March 12, 2013

Jazz singer Toni Tupponce is program director of A Sign of the Times of the Carolinas. She was at the Forum to promote a March 29-30 presentation at West Charlotte High School with the musicians of the James Brown Band and A Sign of the Times.

But seated between two schoolhouse educators, she focused many comments on the role that music can play in educational settings in reaching young people. An example was the account of what happened with students at a school in old Second Ward when they spent three days learning about the Broooklyn neighborhood bulldozed in 1960s “urban renewal,” then sharing what they had learned with former residents of the neighborhood.

Below, in two parts, are video clips from Tupponce’s initial presentations, and the questions she fielded thereafter. She appeared on a panel that included charter school applicant Stacey Rose and Dr. Nicole Priestly, executive director of CMS Central Zone Title 1 elementary schools.