A trumpet player rehearsed for the upcoming big show played on July 26. (Al Zdon)
A young drummer concentrates on instruction for his drum part. (Al Zdon)
As as the audience gathered it seemed like chaos.
Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, appeared to be in a fistfight, swinging wildly at each other, then stopped, broke into laughter and hugged.
A young lad took a nose dive out of the bleachers, skidding across the gymnasium floor on his belly.
Two young men stood three feet apart from each other blasting each other’s eardrums with trumpets.
And then, with a hushed word from the instructor, the gym became instantly quiet. Minutes later the 49 students were all in place to begin a dress rehearsal for their big show, all the energy now concentrated on getting it right.
The show, the Northside United Summer Band Camp final performance, was held July 26 at the Edison gym, and featured a drumline, a horn section, majorettes and non-stop “show style” marching.
The summer camp for students across the Twin Cities is part of All City Music, a program aimed at instructing urban youth in the technique of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) marching band style.
D’Shonte Carter, the founder and director of All City Music, said there are no traditional Black universities in Minnesota. The program is an effort to bring the high-energy of show style bands to local youths.
“We started the program in 2021 with 13 students. This year, we have 49. We had over a hundred signed up, but we don’t have the money for transportation, which would have been $44,000 this year.”
The band camp has been located in the Edison gym for the past two years, another addition to the Northeast Arts Community ecosystem.
“Our kids are 90% BIPOC (Black, indigenous, people of color) and we have had a 75% retention rate over the years,” Carter said. It is open to youth from grades three to 12.
She is aided at the camp by other music professionals including her husband, Deondre’ Carter, who instructs the drumline, and Lesley Earles, the Edison band instructor, who teaches the horn players.
Carter said this year’s group of students come from 33 different schools across the Twin Cities.
Ted Wicklund, an eighth grader at Minnehaha Academy, has been in the summer program for two years. “It’s been a lot of fun. This year I’m playing the euphonium. I’ve had a really good time.
“I joined up to make new friends, and I like to try new things.”
Destini Major, a seventh grader at Woodbury Middle School, said she and her mom found out about the program on Facebook. She is a dancer. “I like different techniques and different styles. It will help me grow as a dancer.
“It’s been really fun, and I enjoy being around the other students. They’re very supportive.”
Both Wicklund and Major pointed out the rigor necessary to get 49 students to be all on the same page in the high-energy performance. “There’s a lot of discipline,” Major said, “and it really helps me in learning how to dance and in respecting other people.”
Both Wicklund and Major say they hope to continue their musical interests into their college years.
Carter herself is a graduate of Virginia State University, an HBCU that has a reputation as sponsoring one of the best marching bands in the nation. Carter grew up in Minneapolis and Robbinsdale.
While the program is aimed at exposing African-American youth to the historic show style of traditional Black college bands, she said it is also cross-cultural “for those seeking to widen their perspectives.” The summer camp is free for all. For more information on All City Music, go to https://allcitymusic.org/.
