New York Crew Kick Off

New York Crew gets ready to serve.

In October, From the Top and Young Audiences New Jersey (YANJ) facilitated a three-hour workshop for New York area alumni to prepare for another exciting year of performances and demonstrations in the Newark public schools.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Prudential Foundation, our six alumni volunteers Ibanda Ruhumbika, 19, tuba, Christopher Pell, 18, clarinet, Karen Cueva, 18, violin, Khari Joyner, 18, cello, Patrick McGuire, 19, cello, and Brian Ge, 12, piano, all students at the Juilliard School, will perform for and inspire students through one of two programs:

Make Your Own Radio Show, a residency that engages students in the creative process of producing their own From the Top-inspired radio show.

From the Top Times 2, which pairs a From the Top musician with a YANJ teaching artist for a one-day, two- performance visit, combining a larger assembly performance with a more intimate workshop for music students in the school.

During the workshop, the musicians shared their past experiences playing for kids and worked with teaching artists from YANJ on developing effective and fun school presentations. Everyone got to test out their ideas with the group and give feedback to each other. One highlight was when Chris Pell demonstrated all the different parts and functions of his clarinet to the group, as they pretended to be curious third graders. We all learned something new!

All six of these talented musicians have taken part in school visits and various leadership projects previously with From the Top, including Brian Ge, who took part in last year’s program.

And of course, what From the Top event would be complete without a pizza party at the end…

Karen Cueva and Patrick McGuire are already slated to perform together in November.

We’re excited to follow their work. Stay tuned for more updates!