Foundry Hall brought a Juno award winning Calypso based band to South Haven for in class workshops and a performance for Baseline Middle School as well as a community performance at Listiak Auditorium. Continue reading “KOBO TOWN!”
KOBO TOWN!
Steel Drums at South Walnut Elementary in Bangor
Foundry Hall coordinated a second week of Steel Pan (Drum) workshops with Jean Raabe. This time we brought the program to Bangor’s South Walnut Elementary School and worked with kids from kindergarten to fourth grade. A target group of 2nd-4th graders spent three extra days learning 2 songs per grade to perform for the whole school on Monday, November 4th. Continue reading “Steel Drums at South Walnut Elementary in Bangor”
Derek Brown BEATBoX Sax March 2018
Foundry Hall sponsored the workshops and performance project with professional musician, Derek Brown. Continue reading “Derek Brown BEATBoX Sax March 2018”
Dance of Hope – March 2018
Ugandan musician and educator, Kinobe, returned to South Haven with his new touring group “Dance of Hope”. Continue reading “Dance of Hope – March 2018”
African Dance & Drumming Workshops
Foundry Hall Artist in Residence, Samuel Nalangira, leads workshops at Epiphany Church. Using traditional, handmade African instruments and Samuel’s original music students learn drumming techniques, rhythms and African dance styles all in a fun, supportive, engaging environment!
All ages (under 8 needs adult accompaniment)!
Tuesdays @5pm
Fridays @7pm
$10/workshop (Pay at the event)
Artist in Residence
Foundry Hall is hosting Ugandan musician and dance instructor Samuel Nalangira as he shares his talents with our community and surrounding area. His residency goals are to share his music, dance and culture through workshops and performances in the area and to work with local musicians and dancers to develop new cross-cultural work. Foundry Hall sees this residency as an amazing opportunity to have Samuel teach and create while connecting our community with a culture on the other side of the world.
“It was such an amazing experience for the students to learn how to play Samuel’s handmade instruments and participate in traditional tribal dances.”
-YDC/PAL mentorship leader KariAnn Johnson.
Samuel is an inspired, hard working musician, supportive and friendly teacher and available for opportunities in schools, after-school programs, youth groups, events and parties. In performance, Samuel uses a looper that allows him to layer multiple instruments and harmonize his voice to create rich, original songs based in the folk traditions of African music.
Check out the album that he recorded while in South Haven! Available now on itunes, Spotify and youtube
Upcoming performance/workshops:
SAT 5/25 “In Harmony for Uganda” St. Matthews Luther Church, Kitchener, ON
SAT 6/1 Earthworks Skill Share
FRI & SAT 6/7-6/8 Nor-East’r Fest, Mio, MI
Past Performances:
SUN 2/3 2pm Community Collage First Baptist Church (315 W. Michigan, Kalamazoo)
MON 2/4 Covert Public Schools dance/music workshops
SAT 2/9 Kalamazoo Family Dance and Drum Workshop @ First Baptist Church (315 W. Michigan, Kalamazoo)
SUN 2/10 Library performance at Parchment Public Library
SUN 2/10 private performance for Colleagues International
FRI 3/1 Community Concert at Epiphany Church in South Haven
TUE 3/5 National Day of Racial Healing – Kalamazoo
TUE 3/5 International Percussion performance – Kalamazoo College
FRI 3/22 Lake Michigan College Masterclass
FRI 4/25 Kalamazoo Public Library
SAT & SUN 4/26 & 4/27 Dance Workshops at Herrick District Library (Holland)
To schedule a class, workshop, performance in your space, school or to meet with Samuel, email samuel@foundryhall.org or foundryhall@gmail.com. Click here for a one sheet about workshops and performances. Feel free to contact us with questions!
Workshops
Workshops take place at the Foundry Hall office in the Warren Senior Center at 540 Williams Street. We encourage you to either purchase a “ticket” for the workshop through our website or to contact us* to reserve a spot. Some workshops will require a minimum of participants to be held. Some of our workshops sell out!
*contact by phone 269-220-0444 or foundryhall@gmail.com
Upcoming Workshops:
Chord Magic with Tom Rasely
SAT 4/30 10am $20
Fingerpicking for Strummers with Tom Rasely
SAT 5/14 10am $20
Intro to the Blues with Tom Rasley
SAT 5/28 10am $20
Chord Magic with Tom Rasely
SAT 9/10 10am $20
Intro to Blues with Tom Rasely
SAT 10/15 10am $20
Accompanying Carolers on guitar with Tom Rasely
SAT 12/3 10am $20
Learn to Play
Anyone can learn to play music!
**As of September 1st, 2016, Foundry Hall will no longer be renting the Warren Center office space. We will continue to offer private and group lessons, but locations will depend on circumstances and availability of other space.
Foundry Hall’s community music programs are designed to make music accessible to all people, regardless of age, skill level, or financial status. Foundry Hall offers private and group instruction, workshops, song shares, jam sessions, open mics, and many other opportunities for learning, sharing, and continuing your musical progress on a variety of instruments. Whether you live in the area, or are simply visiting South Haven for a few days, we want to help you in your musical journey. We believe teaching is a great way to learn, and actively encourage intermediate and advanced students to use their skills to mentor others.
Group Lessons currently available:
*new sessions of classes will be announced soon. If you are interested in knowing when the next one starts, send us an email! foundryhall@gmail.com.
Workshops at Foundry Hall
Workshops are a great way to get playing, keep playing, learn about a style or technique, broaden your knowledge and meet other people. Foundry Hall hosts workshops taught by musicians including professional traveling artists, veteran local musicians as well as amateurs who want to share their skills and knowledge with others. If you have an idea for a workshop send us an email and we’ll help make it happen! foundryhall@gmail.com
Upcoming workshops (click on title for more details and tickets):
TUE 6/2/15 7pm Intro to Blues Guitar with Tom Rasely
SAT 6/13/15 2pm Finger-style Acoustic Guitar with visiting artist Hiroya Tsukomoto
TUE 6/23/15 7pm Song Lyric Writing with Tom Rasely
SAT 6/27/15 10am Guitar Theory Made Simple with Tom Rasely
SAT 7/11/15 10am Finger-style for Strummers with Tom Rasely
What is Community Music?
Community Music is people participating in music together.
Community music includes folks of all skills and ages playing together. It is participating in a Song Swap, an impromptu jam session between a high school student and an experienced band leader, or students in a group lesson talking about what they practiced between sessions. It’s lending instruments, equipment, and resources to those who will use them, and sharing knowledge, skills, and experience in private lessons and workshops.
Community music is volunteers offering to play music in classrooms for young kids, or with older folks in their homes. It’s an Open Mic performance in front of friends and fellow musicians, or an audio technician helping a talent show performer get comfortable with the microphone and audience. It’s audience members sharing their favorite moments of the performance. Community music is non-competitive and non-judgemental— it’s an opportunity to play, share, learn, create, and enjoy music without fear of failure.
Connecting with others through shared musical experiences can be profound and life-changing. It can be the intangible moment that exhilarates or challenges us. It can be an experience telling us we belong: we can all play or sing a song, or we can help someone find their own song. We enjoy another person’s performance with others, and feel that we are part of the room, a part of the experience. We can meet other folks with similar interests and play together for fun, healing, support, and growth.
These are the benefits of belonging to a musical community. Foundry Hall is creating a space for these opportunities. We invite everyone to join us!
“The world of musicians always accepts new members.” — Wynton Marsalis
