August 2, 2023 • 28 mins
Talked with Shawn Berry and Holly Stewart from Young Singers of the Palm Beaches. Their mission is to "transform the lives of young singers in our community by:
breaking down social barriers, developing life skills, providing an outlet for creativity, and fostering good citizenship." Young Singers of the Palm Beaches (YSPB) is "Palm Beach County's award-winning community-based children's choir. They teach life skills through music by giving children an atmosphere of artistic excellence in which they develop teamwork and leadership skills, form supportive friendships, and serve as ambassadors in their community." The singers range from 2nd grade to Seniors in Highschool. The performance choirs rehearse and perform at the Kravis Center. They also have a Choir in the Glades elementary and middle school choirs and yspb produces after-school choirs at Title 1 elementary schools with funding from Prime Time Palm Beach County, Inc., which receives funding from Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County. YSPB offers summer camp, south county choir and music lessons (a PrimeTime resource). YSPB does two big performances at the Kravis Center, Winter Tapestry and Spring Concert. Students will be working with opera and older students taking a trip to perform in Carnegie Hall in 2024. They are always looking for volunteers and donations. Students who are interested need to audition and can sign up at www.yspb.org
breaking down social barriers, developing life skills, providing an outlet for creativity, and fostering good citizenship." Young Singers of the Palm Beaches (YSPB) is "Palm Beach County's award-winning community-based children's choir. They teach life skills through music by giving children an atmosphere of artistic excellence in which they develop teamwork and leadership skills, form supportive friendships, and serve as ambassadors in their community." The singers range from 2nd grade to Seniors in Highschool. The performance choirs rehearse and perform at the Kravis Center. They also have a Choir in the Glades elementary and middle school choirs and yspb produces after-school choirs at Title 1 elementary schools with funding from Prime Time Palm Beach County, Inc., which receives funding from Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County. YSPB offers summer camp, south county choir and music lessons (a PrimeTime resource). YSPB does two big performances at the Kravis Center, Winter Tapestry and Spring Concert. Students will be working with opera and older students taking a trip to perform in Carnegie Hall in 2024. They are always looking for volunteers and donations. Students who are interested need to audition and can sign up at www.yspb.org
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(00:01):
I Heart Communities presents Palm Beach TreasureCoast Perspective with dab Nap. Good morning,
Welcome to Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective. I'm your host step Nap,
Thanks for spending your weekend with me. Lots of great things happening coming up
on Monday August seven, ten am. It is intro to Pickleball Clinic the
West Point In Rec Center. Pickleball'sall the rage now. Also coming up
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on August ten, six pm atthe Sunset Cove Amphitheater is Dirty Heads and
Bone Thugs and Harmony Concert happening there. Saturday, August twelfth, ten pm.
Okay Killing Nature Center, They're doingleaping Lizards. It's always the fun
little animal things, so come onout learn about the native and non native
lizards that live in our area.This was good for all ages for the
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whole families. Three dollars a person. You do need to RSVP so they
make sure of enough staff to gowith you on the walk. A Lets
see Green Kay Nature Center. OnSaturday August nineteenth, nine thirty am they're
going to do a Butterfly Talking walk, so they do different talks and walks
up plastic. Last week it wason the Raptor birds, so they mix
it up. August nineteenth, twopm back at Sunset Cove Amphitheater in a
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summerfest, lots of different music.We check that out as well. We
have Geology Rocks happening at Daggerwing NatureCenter Saturday, August twenty six. They
always have functional fitness happening at MorecamiePark on Tuesdays and Thursdays at eight thirty
in the morning. It's free withyour admission to the park, so a
nice way to get the day startedbefore it gets too hot. So and
(01:30):
of course it's now definitely too hot, so make sure you wear the right
shoes, take your sunscreen, takeyour water bottle, all that good stuff.
They have some special fans happening alsothe BMX Racetrack, some water ski
Championships happening Eithery're doing some group cleanupsat the different beaches with the parks.
Something going to PBC Parks at pbcgovdot org and everything's listed right there for
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you and you can make your reservationsand stuff and coming up on Saturday,
August twelfth from nine to three pm. The Fence Center is the Minority Business
Expo. It's going to be alot of fun. It's a free event
to attend, like out learn aboutall different kinds of things they've got,
like different seminars, all kinds ofgood things. People coming in doing lectures
like how to start your small businessor how to do some marketing things.
