UMC STUDENTS BRING A "Trunk Full of Talent" TO WNEP LIVE TAPING

Press Release: Uptown Music Collective to perform in front of WNEP cameras  

Who: The Uptown Music Collective (a 501 c3 Non-Profit School of Music)

What: A Live Television Taping

Where: Community Arts Center, 220 West Fourth St. Williamsport, Pa 17701

When: Thursday, September 9th at 7:30pm

Cost: $5.00 Advanced and at the Door

Contact: Jared Mondell (jared@uptownmusic.org, 570-329-0888, uptownmusic.org)

Description:

Students from the Uptown Music Collective, the area’s premier nonprofit school of music, have been given the esteemed privilege of performing for the cameras of WNEP TV and a live audience at a special event on Thursday, September 9th at 7:30pm. The performance, which will take place at the Community Arts Center, will consist of four 30 minute segments of music which will be recorded for broadcast on WNEP’s new channel WNEP2.

The students of the local nonprofit music school first came to the attention of WNEP when they took part in the live broadcast of WNEP’s Leckey Live Morning Show from downtown Williamsport. “Our students performed at intervals throughout the event and surprised the WNEP crew with their highly energetic performance and professionalism,” said school founder Dave Brumbaugh. “Our staff and students, many of whom had stayed up all night setting up and preparing for the 5am broadcast, were extremely excited when producers from WNEP expressed an interest in doing a project with the school. This is such a unique opportunity for our organization,” said Brumbaugh, “our students are being given the chance to show not only what they can do as a group, but what young people in general can do when given the opportunity, discipline and the motivation.”

The material recorded by WNEP at the September 9^th performance will be edited together with interviews with the staff of the school and the Community Arts Center and aired on WNEP2 each Tuesday in November at 7:30pm.  Each TV special will feature one of four music segments, all of which will be recorded live during the event at the Community Arts Center. The segments will include the school’s Latin Percussion Ensemble, a set of original music written by Uptown Music Collective students, a set from the schools recent Motown tribute and a special preview set of the upcoming Uptown Music Collective Fall performance, Urban Legends; The Music of Ten Cities.

The Collective’s Latin percussion ensemble, which will lead off the live performance next Thursday, was formed in late 2009, and made possible through a grant from the Nothern Tier Alliance, a partner of the PA Council on the Arts.  The ensemble works with traditional Latin Percussion instruments such as Congas, Timbales, Bongos and more.. The Latin percussion ensemble is under the direction of percussion instructor Rich Cummings. Their performance will feature music from the Miami Sound Machine, Carlos Santana and Eddie Palmieri.

The original music segment of the show will feature a few of the student’s personal music projects, including area favorite Clouds Make Sounds. The set will also include music from Brandon Route and Shannon Cantor, Dylan Rockoff and Maverick Vicars, and local band The Treehouse.

In the spring of this year, the Collective brought the sounds of Motown to the Community Arts Center stage with their tribute show, Heard It through the Grapevine. The segment for the WNEP performance will feature a few songs from that critically acclaimed performance, as well as new material learned specifically for this event.

Finally, the Uptown Music Collective will offer a special preview of the schools upcoming fall performance entitled, Urban Legends; The Music of Ten Cities.  The show will consist of students performing the signature music of Ten U.S. Cities. The cities include Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Nashville and Memphis. This show will feature a diverse group of styles with something for every music fan. The full show will be performed on November 12^th and 13^th at the Community Arts Center and include music from the cities of San Francisco CA and Philadelphia PA.

Established in April of 2000, the Uptown Music Collective has developed a reputation as the premier source of music education in the area. Offering private lessons at all levels on guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals, as well as classes and workshops in music theory, songwriting, and styles such as the Blues, Jazz, Classical and Rock. The primary age range of the Collective is 10 – 18 yrs old, but is open to all ages and levels. Along with private lessons, the UMC offers a myriad of programs including its flagship Performance Program. This program educates students about the ins and outs of major and minor performances, including direction, production, preparation and technical aspects of the performances. The program brings outstanding student run performances to the area, including the most recent, Heard It through the Grapevine: A Tribute to The Music of Motown.

The event, which is sponsored by The Hartman Group and is open to the general public, will start at 7:30, tickets are $5 and are available at the Uptown Music Collective and the Community Arts Center Box Office. For more information about this event please visit www.uptownmusic.org or call 570-329-0888.

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At the end of the night both the crew from WNEP and the staff of the Collective felt that it went better then could have been expected and everyone looks forward to seeing the final results of this unique opportunity for the school.

A final taping for the opening of the show will take place on September 30th, at 7:00pm, in front of the Community Arts Center. Everyone is welcome to come down and take part in what will surely be a unique and fun event.

 The half hour shows drawn from these live performances will air on WNEP2 on Tuesdays in November at 7:30pm. WNEP2 is channel 243 on Comcast cable, for more information on WNEP2 check out the link. WNEP2