In March 2004, CitySongs took its first 3-day road trip -- to rural Marshall, MN. In addition to providing an intense performing experience -- the group sang in three different locations in one day -- the road trip also provided a powerful cross-cultural learning experience both for our youth and also for Marshall residents. Housed by families involved in 4-H, CitySongs’ “city kids” had the opportunity to stay on farms, experience a bit of rural life, and make friends with other students and families who live over 150 miles (and a whole world) away. For many of our students, it was their first time on a farm, their first time touching “outside animals,” their first overnight away from families and relatives, their first time on a “coach bus,” and much more. For many 4-H families, the trip offered a “first time” opportunity to host someone from a different racial and/or cultural background. Building on the trip’s success, CitySongs and 4-H have made a commitment to repeat and expand the experience annually.

Together with the choir of the St. Paul Talmud Torah Hebrew Day School, CitySongs produces a joint community concert. Each choir learns, with its own music director, selected songs from the other group’s repertoire. Each group also engages in exercises, over the year, to learn about the culture, experiences, and characteristics of the other. In a long joint rehearsal, the two groups come together to constitute one large choir that can perform mutual repertoire together. During this rehearsal, youth and staff also participate in SWE exercises developed and conducted to promote mutual interaction, curiosity, and respect. At a public joint concert, each choir performs on its own, and the two groups perform together in what audience members describe as an extremely “moving,” “inspiring,” and even “life-changing” experience. Children from each group encounter the others on a level playing field, building healthy attitudes and relationships while becoming acquainted around cooperation on a project they all care about. Over the years, individual members of the two groups have established friendships that transcend the annual concerts, and they have developed sensibilities that extend well beyond their everyday lives.

"2 voices = 1 wonderful show!" Audience Member

"The kids are modeling how groups can work together." Audience Member

Recording Project
In collaboration with MusicTech College, CitySongs conducts a studio-based recording project at the end of each program year. We identify 2-4 songs that exemplify the year’s accomplishments, and we work to polish them for studio recording. Using individual behavior, effort, and availability as our only criteria, all CitySongs Kids from the year are invited to participate in a major group recording sessions at Music Tech’s studio. Smaller numbers of youth are invited back for solo and re-recording sessions. MusicTech donates studio facilities and engineering time, for both actual recording and also for mixing. In this process, CitySongs Kids learn a great deal about the difference between performing live and recording in the studio. For many, it is their first exposure (sometimes exciting; sometimes disappointing; always eye-opening) to what they imagine as the entirely glamorous world of the recording industry. Every two-four years, when we have accumulated enough high-quality material, CitySongs releases a CD. (We released Erasing Racism in May, 2003.) Recently, MusicTech has also begun to provide students (vocal majors; music tech majors) to volunteer at CitySongs rehearsals.

"I like that we get to record songs, because you get to hear yourself on a CD." CitySongs Kid

"The CD—it tells people about us." CitySongs Kid

For the 2003-04 program year, MusicTech has agreed to fund an engineering & production work-study student to work with CitySongs. This intern is a Tech Mentor who will:

1. Teach youth to set up, take down, and monitor sound equipment in performance
2. Do Pro-Tools mini-workshop for CitySongs staff and selected youth at MusicTech studios
3. Advise staff on purchasing and utilizing the equipment described throughout this proposal, to increase our technological abilities as well as those of the youth
4. Help staff “translate” instrumental accompaniments on cassette tape (created for CitySongs in earlier years) into digital format than we can use today; and more.