Shaw Middle School students' original song to be featured on professional album

When students at Shaw Middle School learned last October that they had three days to create a professional song, they were apprehensive.

Three days?

They loved music. They enjoyed creative expression, which was a staple of every week through DC SCORES. But the task still seemed daunting.

Now fast forward to this September, when their own, original song. “It’s Math, Baby,” will be featured on a professional album.

No joke. They came a long way during that trio of afternoons.

Working with hip-hop artist Psalm One through the ASCAP Songwriter Residency at @ America SCORES, the students wrote and then recorded a song that will be a part of the ‘Child Support’ album featuring tracks created by students from nine SCORES sites from across the country.

The 13-track album will be available for purchase Sept. 25, with all proceeds benefiting the ASCAP program. Each fall through the Songwriter Residency, students at SCORES schools spend a few afternoons working with a professional musician such as Psalm One to create and record songs.

Last fall, the program led 13 workshops in 12 cities with Psalm One doing a nine-city tour.

“I have worked with the ASCAP Songwriter Residency @ America SCORES for several years and it is one of the most rewarding programs I’ve ever been a part of,” the rapper said in a press release.

The students at Shaw Middle School would likely agree.

To get a preview of the album, go here, click on the “Listen Now” link and scroll down to track 11. It’s simple math, baby.

Thanking our extremely generous supporters

Each DC SCORES season, fall or spring, there are several people and organizations, companies and foundations, and others who go the extra mile to help us provide such a high-quality program for an increasing number of DC youth.

Unfortunately, they can’t all be thanked in a blog post. To see our full list of supporters, visit the DC SCORES website.

However, at this time of year, we like to highlight those who made an indelible impact on DC SCORES during the recently completed season.

Let’s start with DC Stoddert Soccer. Not only did the local youth soccer organization handle the insurance for our poet-athletes and fund background checks for our coaches, as it does each season, but it also helped finance the Saturday SCORES soccer clinics that we introduced in Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8.

The Department of Parks and Recreation also contributed to the clinics, which gave students in the communities who don’t necessarily attend a SCORES school the chance to learn the game of soccer from our Athletic Director Kenny Owens and Soccer Specialist Keith Tucker.

Speaking of opportunity, we were able to continue our expansion in Ward 8, adding Garfield Elementary — the third new school in the ward in two years — thanks to the tremendous support of the American Beverage Association. ABA presented us with a big check — literally — of $50,000 at the first elementary school game day.

That wasn’t the only huge check we received. On the second night of the Poetry Slam!, longtime supporter Volkswagen Group of America, which sponsors the team at our flagship school Marie Reed Elementary, once again showed its commitment to our poet-athletes in presenting, on stage, a gigantic check for $25,000.

“With programs like DC SCORES, students develop a passion for lifelong learning,” Anna Schneider, the Volkswagen Vice President of Industry and Government Relations, told the capacity audience.

Students’ learning was enhanced throughout the fall season by poetry specialists, who came from the American Poetry Museum and provided instruction to our 27 teams leading up to the season-culminating Poetry Slam!.

Of course, putting together a performance such as ATA’s — which helped the school win its fourth consecutive Golden Mic trophy on the second night of the Slam! — takes a lot of practicing, and longtime supporter Starbucks helped the cause for all our schools by providing its space for poetry workshops.

Students were able to practice their poems in front of an audience of their peers — not to mention curious Starbucks patrons — and receive constructive criticism leading up to the big night.

Starbucks also enthusiastically supported us throughout the season by providing an activity booth at our Fall Frenzy in October and donating coffee to the Columbia Heights Cup fundraiser soccer tournament in mid-December.

And that day of soccer, which raised over $4,600 for DC SCORES, would have been impossible without the organizing skills and generosity of Alex Bearman and his volunteers from District Sports. The adult rec soccer organization ran all aspects of the tournament, including providing volunteers at each of the sites, without asking for anything in return.

Needless to say, District Sports is an invaluable partner of DC SCORES that we appreciate deeply.

Also going out of their way to help the program were a few local organizations with a passion for the work we do:

826DC, a nonprofit dedicated to helping students with their creative writing skills, ran a popular Haiku-writing booth at the Fall Frenzy and then provided several skilled and knowledgeable judges on both nights of the Poetry Slam!.

And Bartending 4 Change, an all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to raising money for DC charities, chose DC SCORES as the beneficiary of a December happy hour at Ulah Bistro that raised over $750 for our poet-athletes.

