Join with us in using music to build bridges! Achord: a new Musical Alliance invites the formation of local chapters by those who want to use music to connect people and promote positive social change on their own campuses and within their communities.
If you want to share in Achord’s mission or if you want to learn more, please contact me directly at srgreene@achord.us. – Dr. Stephen Greene, Founder
Achord® affiliate members:
- respect the music of others and seek to understand musical boundaries as permeable
- seek to use music as a tool for communication and reconciliation
- seek solidarity with those whose music is different from their own
- encourage those at all levels of musical ability
- work to expand the circle of those who make music
Achord activities
Arranging. organizing and hosting social events at which students from throughout the campus were entertained by other individual students performing informally in the Dutchmen Den, located in the college’s “C-Store” facility within Yuhas Commons. These were aided by the Music Department and the Office of Student Affairs, which provided equipment such as a keyboard, an amplifier, and speakers. These events were designed to actively cultivate new relationships among students that bridge racial and social divides, bringing together students from all over campus in order to become members of an informal social club called the “musical alliance,” which aimed to build understanding. These were organized by a student manager who invited students to “poetically or musically express yourself and share your culture with others.”
Organizing and conducting an educational study group in the field of music, at which musical and cultural instruction was offered, by inviting Penn State Professor Ann-Marie Mingo to campus to present a lecture titled, “Moved by the Messages in the Music: Faith as Resistance in Black Freedom Struggles.” In this presentation, which provided an educational service open both to students and to the Annville community, Professor Mingo discussed her recent publication of “Transgressive Leadership and Theo-ethical Texts of Black Protest Music” in the journal Black Theology: An International Journal. This collaborative event was related to an educational exhibition of photographs in the college’s Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery, Danny Lyon: Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement.
In conjunction with Spiritual Life and the Bishop Library, sponsoring an educational service in the form of an open screening in Miller Chapel of the feature movie, The Music of Strangers, which was open to all students on campus, as well as additional, subsequent screenings for students. The feature-length movie chronicles the origins and explains the cross-cultural purpose of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, which brings together musicians from many different countries.
Sponsoring of multiple performances and lectures on campus by Grammy-nominated performer and award-winning author Stephen Wade, who presented concerts and led interactive classes, including with students taking a class using Wade’s book, The Beautiful Music All Around Us.
Similar activities are in the works.