Yo-Yo Ma and members of the Silk Road Ensemble surprised students at our "Connect Live!" celebration of learning in June by performing an interpretation of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' hit "Empire State of Mind." The song capped a day of creative student performances in the American Museum of Natural History's Milstein Hall of Ocean Life.
"Connect Live!"
See our Postcard with photos from this "Connect Live!" event.
Silk Road Ensemble cellist Mike Block, music director for the event, arranged "Empire State of Mind" for Western strings, percussion, oud, gaita and guitar. "Kids would often sing the song at school," he said, "so it was obviously something they were all aware of and liked. It also was the perfect message to follow the Migration Dance presentation, which dramatized how all people came from Africa and spread all over the world, and eventually ended up here in New York City, where we are all living together again!" Students at "Connect Live!" had taken part in our first pilot year of Silk Road Connect,
a multidisciplinary education program that brings professional
musicians and artists to classrooms. By creating opportunities for hands-on experiences and providing teachers with resources to connect various subjects in the existing sixth-grade curriculum, Silk Road Connect aims to spark a lifelong passion for learning. |