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It's really fun. Reach out toAngela at Minority Expo FP at gmail dot
com and she's happy to answer allyour details about all the different vendors and
different classes they're going to have.That day. Coming up on August twelfth
and the thirteenth is the Obone Festivalthat have some Panasian cuisine, garden stroles,
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and they're doing a new thing thisyear. You'll launch loading lanterns as
part of their dinner fundraiser, Sodefinitely when to check that out. You
can go to more Commune dot orgfor more details on that one. I'll
let's see our friends in Treasure CoastSaint Lucy County UF and the if AS
Extension Program are offering their Best ManagementPractices class for backyard chickens. So that's
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coming up on September ninth, Soif you'd like to have your own chickens,
get your own eggs and all thepeople doing that because the price of
eggs have gone up about thinking allthe directions on how to do that.
It's ten dollars a person to takethe class. Simply go to Saint Lucy
co dot gov ford slash chickens andthey have all the details right there for
you. All lots of fun thingshappening at the Saint Lucy County Libraries during
August. Coming up on August ninthis the Lego Challenge. This is gonna
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be the Morningside Branch. Good forall ages, building with legos. Of
course, they'll have the legos therefor you to use. They have Bilingual
Storytime coming on Friday, August eighteenthat ten thirty. This was good three
to five year old range on.They also have morning movie matinees happening Saturday,
August twenty six at two pm,but it's going to be the Super
Mario Brothers. They have Anime MultimediaClub, storytime, jams, music emotion
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for kids that are small, allkinds of fun things. Simply go to
St. Lucy Library dot org andall the classes are listed there for you.
And of course Mandel Public Library hasgot lots of great classes going I
check out Morning Meditations on Mondays.They have technology and their Innovation Center and
this was by appointment. You comein and use the like the three D
printer and all the different fun stufflike that. They have English practice with
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board games. You learn to driveusing the driving simulator. That's a lot
of fun. They do have careersources for job help. I've been wanting
refresh your resume or if you're outof work, looking for work. Lots
of programs for that, and they'redoing happy little paintings like bob Ras style
And the next one coming up forthat is going to be August eleventh from
two to four pm something. Togo to WPB City Library dot org and
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all the different classes are on there. There's yoga of course, all kinds
of books and stuff to check outas well. They've got their Create Center,
lots of fun things to do andlearner from her friends over the COC
Science Center and Aquarium the nights themuseum was back. So the next one
coming up is August twenty fifth,and it's going to be Ocean Commotion.
For to sign up for the show, call them at five six, one,
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eight three two nineteen eighty eight andl give you all the details on
that. Speaking getting all the details, I want to welcome my guests for
today. I have Holly Stewart andSean Barry from the Young Singers at the
Palm Beaches. Good morning, goodmorning, good morning. Thank you for
coming in. So, Holly,tell me what is it you do with
the What is the Young Singers ofthe Palm Beaches. So, the Young
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Singers of the Palm Beaches is PalmBeach County's largest community youth choir. We
have children from second through twelfth gradethat do choral singing at the Kravis Center
for Performing Arts. We have aboutthree hundred children. And then we have
a smaller program at the Boynton BeachCultural Center for second through fifth graders and
who also practice there. Now,all of these children come together twice a
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year to sing at the Kravis Centerfor Performing Arts. In addition to that,
we see about another two thousand childrenin after school programs all over Palm
Beach County. These are free afterschool choirs. Many of your children may
actually be involved with them. They'retaught by really high quality choral teacher teachers
in the schools and it's really aboutintroducing children to the basics of singing.
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But more than that, we knowthat singing really helps children do better academically
and emotionally. And a lot ofthe research, especially during COVID that came
out, found that children who wereinvolved in these types of activities and the
arts just did better, they weremore resilient. I would think so because
it's just the way the music worksfor folks. Because, like we talked
(06:25):
before the show years ago, interviewedthe folks from I interviewed the folks from
the Astomers Association. One of thetreatment therapies they use is music therapy.
