CEHS
Music Dept Received a Grant from Donor’s Choose to Implement a Jazz Program
The Cape Elizabeth High School music department recently received a grant from
Donor’s
Choose to implement the program “Exploring the Count: Count .Basie, That Is”
with the
Wednesday Evening Jazz Ensemble. That grant will enable Mr. Lizotte to purchase
books,
music and recordings to be used in the teaching of the evolution of jazz in
Kansas City in the 1930s.
“One of the pieces the Wednesday Band is performing this year is ‘Moten
Swing,’ which dates
back to the late 1920s and has been in the Basie library for the past 70 years.
It is truly Mozart,
but jazz,” said band director Tom Lizotte.
“The plan all along was to use this piece to teach about the Kansas City jazz
scene of the 1920s
and ‘30s. It was truly a wild place – a wide-open, rollicking town with
literally hundreds of nightspots
and jazz 24/7. This, during the height of
Prohibition!
“The Basie band emerged from that scene. So did the bands of the Moten
brothers, Jay McShann,
Andy Kirk and Harlan Leonard. The great alto player,
Charlie Parker, grew up in Kansas City and
listened to these bands.
“The culture and history are so rich. I wanted to approach this music as an
opportunity for
multicultural education,” Lizotte said.
At around this time Gail Rice, a member of the band boosters, told Mr. Lizotte
about Donors Choose.
She suggested that Cape apply for a grant, and the Basie
project seemed a natural to Mr. Lizotte.
They worked together on the grant
application, and in September Mr. Lizotte was informed the grant
had been funded
for $400.
“It is one thing to learn a piece of music. It is entirely a different thing
to put in into a sociological and
historical context. This grant will help us do
that,” he stated.
DonorsChoose.org is a nationwide, Internet-based program that helps schools
through the purchase
of educational supplies, field trips, residencies by
visiting artists, recordings, books and other
enrichment materials. Since being
founded by a New York City teacher in 2000, DonorsChoose.org
has delivered $20
million in classroom resources to one million students across the country. In
2007
the program became available to all public school teachers in Maine.
“I’m so happy that Gail made me aware of this program,” Lizotte said.
“This grant will make what
we envisioned as a rich aspect of our 2008
programming that much more comprehensive. We are
very excited about the positive
impact this will have on your children.”