring Hill-Freedman administrators, faculty, students and guest artists at 9:30am in the auditorium.

FIRST VERSE was created in partnership with Philadelphia non-profit LiveConnections, which is dedicated to inspiring learning and building community through collaborative music-making. The CD of original student poetry and music is the culmination of a year-long project led by Hill-Freedman music technology teacher Ezechial Thurman. The project included a residency with LiveConnections featuring City of Philadelphia Poet Laureate Yolanda Wisher and noted composer/producer Andrew Lipke.

FIRST VERSE includes 29 original tracks, each combining a student-written poem with student-produced musical composition. The poems range from stories of personal struggle and family connection to meditations on love, identity and justice. The entire 10th grade at the school participated in the project, as part of the school's International Baccalaureate music technology curriculum.

The album project was spearheaded by Thurman, who came to Hill-Freedman this year to launch the Music Studio at the school. Thurman produced the album with LiveConnections Founding Director David Bradley.

"The music studio was a crazy dream of mine five years ago when we began discussions about expanding Hill-Freedman World Academy into a high school," said Hill-Freedman principal Anthony Majewski. "Thanks to financial support from The Philadelphia School Partnership and the drive and ambition of Mr. Thurman, the studio has become a reality. This first CD opens the doors for all to hear the important voices of our students."

Majewski noted that the project's combination of the school's curriculum, original student work and partnership with LiveConnections is just what he hoped for when the school invested in the studio last summer.

Thurman commented that the project involved the 10th graders in a range of topics throughout the year, from learning techniques of computer-based musical production to writing poetry in a variety of forms. Students worked alone and in teams. Several students joined together in the project's final weeks to produce a number of tracks collaboratively, a mark of what they've learned as creators and how they are thinking as leaders, said Thurman.

"Our music technology program is encouraging students to be creators, producers and self-starters," said Thurman. "We are seeing students learn how to take an idea from the design stage to the finished stage. They have things to say and we want to encourage that."

Thurman stated that the opportunity to collaborate with LiveConnections and its teaching artists Wisher and Lipke offers a unique opportunity for high school students. Wisher worked weekly with students throughout the winter and spring on writing and performing poetry, and Lipke joined in the spring to offer production mentoring.

"LiveConnections commits to bringing artists of the highest caliber to work with students," Thurman said. "Yolanda and Andrew inspired the students and they worked with the students, encouraging their ideas, showing them how to grow their work. They took our students seriously."

10th grader Bria Jordan, whose composition "Gold Bills on Top" appears on the album and who became a student producer for the project, agreed. "Spending Fridays with the Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, Yolanda Wisher, ignited my fire for poetry again," Jordan said. "Even though music technology wasn't my strong suit, the fact that I could work on perfecting my craft in a school setting was invigorating. And what really matters are the student voices that are finally being heard after being inaudible for so long."

Bradley, who co-founded LiveConnections in 2008, applauded Hill Freedman's commitment to the arts. "Hill-Freedman is making the arts a priority in students' learning. This is just the kind of collaboration we want to be part of-where students, principals, teachers and artists all join together to create something new. It makes for music worth listening to and a partnership worth committing to."

Last year, LiveConnections teamed with Thurman at Henry Houston Elementary School to create the original album A Day in My Life.

In addition to the Philadelphia School Partnership's support for establishing the Music Studio, the FIRST VERSE project has received support from the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, the Patricia Kind Family Foundation, the Scholler Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation. LiveConnections is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Additional support for LiveConnections is provided in part by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

Hill-Freedman World Academy is a special admission middle and high school in Northwest Philadelphia. We proudly serve students with a variety of backgrounds, talents, and needs. Hill-Freedman World Academy provides a rigorous academic environment that inspires individuality and fosters lifelong learners who are committed to being knowledgeable, caring, internationally-minded global citizens. Hill-Freedman is a school where "All Means All" and where students are challenged and encouraged to develop their talents, even those yet to be discovered.

LiveConnections inspires learning and builds community through collaborative music-making. In 2008, a team of artists, educators and entrepreneurs founded LiveConnections to address declining music education in Philly schools and tap into the people-connecting power of music. Bridge Sessions, our signature interactive educational programs, blend live performances with hands-on activities, introducing urban students and people with disabilities to diverse musical cultures. Our in-school and after-school residencies provide students with sustained, in-depth music-making experiences. In addition, our innovative LiveConnections Presents concert series features collaborative concerts that cross musical boundaries. We are a nonprofit organization in residence at World Cafe Live. For more information, go to liveconnections.org.

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