The John Lennon Education Tour Bus

Next Destination: Warped Tour 2010

Detroit, MI

 

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Lennon Bus Tour Promotes Music

TERRIA SMITH • THE DESERT SUN

Six high school musicians and vocalists pooled their talents this week to record a song and music video in less than two days.

The students were invited to record in the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus studio by their school band and choir programs, said Louisa Castrodale, the district’s visual and performing arts specialist.

All three high schools in the Palm Springs Unified School District were represented.

“The amazing thing is how natural it was,” Castrodale said. “The kids just went with it.”

The tour bus is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) mobile audio and HD video recording and production facility. The bus, along with its educational staff, makes an average of 200 stops a year at conventions, trade shows, high schools and colleges across the country, said Eric Niewiarow-ski, board producer and engineer with the bus.

The bus is set up inside the Palm Springs Convention Center this week for the Computer-Using Educators 2009 conference.

The six students, most of whom had never met before Wednesday, talked about the type of music they liked before deciding on what type of song they would record, Niewiarowski said.

Three students who play in their school bands recorded the instrumentals, Niewiarowski said. After recording the music, the group worked on lyrics.

“Lyrics were the hardest part because we really didn’t know each other,” said Kimberly Badena, 17, a singer in the Desert Hot Springs High School choir.

Once the lyrics were finished, three student-vocalists sang their part, Castrodale said.

The final step in the process was to record a music video, which is about a girl who is cheered up by musical instruments.

“It was a really different experience to interpret the music visually,” said Matt Ingelson, 16, a trumpet player from Palm Springs High School.

“It’s been awesome to say the least,” he said. “It’s been a really extraordinary opportunity to work with professionals and record in such a short period of time.”

The song and music video were expected to debut Thursday night at the conference’s welcoming reception.

Something like this should be parked outside of every school in America.

- Vernon Reid, Living Colour

The Headlines

  • Warped Tour

    The Bus is on the Vans Warped Tour this summer! We're producing new songs and videos with the awesome bands on the tour and working with non-profits like Feed Our Children Now. Each morning before the gates open we pick one group of lucky attendees to jump the line and get personally escorted into the show so get there early and look for us! Subscribe to our Youtube channel to catch the latest videos and our Facebook page for a peek backstage with your favorite bands.

  • Gibson Foundation’s “Night Out for Nashville”

    The Bus visited the Hard Rock Café in Nashville for public tours and silent auction of an Epiphone guitar signed by the Black Eyed Peas to raise money for flood victims in the Nashville area. Donation boxes made from Gibson guitar cases were placed at Nashville businesses and venues. To find out how you can help, visit www.gibsonfoundation.org

  • The 70th Celebration

    This year will be John's 70th birthday. The celebration will be a worldwide event. Very soon we will announce how you can be a part of it. Keep checking back here for info. Imagine Peace!

Video aboard the Bus

The increasing accessibility of digital technology has led to an amazing expansion of opportunity in the art of digital storytelling. The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus has been at the forefront of this new media explosion, having produced daily video projects with students since January of 2001. The Lennon Bus puts state-of-the-art digital video equipment into the hands of workshop participants and teaches the entire digital workflow from story-boarding to DVD burning. Students leave the experience having shot, chopped, scored, and (most importantly) finished an entire digital video production. Using the latest cameras and professional hardware/software solutions including Apple's Final Cut Studio and Bogen Imaging's complete line of grip equipment, tripods, filters, and accessories, participants are exposed to the exciting world of digital videography and learn hot techniques of the trade. The accessibility of professional-quality technology is making it possible for millions of new voices to be heard and the John Lennon Bus is putting these tools into the hands of tomorrow's great digital producers.