Report: Young Chicago rappers in detention are Citizen Musicians for a week, creating original work for Riccardo Muti with help from Chicago Symphony musicians and the Music in Prisons project.

By Nancy Malitz

Photos by Todd Rosenberg

The first time Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti visited the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, in September 2012, it was to offer a concert to more than 100 youths awaiting trial for serious crimes.

For his return visit on April 14, it was Muti who took a turn in the audience.

The concert itself was given by incarcerated youths who called themselves the Gr8 8IGHT. Their show included four big rap numbers – their own original poetry with music — that came from the heart, the result of an intensive five days of preparation that started with nothing but a blank page.

None of the youths had previous musical instrument training, but by the end of the week they all were participating on guitar, bass, drum, keyboard and at the mic.

The four songs they minted, with the help of composer Nick Hayes who got it all down on paper, graphically followed the arc of their own experience – from hard childhood memories (“I wanna go to heaven when the world blows up”), to critical mistakes, the current grim situation (“That’s my life now, I’m facing 6 to 30”) and a rousing finale for four rappers with hopes and dreams (“If I had one choice I would spend my life with you”).

The “facing 6 to 30” lyric refers to the most serious felonies, Class X offenses such as armed robbery, attempted murder, drug dealing and criminal sexual assault. They carry 6-30 year sentences in Illinois.

CSO oboist Lora Schaefer and bass Daniel Armstrong were on hand all week to help with the preparations, which were led by composer Hayes and Sara Lee, founder of a British agency called Music in Prisons, in operation since 1996. “I think this is something we have to do,” said Armstrong. “Our society can’t just forget people behind bars.”

One of the youths showed a knack for two guitar chords, so Hayes and the group devised a complete interlude around his newfound skills.  By end of the week a hearty handful of CSO players had piled on, to enrich the sound with trumpet, percussion and strings.

Family members of the Gr8 8IGHT participants were also in attendance, and when it was announced that the concert had been recorded and that copies of the CD would be distributed to all participants, the sobs of joy were audible.

Gr8 8IGHT member Ricky had a chance to show off some fleet work on the bass with his father in the audience. “One of the musicians gave me the notes to play and I picked it up pretty quick,” he said. “My cousin had a guitar so I had played around a bit, but this was the first time I did music for real.”

Ricky said he had seen musicians before, “but not so close. I liked watching how they all played together.” The CSO members played him some Beethoven and Bach, and he said he’d like to hear more: “Not so much that I would want to listen to it all the time every day, but it would be cool once in a while.”

Prison outreach efforts were urged by Muti when he became music director in 2010. They fall under the CSO’s Citizen Musician rubric, which encompasses a variety of CSO activities that Muti envisioned to bridge gulfs between people using music, and to strengthen the orchestra’s community presence.

At the end of the concert, he rose to greet the performers, told them he was impressed by their dedication and their “sense of the music and its ultimate importance, which is that it helps people to come together.

“The world needs harmony. Music helps us to understand each other’s point of view. This is a wonderful beginning for you and for us.”

Related Links:

• Read more about the Citizen Musician initiative: Go to CSO.org
• Read more about Daniel Armstrong and Lora Schaefer: Find their artist pages at CSO.org
• Read more about the Music In Prisons program: Go to www.musicinprisons.org.uk

Captions and credits: Home page and top: Chicago Symphony Orchestra bass Daniel Armstrong spent five days with incarcerated youths at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center to help prep their concert for CSO music director Riccardo Muti and invited guests. Descending: Composer Nick Hayes with performers at the Cook Count Juvenile Temporary Detention Center — the center forbids the showing of faces of residents, who have not yet been to trial. Chicago Symphony Orchestra oboe Lora Schaefer was on hand all week for the workshop.  CSO Music Director Riccardo Muti thanks residents after the concert. Below: In September 2012 it was Muti who performed for the youths. Muti is seen here with the internationally celebrated bass-baritone Eric Owens, a star at the Metropolitan Opera. (All photos by Todd Rosenberg)

Tags: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Citizen Musician, Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, Daniel Armstrong, Lora Schaefer, Music in Prisons, Nick Hayes, Riccardo Muti, Sara Lee