Bridge Academy Students Turn Trash into Musical Treasure

Josh Robinson has spent the last few months at The Bridge Academy as part of an artist in residence program. The Artists in Education Program is a co-sponsored project of Young Audiences New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. His goal was to work with the students and teachers of Bridge in combining recycling and musical education. "There is power behind taking trash and making it into treasure," says Robinson. The program has been a big hit with the students; "I love making drums out of duct tape and big, orange buckets. It is exciting and fun," explained Zoe D. Drums are not the only musical instrument Bridge students get to make. Robinson also instructed the students on how to create rain sticks and other recycled objects which eventually became part of an interactive musical sculpture featured on the school's campus.

In addition to providing a rewarding experience for our students; musical education has an impact on academic accomplishment. Researchers have found that temporal connectivity, or the ability of different parts of the brain to "talk" with each other at the same time or in sequence, is a key to teaching dyslexic students. Robinson teaches the students to drum out specific rhythm and tempo using simple words heard during lunch time and inspires students to use this method to break down words by syllables in a fun interactive way.

Robinson has visited The Bridge Academy before; participating in an artist in resident program in 2013. At that time, he and Bridge Art Teacher, Sarah Bernotas, discussed the opportunity to create an interactive outdoor musical sculpture using recycled materials. "This structure has been a work in progress for about seven or eight years and with Josh returning we can finally make it happen," said Bernotas.

The underlying theme of the residency is the value of taking everyday items and reusing them for another purpose. This applies to both the use of musical instruments as well as the musical sculpture. Creating an outdoor musical sculpture reinforces to the students that music takes place every day not necessarily just in the classroom. "Our students are largely tactile and visual learners, so for them to be able to make instruments and work with a physical activity while getting to use what they build is something we really value at The Bridge," explained Bernotas. "And having a permanent structure for the students - and future students - to use every day is a wonderful addition to the school campus.

The Bridge Academy is an independent school for students with language-based learning disabilities, like dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, and ADHD. It is the only Orton-Gillingham accredited school in New Jersey. For more information about The Bridge Academy, please call 609-844-0770 or visit www.banj.org.