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Printer-Friendly ModeDiversity events feature song, dance
April 24, 2006 —
Two African American artists celebrated diversity on campus Tuesday by performing on stage with stories, music, dance, and audience interaction.
Children from Washington Elementary in Bay City sat mesmerized in the Malcolm Field Theatre for Performing Arts while Donna Liebman performed African Story Telling and Dance. This was her fourth time invited to perform at SVSU.
Liebman, originally from Hiland Park, now resides in West Hartford, Connecticut, where she has worked as a library media specialist at Hooker Elementary for the past 16 years.
"Turn off the television and turn on the lights, we're going to take a journey," Liebman said as she introduced herself to the audience. Her journey included stories from the continents of Asia, Africa, and North America.
"I picked stories from the heart," she said. "I want to empower the different cultures and show that the African American culture connects with other cultures."
Her first acted-out story, The Chinese Mirror, a folktale by Mirra Ginsburg, was about a man whose village never saw a mirror. "The Chinese are cultural, systematic, and traditional," said Liebman, who changed all of her costumes on stage.
In her second story, The Boy in the Tree of Animals, Liebman asked the elementary students to volunteer to be trees, dogs, beavers, mice, and frogs, among other things. "The story originates in Ghana, a West African country that is proud of the stories they pass down from generation to generation," Liebman said.
The children learned to sing Ethiopian game songs, Swahili words for "you're welcome" and "thank you," and also learned that in the African culture children learn to play and sing at a young age.
Dr. Kimberly Prime, principal at Washington Elementary school, said, "I hope the students have a better appreciation for different cultures."
"Diversity develops character," Liebman said. "Today we sang songs, danced, laughed, and made stories come alive using our imagination by letting visions of characters dance through our heads."
"I want the students to know that it's okay to take away our masks to let the world see who we are," she added.
Albert Rawlins, another Afro-American artist on campus Tuesday, brought Music from the Past to Founders Hall.
Rawlins, a music teacher at Hampton Charter Schools in Connecticut, played music from the 17th Century with his four-member ensemble called Isacc's Boys, named after Dutch Renaissance composer Heinrich Isaac.
Besides Rawlins, the ensemble consisted of Dr. Eric Nisula, professor of music at SVSU, Steve Liebman, and Ed Merck.
"We're here to play music from the Baroque, Medieval and Renaissance periods," said Rawlins, who has a Master's Degree in Early Music Performance. "The Audience will hear a little Elizabethan music, some chamber music from Italy and Germany in the 16th Century, and folk tune arrangements of Scottish melodies."
Nisula played the Viola da Gamba, a musical instrument similar to the cello.
"It appeared in the 15th Century and was one of the most popular Baroque and Renaissance instruments of its time," he said.
The lute, which originated in the Arab lands sometime around the 7th Century, was played by Steve Liebman.
"The lute is similar to the modern guitar," he said. "The difference is that it has a round pear-shaped back and fretted neck."
The recorders, wooden flute-like instruments, were very common in the Renaissance period. They were played by Rawlins and Merck.
"Recorders are members of the fipple flute family," Rawlins said. "Fipple flutes are wind blown instruments with a block in the blowing end."
Merck said, "Recorders come in various shapes and sizes. The smallest recorders produce high-pitched sounds while the larger recorders produce a soft mellow sound."
Rawlins has been playing music for over 30 years in schools, churches, and various concerts.
"At the end of the presentation I hope students learn and understand that music has a long diverse history, and that music of the past is connected to music of today," he said.