Featured on NBC News, January 31, 2018.
Uploaded Feb 09, 2018On January 12, 2017 Easterbrook Discovery, Moreland Middle and Latimer Jazz student musicians attended a Jazz Workshop put on by professional musicians. Students listened to a concert, performed along side the musicians and separated into instrumental groups to get one on one tips from industry experts. Watch the video for a recap of this extraordinary opportunity!
Uploaded Jan 25, 2017 to News & EventsIn the Spring of 2020, Moreland campuses were closed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Easterbrook Discovery Middle School's Jazz Band submitted videos of themselves recording their individual parts to the song "Harlem Airshaft" at their home. Kyle Chesser of Hands On Studio donated his time and expertise to put it all together in this wonderful video.
Harlem Airshaft history:
According to a 1940 interview with Ellington, it was inspired by everyday noises heard in New York City, specifically the namesake, air shaft found between housing units.
Ellington recounted his inspiration in a 1944 interview published in The New Yorker:
So much goes on in a Harlem air shaft. You get the full essence of Harlem in an air shaft. You hear fights, you smell dinner, you hear intimate gossip floating down. You hear the radio. An air shaft is one great big loudspeaker. You see your neighbor’s laundry. You hear the janitor’s dogs. The man upstairs’ aerial falls down and breaks your window. You smell coffee. A wonderful thing is that smell. An air shaft has got every contrast. One guy is cooking dried fish with rice and another guy’s got a great big turkey. Guy-with-fish’s wife is a terrific cooker but the guy’s wife with the turkey is doing a sad job. You hear people praying, fighting, snoring. Jitterbugs [dancing] are jumping up and down always over you, never below you. That’s a funny thing about jitterbugs. They’re always over you. I tried to put all that in “Harlem Air Shaft.”
This video includes Jazz Band director, Nils Johnson.
On August 12, 2016, over 70 Moreland School District staff members, as well as Superintendent Bob Bravo of CUHSD, participated in a poverty simulation facilitated by Step Up Silicon Valley. All participants were given an identity as they “walked a mile” trying to survive one month as a family member or individual living in poverty in Silicon Valley. The goal of the event is to shine a spotlight on humanity: the quality that makes us human, such as the ability to love, have compassion or be creative.
Uploaded Jan 25, 2017 to News & EventsThe Moreland School District values and is grateful to have such exemplary employees and parent/community volunteers. The District's staff, parents and neighbors are all integral parts of the schools' and District's overall success. In an effort to celebrate our extraordinary community, this short video, the second in a series, highlights Baker's 2017 Teacher, Classified Person & Volunteer of the Year.
Uploaded Jun 07, 2017