They'll play the song and the patientis like, I remember that. They
have an instant memory cued by thesong. So I can see where the
same thing would happen with these kids, you know, fifty years from now,
songs and come there like remember wesang that on stage and they're going
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to have that instant positive response.So, Sean, what does it you
do with young singers. I'm oneof the co founders and I'm the artistic
director, So I have the honorof being able to put together the themes
of the concerts and um working withour wonderful conductors, putting together the flow
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of the show, I should say, and just helping actually with the musical
mission of what we're doing with youngsingers of the Palm Beaches. And I
just I want to just say onething that has to do with this,
But you just advertised a pickle ballevent and I tried to play pickleball and
I went one time, and um, I recommend everyone go to the beginner's
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class because I ended up at anurgent care because when you're playing, you
know, you play tennis, andthen you know the racket ball racket is
not as large as a tenor tennisracket. So I went flying for the
ball and yeah, you know itis, and U and I will go
back. I was playing with thegroup from the Crevits that it was just
(08:00):
wonderful. So anyway, oh yeah, well, I know they've been doing,
especially in Saint Lucy County, lotsof clinics to teach people how to
play, because I think a lotof folks are like you and me,
where we just assume that it's goingto be just like an easy transition from
tennis to pickleball. That's the samething, and it's not like you're like,
it's just not shoes very important,a good correct shoes to wear.
(08:22):
Okay, so now we will wewill get back to this. And I
wanted to say one thing about umkids and singing. Um. You know,
if you grew up in an artsprogram, which I did, I
grew up in a I was inband, and I just knew how it
made me feel. But there wasnot brain research out there that told anybody
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anything about that. And anybody that'sbeen involved in the arts, drawing,
acting, dancing, singing, weall know that we get this certain flow,
this certain feeling, and we're involvedin it. But now you know
there is research being done it evenwithin our community, on why the arts
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are so so important. And nowyou know when we're looking for those grants
or learning for those stories, wecan find them out there. But I
just want to say one thing thatI found the other day and it just
hit me, and I'm like,all of us are wired for creativity.
We just are. But maybe somewherealong the way someone told us we weren't
good enough and that it was awaste of time. But we are all
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good enough because perfection in anything,and it's saying, is not possible.
So why to do it? Youknow why? Do we do this.
And I was one of those peoplewhen I was at you know, certain
schools trying to aim for perfection.There's nothing wrong with trying to get that
perfection, don't get me wrong,but the reality of is is um you
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know, we use arts to escapefrom stress, from different things, and
then here we are putting it backon to try to be perfect in this
area. So we have an incrediblestaff of people that help bring out these
talents and these kids, but itis a time to come and just let
the kids express through singing and beingtogether. And so we are very diverse.
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Basically every kid is accepted at leastyou know, financially, we have
scholarships and all kinds of stuff tohelp kids. But I know I went
into a long story about this,but I just want everyone to know that
although we're a house at the Kravis, sometimes that can appear to be overwhelming,
you know, and scary, butyou know, we have kids from
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all phases of life and we welcomeall. So there. Oh, I
think it's fantastic, And I know, having spoke with Kravis before, part
of their mission is this art outreachinto the community. Sure, whether it
be musicals, ballet, or youguys using the facilities. It's important because
it um to richest folks and itbrings a sense of community to communities.
(11:03):
And I was very fortunate you guysinvited me to come see when the performances
and the kids are so good.I love singing. But I was one
of those kids. They did likemusical aptitude classes when I was in I
think third grade, and like,oh, you'd be good with this,
you'd be good in this piano,you'd be whatever. And they told me
I should play the radio. Sohere we are. It worked out well
(11:24):
for me. I'm like, challengeaccepted. But but yeah, I like
the how that you were inclusive andlike, if financial concerns are a concern,
there's a way to work around thatwith scholarships. So beforehand, how
you were saying that there's a placelisteners can go and sponsor students. How
do we do that? Yes,so that your listeners are aware, forty
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percent of our families around financial assistanceto receive scholarships to participate in this program.
So last year it was over fortyeight thousand dollars that we received in
donations to make sure that these childrenhad equal access to high quality music education.
So if you're interested in making adonation, and it can be large
or small, you can go directlyto our website. It's YSPB dot org
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and you can click on the getinvolved. And it's not just monetary donations.
