Lincoln College Earns Grant for Youth Jazz Classes
‘PlayFormance’ Program uses College Students to Teach First through Sixth Graders

[May 18, 2018] 

LINCOLN 

Lincoln College has been awarded a $1,200 grant from the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation to offer reduced tuition for an after-school program that invites children to play and create in a world of musical games wrapped in rhythm, melody, word-play and story.

“Lincoln College Jazz Playformance” was one of 73 programs in McLean, DeWitt, Livingston and Logan counties receiving 2018 spring grants from the Foundation.

The program was created, and will be led, by Denise La Grassa, Lead Faculty for Jazz Studies, at Lincoln College.

“We will be using the same approach that I use when developing shows here at Lincoln College, but adapting it to younger students,” LaGrassa explained. “It is a great way for children and youth to explore the world of music, improvisation storytelling and performance. At the same time, this is an opportunity for our outstanding jazz studies students to share their love of music and develop teaching skills under my direction.”

Jazz Playformance games involve a series of themes from classical and jazz music, classic and modern poetry, and plays. Master composers and authors including Shakespeare, Mozart, Ellington, and Gwendolyn Brooks serve as a base for students to riff with melodies and word phrases to create individual songs. Advanced level students will merge songs into stories, creating theme-based musicals.

Funds from the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation will be used to provide needed equipment and financial support in order to offer the course to 32 students. Sixteen slots will be reserved for at-risk youth to attend free of charge.

[Mark Gordon
Public Relations and Media Manager
Lincoln College]