OUSD Summer Music Camp Has Major Performance Set for Friday, Including With Professional Musicians, Some of Whom Attended District Schools

Friday, June 27 will be a special day at Westlake Middle School for students in the District’s Summer Music Camp. The 150 students and many of their instructors will perform in an end-of-camp free concert for the community. The middle school students from across the District have been enjoying this three week long free Summer Music Camp with a student to teacher ratio of three to one. They engage in daily instrumental music instruction, ensemble rehearsals, creative electives, and leadership activities. It’s all guided by professional musicians and supported by dedicated high school mentors and college interns, many of whom were camp participants when they were in middle school.

Some of the instructors, including former OUSD students, held a sold out jazz performance at The Soundroom on Broadway on Thursday, June 19. It was Juneteenth, and as a tribute to the holiday, the musicians played only pieces composed by Black composers. The six musicians and their gig were organized by Oakland Technical High graduate and professional musician, Nathan Nakadegawa-Lee. "There's a special spirit to this city and like, there’s also a sound that has come out of this city for generations," he said. "It's a very unique place. I don’t think we would sound the way we sound if we were from anywhere else."

The group played with Nakadegawa-Lee in the center, featuring clarinet and saxophone, and included Miles Turk, a former student of Westlake and Grass Valley Elementary, on drums, and Hannah Mayer, the daughter of Melrose Leadership Academy Principal Jonathan Mayer, on piano. Here is one of their numbers.

"It's really an amazing pipeline, from a kid in a middle school class to a professional musician," said OUSD’s Director of Visual and Performing Arts, Fillmore Rydeen, who attended the concert with numerous OUSD educators. "We work really hard at putting together the foundational skills that our students are going to need, and to see it progress from learning how to play an instrument all the way up to doing something as incredible as they are doing tonight is something that is… yeah, my hats off to their teachers. They do amazing, amazing work."

The Summer Music Camp with these musicians teaching is made possible through a unique public-private partnership between Oakland Unified School District and generous community funders such as SF Jazz, Harmony Project, the Oakland Public Education Fund, SemiFreddies, the voter-approved Measure G, OUSD Extended Learning, and individual donors. Here’s Miles Turk working with some of the middle school musicians.

The end-of-camp Culmination Festival and Free Concert happen from noon to 3:00 pm tomorrow, Friday, June 27 at Westlake Middle School at 2629 Harrison Street. All are welcome.