We're looking for a lot of times, it's snacks. During the holidays,
we actually do a gift drive forour choir and the Glade students because
the students were working out with outthere come from a minority population, ninety
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five percent of people living out thereliving in poverty. We also are always
looking for people to get involved,get engaged, volunteer, come to our
five k And of course one ofthe best ways that you can help us
out is by coming to one ofour concerts, just like you did.
We have one coming up this December. It's going to be Winter Tapestry twenty
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twenty three, and it's December sixteenth, twenty twenty three, obviously, and
the tickets actually go on sale inOctober at the Travis Center. So the
Winter Tapestry, Yes, Winter Tapestry, And I believe you came to our
Spring concert, which is always inMay. This coming year, it'll be
May fifth, twenty twenty four.But Winter Tapestry has become one of these
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concerts that people from all over thecounty have made part of their family tradition.
It's welcoming to everybody. We haveindividuals who come over from the island
who have been doing this every yearwhen they come back for the holidays.
To families of our alumni who arenow bringing their grandchildren to come see this
concert. That's so cool. Orwe even have grandchildren now singing. We
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love to tease Shawn Barry that hehas taught actually two in three generations of
singers right here in Palm Beach County, and many of them have gone on
to be music educators and Broadway stars. They always tend to make their way
home. Oh yeah, So someof the kids that participate are going to
bak or Drive us. But youdon't have to go to BAK or d
drive us to participate, right exactly. No. In fact, you know
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there are there are a lot ofschools buck and Drives, we know have
those different specific areas if you wantto be a major in this. But
there are a lot of schools inPalmi's County that also have good choral programs,
and there are there are some thatdon't have any choral programs. And
that's actually why we started Young Singersin two thousand and three, was because
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we we knew that there were secondaryschools at that time that we're not going
to have choral music in their schools, and we knew how important it was,
so that's when we started. AndI do want to say our May
concert is it's May fifth, andthe title was called I'm Home Very nice,
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and it is that theme can berelated to many different things, but
we have conductors that come from avariety of backgrounds. We obviously have singers
very diverse, and I think moreimportantly it's Simboli is that when our kids
come together every Sunday and Monday,that they are home and that YSPB is
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our home. I like that.And I gotta say watching the show,
the kids have so much fun andthey're very well coordinated. And whoever your
volunteers are, they get them onand off the stage. Kudos to them
because they do it seamlessly. I'veobviously gone to the Kravas to see musicals
and other shows, and you guysget them on and off just like they
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do in a big show. There'sno wait, wait, hold, up
mom and dad kind of thing.There's none of that, or if there
is, we don't see it.I will tell you that's challenging. We
are probably the largest performing group theKravis Center has ever held. Our May
concert last year actually had four hundredand fifty children participating, So we had
three hundred singers from our main program, We had another forty come from the
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Glades, and then we had anotherone hundred and forty children from our primetime
programs after school programs who sang inthe lobby. And why this is important
for some of these families and thesechildren, they would have never stepped foot
in a venue like the Cravis Centerand it's their first time being there.
So those volunteers are just so importantin making sure every child feels welcome and
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feels comfortable, and making sure thefamilies feel comfortable too. And to make
all that happen, we actually giveaway all of the seats in the balcony
and the mezzanine sections two families sothat they can come to these events.
And it is incredible to look upthere and just see that entire balcony filled
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of people who again may have notthought of the arts as a place for
a family to enjoy, and yethere they are. Oh yeah, and
the rill of performing on the Cravastage. That's a big stage. It's
a big stage. And you know, I think one of the really exciting
things for me at least was seeingeven all the after school kids in the
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aisles on the very last song withthe glow sticks and and all that.
