WORLD-RENOWNED BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC
PARTNERS WITH DELTA BLUES MUSEUM AND ROBERT JOHNSON FOUNDATION TO FIND LOCAL
TEENS FOR FULL SCHOLARSHIPS
TO STUDY IN BOSTON THIS SUMMER
BOSTON, April xx, 2008 – This summer,
two Mississippi teens will spend five weeks
in Boston, learning how to take their musical
talents to new heights. Berklee College of
Music, the world’s largest college of
contemporary music, is collaborating with the
Delta Blues Museum, in Clarksdale, and the
Robert Johnson Foundation, in Crystal Springs,
to identify talented and deserving teens from
the after-school music programs offered at
each institution. This is the first time that
Berklee is partnering with institutions in
Mississippi to actively engage young musicians.
One teen from each institution will receive
a full scholarship to Berklee’s Five-Week
Summer Performance Program for high school
students, July 12 – August 15, where
they will take performance, music theory, and
music technology classes, and choose from songwriting,
music synthesis, and music business as electives.
Both winners will be recognized publicly at
music festivals in coming days: April 19 at
the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, and
May 10 at the 2008 Blues Jam, produced by the
Johnson Foundation in Crystal Springs. Teens
will be chosen at auditions in the days leading
up to both events.
Five teens from the Delta Blues Museum’s
after-school arts and education program qualify
to audition for one scholarship on April 17,
at the museum. These students have demonstrated
rich, musical talent in the program where they
learned to play the blues on instruments of
their choice from instructors who utilize the
oral tradition, recorded music, video, books,
and handouts in a classroom at the museum.
The students progress from learning the basics
of playing music to working together as a band
and eventually to mentoring younger classmates.
A presentation will be made to the scholarship
winner on April 19 at 2:00 on the Delta Blues
Museum stage during Clarksdale’s annual
Juke Joint Festival.
At the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation, homegrown
talent from Crystal Springs and Hazlehurst
have been competing in a monthly talent showcase
for a spot in one of three age categories in
the Robert Johnson Superstar Talent Showcase
Finale at the Crystal Springs Middle School
on April 28. The winner from category two,
comprising eight teens between 13 and 19, will
be named the Robert Johnson Junior Superstar,
and receive the scholarship to Berklee this
summer. A presentation will be made to the
winner on stage at the Blues Jam in Chatauqua
Park on May 10, following a performance at
the Robert Johnson Hall of Fame Banquet the
previous evening, in Jackson. Some of the showcase
winners can be viewed in QuickTime at robertjohnsoncreativearts.com.
Berklee College of Music was founded on the
revolutionary principal that the best way to
prepare students for careers in music was through
the study and practice of contemporary music,
be it hip-hop, rock, jazz, country, gospel,
electronica, Latin, or funk. For 60 years,
the college has evolved constantly to reflect
the state of the art of music and the music
business. With over a dozen performance and
nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented
student body representing over 70 countries,
and a music industry "who's who" of
alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning
lab for the music of today — and tomorrow.
