Berklee Service Festival Partners Musicians with Local Youth

Full schedule of Lead the Change Festival activities:

March 22, 5:00 p.m. – Music Clubhouse at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester

Aerosmith’s Tom Hamilton and Grammy Award winning Berklee Alumnus Swiss Chris will conduct a clinic for 50 youth. “Backbone of the Band: The Rhythm Section” will include a clinic practicum and jam session together and with other musicians from Berklee. “Backbone of the Band: The Rhythm Section” is made possible in collaboration with the Music and Youth Initiative.

March 22, – Morville House

The Berklee “Oldies Ensemble” will perform for senior citizen residents at Morville House in The Fenway

March 24, 5:00 p.m. – Hyde Square Task Force

Berklee faculty member Ernesto Diaz will conduct a Latin Percussion clinic for youth at the Music Clubhouse program at the Hyde Square Task Force in Jamaica Plain. The highly interactive clinic will include a large group of young musicians playing with Diaz, who grew up and currently resides in Jamaica Plain. The clinic supplements the daily work of Berklee students who teach at Hyde Square through Berklee’s Community Service Work Study Program.

March 25, 2011 – Boston Community Leadership Academy

Berklee student Alex Ullman, who regularly volunteers at the Boston Community Leadership Academy, received a $500 grant from The Movement@Berklee to arrange for a community service event at the Academy. He arranged for a band comprised of Berklee students, The Love Experiment, to perform and conduct a master class. Ullman has volunteered at the school since September 2010, where he helps nonnative English speakers prepare for standardized tests.

March 26, 11:00 a.m. – Berklee College of Music

Berklee students Julia Easterlin and Taylor Gordon will host “Girlz Beat.” “Girlz Beat” will bring 15 young girls from Boston to the Berklee campus for a 3-hour workshop designed to encourage girls to become the next generation of music technology “hot-shots.” Easterlin and Gordon will conduct a clinic on music synthesis software and perform using the latest music technology equipment

March 30, 6:30 p.m. – Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club

The newly renovated Music Clubhouse at the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club will celebrate its grand reopening on March 30. Directed by Berklee alumnus Rick Aggeler, the Music Clubhouse at the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club hosts a team of Berklee students who serve as the program’s faculty members.