Pilot recreation project coming to A.W. “Man” Stanley Memorial Gymnasium
By BoBByAfrikusRoss
In an effort to pursue the Arts as a core form of recreation in Darlington, and maximize opportunities to sing together, an innovative project is being readied to launch at the City of Darlington Recreation Department A.W. “Man” Stanley Memorial Center Gym.
Under the project name “Singin’ One Mo’ Time,” D-RecArtsExplo (Darlington Recreation Arts Exploration), a pilot program will build on an “untapped resource” in the community. As a self-styled Community Strategist and Actionist whose mission has been solely to systematically progress Darlington to a level where she can identify and/or recognize the rich infrastructure that exists already, I am committed to advancing initiatives that, if pursued diligently and embraced by leaders and interested citizens alike, we will transform the Darlington community from the bottom up. That untapped resource is the “human voice”. This resource has been overlooked and/or ignored in the way we need to explore and exploit it! The human voice. Yeah! That’s what I said, resource – hu-man voice!
I want to workshop some of my original music as well as that of others in the community as a major part of the project. Original music of all genres and styles will be the focus of this particular venture! The pilot project is also expecting to develop some opportunities for collaborations and network building – especially with and among young people, our most precious natural resource.
In the past, I have introduced to the community original compositional material – oftentimes based on local folklore and themes. “Celebrate Darlington” is a tribute song of hope and promise penned in 1984. The composition was adopted and featured as the official song for the Darlington County Bicentennial Celebration of 1985 and was introduced at the Blue Sky mural unveiling.
Then I formed a vocal group, The Pee Dee Ensemble, an eight-voice aggregation made up of friends who were willing to tackle some challenging vocal arrangements and exercises in preparation for the one-time dynamic performance.
In the late 1990’s, I adapted a song originally written in the early 70’s in the mountains of Eagle River, Alaska. Originally titled “Perfect Schemer,” and expressing a personal regret, “Perfect Schemer” was retooled to become “Appreciation Song”. Appreciation Song was written (lyrically) for historic Mayo High School’s 100th Anniversary
Celebration, and loosely based on the school’s song at that time, which is a work of art in itself! That Alma Mater was penned in 1954 by an eighth grade student, the late Alice Jean Mack and adapted to the classical composition “Largo” from the opera “Xerxes, by George Friederick Handel. I have always been fascinated with that particular song’s haunting melody and highly impressed that the folk at historic Mayo High at that time had the presence of mind, no less, the genius, to interject ‘Largo’ into their high school alma mater. What amazes me even more is that every kid who matriculated historic Mayo High had to master the daunting Handel melody – Not!
In fact, the “Singin’ One Mo’ Time” recreation project title emanated from a conversation I had one day with my classmate Roberta Wingate Balthrop-Class of ’69, during some downtime while poll working at the Mayo voting precinct site. Being at the establishment induced a sentimental moment where she and I could not resist the urge to burst into song. Thanks Bert!
Tentatively proposed to partner with South Carolina State University’s 1890 Cooperative Extension Service, “Singin One Mo’ Time”, due to its long incubation as merely an idea, eventually morphed into D-RecArts Explo and is being introduced and will serve as well as a pilot project that will also embrace a 4H Youth Development component.
I am a 30-year plus 4H adult volunteer leader, and a longtime a student and proponent of USDA Cooperative Extension, its design, mission and ability to foster, explore, experiment, refine, then demonstrate new and innovative ideas toward success and prosperity on the individual as well as corporate/ community level. I also believe that the established synergy of USDA Cooperative Extension, even in its present form as I understand it, (education, experimentation, research and development) coupled with the introduction of creative, “out of the box” ideas and projects, funneled through Extension’s toolbox of proven methodology, abundant resources and exhaustive knowledge bank as is available through such higher education institutions as South Carolina State University’s 1890 Cooperative Extension and the extensive and extended knowledge base of primarily Land Grant University Extension programs in USDA’s nationwide network of Land Grant Institutions throughout America; this combination can effect for our generation, and even exceed, similar successes that the original Cooperative Extension program did in its infancy!
In its infancy, USDA Cooperative Extension was positioned to more smoothly drive progress during the era when agriculture, an under tapped resource of that period was poised and readied to be established as the foundation on which the young nation’s economy could effectively depend. Extension has played a vital and indispensable role in helping to develop the framework and foundation for establishing the American economic model; at its best, gives substance and relevance to ideas proposed, establishing best practices while giving substance to the human values component necessary to steer and sustain our democracy on the right path – moving forward. Extension provides insight and guidance toward utilizing capitalism for the good of mankind -by discovering and proving best practices and figuring out how to apply and incorporate them into our system of governance. This dynamic implores us to fully use our disciplined creative and intellectual resources as the complimentary innovation to allow our economy to achieve what had never been before. USDA Extension has historically served as a model to be replicated by other countries all over the world. Extension is a “natural resource” like other dynamic investments made earlier in our country’s history, like the National Parks system, the Centers for Disease Control, the Works, Progress Administration, to name only a few. Extension has a strong role to play in assisting our nation in reclaiming and refocusing its dynamic role in forwarding democracy and capitalism. The missing component in our nation’s recovery efforts rests in the absence of grassroots involvement in asserting America’s ideal effectively. During earlier times in our history, citizens were invited and inspired to invest their talents and resource! Extension, maintains the needed “toolbox” to facilitate this “innovative” approach!
Individuals who want to enhance their musical development in a relatively relaxed, non-pressure driven recreational environment can contact Ross at 843.758.8036 to learn more