Blues In The Schools
Blues In The Schools (BITS) is back and getting ready for the school year! Do you have a child, grandchild, niece/nephew, or a friend with school age children, who would benefit from showcasing this remarkable music, its history, and its far-reaching impact on our culture?
Are you a teacher, or do you know a teacher or school administrator interested in bringing a professional Blues musician into a school and lighting up kids’ faces while imparting the important role that the Blues has played in American culture and music?
Please help us expand this successful program by increasing our reach. Click this link to get a brochure describing the BITS program, how it works, and contact information. Share this brochure with all who might be even remotely interested or connected to developing interest in roots music within our youth and to preserve this uniquely American art form. hat this up at your next blues jam, festival, barrel house gathering, at your local juke joint or rent party. Be part of keeping the blues alive for generations to come.
BITS presentations come to the schools at no cost.
Why
In accordance with our mission of “Keeping the Blues Alive”, we know that the only way of accomplishing this is to make sure the knowledge and passion of Blues music is passed on to our future generations. Additionally, in order to be an affiliate of the Blues Foundation, we are required to have an educational program. We address both of these through our Blues in the Schools (BITS) program.
What
BITS is a live, interactive, educational program provided by CBS where musicians as historians and storytellers use blues music to develop interest in the humanities curriculum, stress cultural histories, and advance cultural diversity. CBS coordinators collaborate with school educators to assure compliance with regulations and alignment with curriculum. BITS presenters promote these interests through engaging presentations which include singing, playing instruments, storytelling, and hands-on training. Harmonicas, gifted to participants as funding allows, further self-expression and musical performing talents. BITS students have been motivated to participate in school talent shows and initiate an after-school harmonica club. Although BITS generally targets youth in later elementary school, it has been provided in schools to youth of all ages, in Childrens’ Hospitals, as well as to adults learners through collaboration with libraries. BITS builds inclusive community culture by helping youth and adults learn more about the arts, culture, humanities, education, and their impacts on humanity.
BITS programs build inclusive community culture by helping youth and adults learn more about the arts, culture, humanities, education, and their impacts on humanity. From the slavery work songs in cotton fields, to protest songs, to jazz, swing, country, rap, and beatbox, Blues music has been a unifying theme and today is an emblem of diversity and acceptance. BITS presentations connect people in our communities, especially our youth, through this shared understanding of the Blues rich heritage and musical messages. This understanding will foster an appreciation of how and why nearly all of our American music, as preferred by different segments of our society, can be traced back to the Blues, its history, and its evolution as a unifying art form. Understanding the Blues legacy of these common threads will inform people to help build positive mutual regard for others.
BITS also collaborates with Blues historians and libraries to provide educational sessions on Blues history and its evolution, starting in African tribal societies and progressing through its influence on the music of today.
How Is This Funded?
CBS collaborates with the requesting facilities for funding in order to provide fair compensation to its musicians. We work to procure grant funding but rely largely on the generosity of donors and sponsors.
How To Be Involved
Please contact BITS Coordinators, Cindy & Dennis Smith, for additional information, to discuss your needs, or to talk about scheduling a BITS presentation.
**Need to have a BITS contact email.....education@coblues.org...instead of personal emails or phone numbers on the internet.
Resources:
Links to videos (landis)
Links to BITS videos
Links to BLUES educ videos on YouTube
Photos: