Transporting city youths through music

In a small, soundproof room in Point Breeze, Knatosh Walker sings a lament about love gone wrong.

"I say the right things but she take it the wrong way," he croons over an R&B track. "I know I'm wrong, but ain't nothing scarier than to come home and see her lipstick on my mirror."

As Walker half-sings, half-talks over the prerecorded music, Tyler Pratt watches as engineer Ron Meersand fiddles with knobs on a digital-recording console to get Walker's sound just right.

The Philadelphia Youth Music Partnership plants children and teenagers, including Walker, 19, and Pratt, 18, in the recording studio so they can learn how to create and produce music, skills that may win them a job in the field some day.

"A lot of kids want to be rappers or singers," said the program's creator, Dominic McFadden. "I'm trying to let them know it's just as fun to be behind the scenes."

McFadden is a paramedic at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who also runs a music-production studio. If his name sounds familiar, it's because his late father was Gene McFadden, who, with John Whitehead, wrote "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" and other hits.

As a child, Dominic McFadden paid little attention to his father's work.

"I look back and think, 'Wow, my dad was working with Michael Jackson,' but I was into sports," he said. "I was a regular kid."

Gradually, McFadden found his way to music, started producing, and wanted to share his knowledge with Philadelphia children. With Terrell Burnside, he had written the theme song for PhillyRising, a Nutter administration program that aims to boost struggling neighborhoods.

Residents in Point Breeze and in North Philadelphia had told Ade Fuqua, an assistant managing director for the city who works with PhillyRising, that they wanted to revive two unused recording studios in Philadelphia Housing Authority properties.

Fuqua suggested McFadden start at the recording studio in the recreation center at Wilson Park Apartments, 25th and Jackson Streets. So far, 38 youths have signed up for the free, three-day-a-week program, which began in late January and lasts 18 weeks.

McFadden enlisted help from Philadelphia's music community, including people with serious musical cred. Among the teachers is Skip Denenberg, who has a Grammy for a song on "All About Bullies ... Big and Small," this year's Best Children's Album.

Drea Young boasts an engineering credit on Esperanza Spalding's Grammy-winning album. Young also has worked with Beyoncé and Björk and says she likes to share with the students what music has given her.

"I'm just really excited at being able to give kids something they don't have access to," she said.

Participants find out about the program through school or the housing authority, or are referred by the court system, but only if they have committed nonviolent offenses.

Fuqua, of the Managing Director's Office, says music transports many of these students away from their problems.

"All the distractions, the difficulties of being a tough guy, just slip away," he said.

When students complete the program, they are eligible for paid internships provided by local studios. Free music lessons also are available.

"It's good for them because they don't have to go through that whole thing where they have to know somebody to get work," McFadden said. "They already know somebody."

Volunteers staff the partnership, so it costs the city nothing.

Before the young people can get jobs, they have a lot to learn. At various points, they will play instruments, write, and produce.

While Walker works on his vocals, teacher Joseph Reynolds leads a drumming session in another room. As a funky "Treat 'Em Right" by Chubb Rock plays on a laptop, several children follow Reynolds as he commands them to pound out a certain count by banging their hands on the table - and then asks them to change it. "Eight, eight," he cries. Then, "Four, four."

At first, Nia Henderson, a sixth grader at Independence Charter School, and her fellow drummers don't drum in sync, but fairly quickly, each child learns to follow the beat as Reynolds, a local musician, throws out questions.

"What beat is the snare on?" he asks. The children answer, "Two and four." Briana Saunders, a ninth grader at Bok Technical High School, smiles as she learns to tap the laptop keyboard in nearly exact time with the snare.

Reynolds says learning about music teaches the students a host of skills, including reasoning, logic, and how to work with others.

When the children learn how to drum, he explains, "it's the most elementary version of a percussion ensemble."

The students seem to enjoy the program, but most of them are teenagers - getting them to talk is not easy. But music makes connections.

Veronica Newby, a seventh grader at Universal Vare Charter, is silent until Reynolds and McFadden push her to talk about music she enjoys. She says she can't think of anything, the silence becoming awkward.

Finally, she volunteers: "There is this one song: 'I'll Always Love My Mama.' "

McFadden beams.

"My dad wrote that song," he says, "so I'm glad you like that."

A single song has bridged decades.

By the end of this week, many of the children will have had a chance to sing or write parts or do production work on "Lipstick on My Mirror," which will be sold next week via iTunes and released the week after on radio stations. Local artist David Stevens wrote the music, and the students contributed lyrics.

Many students say the program has helped them see that music can lead to a career. Walker, who wants to attend the Art Institute of Philadelphia, is hopeful.

"I'm into music, engineering and everything," he said. "This program teaches us a little bit of everything."