Cuesheet P

ERFO

RM

AN

CE G

UID

E

David M. Rubenstein Chairman

Michael M. KaiserPresident

Darrell M. AyersVice President, Education

Additional support for Performances for Young Audiences is provided in part by The Clark Charitable Foundation; Mr. James V. Kimsey; The Macy’s Foundation; The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; the Park Foundation, Inc.; the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; an endowment from the Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation; the U.S. Department of Education; the Verizon Foundation; Washington Gas; and by generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund, and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.

Major support for the Kennedy Center’s educational programs is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

www.kennedy-center.org/artsedge

Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, an education program of the Kennedy Center. ARTSEDGE is a part of Verizon Thinkfi nity, a consortium of free educational Web sites for K-12 teaching and learning.

Learn more about Education at the Kennedy Center at www.kennedy-center.org/education

The contents of this Cuesheet do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement from the Federal Government.

© 2012 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Please recycle this Cuesheet by sharing it

with friends!

What Does a DJ Do? Before people listened to music on compact discs, they used record albums, played on a record player, or turntable. Someone who played records for others was called a disc jockey, or deejay.

In the late 1970s and early 80s, a deejay in the Bronx named Kook Herc noticed that dancers liked the breaks in the music, or the percussion solos. He began experimenting with making the breaks in the music longer, which allowed the dancers more time to create new moves, like dropping to the fl oor and popping up again. The dance was called break dancing and dancers were called b-boys and b-girls.

Deejays continued to innovate. Some began “scratching” the needle on the record; some played one record over the sound of another, and others cut back and forth between records. Deejays created a new electronic form of music by combining elements from different recordings and by manipulating sounds rhythmically.

Meet Mr. BachDuring the performance, you will hear Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Black Violin took the original piece of classical music and blended it with a more modern style of hip hop.

Mix It UpPart of what makes Black Violin so special is the way it combines two separate styles of music: classical and hip hop. Now it’s your turn. Can you turn the traditional version of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” into a rap song? What about performing “Frosty the Snowman” as a jazz number? Choose your favorite song and mix it up!

Be a Part of the PerformanceBlack Violin wants to involve you, the audience, in their show. Listen carefully to their instructions and…

Keep Moving

Put Your Hands Up

Nod Your Head to the Beat

and Clap!

J.S. Bach (1685–1750) is considered

a giant in the world of Baroque music.

Take two violinists, a DJ, a drummer, and a handful of hip hop, and you’ve got Black Violin. Their goal? To inspire a new generation of musicians and teach them that classical music is cool!

Performed by Kev Marcus and Wil-B

Performances for Young Audiences

is made possible by

Black ViolinBlack Violin

Meet the Music Team

Wil-B (left) and

Kev Marcus (right)

met as students at

Dillard High School

of Performing Arts

in Florida.

Like his jazz idol Louis Armstrong,

Stuff Smith (1909–1967) sang as

well as played a musical instrument.

Ohio native Stuff Smith was a famous jazz violinist

from the swing era and one of the fi rst violinists to use electric amplifi cation. At a time when the violin was considered mostly a

classical music instrument, Smith broke new ground with his fresh-sounding jazzy, bluesy sound. His last album, Black Violin, inspired Wil-B and Kev

Marcus to give their group the same name.

Being a Team Player

The Violinists: Wil-B, also known as “Simply Sick,” began playing the viola at age 13. He grew to love the instrument, but it’s no longer his only one. He now sings and plays the piano, drums, trumpet, bass guitar, and violin.

Kev Marcus started his violin training at age nine. He met Wil-B at the performing high school they both attended in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Drummer: Jermaine McQueen is a talented hip hop drummer who started his career in New York City.

The DJ: DJ TK helps Black Violin fuse classical and hip hop to create a unique musical sound.

The musicians in Black Violin are a team. When you play on a team, you work together as a group to do more than you can by yourself, right? It’s the same with this group. Wil, Kev, Jermaine, and TK play individual parts that work together to make music with different sounds, moods, and feelings. To perform together well, they need to communicate, but they can’t talk during the music. So watch how they communicate silently—for example when they watch each other to know when to start playing.

To play the violin, the performer places one end under the chin and the other end in one hand, which is also used to press the strings against the fi ngerboard. By using those fi ngers to change the length of the vibrating string, the player alters the highness or lowness of

the notes. The other hand “plays” the violin by using the right hand to draw a bow across the strings—or by using the fi ngers to pluck the strings, which is called pizzicato (pronounced PITZ-uh-KAH-toh). The violin has a range of about four octaves.

Playing a Violin

The violin evolved over many centuries from the early stringed instruments in India, (where bows were introduced), to Arabia, and fi nally throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Little has changed since the instrument’s basic form was developed in Italy between 1550 and 1600.

When Italians heard the violin—or fi ddle, as it was called at the time—they loved the range of notes that sounded similar to the human voice. They also liked how the small instrument could make a strong sound. That made the violin popular for dances way back before stereos and speakers, because everyone could hear it even in a big room. Oh, and that compact size? Perfect for a suitcase. As people moved to different countries to explore or live, they took their fi ddles with them, spreading the sound and the music around the world.

Neck

Fingerboard

Strings

Ribs

Soundpost(inside)F HoleBridge

E Tuner

Tailpiece

Chinrest

End Pin

About Black ViolinNeck

Fingerboard

Strings

Ribs

Soundp(insideF HoleBridg

E Tu

Ta

C

E

Meet the Violin

Scroll

PegPeg BoxNut

Tip

Hair

Stick

Bow GripEyelet

FrogEnd Screw

Violin”?“Black Why

The violin is 23 inches

long and made of wood.

The vibration of the

violin’s four strings

is what causes the

instrument to produce

sound. The bow is

made of horsehair.

