Midnight Sweaters following their performance at the CPS Reverberate Festival.
Class Overview
Midnight Sweaters is an afterschool program in which students learn how to work together as a band, further personal and collective musical goals, and perform in their community. Priority is given to learning the covers of other artists' music over writing original songs, with the intention of performing more songs with a greater range of styles in a wider variety of contexts. Over the course of the 2023-24 school year, the Midnight Sweaters performed on site at NGHS's Hispanic Heritage Month Assembly, Black History Month Assembly, STEAMfest, Winter Concert, Spring Concert, and end of year celebration Owlapalooza. In addition, they performed off site at Morrill Elementary, Hedges Elementary, Liberating Spaces through Neighborhood Action (LNSA Palenque), the Kenneth Young Center, Allstate Arena (during a Chicago Wolves game), the CAPE Gallery, RE·VER·BER·ATE CPS arts festival, and Music Will’s Jam Fest. Throughout these many performances, Midnight Sweaters pursued the Big Idea of Sounding Sociality, investigating how performing in a community affects one's positionality within that community.
Students performed in a wide variety of contexts for diverse audiences, and for each performance students were encouraged to consider their work carefully: what do we want to communicate musically, socially, and emotionally? What do we want our audience to feel, and how do we anticipate they might react to different musics? How do we balance our personal and group artistic goals while holding and responding to our communities values, expectations, and desires? Through practice, performance, and reflection students approach answers to these questions and deeper understandings of their own musical identities.
Semester 1
How has your Planning Form (Big Idea/ Inquiry Question) [embedded above] changed in the classroom so far this year? What have students added to the inquiry?
One question that came up repeatedly during our first semester was how do we hold each other accountable in practice and performance? What impact does accountability in the ensemble have when we perform music in our communities? (NGHS, CAPE, Chicago, etc) This is a prerequisite to our other explorations, as accountability to the group, especially for rehearsals, makes possible the kind of broader community engagement that we hoped to pursue. There were struggles with individual students in roles of musical leadership with spotty attendance-- at the same time there were students who really stepped into positions of leadership in response to these challenges. These experiences helped create opportunities for students to feel ownership over their work, and to really feel the impact of varying levels of accountability in their artistic community.
What are the specific school needs identified by your group in the December PD? How will you use the class’ Big Idea/ Inquiry Question/ Artmaking Practice to address them? Please be as specific as possible.
Limits in rehearsal time with 2 bands (Band A/B)
Attendance issues due to:
conflicting after school programs
conflicting athletic programs (swimming/basketball)
family related issues
transportation issues (especially in the winter months)
busy performance schedule
What we will do:
adjust Tues/Thurs rehearsal schedules
be specific about what content we are rehearsing, and when
be more strategic in rehearsal structure splitting time between sectional/individual work vs. ensemble rehearsal
Nick/Lopez will be more strategic with how each artist is working with students and split time more evenly between students
Below, share photos and/or videos of select class activities. Specify what students are engaging with and learning (artistically, academically, and/or SEL), in reference to your Big Idea/ Inquiry Question. You may add different blocks from the right-hand side menu.
Midnight Sweaters following their performance at (and first ever visit to!) the CAPE Gallery.
Midnight Sweaters performing at NGHS's hispanic heritage month performance. Students chose music in Spanish by Mana and Mon Laferte.
Performance at Hedges Elementary. Midnight Sweaters presented their work to students who don't have a music program, creating access and excitement around music.
Midnight Sweaters performing a medley of Ain't No Mountain High Enough and I Will Survive for NGHS's Black History Month Assembly.
Mr. Lopez with graduating seniors and band leaders, Emilee and Julian.
Semester 2
How did students respond to their involvement in the Perspective(s) exhibition? This may include: artmaking, curation, visiting CAPE Family Days or Teen Night, discussing their experience, or other.
Importantly, Midnight Sweaters began in the 2022-23 school year as an after school program that was not affiliated with CAPE. The first time it was held in collaboration with CAPE was in the summer of 2023, and as such throughout the school year there were varying degrees of student buy-in to CAPE's inquiry based learning philosophies and culture. On the micro level, there was a period of slight growing pains (with some students more than others) as they acclimated to having two teaching artists in the room. As such, the opportunity to perform at the CAPE gallery for Teen Night was a symbolically important invitation for Midnight Sweaters to more actively participate in the CAPE community, to witness the work of their peers, and to socially connect with other teens pursuing music and art making in similar contexts.
Students put together a robust set list of covers that they felt confident on for the performance. For many of the Midnight Sweaters, this was their first time in the CAPE gallery, so there were lots of questions around how things would sound in the space, what the other bands would be presenting, and what kind of acoustic/social challenges might arise. For some students, a competitive impulse developed, while for others, an excitement around seeing other teen performers. Ultimately, students left the performance having made positive connections with teens from other schools, as well as feeling much more ownership over the CAPE gallery and comfortability in their position in the CAPE community as a whole.
Further, this was the only performance this year that took place in an interdisciplinary art space. This was important from a logistical musical standpoint (how will the sound be different in a gallery setting? How does it feel to perform when we don't have a stage? How does it change our work to be surrounded by other folks' work?), but perhaps more powerfully emotionally and socially positioned Midnight Sweaters in a broader context of teen art work.
What skills did students leave your class with?
Musically, students left this class with deeper individual instrumental proficiency, ensemble playing ability, musical communication skills, curatorial sensibility, and performance experience. Socially and emotionally, students left with a deeper understanding of how they impact their community at NGHS and beyond, more precise feelings around group accountability, and a greater capacity to communicate their feelings, preferences, desires and boundaries.
Show evidence of this learning through photos and/or videos of select class activities. Specify what students are engaging with and learning (artistically, academically, and/or SEL), in reference to your Big Idea/ Inquiry Question. You may add different blocks from the right-hand side menu.
Performance at the Kenneth Young Center for a community event.
Pregame performance at Allstate Arena for the Chicago Wolves game.
Students celebrating a successful performance at the CAPE Gallery.
Final performance at Owlapalooza, an end of year celebration at NGHS.
