Children's Aid Society Youth Participating in Make Music New York

June 19, 2009

Harmony in Harlem and Drew Drummers Will Jazz Up Harlem Playground as Part of Citywide Celebration of Music

Contacts:
Ellen Lubell, The Children’s Aid Society – (o) 212-949-4938, (c) 917-854-6864
Emily Crossan, The Children’s Aid Society – (o) 917-286-1548, (c) 201-344-5742

Day-of contact: Casper Lassiter – 347-234-8163

When:
Sunday, June 21, 2009
3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Where:
The Children’s Aid Society’s Drew Hamilton Center
Frederick Douglass Blvd at 142nd Street
Playground

What:
Youth from The Children’s Aid Society’s Drew Hamilton Center in Harlem will bring music to their playground and community on Sunday as part of the citywide Make Music New York celebration.

Harmony in Harlem, a youth jazz band created in partnership with Children’s Aid and the Jazz Museum in Harlem, will perform music by great Harlem composers. Harmony in Harlem comprises young musicians in grades 5 through 12 who have not had a prior opportunity to study jazz. In addition to playing music, the students also learn music theory and related skills that enable them to improvise and create their own unique jazz sound. The Drew Drummers, a group of young percussionists ages 9 to 17 from the Drew Hamilton Center, will also perform on Sunday. The group is learning to play rhythms from the Ivory Coast, R&B and hip hop compositions on conga and snare drums.

Make Music New York is back for a third year of free concerts in public spaces throughout the five boroughs of New York City, on the first day of summer. More than 850 free concerts will take place in over 300 outdoor public locations, featuring musicians of all ages and musical persuasions. For more information, visit www.makemusicny.org.

The Children’s Aid Society was founded in 1853. It is one of the nation’s largest and most innovative non-sectarian agencies, serving 150,000 of New York’s neediest children and their families with a network of services that includes community schools, neighborhood centers, camps, adoption and foster care services, arts programming, teen pregnancy prevention, education, health and recreation. The Children's Aid Society is a founding member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the vast majority of Children’s Aid sites are Boys & Girls Clubs. For more information, please call 212-949-4938 or email ellenl@childrensaidsociety.org.

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