BY JACKSON CHEN | The Bloomingdale School of Music celebrated its 52nd birthday on November 11 with free live music and a proclamation honoring Borough President Gale Brewer.
For this bash, which actually came four days after the school reached this landmark, executive director Erika Floreska led Bloomingdale back to its original roots at the Broadway Presbyterian Church. Located at 601 West 114th Street, the church offered founder David Greer space to provide music education to the Upper West Side starting in 1964.
“On that day in 1964, a dream came true for an organist at a church group, our friend David Greer,” Floreska said. “He believed in his heart and in his life that music is a way to bring community together. We are here to celebrate that incredible milestone of a 52-year mission that Bloomingdale has kept at its forefront and its core.”
The music school, since moved to its current location in a five-story brownstone campus at 323 West 108th Street, continues Greer’s mission of guaranteeing that music education is affordable.
To entertain and inspire kids about music, vocalist Jocelyn Medina, a faculty member, kicked off the show with a message of “Common Ground,” which also happened to be the title of her closing song. The theme had particular resonance in the wake of last week’s election.
Complementing Medina’s smooth vocals, fellow band member Steven Gorn delivered soothing notes from his bansuri flutes, while Pete McCann was on guitar, Evan Gregor on bass, and Mark Ferber on the drums.
In between sets, Floreska reversed customary roles and presented the borough president with a proclamation from Bloomingdale praising Brewer for her dedication to music education in the city and the funding she provides to make that commitment concrete.
After noting gratefully that she has given out, but never received proclamations, Brewer spoke about the dire need for music education in schools.
“There is a real deficit in my opinion in the schools having high quality music education,” Brewer said. “We need, as a society, to have music, particularly because of the last couple of days that have brought the need to have common ground, discussions, and debriefing.”
The borough president said that, as Medina finished her first set, she watch two young girls who had to leave the event scream, upset to be torn away from the music. Brewer considered that moment an indicator of why Bloomingdale’s work is so important.
As the faculty jazz band concluded its set, school supporters and others from the Upper West Side community mingled, chatting about recent performances at the school and the role Bloomingdale plays in the neighborhood.
“In between Monday and Friday this week, we’ve witnessed something pretty miraculous, sad, depressing, and, really, a deeply divided nation has sent a shock to all of us,” Floreska said. “I really hope tonight’s concert will help us reaffirm what we know to be true, that music is a place where we can come together to cross differences, to feel sorry, joy, hope, and to help fill the spaces when there are no words.”