Finally, for the second consecutive year, the ASCAP Songwriter Residency @ America SCORES came to a DC SCORES school and worked with students on creating a song, which the team then turned into a winning performance at the Poetry Slam!.

A year ago, it was MacFarland Middle School. This year, Shaw Middle School poet-athletes created an original work with Hip-hop artist Psalm One, recorded it in a studio, and then took what they learned to the Poetry Slam! stage to win first place for middle schools (if you haven’t seen it yet, watch the PS! highlight video featuring their song).

Overall, it was a tremendous fall season for DC SCORES, and none of it would have been possible without our supporters’ and volunteers’ passion for generously donating their time and resources to our poet-athletes’ cause.

We can’t thank you enough!

Shaw students overcome worries, create song in three days with Psalm One

Written by Cielo Contreras

Development Manager, Foundations and Corporations

Write and record a song in three days.

That was the challenge presented to the DC SCORES team at Shaw last week. The team is used to experiencing some crazy things. After all, Tony Hawk visited their school only two weeks before.

Team members were excited to learn they would be working with professional rapper and songwriter Psalm One, thanks to the ASCAP Songwriters Residency @ America SCORES. However, they were not sure how they could possibly write and record an entire song in such a short time.

Three days.

When Psalm One came to their classroom for the first time, she rapped for them and explained the process. Their first task was to choose a beat. She played some options and the team voted on their favorite.

When the beat was chosen, she asked students to write down words to describe how the beat made them feel and words about themselves that made them unique.

The next day, Psalm returned with lyrics she had put together using what the team had written. Now that they knew more about the process, the students were feeling a little more confident. Psalm asked for three volunteers to do solos for the song and worked with them while the rest of the team wrote out “shout outs” that would be part of the song’s “outro.”

The shout outs ranged from the usual (“Shout out to my mom for being there for me!”) to the slightly unusual (“Shout out to Einstein for making math!”) to the silly (“Shout out to my socks!”).

That’s the great thing about writing your own song. You can make it entirely your own.

On Day 3, the song was written and it was time to record. The team rode the bus to Blue House Studios — a professional recording studio! — in Kensington, Maryland. When they arrived, they were greeted by Psalm and a space filled with recording equipment, cameras and a stage. This was real.

The team worked diligently to record the chorus, the solos and the shout outs. If the students were nervous about stepping up to the mic, they barely showed it.

If I didn’t know better, I would have thought they were seasoned professionals.

When they finished recording, Psalm played the completed rough cut for Shaw’s poet-athletes, who couldn’t help but beam with pride at what they had accomplished.

Check out photos and a video from Shaw's ASCAP experience with Psalm One!

Rapper Psalm One coming to Shaw Middle School through ASCAP Songwriter Residency

Rapper Psalm One

It’s the middle of October, which can mean only one thing.

It’s time to make some music!

A year ago, I was witness to Philadelphia-based The Great Unknown’s visit to MacFarland Middle School as part of the ASCAP Songwriter Residency @ America SCORES. Over the course of three afternoons, I watched as a group of about 20 students worked with the alternative band to create — from scratch — a song and then record it in a studio.

From there, the story is pretty familiar.

The students took the song, practiced it, and made it their own. Then came the first-place Poetry Slam! performance. Next, they wowed the audience at the Inspired Art Gala.

And, finally, the CD with their song on it was released.

Well, now it’s the turn of Shaw Middle School @ Garnet-Patterson. Beginning tomorrow, the Shaw poet-athletes will spend three afternoons with Psalm One creating their very own song and then traveling to a local studio to record it.

Psalm One is described as a “seasoned writer with a soulful and vulnerable style.” Not only is she the lone woman signed to the well-known and independent record label Rhymesayers Entertainment, but Psalm One (born Cristalle Bowen) has always dedicated herself to working with kids.

So she should fit right in at Shaw!

A Chicago native, Psalm One started the mentoring and tutoring program Charm Lab in 2008. She also worked at DC SCORES’ affiliate America SCORES Bay Area as a poetry and soccer coach, creating her first ASCAP song with students at a school in the area.

And with the District the fifth stop on her nine-city tour, Psalm One will undoubtedly be able to create a quick connection and chemistry with the students as they begin brainstorming their song.

But the beauty of the program — and our creative expression curriculum, in general — is offering the freedom and ability to express oneself in many ways. No one, at this point, knows what the final product will be when Shaw’s poet-athletes leave the recording studio Thursday evening.

We’ll just have to wait and see, as we let creative minds work together to brainstorm, practice, then make sweet music, with the help of a professional, to share with their school and the community.

Let the ASCAP experience begin (again)!