This year marks the 14th year of Bridge Sessions, our flagship program for Philly students that combines interactive performances with educational workshops. These sessions began in 2008 when our founder Hal Real and board member David Bradley witnessed the drastically shifting landscape of music education in Philly schools and knew something needed to be done.
With music classes being cut, they decided to bring local musicians together to create interactive workshops for students to learn about music from around the world. Classic sessions like “World of Percussion” and “Dancing Vibrations” were born! After 14 years and tens of thousands of students, we’ve developed a robust roster of inclusive, diverse Bridge Sessions to offer Philadelphia schools and other community groups.
Our Bridge Sessions target curriculum standards while introducing concepts that you won’t find inside school music programs. This fall saw ill-Fated & friends present “We Been Outside,” focusing on the evolving traditions of Afro-Caribbean beats; NYC-based People of Earth taught high schoolers about Cuban music; we brought Dave G and Enoch the Poet on to talk about processing negative emotions through poetry in “Verses & Rhythms.”
High schoolers from Samuel Fels High School and Academy at Palumbo got the chance to work with People of Earth. The students worked together to create their own spin on the Cuban music tradition and created vocal, drum, and dance parts!
Our Spring ’23 season of Bridge Sessions is going to be full of musical delights & surprises for Philly students, and we can’t wait! This access to original music education would not be possible without support from WCL audiences – you can donate here or add a donation to any ticket purchase.
