PROJECT PENSKE

 Penske Truck Leasing Partners with RMF to Establish RMF’s First Broad-Based Program in Jazz Education

Conceived to support the performance of classical music in Berks County, the Reading Musical Foundation supports a variety of organizations that perform primarily in Berks County. Until recently, the Foundation’s emphasis remained classical. Only Music-in-the-Schools, assembly-style presentations in the county’s public and parochial schools, and activities at PAL broke from pattern and featured other types of music. Two years ago, RMF applied its considerable experience in music education to an idiom many musicians believe to be America’s major contribution to music – jazz.

Responding favorably to RMF’s ambitious efforts to share the lifelong benefits of music education with students at risk and students in financial need, Penske Truck Leasing collaborated with RMF to establish the “Penske Jazz Education Program at RMF,” or “Project Penske,” for short, now entering its third year. (Maria Kowalski [pictured on the right] spent a summer at Berklee College's 5-Week Jazz Performance Camp thanks to funding from Project Penske.)

Where will you see “Project Penske” around Berks?

• At monthly “Jazz Jam” Sessions at Zeswitz Music – Dozens of student musicians and their teachers team up with some of our finest local jazz musicians each month to play challenging jazz charts and develop their improvisation skills. These free sessions have featured well-known area musicians, including Marty Mellinger, Melissa Crotty, Travis Williamson, Tony DeAngelis, Paul “Skip” Moyer, Carl Zeplin, John Rozum, Dave Kincaid, Erwin Chandler and Trey Larue. 
   
• “Project Penske” Jazz Musicianship Award – This award is presented annually to a middle school or high school student in each of Berks County’s public and parochial schools who best exemplifies the creativity, skill in improvisation or jazz composition, respect for musical ensemble, virtuosity if a performer, and zeal to participate actively in the preservation and development of jazz that are characteristic of a jazz musician. 
   
• Latin Jazz Percussion Program, a pilot program – Our children are at greatest risk during the hours immediately following school. Those same hours can be turned into productive educational opportunities for our inner-city youth by exciting programs such as RMF’s Latin Jazz Percussion Program piloted at Northeast Middle School in the Reading School District last year. Taught by percussionist Hector Rosado and Josh Taylor, a Reading School District educator and gifted musician, the two-week program met daily from 3-5 p.m. at the school. Enabled by the school’s administration, about 20 students participated in the program each day. RMF’s Outreach Committee is working to broaden this offering to other middle schools for the 2007-2008 academic year.
   
• Music Education Program hosted by Gerald Veasely’s Jazz Base – What an exciting evening as accomplished student musicians perform on stage with the ‘pros’! This unique teaching concert intersperses information on the importance of music education while showcasing the talent of young jazz musicians from our community.
   
• Instructional Materials and Summer Music Camp Experiences –Project Penkse has provided jazz instructional books and Latin percussion instruments for the classroom, supporting new programs like the Latin Jazz Percussion Program. A grant from Project Penske also enabled a talented jazz violinist to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston for a five-week summer music camp program. In the student’s words, “I would say that music has touched every aspect of my life. I use music to help me through hard times, to celebrate happy ones and to communicate with others. A place that I have found other people who share this passion for music is at Berklee College of Music in Boston.”
   
• Thanks to funding support through Project Penske, RMF was able to provide a grant to JazzFest to bring three-time Emmy Award winner and five-time Grammy nominee Gordon Goodwin and his “Big Phat Band” to Reading to work with local jazz students in a series of clinics, workshops and performances. Goodwin promotes and teaches the “big-band” sound to high school students through energized, small group sessions that include both music educators and student musicians. Those sessions culminate in an exciting concert event.

Our community commends Penske Truck Leasing for its generous endorsement of jazz education. Project Penske is a strong vote of confidence in RMF’s ambitious efforts to broaden the Foundation’s impact upon the community through music education, performance and advocacy.