CWRU, CIM, and CIA students rock out thanks to John Lennon bus tour
Nicholas Knoske
Issue date: 10/30/09 Section: News
The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a unique mobile recording studio that seeks to bring music education to students all over the country, made its only stop in Ohio last Thursday when it parked outside the Silver Spartan Diner.
According to audio engineer Kevin Hoy, who has toured with the bus this year, "it's the only one of its kind: a non-profit (and mobile) recording studio." The bus traveled to New York after its time in Cleveland and ended its tour for the year there.
The bus, painted in a blue and white sky pattern and bearing the famous self-portrait doodle of John Lennon, was launched 12 years ago by Brian Rothschild (now the Executive Director of the project) and music manger David Sonenberg. It acts as a valuable educational tool and has even won Yoko Ono awards for her work in the field of music education. Ono is a patron of the bus project and grants it the use of John Lennon's name and likeness.
Today it operates almost entirely thanks to the generosity of sponsors-almost forty in total-the names and logos of which are spray painted on the side of the vehicle. The most recent sponsor is The Beatles Rockband videogame. In fact, throughout Thursday, the bus crew took advantage of the nice weather and set up a tent where passersby could play The Beatles Rockband at leisure.
Thursday and Friday were devoted to the recording of an original piece of music by students from CWRU, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Cleveland Institute of Art. They were given nearly nine hours to compose, perform, record, and write the lyrics for their song, the title of which would eventually become "Finest Hour."
Eight students were chosen for the experience. The selection process was essentially first-come, first-served. "I hadn't actually heard about it," said Keith Lewis. Lewis is a senior majoring in audio recording. A professor notified him of the event via e-mail, and he signed up. He played bass and trumpet for the song.
According to audio engineer Kevin Hoy, who has toured with the bus this year, "it's the only one of its kind: a non-profit (and mobile) recording studio." The bus traveled to New York after its time in Cleveland and ended its tour for the year there.
The bus, painted in a blue and white sky pattern and bearing the famous self-portrait doodle of John Lennon, was launched 12 years ago by Brian Rothschild (now the Executive Director of the project) and music manger David Sonenberg. It acts as a valuable educational tool and has even won Yoko Ono awards for her work in the field of music education. Ono is a patron of the bus project and grants it the use of John Lennon's name and likeness.
Today it operates almost entirely thanks to the generosity of sponsors-almost forty in total-the names and logos of which are spray painted on the side of the vehicle. The most recent sponsor is The Beatles Rockband videogame. In fact, throughout Thursday, the bus crew took advantage of the nice weather and set up a tent where passersby could play The Beatles Rockband at leisure.
Thursday and Friday were devoted to the recording of an original piece of music by students from CWRU, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Cleveland Institute of Art. They were given nearly nine hours to compose, perform, record, and write the lyrics for their song, the title of which would eventually become "Finest Hour."
Eight students were chosen for the experience. The selection process was essentially first-come, first-served. "I hadn't actually heard about it," said Keith Lewis. Lewis is a senior majoring in audio recording. A professor notified him of the event via e-mail, and he signed up. He played bass and trumpet for the song.
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