ASSEMBLY PROGRAMS FOR PRE-K THROUGH GRADE 8
PASSPORT TO THE AMAZING WORLD OF MUSIC
Celebrating Human Ingenuity and Self-Expression through Music
For entry into the Amazing World of Music the only "passport" required is imagination! Tracey journeys the globe to explore the ingenious ways in which people answer the universal need for self-expression through music. She highlights music of cultures on six continents using instruments fashioned from plants, trees, shells, seeds, animal parts, insect cocoons, household utensils, metals, and all sorts of would-be trash, illustrating how music reflects both the habitat and the culture from which it comes. Emphasizing the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling, Tracey invites students to explore the potential for "musical repurposing" within their own recycle bins. PASSPORT TO THE AMAZING WORLD OF MUSIC: Celebrating Human Ingenuity and Self-Expression through Music is a highly interactive program whose destinations include Asia, Australia, North and South America, Polynesia, the Middle East, East and West Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe. People of all ages are fascinated by the sights and sounds of steel pan, cuica, saz, zills, dumbek, kalimba, djembe, digeridoo, pan pipes, chachas, charango, fiddle, ukulele, Polynesian nose flute, Native American flute and rattle, buffalo drum, and more. Through easily-mastered dances students gain kinesthetic insight into highlighted cultures. Other interactive activities include call-and-response singing, map navigation, drum mnemonics, body percussion, student "guest appearances," and Q&A. Performed in solo or duo format.
**PASSPORT TO THE AMAZING WORLD OF MUSIC is also adaptable for preschool audiences.**
GRACE AND FIRE
A Celebration of World Cultures through Music and Dance
When Tracey Eldridge (stringed instruments, aerophones, percussion, vocals, and dance), Marsha Searle (dance, percussion, and vocals), and Jon Glik (violins, percussion, and dance) take the stage together, the result is a veritable explosion of world music and dance. GRACE AND FIRE: A Celebration of World Cultures through Music and Dance features highly energetic performances of music and dance from cultures on five continents. With a deep respect for cultures and traditions acquired through years of international travel, study, and touring, these gifted performers bring the world to your stage. In this program they explore some of the roles--beyond entertainment--that music and dance play in cultures around the world. Tracey Eldridge & Company performs music on authentic instruments fashioned from habitat-specific resources and dances which reflect the cultures and environments from which they come. GRACE AND FIRE circumvents the globe with ports of call in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. The program teems with audience participation including call-and-reponse singing, body percussion, audience volunteer "guest appearances", and simple dance movement that's easy to master by people of all ages. Performed in trio format.
THE GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC TREE
One Nation, Many Cultures
21st-century America is home to a flourishing, multi-faceted, technicolor music tree. It appeared neither suddenly nor recently but has, rather, grown out of roots transplanted before the United States declared itself a nation. In THE GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC TREE: One Nation, Many Cultures Tracey Eldridge & Company examines the roots of our modern American "music tree", exploring forms of music and dance that came about when vastly different cultures met for the first time on American soil. Students gain understanding of music and dance as both expressions of American history with its immigrations and migrations and as reflections of the cultural heritages of its immigrants. Audiences hear music from Native American cultures, the British Isles, Central and West Africa, the New England colonies, the Deep South, the Mississippi Delta, and modern urban America. They see and hear the musical instruments that typify each of the represented musical traditions. Children gain appreciation of the blues as a product of cultural convergence and as the foundation of rock'n'roll, jazz, and R&B. And they learn to distinguish the European elements of modern music and dance from the elements imported from Africa. Highly interactive, THE GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC TREE features African and African-American call-and-response singing, body percussion, easy-to-master dance movement, student "guest' appearances, map navigation, and Q&A. The program concludes with a rap music & dance party in which everyone plays an integral part. While the program is educational, it's a ton of fun for the kids. Performed in trio format.