Philippa Schuyler
Major Steelpan
Ensemble and
St Stithians Prep
youth
together after
performances
Brooklyn, New
York
- History was
made this April
12 as
South Africa’s
St Stithians
College Marimba
Band traveled
over 7,000 miles, performing at
the prestigious
Philippa
Schuyler Middle
School for the
Gifted and Talented
located in Brooklyn,
New York. The
occasion was
a joint concert
with the
Philippa
Schuyler Major
Steelpan Ensemble.
The two-week
tour labeled
“2010 USA Tour,”
would take the
St Stithians
College Marimba
Band all-male
group made
up of
twenty-four
youth, through
Washington DC,
Boston and New
York before
they headed back
to their home of Johannesburg,
South Africa. Their
performances
featured the
boys playing
the Zimbabwe
musical
invention -
a
family of
instruments
known as the
Marimba.
Tour
Catalog
The thought
that a group
from Johannesburg,
South Africa
would, could
or even
should
perform at a
school in the
predominantly
Hispanic and
African
American
neighborhood
of Bushwick,
Brooklyn as
the major performing
stop in its
itinerary - would
have been unthinkable
only a few years
ago. This
meeting, performance
and special
moment say
much about the
people running
these two special
organizations.
Furthermore,
it says a
lot about
the
possibilities
of the
future.
In spite of
its
enormous
wealth,
culture and
beauty,
South Africa
is a place
with a
very recent
history of
horrific
injustices,
pain,
suffering,
racism,
death and
inequalities
suffered by
its native
majority
Afro
population,
experiences second to
none in the annals
of
atrocities
of man to
man.
Philippa
Schuyler
Major
Steelpan
Ensemble
open
joint
performance
in
Loretta
U. Boyce
Auditorium
Ironically,
the United
States also
continues to
be haunted
by its
equally
dreadful
history on
race issues.
And no where
is this
legacy felt
and seen
more, than
in the very
neighborhood
where this
concert was
being
held -
a neighborhood
symbolic
of many in
the USA
which
identify
with a
similar
legacy.
On this day
at the
concert, none
of the past
wounds and
distress
were visible.
What was
center stage
instead was
a spark, an
idea and a
means for
the world
youth to
perhaps move
forward in a
more
harmonic and
cooperative world - a
short
glimpse
at a
possible
future.
Nyasha
Rhoden -
Steelpan
Music
Director,
Philippa
Schuyler
-
addresses
the
audience
This unique
collaboration
and
performance
was
facilitated
by educator
and music
teacher Ms. Nyasha
Rhoden.
In addition
to
coordinating
this event,
Ms. Rhoden
is the Steelpan
Director of
Philippa Schuyler.
The success
of Ms.
Rhoden’s
program is
evident and
goes beyond
the actual
student
performances.
There is an
obvious
sensitivity to
and
recognition
of the
capacity of
the steel pan
instrument
among
students and
staff of Philippa Schuyler,
one
not normally
experienced
in the New
York
educational
system.
Moreover,
the global
outreach of
the program
is
undeniable.
Ms. Rhoden
is
a passionate
contributor
to the
steelpan
music
movement and
community
and whose
success is
seen clearly
through her
work.
The New York
educational
system and
the New York
Steelpan
community
are
fortunate to
have her
dedication, presence and
involvement.
The Show:
The Philippa
Schuyler’s
Steelpan
Ensemble
opened the
show with
three
classic
selections -
‘What’s
Going On?’
by Marvin
Gaye - ‘Oil
and Music’
by David
Rudder & Machel
Montano
(which had
some in the
audience
dancing in
their seats) and
‘Smooth
Criminal’ by
Michael
Jackson.
St Stithians Prep youth
onstage,
with
band
director Michael Sibanda, right
Mr. Michael
Sibanda,
director of
the St
Stithians
Boys’
Preparatory
Marimba
Introduction
and
Repertoire,
led the
performance
of the group
through a
varied
performance
that
featured
everything
from
traditional
South
African
folks songs
to Miriam Makeba’s
‘Click Song’
to Sting’s
‘Every
Breath You
Take.’
