Concord International Elementary: Poetry and Song 2018
In the 2017-2018 school year, 2nd Graders at Concord International Elementary School worked with Jack Straw teaching artist Vicky Edmonds to write original poems about feelings, family, and nature. Jack Straw musicians Abel Rocha and Tai Shan wrote songs inspired by the students’ poems – Abel working with Ms. Tabor and Ms. Groszhans’s classes, and Tai working with Ms. Adams’s class. Abel and Tai taught the students their songs, and Jack Straw engineers Joel Maddox and Daniel Guenther recorded them in the classroom. Abel performed along with his fellow members of Trio Guadalevín, August Denhard and Antonio Gómez.
Vicky Edmonds also worked with Concord 4th graders in Ms. Klaassen, Ms. Klein, Ms. Delavigne, Ms. Schnathorst, and Mr. Tobin’s classes. She helped them write poems on many topics, including family, personal feelings and emotions, and nature. The students came to Jack Straw’s studios, where vocal coaches Alyssa Keene and Kerry Skalsky helped each of them record the best possible performance of their poem. Jack Straw audio engineers Daniel Guenther, Joel Maddox, and Ayesha Ubayatilaka recorded everything, and all of the 2nd and 4th graders received a CD of their work.
This year, Vicky also helped Doug Pentland and Nicole Radosevich’s 1st graders write their own poems.
Listen to the songs and poems from the CD:
Concord Poetry and Song 2018 was produced by Jack Straw Cultural Center and Concord International Elementary School with the generous support of Creative Advantage, Jubilation Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, the Washington State Arts Commission, and individual contributors.
Artists
Vicky Edmonds
Vicky Edmonds is a poet and a teacher who uses the written and spoken word to bring the deepest and most authentic parts of ourselves to the page into the…
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Tai Shan
Tai Shan has performed throughout the West Coast at venues such as Seattle’s Benaroya Hall and San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. She has composed for jazz ensembles and string…
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Abel Rocha
Abel Rocha is a Mexico City-born folklorist, singer and multi-instrumentalist who performs music of Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Chile and Argentina. He is a foundational member of groups including…
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Antonio Davidson-Gómez
Antonio Davidson-Gómez is an educator and percussionist focused on fostering musical dialogue between cultures. He has studied, performed and recorded in various genres with emphases on Mediterranean, Middle…
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August Denhard
As a performer on lute, theorbo and Baroque guitar, August Denhard has appeared with Baroque Northwest, Seattle Baroque, the Concord Ensemble, Chicago Music of the Baroque, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra…
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