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KOMU TV blog - John Lennon Educational Tour Bus Stops at MU

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COLUMBIA - The Lennon Bus travels to college campuses across the nation, giving students the chance to write and record their own original song for free.

On Monday, the Lennon Bus made a stop at Mizzou.  MU music professor Arthur White selected seven students from the Jazz Studies program to participate. The students arrived at 9:00 a.m. and quickly began composing their song. Once they finalized and rehearsed the piece, they recorded the song inside of the Lennon Bus.

“I’ve been to a lot of recording studios, but nothing inside of a bus,” MU junior and drummer Phylshawn Johnson said.

Although the students are all part of the Jazz Studies program, they are not all music majors at MU. Sophomore Lizzie Fracica is majoring in biology, freshman Jimmy Haviland is majoring in engineering and senior Alex Ispa-Cowan is majoring in physics.

“It’s a great thing just to continue music and collaborate with all sorts of different types of majors,” Johnson said. “The five of us are coming from different places and we’re showing that not just music majors are musicians.”

They’d also never collaborated with each other before.

“It just kind of came together really fast. Much quicker than any other session than I’ve ever done,” Johnson said.

In just one day, the group wrote a song called “Peace and Harmony,” and Johnson says it was inspired by John Lennon himself. The Lennon Bus staff also helped the students film a music video to coincide with their song. Two MU convergence journalism students participated in the program, as well, to help with the filming and editing of the music video.

“By the end of the day, the students will walk away with a DVD of their entire work for the day,” Lennon Bus Producer Ryan L’Esperance said.

The Lennon Bus staff will also post the group’s song on its website.

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus has been around for 12 years. L’Esperance says it began as a part of the John Lennon song writing contest, but it is now its own entity. The bus travels 10 months out of the year helping students record music for free.

“I really think it’s something that’s a once in a lifetime thing,” L’Esperance said.

The Lennon Bus will be at MU on Tuesday for public tours from 9:00 a.m. To 5:00 p.m. in Lowry Mall. 

Reported by: Michelle Flandreau
Edited by: Jessica Holley
Published: Monday, October 19, 2009 at 7:56 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 9:20 AM

“This is precisely the kind of project John Lennon would have loved.”

- Yoko Ono Lennon

The Headlines

  • NBC Channel 14 Owensboro, KY: The John Lennon Educational Bus

    To watch the full segment, click here

  • BBC News: Yoko Ono Launches Lennon Educational Bus in Liverpool

    Yoko Ono has visited Liverpool to launch a bus which will tour Europe and be used by young people to make music. John Lennon's widow unveiled the bus at the Museum of Liverpool before it sets out for London and the rest of Europe. Young people will be able to take part in workshops and produce music, video and photography projects inside the bus's recording studios. Yoko Ono said it felt fitting to launch the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus in the former Beatle's hometown. To continue reading, click here

  • Liverpool Echo, UK: Yoko Ono and Kerry Katona visit Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

    Yoko Ono and Kerry Katona helped put a smile on the faces of young patients as they paid an emotional visit to Alder Hey. John Lennon’s famous widow pledged her support by agreeing to become an honorary patron of Alder Hey Children’s Charity. Mum-of-four Kerry also stopped by yesterday as part of a fundraising day for the West Derby hospital. Yoko joined children to create a piece of music on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus which launched on Wednesday at the Museum of Liverpool. To continue reading, click here

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 storyboarding to web publication and 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 Avid Media Composer and Pro Tools, 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. Subscribe to our Youtube channel so you never miss any of the amazing videos produced on the Lennon Bus.