The upper school received a visit today from the Langston Hughes Project, a fusion of music, literature and history led by Ron McCurdy, a professor of music at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.
McCurdy first gave a morning lecture on Langston Hughes and the many artists of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Later, the accomplished trumpeter was joined by drummer Mike Mitchell, bassist Giulio Cetto and pianist (and 2001 Harker middle school graduate) Yuma Sung at a special assembly at the Athletic Center, where McCurdy gave a powerful performance of Hughes’ poetic suite “Ask Your Mama,” reciting and singing Hughes’ lines as images and film reels of figures and events of African-American history were displayed behind the group.
Members of the upper school’s Jazz Band later attended a special master class given by McCurdy, where they performed Cannonball Adderley’s “Work Song” and received his feedback. McCurdy advised students to use their sheet music as a roadmap and avoid scanning it too much as they played. He also told them to learn the history behind the pieces they learn: “If you understand the history of why you’re doing what you’re doing, it’ll make a whole lot more sense to you.”
McCurdy also worked with the Downbeat show choir, which had been learning Nina Simone’s version of the 1960s show tune “Feeling Good.” After hearing their rendition, McCurdy coached the singers supporting the soloists to do more than simply sing the notes in their part. “Sing like you mean it,” he said, referring to the optimism in Simone’s performance. “I’ve got to hear that joy, that optimism.”
Last week, students in Rebecca Williams’ grade 7 English classes participated in an activity modeled after the popular TV show “Shark Tank.” Students created pitches to convince a panel of “Sharks” – middle school division head Evan Barth, assistant middle school division head Patricia Lai-Burrows, global education director Jennifer Walrod, English teacher Marjorie Hazeltine and middle school librarian Bernie Morrissey – to award money to charitable organizations chosen by the students.
Pitches were created by several students from each grade 7 English class, and each class voted to see who would face the panel in the final round. Williams came up with the idea for the activity both as a persuasive writing exercise and as a means of helping students “realize the privilege that we have.”
Harker parents raised the $700 in prize money, which was distributed among the finalists based on the judges’ evaluation of their pitches. Ritu Belani’s pitch took first place, earning $480 for the Women’s Global Empowerment Fund. Lera Vaisburd’s second-place pitch netted $90 for the American Cancer Society. In third place were Meishin Yen and Mira Goodwin, who donated $70 to the Best Friends Animal Society. Jason Monaghan won $40 for Doctors Without Borders, and Alice Tao and Reshma Kosaraju secured $20 for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“We really wanted the kids to have to consider their audience,” Williams noted. “I was just truly blown away by their preparedness, poise, confidence and passion.”
On Friday, students in Charles Shuttleworth’s class on Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation received a special visit from Jami Cassady Ratto, daughter of influential beat writer Neal Cassady, whose works were a major influence on Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other important counterculture writers. Joined by her husband, Randy, Ratto shared excerpts from a famous letter that Neal Cassady wrote to Kerouac, which had a major impact on the style that Kerouac later became famous for in works such as “On the Road.” She also reminisced about her time growing up in early 1960s Los Gatos and told stories about her father, Kerouac and other cultural icons of the time, including the Grateful Dead.
Julie Wheeler’s AP US History students were invited to sit in on one of the classes and were given a brief overview of the Beat Generation and its works by Shuttleworth’s students, covering the authors’ disillusionment with 1950s American culture, their jazz-influenced writing style and their importance to later counterculture movements.
“The students told me they really enjoyed the experience,” said Shuttleworth. “It was another opportunity for them to interact directly with a primary source and experience living history.”
Last weekend, 29 upper school students made the trip to Ashland, Ore., to visit the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The long-running repertory theater, founded in 1935, is an annual destination for upper school English teacher Pauline Paskali’s students, who gain a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s works by seeing them interpreted in a live setting by professional actors. Paskali first made the trip with four of her students in 2009.
This year, the group enjoyed performances of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Henry IV,” as well as a production of the 2014 play “Shakespeare in Love,” one of several contemporary works that OSF produces each year. Students also attended a workshop in which they learned about some of the narrative elements of Shakespeare’s plays.
Arusha Patil and Alexander Kumar, both grade 9, were recently honored in the 2017 Promising Young Writers Program, organized by the National Council of Teachers of English. Patil was awarded a certificate of recognition and Kumar received a certificate of participation. Each year, the Promising Young Writers Program recognizes grade 8 students nominated by their schools for their writing abilities; Patil and Kumar were eighth graders when they were nominated by middle school English teacher Patricia Burrows. Of the 163 students nominated in this year’s program, 67 received certificates of recognition. The remaining 96 were awarded certifications of participation.
HELM, the upper school’s literary magazine, was recently named a finalist in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s 2017 Crown Awards competition. These awards are presented annually to the top publications from CSPA-member schools. The 1,100 publications eligible for the awards included magazines, yearbooks, newspapers and online outlets.
As a finalist, HELM will receive either a Gold Crown or Silver Crown award. The winners will be announced at the CSPA Spring Scholastic Convention, to be held in March in New York City.