Turning On Kids at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild

It's a sunny Tuesday morning, and 300-plus Pittsburgh Public Schools third-graders are in the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild auditorium. Listening with rapt attention, they're watching Roger Humphries, dean of Pittsburgh's ultra-rich jazz community, slap the skins silly. Ripping off a drum solo of intricate rhythm and blinding speed, he has the kids staring open-mouthed. A final bam! brings down the house.

On the tune, the venerable New Orleans chestnut "When the Saints Go Marching In," Humphries is joined by such local luminaries as trombonist Jay Ashby, bassist Dwayne Dolphin, saxophonist Mike Tomaro, trumpeter Jamie Moore, and pianist Max Leake. Simply, it's a line-up to die for, and these cats are blowing like it's the famed Montreaux Jazz Festival, not Metropolitan Street on the North Side.

For their part, however, the musicians are digging the kids.

"I'm so impressed by you all," singer Kim Nazarian says to her audience. "Remember," she adds, explaining the heart and soul of jazz, "it's the freedom to create anything we feel like creating."

As if to prove her point, the band turns to "The Alphabet Song."  First, the kids sing it the way every American school child knows it – "A, B, C, D, E, F, G," and so on. "Now," Nazarian says, "we're going to turn this into a jazz song."

Going swing, Latin, and, funk, the children join in by waving and clapping – and having a marvelous time. "We hope we inspired you to become jazz musicians," she says to the kids' mountainous applause. "Because jazz music belongs to you."

Backstage, MCG Jazz Executive Producer Marty Ashby – Jay's brother and a first-rate musician in his own right – explains the program's raison d'etre. "We get to these kids before jazz becomes a four-letter word," Ashby says. Teaching them the rudiments of the music, its history, Pittsburgh connections, and sheer fun, "we pack a lot into 45 minutes," Ashby says.

But more than merely turning on the kids to some fabulous sounds, "our idea is to have jazz become an important part of the school curriculum," Ashby says. "After 23 years of presenting concerts here at Manchester, and other venues around the city, we got involved in jazz education." To wit – this year, they'll touch some 2,700 PPS third graders – plus take their act on the road to several outlying schools.

"We get boxes of cards and letters from kids thanking us," Ashby says. "They are developing a real appreciation for this American music. And for a new set of their own possibilities. Jazz is the inspirational fuel we use."

Since 1968, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild has been flying high on such inspiration – and results. Created by Bill Strickland, an inner-city kid who saw a way out, aside from its work with children, MCG Jazz presents more than 40 concerts a year with national jazz artists in its 350-seat music hall. To date, the MCG Jazz record label has released 33 CDs and 3 DVDs, and has copped four GRAMMY® awards and numerous nominations. As part of its mission to preserve and promote jazz, the MCG Jazz Archive also contains more than 300 CDs worth of jazz history.

In addition, MCG Jazz, and its sister track MCG Youth & Arts, complement traditional humanities education with performance and studio-based art programs. Alone, MCG Youth & Arts serves approximately 3,400 students annually, primarily from the Pittsburgh Public School District with free, year-round programming that includes classes in Ceramics, Photography, Digital Imaging, and Design Art. Affording students the opportunity to work intensively with national and international artists, the programs are free to Pittsburgh teens. MCG even offers bus rides from each of Pittsburgh's public high schools one day a week.

With the sounds of jazz barely dying away, the mood in the gallery space is darker, more pensive, at least in the photographs. One trio of photos, impeccably mounted, is somber, haunting. Three black-and-white shots of a mother her children seem to reach out in mute supplication, begging for love, asking for understanding. Taken by Nour Qutyan, a Brashear junior, they netted an Art Institute photography scholarship. "This is a way that I can express myself," she gestures, "without being judged."

Adds Asia Millender, a Frick freshman, "this is a great opportunity, a great experience. The diversity of the people is great. The teachers are welcoming people who love what they do and share it with us. And everything is individualized."

That's by design, says Josh Green, a 20-year veteran of MCG Youth programming. "The studio instructors have a lot of autonomy," he says. "They are artists themselves, and they often teach out of creative problems." What they find is that in high-interest, self-directed learning, students are highly motivated and highly productive. "There's a tremendous amount of course variety that also keeps them engaged," he adds.

Like darkroom, for example, where Nour Qutyan spends oceans of time learning the classic techniques of burning and dodging, honing her craft, creating her intensely affecting, award-winning photos.

For his part, Brashear senior Andrew Weyand has been coming to MCG for three years. "They've taught me everything about photography," he says, "my favorite passion. They've shown me the beauty of technology – and actual technique. Why stuff catches your eye."

"I like the environment here a lot," agrees Schenley sophomore Jessica Balzer. "They let us experiment. If we want to do something, they tell us to try it. It's not like they give us assignments."

As a graduation project, Schenley senior Barry Taylor created an advertising campaign. Picking a product to pitch – New Era baseball hats – he created a pair of highly polished, very professional layouts.  Offers Taylor's coordinator, Germaine Watkins, a former MCG kid himself who went on to graduate Perry Traditional Academy and IUP, then exhibit his art all around the region, "they're getting a college-level education," he says. "And they're getting it for free."

"It's this kind of hands-on work that can so greatly affect kids' outlooks about themselves and their own effectability in other situations," adds Josh Green, citing the oft-chanted MCG mantra. "To find that you're good at something changes your view of the world."

Abby Mendelson's latest book, End of the Road, a collection of short stories, is available at amazon and bn.com.