Sandtown Choir: music to one community's ears
Caitlyn Slivinski
Issue date: 3/20/07 Section: Opinion
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Walking behind Newman Towers, a dorm window appears to be open. Music is cascading out of the room and down onto a 17-year-old me. I was visiting Loyola as a senior in high school and that moment was a key factor in my college decision process. Besides the education, college meant meeting new kids with new accents, new styles, and new music.
My high school friends and I had exchanged CDs, but because we grew up in the same environment, there wasn't a vast diversity in music taste. Hopefully, I thought, getting to know people from outside my bubble would automatically present new sounds.
My expectations were fulfilled freshman year when one of my roommates blared Jim Croce and Led Zeppelin 24 hours a day. She drilled these jams into my head. We even slept with this music playing. So…college.
My other roommate had a plethora of rap that opened my eyes to the hip-hop scene. Then I met a girl who rocked a burnt-sienna cowgirl hat and gave me my first taste of country music. That cowgirl is now my roommate and 93.1 is programmed on my car radio.
About 15 minutes away from campus, music affects another group of people -- the youth of a neighborhood called Sandtown. In the midst of this violence-plagued community thrives a program called the Sandtown Children's Choir.
The choir of resident youngsters prides itself on teaching life skills by providing musical training and performance opportunities.
Through much hard work, the Sandtown Children's Choir has released an album entitled "Based on a True Story." It can be purchased under the Gospel or Christian contemporary section in music stores, or you can download/sneak a sample of their songs on iTunes.
As the choir expands, it takes on bigger and better projects. In 2002, choir members toured to Nashville, Tenn., singing their hearts out in America's music capital.
These kids consider the choir and New Song Arts (the organization under which the choir is managed) a safe haven; their rehearsal room a second home.
My high school friends and I had exchanged CDs, but because we grew up in the same environment, there wasn't a vast diversity in music taste. Hopefully, I thought, getting to know people from outside my bubble would automatically present new sounds.
My expectations were fulfilled freshman year when one of my roommates blared Jim Croce and Led Zeppelin 24 hours a day. She drilled these jams into my head. We even slept with this music playing. So…college.
My other roommate had a plethora of rap that opened my eyes to the hip-hop scene. Then I met a girl who rocked a burnt-sienna cowgirl hat and gave me my first taste of country music. That cowgirl is now my roommate and 93.1 is programmed on my car radio.
About 15 minutes away from campus, music affects another group of people -- the youth of a neighborhood called Sandtown. In the midst of this violence-plagued community thrives a program called the Sandtown Children's Choir.
The choir of resident youngsters prides itself on teaching life skills by providing musical training and performance opportunities.
Through much hard work, the Sandtown Children's Choir has released an album entitled "Based on a True Story." It can be purchased under the Gospel or Christian contemporary section in music stores, or you can download/sneak a sample of their songs on iTunes.
As the choir expands, it takes on bigger and better projects. In 2002, choir members toured to Nashville, Tenn., singing their hearts out in America's music capital.
These kids consider the choir and New Song Arts (the organization under which the choir is managed) a safe haven; their rehearsal room a second home.
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