In the late 1970s and early 80s, a deejay in the Bronx named Kook Herc noticed that dancers liked the breaks in the music, or the percussion solos. He began experimenting with making the breaks in the music longer, which allowed the dancers more time to create new moves, like dropping to the floor and popping up again. The dance was called break dancing and dancers were called b-boys and b-girls. Deejays continued to innovate. Some began “scratching” the needle on the record; some played one record over the sound of another, and others cut back and forth between records. Deejays created a new electronic form of music by combining elements from different recordings and by manipulating sounds rhythmically.
Meet Mr. Bach During the performance, you will hear Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Black Violin took the original piece of classical music and blended it with a more modern style of hip hop.
David M. Rubenstein Chairman Michael M. Kaiser President Darrell M. Ayers Vice President, Education Additional support for Performances for Young Audiences is provided in part by The Clark Charitable Foundation; Mr. James V. Kimsey; The Macy’s Foundation; The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; the Park Foundation, Inc.; the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; an endowment from the Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation; the U.S. Department of Education; the Verizon Foundation; Washington Gas; and by generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund, and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.
Black Violin Performed by Kev Marcus and Wil-B
Cuesheet
Before people listened to music on compact discs, they used record albums, played on a record player, or turntable. Someone who played records for others was called a disc jockey, or deejay.
PERFORMANCE GUIDE
What Does a DJ Do?
Take two violinists, a DJ, a drummer, and a handful of hip hop, and you’ve got Black Violin. Their goal? To inspire a new generation of musicians and teach them that classical music is cool!
Major support for the Kennedy Center’s educational programs is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.
J.S. Bach (1685–1750) is considered a giant in the world of Baroque music.
Mix It Up Part of what makes Black Violin so special is the way it combines two separate styles of music: classical and hip hop. Now it’s your turn. Can you turn the traditional version of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” into a rap song? What about performing “Frosty the Snowman” as a jazz number? Choose your favorite song and mix it up!
Be a Part of the Performance Black Violin wants to involve you, the audience, in their show. Listen carefully to their instructions and…
Keep Moving Put Your Hands Up Nod Your Head to the Beat and Clap!
www.kennedy-center.org/artsedge
Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, an education program of the Kennedy Center. ARTSEDGE is a part of Verizon Thinkfinity, a consortium of free educational Web sites for K-12 teaching and learning. Learn more about Education at the Kennedy Center at www.kennedy-center.org/education The contents of this Cuesheet do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement from the Federal Government. © 2012 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Please recycle this Cuesheet by sharing it with friends!
Performances for Young Audiences is made possible by
About Black Violin Meet the Music Team The Violinists: Wil-B, also known as “Simply Sick,” began playing the viola at age 13. He grew to love the instrument, but it’s no longer his only one. He now sings and plays the piano, drums, trumpet, bass guitar, and violin. Kev Marcus started his violin training at age nine. He met Wil-B at the performing high school they both attended in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Drummer: Jermaine McQueen is a talented hip hop drummer who started his career in New York City. The DJ: DJ TK helps Black Violin fuse classical and hip hop to create a unique musical sound.
Wil-B (left) and Kev Marcus (right) met as students at Dillard High School of Performing Arts in Florida.
The musicians in Black Violin are a team. When you play on a team, you work together as a group to do more than you can by yourself, right? It’s the same with this group. Wil, Kev, Jermaine, and TK play individual parts that work together to make music with different sounds, moods, and feelings. To perform together well, they need to communicate, but they can’t talk during the music. So watch how they communicate silently—for example when they watch each other to know when to start playing.
Peg Peg Box Nut
Meet the Violin Why “Black Violin”? Ohio native Stuff Smith was a famous jazz violinist from the swing era and one of the first violinists to use electric amplification. At a time when the violin was considered mostly a classical music instrument, Smith broke new ground with his fresh-sounding jazzy, bluesy sound. His last album, Black Violin, inspired Wil-B and Kev Marcus to give their group the same name.
The violin evolved over many centuries from the early stringed instruments in India, (where bows were introduced), to Arabia, and finally throughout Europe during the Middle Tip Ages. Little has changed since the instrument’s basic form was developed in Italy between 1550 and 1600. Hair When Italians heard the violin—or fiddle, as it was called at the time—they loved the range of notes that sounded similar to the human voice. They also liked how the small instrument could make a strong sound. That made the violin popular for dances way back before stereos and speakers, because everyone could hear it even in a big room. Oh, and that compact size? Perfect for a suitcase. As people moved to different countries to explore or live, they took their fiddles with them, spreading the sound and the music around the world.
The violin is 23 inches long and made of wood. The vibration of the violin’s four strings is what causes the instrument to produce sound. The bow is made of horsehair.
Being a Team Player
Scroll
Neck Fingerboard Strings Ribs
Stick
Soundp Soundpost (inside (inside) F Hole Bridge Bridg
E Tu Tuner Ta Tailpiece
Bow Grip Eyelet
Chinrest C
Frog End Screw
E End Pin
Playing a Violin Like his jazz idol Louis Armstrong, Stuff Smith (1909–1967) sang as well as played a musical instrument.
To play the violin, the performer places one end under the chin and the other end in one hand, which is also used to press the strings against the fingerboard. By using those fingers to change the length of the vibrating string, the player alters the highness or lowness of
the notes. The other hand “plays” the violin by using the right hand to draw a bow across the strings—or by using the fingers to pluck the strings, which is called pizzicato (pronounced PITZ-uh-KAH-toh). The violin has a range of about four octaves.