The audience, made up of
students of
Philippa Schuyler
Middle
School and some
visiting
parents, was
completely
taken by the
energetic performances
of the
visiting
South
African “Saints.”
Beyond the
music, this
venture was
a
successful
lesson in
cooperation,
friendship
and outreach
for the
students,
teachers and
community.
A Shared
Experience:
Philippa
Schuyler
principal
Ms. Barbara
Sanders
opened her
address to
her young
scholarly
charges
present with
the phrase “To
Whom Much is
Given,”
- and the
entire
student body
responded
immediately
with gusto “Much is
Required!”
In that
brief exchange Ms.
Sanders
summed up
all that it is
about.
Moreover, it
summarized what this
whole
exchange
between two
schools,
thousands of
miles apart,
signified.
St
Stithians
Boys’
Prep headmaster
Alistair
Stewart
addresses
the
audience
According to
Mr. Alistair
Stewart,
headmaster
of St Stithians Boys’ Preparatory, Johannesburg
was settled
on the “largest
depository
of gold ever
discovered on the planet earth,”
saying “hence why
Johannesburg
is known as the city of
gold...and
to the world.”
Stewart went
on further
to explain
that they were
bringing the
gift of
their music,
the music of
South Africa,
and that
they were
also
bringing
“the message
that music
brings us
all
together.”
St Stithians College has over
2,500
students.
The Boys’
Preparatory
School
covers the
ages 9
through 13.
The boys who
were on tour
and performed at
this concert
were 12 and
13 year-olds
from grades
6 and
7.
The motto
for this
tour as
printed on
the Saint
Stithians
Boys’
Preparatory
catalog is “a
South
African
School
Making a
World of
Difference.”
The motto
for the Philippa
Schuyler
Middle
School for
the Gifted
and Talented is,
“To Whom
Much is
Given, Much
is Required,”
and is the basis
for all
their
beliefs
and achievements.
The
overlapping
themes of
the
embodiment
of multiculturalism
and the
meeting of
high
expectations
and
standards
are the same
for both
educational
organizations.
Loretta U.
Boyce - Educator and
Visionary
This concert
was
performed in
the Loretta
U. Boyce
Auditorium
where the
walls
are adorned with
large banners
emblazoned
with words
like ‘Justice,’
‘Hope,’
‘Loyalty,’
‘Love,’
‘Respect’
and ‘Courage.’
These words
seem to take
on an added
significance
as these two
groups of
young people
based
continents
apart, came
together for
this
performance.
Loretta U.
Boyce is
the educator
who helped
create the
school for
gifted and
talented
black and
Hispanic
youngsters
in Brooklyn,
known as
Philippa
Schuyler
Middle
School.
Ms. Boyce joined
the New York
City public
school system
in the mid-1950’s
as a kindergarten
teacher at Public
School 125. She later became
an acting assistant
principal, assistant
superintendent
of schools in
District 16
and deputy superintendent
of schools in
District 32. In 1976, she
was named principal
of Intermediate
School 383,
the Philippa
Schuyler Middle
School for the
Gifted and Talented,
a special school
she had envisioned
for minority-group
children. The
school’s achievements
in reading have
consistently
ranked it among
the top schools
in New York
City.
And the joint
concert
between
students of
Philippa
Schuyler and
South
Africa’s St
Stithians Boys’
Preparatory
School would
have made
Mrs. Boyce
extremely
proud.
Philippa
Schuyler
Philippa
Schuyler
Middle
School for
the Gifted
and Talented
is named
after noted
American
child
prodigy and
pianist
Philippa
Duke
Schuyler
(August 2,
1931-May 9,
1967).
Actress
Halle Berry
and singer
Alicia Keys,
were
reportedly set to
work
together on
a movie
called Composition
of Black and
White. Keys
is expected
to play
Philippa
Schuyler, in
the upcoming
film to be
produced by
Berry.
Composition
of Black and
White is
based on the
life of
Philippa
Schuyler, a
pioneer in
interracial
battles in
the United
States, who
died in a
helicopter
crash in May
1967.
In
Pictures
Contact:
Nyasha
Rhoden -
nr311@nyu.edu;
Alistair
Stewart -
astewart@stithian.com;
Michael
Sibanda -
msibanda@stithian.com
|