Photo: Kelly Peloza

Wednesday, July 25, 11am “You say you can’t beat-box?” Jayve Montgomery (pictured) asks the day campers at Union Park. “You’re a human being—of course you can beat-box!” Along with his partner in rhyme, Ed Borstein, Montgomery is helping a group of elementary- and middle-schoolers create a hip-hop track about healthy living. The two Chicago Park District program specialists tour local parks with the Inferno Mobile Recording Studio, an arsenal of microphones and computers, engaging kids in “collaborative community overdubbing.” Borstein holds out a mic and says, “This is not going to hurt you; this is a tool.” Aimiose, a ten-year-old, tentatively shuffles forward to provide the beat-boxing backbone for a track that took shape over an hour, as the camp counselors layered on the kids’ singing, humming and rhyming. When it’s his turn, eight-year-old Alex raps, “Live your life healthy, and your body will be wealthy.” As he finishes, another camper snickers. Montgomery whips around and scolds the heckler. “It doesn’t sound right. It sounds Alex!” The offender looks skeptical, so Montgomery continues. “You can only mess up music if you have a sheet in front of you.”

By Tyler Leeds

Here are the Audio and Video Playlists from Brainerd Park Teen Camp on 7.02.12. Please feel free to download all songs and share them with everyone you know, and if your internet connection allows, watch the videos in 720p HD! Thanks to Brainerd Park, especially Rec Leader “L.A.” (see him doing back-ups and dance moves in “If We’re Healthy, We’ll Be Wealthy”) for doing his job, which was to have fun, and participate WITH the kids! 

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Here are the audio and video playlists for Avalon Park on 6.27.12. Please download and share songs, and when linking video, make sure to recommend viewing in 720p HD for the full park track-making experience!

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We visited the West Pullman Park TRACE crew to assist in their Re-imagining of Arts, Community and Environment.  Heard first is the youth-created, 12 layer, 2 bar loop, one sound at a time. Layer 8 was then chopped into 12 slices and the prevailing pattern of the piece was made by a TRACEr programming the pads of the MPD32.  The vocal work launches this project into the status of “Work in Progress”…  We look forward to the progression, a finished track of Teens Re-Imagining Arts, Community, Environment.  

Written and Recorded in 1 1/2 hours.

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Day 1 of Summer Day Camp in The Chicago Park District. Jackson Park 9-12 year old girls made this instructional track on how to live a healthy lifestyle, outside, under a shade tree. 

Written and Recorded in: 1 1/2 hours.

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The first park, of the first day of Day Camp 2012. Topics included healthy living, staying off the streets, non-violence, basketball, and baseball. Beats and lyrics by the kids of Robichaux Park. It is located at 9247 S. Eggleston Ave. Chicago, IL 60620.

Written and Recorded in: 1 hour.

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As we gear up for another great summer in the Chicago Park District, we’d like to recap the excellent creations made last summer by day campers all across Chicago. Get some popcorn and get a comfortable seat! 

IMRS was at the official naming of one of our favorite parks, Julia de Burgos Park (previously Park 554, and unofficially called Albany/Whipple Park, a.k.a “The Spider Park”) on Saturday, May 19th 2012. It was the first hot day of the summer, and many families and returning IMRS track-making all-stars from the area participated in activities provided by IMRS, The Kraft Great Kids Program, CPD’s Fitness Program, and The Trust for Public Land. Kids unveiled the park’s new signs. One particular mother of a particular fitness instructor made beautiful sounds on the Looper, which became the perfect backing music for instructions from neighborhood children on “what to do at the park” 

The theme for CPD programming this summer is “Healthy Living”. IMRS interviewed Seniors from the Line Dancing Clubs at South Shore Cultural Center and Washington Park, asking for their wisdom on the subject. Kyle and Salim, two regulars at our Teen Tuesday evening program, sampled these recordings and made a beat. Thus, an Intergenerational Remix is born!

The set of songs made during our 90 minute workshop at Raw Voices 2012.  Youtube sampling, for educational purposes, into Ableton Live for a lesson on Sampling Production yielded the above.  The last piece was made during lunch- Damien of Englewood’s RAGE just had to get a beat made!  We love that kind of determination.  

This track was made at the Raw Voices Teen Media Workshop at Columbia College on 4.28.12. Teens sampled sounds from YouTube and reworked them into an original beat. Eric and Ed dropped verses on the track. Much discussion was had about the meaning of words.