SPL is very pleased to announce that we have been awarded Charm Bracelet Microgrant to implement a program that will take place this fall, called Northside Songs. The Charm Bracelet Project “is a network of cultural, educational, and recreational organizations transforming traditional understandings of how institutions make community impact.” CBP works collectively to foster a vibrant, attractive and accessible Northside that is unified by visible, lasting connections between organizations and amenities.
We’ll be posting updates as the project continues, sp please stay tuned. Here’s our project description…
Folksongs, by definition, are the songs of the people. In this collaborative arts project, 75 to 150 Northside school children (Grades 2 through 4) will explore, research, write, record, and perform contemporary folksongs about Pittsburgh’s Northside, past and present. Working in small groups, under the direction of local professional musicians, sound engineers, and experts in regional history, culture, and ecology, children will discover and celebrate the Northside’s unique story. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of, and appreciation for, the history, culture and ecology of their neighborhood while enhancing self-confidence, creativity, and important academic, performance, and social skills.
SPL will teach children about folk music, including its place in our culture as a way of celebrating and remembering the world around us. After these basics, children will then be mentored in the process of writing folk songs about places, history, culture, ecology and people of the Northside. SPL will nurture students throughout the process and also work with school staff and the Carnegie Library Allegheny Regional Branch to help provide ideas and historic information. Following completion of songwriting, SLB will come to the school with multi-track recording equipment to record the newly created songs, after which recordings will be digitally mastered and published to CD and the Internet.
Sense of Place Learning 
Leave a Reply