Monday, February 22, 2010
Marching In
Posted by Alex Woodward on Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 10:51 PM
The past few weeks have been chaos for Roots of Music. The program moved down the street from its comfortable space at the Cabildo to a one-room auditorium at the U.S. Mint, and instructors had to get more than 100 students ready for six parades. Add the usual headaches — arranging transportation, feeding 100-plus mouths, tutoring — and a grim reality: If program directors can't scrape together funding within the next few weeks, March looks bleak. In this week's cover story, I followed Roots of Music as its 2010 class prepared for its Mardi Gras debut, and hopefully not its last.
- The free program for at-risk students ages 9 to 14 helps low-income families get their children on the right track. Derrick Tabb (Rebirth Brass Band drummer and CNN Hero) and Allison Reinhardt founded Roots of Music in 2007, and it includes (among other things) free transportation from school (and back home), meals, tutoring (required) and a world-class music education from Tabb and New Orleans musicians like Edward Lee from Soul Rebels Brass Band, as well as Allen Dejan Jr., Shoan Ruffin and Lawrence Rawlins. Oh, and Trombone Shorty and Phil Frazier serve on the board.
- Gambit photographer Cheryl Gerber documented the band's three-step parade prep: rehearsal, dress, and the finale — marching and playing in Carnival 2010. (Hit the jump for the photos.)
Speaking of...
-
Marching groups prepare for parade season
Carnival marching groups hold fundraisers to benefit their groups and area organizations.
- Jan 27, 2012
-
New Chinese-immersion kindergarten registration closes Friday
Area’s first Mandarin-immersion program in a public charter school opens in August.
- Jan 10, 2012
- More »
Comments (2)
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How can there not be one wealthy benefactor in NOLA who can set up at least a temporary reprieve for this incredible organization, if not a long-term endowment for it? I'm sure there are so many orgs in need in the city, but this one is a cut above, and is central to what makes NOLA special.
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