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After participating all year in an after-school music production program, these students were ready to rock and roll when Tribeca Flashpoint Academy offered them a recording session at their downtown location! [Photos first….scroll to the bottom for audio clips!]

As lead partner in EPIC’s 21st Century Community Learning Center programming, Urban Gateways coordinates before and after-school arts programs for the South Chicago high school. Music production was one of their after-school options this year…and who knew it would culminate in a real-life recording session? No one, actually, until just a few days beforehand, when Tribeca generously offered up a recording space.

And so it was off to the races! The students had prepared two pieces for recording. The first: A cover of “Somebody” with students performing on guitar (times two – see the first picture), vocals (second picture), piano (below), and djembe drum.

Next was a spoken word piece titled “20 Ways to See Tomorrow” and featuring two student artists. The piece touches on violence in Chicago and how the city’s communities cope with this constant threat.

Check out these student artists’ final products:

Somebody (or try this to launch in iTunes)

20 Ways to See Tomorrow (or here for iTunes version)

Recorded at Tribeca-Flashpoint Media Arts Academy. Recording Engineers: Matt Canty, Dylan Oakley, Bill Kolsieke.

So many thanks to Tribeca Flashpoint Academy for their support and generosity, and congrats to these awesome EPIC Academy students on lots of hard work that absolutely paid off.