Bronx Envision Academy

Bronx Envision Vespers Residency

This winter into spring songwriting residency was originally focused on exploration of how students define what is divine or supremely good in their lives, in preparation to see Monteverdi's Maria Vespers.  However, due to the pandemic, the production of Maria Vespers was canceled, but the Advanced Music students at Bronx Envision Academy continued their songwriting collaborations with Armory Teaching Artists through weekly video conferences.  Students discovered and defined a variety of musical terms, such as tempo, melody, orchestration, and genre, and then made creative songwriting choices for how to set their lyrics to music.  You can hear the final songs of the Bronx Envision Vespers here; these compositions connect the students' original ideas about the divine or supreme good in their lives to their experiences of the pandemic and the protests fighting for the end of police brutality and racial oppression.