About Black Violin Meet the Music Team The Violinists: Wil-B, also known as “Simply Sick,” began playing the viola at age 13. He grew to love the instrument, but it’s no longer his only one. He now sings and plays the piano, drums, trumpet, bass guitar, and violin. Kev Marcus started his violin training at age nine. He met Wil-B at the performing high school they both attended in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Drummer: Jermaine McQueen is a talented hip hop drummer who started his career in New York City. The DJ: DJ TK helps Black Violin fuse classical and hip hop to create a unique musical sound.
Wil-B (left) and Kev Marcus (right) met as students at Dillard High School of Performing Arts in Florida.
The musicians in Black Violin are a team. When you play on a team, you work together as a group to do more than you can by yourself, right? It’s the same with this group. Wil, Kev, Jermaine, and TK play individual parts that work together to make music with different sounds, moods, and feelings. To perform together well, they need to communicate, but they can’t talk during the music. So watch how they communicate silently—for example when they watch each other to know when to start playing.
Peg Peg Box Nut
Meet the Violin Why “Black Violin”? Ohio native Stuff Smith was a famous jazz violinist from the swing era and one of the first violinists to use electric amplification. At a time when the violin was considered mostly a classical music instrument, Smith broke new ground with his fresh-sounding jazzy, bluesy sound. His last album, Black Violin, inspired Wil-B and Kev Marcus to give their group the same name.
The violin evolved over many centuries from the early stringed instruments in India, (where bows were introduced), to Arabia, and finally throughout Europe during the Middle Tip Ages. Little has changed since the instrument’s basic form was developed in Italy between 1550 and 1600. Hair When Italians heard the violin—or fiddle, as it was called at the time—they loved the range of notes that sounded similar to the human voice. They also liked how the small instrument could make a strong sound. That made the violin popular for dances way back before stereos and speakers, because everyone could hear it even in a big room. Oh, and that compact size? Perfect for a suitcase. As people moved to different countries to explore or live, they took their fiddles with them, spreading the sound and the music around the world.
The violin is 23 inches long and made of wood. The vibration of the violin’s four strings is what causes the instrument to produce sound. The bow is made of horsehair.
Being a Team Player
Scroll
Neck Fingerboard Strings Ribs
Stick
Soundp Soundpost (inside (inside) F Hole Bridge Bridg
E Tu Tuner Ta Tailpiece
Bow Grip Eyelet
Chinrest C
Frog End Screw
E End Pin
Playing a Violin Like his jazz idol Louis Armstrong, Stuff Smith (1909–1967) sang as well as played a musical instrument.
To play the violin, the performer places one end under the chin and the other end in one hand, which is also used to press the strings against the fingerboard. By using those fingers to change the length of the vibrating string, the player alters the highness or lowness of
the notes. The other hand “plays” the violin by using the right hand to draw a bow across the strings—or by using the fingers to pluck the strings, which is called pizzicato (pronounced PITZ-uh-KAH-toh). The violin has a range of about four octaves.
In the late 1970s and early 80s, a deejay in the Bronx named Kook Herc noticed that dancers liked the breaks in the music, or the percussion solos. He began experimenting with making the breaks in the music longer, which allowed the dancers more time to create new moves, like dropping to the floor and popping up again. The dance was called break dancing and dancers were called b-boys and b-girls. Deejays continued to innovate. Some began “scratching” the needle on the record; some played one record over the sound of another, and others cut back and forth between records. Deejays created a new electronic form of music by combining elements from different recordings and by manipulating sounds rhythmically.
Meet Mr. Bach During the performance, you will hear Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Black Violin took the original piece of classical music and blended it with a more modern style of hip hop.
David M. Rubenstein Chairman Michael M. Kaiser President Darrell M. Ayers Vice President, Education Additional support for Performances for Young Audiences is provided in part by The Clark Charitable Foundation; Mr. James V. Kimsey; The Macy’s Foundation; The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; the Park Foundation, Inc.; the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; an endowment from the Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation; the U.S. Department of Education; the Verizon Foundation; Washington Gas; and by generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund, and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.
Black Violin Performed by Kev Marcus and Wil-B
Cuesheet
Before people listened to music on compact discs, they used record albums, played on a record player, or turntable. Someone who played records for others was called a disc jockey, or deejay.
PERFORMANCE GUIDE
What Does a DJ Do?
Take two violinists, a DJ, a drummer, and a handful of hip hop, and you’ve got Black Violin. Their goal? To inspire a new generation of musicians and teach them that classical music is cool!
Major support for the Kennedy Center’s educational programs is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.
J.S. Bach (1685–1750) is considered a giant in the world of Baroque music.
Mix It Up Part of what makes Black Violin so special is the way it combines two separate styles of music: classical and hip hop. Now it’s your turn. Can you turn the traditional version of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” into a rap song? What about performing “Frosty the Snowman” as a jazz number? Choose your favorite song and mix it up!
Be a Part of the Performance Black Violin wants to involve you, the audience, in their show. Listen carefully to their instructions and…
Keep Moving Put Your Hands Up Nod Your Head to the Beat and Clap!
www.kennedy-center.org/artsedge
Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, an education program of the Kennedy Center. ARTSEDGE is a part of Verizon Thinkfinity, a consortium of free educational Web sites for K-12 teaching and learning. Learn more about Education at the Kennedy Center at www.kennedy-center.org/education The contents of this Cuesheet do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement from the Federal Government. © 2012 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Please recycle this Cuesheet by sharing it with friends!
Performances for Young Audiences is made possible by