Meet the Music Team

Wil-B (left) and

Kev Marcus (right)

met as students at

Dillard High School

of Performing Arts

in Florida.

Like his jazz idol Louis Armstrong,

Stuff Smith (1909–1967) sang as

well as played a musical instrument.

Ohio native Stuff Smith was a famous jazz violinist

from the swing era and one of the fi rst violinists to use electric amplifi cation. At a time when the violin was considered mostly a

classical music instrument, Smith broke new ground with his fresh-sounding jazzy, bluesy sound. His last album, Black Violin, inspired Wil-B and Kev

Marcus to give their group the same name.

Being a Team Player

The Violinists: Wil-B, also known as “Simply Sick,” began playing the viola at age 13. He grew to love the instrument, but it’s no longer his only one. He now sings and plays the piano, drums, trumpet, bass guitar, and violin.

Kev Marcus started his violin training at age nine. He met Wil-B at the performing high school they both attended in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Drummer: Jermaine McQueen is a talented hip hop drummer who started his career in New York City.

The DJ: DJ TK helps Black Violin fuse classical and hip hop to create a unique musical sound.

The musicians in Black Violin are a team. When you play on a team, you work together as a group to do more than you can by yourself, right? It’s the same with this group. Wil, Kev, Jermaine, and TK play individual parts that work together to make music with different sounds, moods, and feelings. To perform together well, they need to communicate, but they can’t talk during the music. So watch how they communicate silently—for example when they watch each other to know when to start playing.

To play the violin, the performer places one end under the chin and the other end in one hand, which is also used to press the strings against the fi ngerboard. By using those fi ngers to change the length of the vibrating string, the player alters the highness or lowness of

the notes. The other hand “plays” the violin by using the right hand to draw a bow across the strings—or by using the fi ngers to pluck the strings, which is called pizzicato (pronounced PITZ-uh-KAH-toh). The violin has a range of about four octaves.

Playing a Violin

The violin evolved over many centuries from the early stringed instruments in India, (where bows were introduced), to Arabia, and fi nally throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Little has changed since the instrument’s basic form was developed in Italy between 1550 and 1600.

When Italians heard the violin—or fi ddle, as it was called at the time—they loved the range of notes that sounded similar to the human voice. They also liked how the small instrument could make a strong sound. That made the violin popular for dances way back before stereos and speakers, because everyone could hear it even in a big room. Oh, and that compact size? Perfect for a suitcase. As people moved to different countries to explore or live, they took their fi ddles with them, spreading the sound and the music around the world.

Neck

Fingerboard

Strings

Ribs

Soundpost(inside)F HoleBridge

E Tuner

Tailpiece

Chinrest

End Pin

About Black ViolinNeck

Fingerboard

Strings

Ribs

Soundp(insideF HoleBridg

E Tu

Ta

C

E

Meet the Violin

Scroll

PegPeg BoxNut

Tip

Hair

Stick

Bow GripEyelet

FrogEnd Screw

Violin”?“Black Why

The violin is 23 inches

long and made of wood.

The vibration of the

violin’s four strings

is what causes the

instrument to produce

sound. The bow is

made of horsehair.

Cuesheet P

ERFO

RM

AN

CE G

UID

E

David M. Rubenstein Chairman

Michael M. KaiserPresident

Darrell M. AyersVice President, Education

Additional support for Performances for Young Audiences is provided in part by The Clark Charitable Foundation; Mr. James V. Kimsey; The Macy’s Foundation; The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; the Park Foundation, Inc.; the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; an endowment from the Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation; the U.S. Department of Education; the Verizon Foundation; Washington Gas; and by generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund, and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.

Major support for the Kennedy Center’s educational programs is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

www.kennedy-center.org/artsedge

Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, an education program of the Kennedy Center. ARTSEDGE is a part of Verizon Thinkfi nity, a consortium of free educational Web sites for K-12 teaching and learning.

Learn more about Education at the Kennedy Center at www.kennedy-center.org/education

The contents of this Cuesheet do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement from the Federal Government.

© 2012 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Please recycle this Cuesheet by sharing it

with friends!

What Does a DJ Do? Before people listened to music on compact discs, they used record albums, played on a record player, or turntable. Someone who played records for others was called a disc jockey, or deejay.

In the late 1970s and early 80s, a deejay in the Bronx named Kook Herc noticed that dancers liked the breaks in the music, or the percussion solos. He began experimenting with making the breaks in the music longer, which allowed the dancers more time to create new moves, like dropping to the fl oor and popping up again. The dance was called break dancing and dancers were called b-boys and b-girls.

Deejays continued to innovate. Some began “scratching” the needle on the record; some played one record over the sound of another, and others cut back and forth between records. Deejays created a new electronic form of music by combining elements from different recordings and by manipulating sounds rhythmically.

Meet Mr. BachDuring the performance, you will hear Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Black Violin took the original piece of classical music and blended it with a more modern style of hip hop.

Mix It UpPart of what makes Black Violin so special is the way it combines two separate styles of music: classical and hip hop. Now it’s your turn. Can you turn the traditional version of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” into a rap song? What about performing “Frosty the Snowman” as a jazz number? Choose your favorite song and mix it up!

Be a Part of the PerformanceBlack Violin wants to involve you, the audience, in their show. Listen carefully to their instructions and…

Keep Moving

Put Your Hands Up

Nod Your Head to the Beat

and Clap!

J.S. Bach (1685–1750) is considered

a giant in the world of Baroque music.

Take two violinists, a DJ, a drummer, and a handful of hip hop, and you’ve got Black Violin. Their goal? To inspire a new generation of musicians and teach them that classical music is cool!

Performed by Kev Marcus and Wil-B

Performances for Young Audiences

is made possible by

Black ViolinBlack Violin