Kennesaw State Bailey School of Music to Celebrate Black History Month with Music

KENNESAW, Ga. | Feb 7, 2023

Five diverse performances, including one from student organization, celebrate Black heritage

ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬ Bailey School of Music will celebrate Black History Month with a festival of five concerts, beginning Feb. 17 and running through Feb. 25. ā€œMoving Forward, Togetherā€ features a myriad of creative talent, including choral, jazz, orchestra, gospel, and even an interdisciplinary production. 

ā€œThe Blueprint: #BacktoBlackā€
On Friday, Feb. 17, the Black Musicians Coalition will kick off the festival with an evening dedicated to Black history: ā€œā€ The student organization hopes to positively influence the experiences of Black students at the Bailey School of Music. 

The Coalitionā€™s president, Sydnee Goode (senior, Choral Music Education), says that itā€™s ā€œimportant that Black musicians have a safe space to justā€¦be.ā€ Recent activities over the past year have included cookie decorating, a Friendsgiving dinner, and a couple of nights of Karaoke. Goode hopes that the ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬ community will continue to recognize that Black musicians attending the university are magic. ā€œWe are the blueprint,ā€ she explains. 

image of students onstage
On Friday, Feb. 17, the Black Musicians Coalition will kick off the festival with an evening dedicated to Black history: ā€œThe Blueprint: #BacktoBlack.ā€ The student organization hopes to positively influence the experiences of Black students at the Bailey School of Music. (Image courtesy of Sydnee Goode.)

Award-winning Organization
ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬ formally recognized them last year, as the Coalition won numerous awards, including Student Group of the Year, and the Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion Award in the student group category. Goode has been surprised by the ā€œimpact that we have on each other and the ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬ community. We created this interdisciplinary production to invite all Black creatives to create and share their brilliant ideas with the world.ā€ 

, Interim Dean of the College of the Arts, says, ā€œWe are so proud of Sydnee and all the student leaders of the Black Musicians Coalition. ā€˜The Blueprintā€™ is a wonderful, collaborative celebration of Black History Month that engages students from across our College and ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬.ā€ 

ā€œMoving Forward, Togetherā€

flyer for black history month
ArtsĪŽĀė±äĢ¬ and the Bailey School of Music will celebrate Black History Month with five music performances.

The idea behind ā€œMoving Forward, Togetherā€ was born out of the Bailey School of Music. Composer/musician , the faculty advisor for the Black Musicians Coalition and a music professor at ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬, explains that ā€œwe are all on this journey together. The things that happened in the pastā€”for example, slaveryā€”and the collision between the two cultures produced the music of the blues, which led to jazz and R&B, and then rock music. Thatā€™s the music that came out of suffering, the music that we export to the globe.ā€ 

Jackson explains why itā€™s important for ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬ ā€œto value the music [the students] grew up with, are interested in, or are culturally invested in. So, when students can put forward their own music, it not only brings them joy, but also legitimatizes it; it reaffirms that their music has value.ā€ He notes that there is a symbiotic relationship between diverse audiences and programming. 

F.T.M.O. Tyrone Jackson
On Monday, Feb. 20, the Faculty Jazz Parliament will play featured music from Jacksonā€™s numerous CDs. He says, ā€œThis is an opportunity to invite folks to our campus for a great concert.ā€ Some selections include pieces written with African movements; heā€™s excited that ā€œour jazz faculty is so large, that we have every instrument we need: vocals, hornsā€”including two saxophones, a jazz trumpet, and a jazz tromboneā€”plus guitar, bass, and, of course, drums.ā€ 

He has released four CDā€™s, including his latest one, ā€œF.T.M.O Tyrone Jackson,ā€ (From The Mind Ofā€¦) which he describes as a ā€œwonderful collaboration with a lot of different people.ā€ The CD is available on numerous music platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify. 

Highlighting Black Excellence
Next up for the Black History Month Festival is ā€œLift Every Voiceā€ on Tues., Feb. 21, featuring the Chamber Singers, Chorale, Treble Choir, and Menā€™s Ensemble. This concert will feature a myriad of soloists as well as collaborative songs. On Friday, Feb. 24, , director, will lead Jazz Ensemble I, featuring Arlington Jones, piano, Jorge Ginorio, drums, and JesĆŗs Castro-Balbi, cello. 

New Collaborations
The week will end with a moving concert by the ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬ Symphony Orchestra, led by , and the ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬ Gospel Choir, led by . This is the first time that the Symphony Orchestra and Gospel Choir have shared the stage. 

Parker says, ā€œIā€™m very excited about this performance, programmed in collaboration with my amazing colleague, Oral Moses. All pieces on the program were written by Black composers, but the repertoire reflects several different eras, ranging from Florence Priceā€”the matriarch of Black American composersā€”to the world premiere of a new work written by ĪŽĀė±äĢ¬ alumnus, Nicholas Felder. It also showcases a spectrum of Black and Black-influenced musical styles: the spiritual, gospel music, contemporary art music, and, in Daniel Bernard Roumainā€™s work, hip-hop and spoken word. I canā€™t wait to share this diverse and thought-provoking program with our audience.ā€

Tickets Now on Sale
Tickets for ā€œThe Blueprint: #BackToBlackā€ are $5 for students and $8 for adults and are available . Tickets and reservations for all other concerts are available at MusicĪŽĀė±äĢ¬.com or by calling 470-578-6650. 

--Kathie Beckett

Related Posts