And you know, being um theperson that gets to conduct that, you
know, to turn around and seethat everybody's in place and know that I
didn't have to do that, butyet I'm so happy. You know,
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I have to give a shout outto Melanie Blankstein, our managing director,
who um has kids in place,alumni in place, parents in place,
everybody to be sure that those kidsgo where they go. And we also
have a really wonderful relationship with theCravis Tech. You know, we've been
there for twenty years. There thereour family and d Q dan Quinn,
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the CEO, comes to the concerts, supports us, knows exactly you know
what we are, and we andwe actually start her in the hallway and
say give us, you know,any ideas, you know, so always
reaching out to these people that arejust so wonderful and welcoming to us is
really important to the success of ourprogram. So for the kids listening and
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their parents, how do kids signup? You have to audition and how
does that work? Yes, sowe do have an audition process. It
is not meant to be scary atall though. Our next set of auditions
are actually coming up on August nineteenth. You can go online and register at
YSPB backslash audition And for our littleones, they literally come in, they
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learn about the program and they haveto sing Happy Birthday. Very simple,
not meant to intimidating half the time. What we're looking for is that child
is interested and wants to learn.We don't require any formal vocal training.
It's more about the interest, thedesire, and their ability to take feedback
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and learn. These are some ofthe most important things because we use music
to teach life skills, We usemusic to make connections. This is the
source of why our singers look sogood on that stage. Is when you
start with the child and making thatchild feel good and feel confident and feel
like they know what they're doing,then everything else follows, of course,
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because then they're just going to dotheir thing and enjoy themselves because they know
they can and they'll do well.It may not be perfect, but they're
going to have a good time doingit exactly. And our audition also is
a way for us to you know, for the younger ones especially, and
let's just know whether they would besuccessful and being in a room for an
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hour, you know, getting someinstruction. And also if they aren't,
then usually we can direct them toeither someone that can help them or maybe
we just say this way, yeah, you know, because we really we
used to when I started the organizationwith some friends if fourth grade was the
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limit man, because we were like, we can't handle a third grade or
a second grade. I remember withthe third grade girl with their head stuck
between the chair and who ended upbeing like one of the best thingers we
ever had when she graduated. Butum, we're now down to second grade.
Because we also know how important exposureto any type of music is the
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earlier the child is. So yeah, oh yeah, the young age like
music, Um, the stem stuffyou get exposed kids too, very young,
they do they do fantastic. Soobviously there's health benefits, there's mental
health benefits because we have that community, that sense of they're self confidence.
Yes, so I think that's afantastic thing. Um, how do people
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find out, like you said,there's a choir in the glades, there's
prime time. How do they findabout all the differ programs? Is that
listen on the website. All ofthat information is on our website. So
you can go to YSPB dot org. And if you're interested in really seeing
what our performances look like, someof the best ways is to follow us
on Facebook or Instagram if you wantto know what a concert looks like.
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Again, we are on YouTube.Easiest way to find all our channels is
if you go to our web page. They will be listed up in the
top right hand corner and you know, all the information you need there to
get involved to audition is easily accessible. O. Very cool. And you
said you guys have been around sincetwo thousand and three. Yes, we
have. Yeah, that's a goodthing. You So you just finished celebrating
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twenty years. Yeah, twenty yearsand twenty and hopefully many more than twenty
coming up. One of the thingsyou know this upcoming year, I did
want to say, you know,we are going to be in the pompe
ch Opras Tasca. We have achildren's choiring that so, um, we're
going to offer a little class insongwriting for kids to learn how to actually
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write music. And also we're takinga group of singers to Carnegie Hall in
June. Very nice. So we'llbe working this year that well. And
you know, if you audition onin August the nineteenth, you can still
be a part of that group thatgoes. It is the older choirs.
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I think it's grades seven, sixand above that we'll be going. We're
really looking forward to that as well. So and of course you have an
auditioned this weekend as well, righton the fifth. Yes, so we
have about thirty children right now auditioningon August fifth. We're hoping to increase
that number. Again. You cansign up for that on the website.
You can also always call us Informationat YSPB dot org is our email,
(22:53):
our phone numbers five six one sixfive one four two nine. Because we
know that we do a lot ofauditions on Saturday mornings and that just doesn't
work for all families. So again, our role is to kind of meet
the family where they are and wedo do auditions at other times on a
one on one basis. When familiesreach out to us. Sean Barry does
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a lot of those, or KanyeDrasakas, who is also one of our
conductors. The other class that weforgot to mention we have coming up that
may interest those of you who havefourth graders is we do have a Bach
audition prep class. Oh nice.It's taught by Connie Drosakas, And it's
not just about picking your music andlearning it. It really is about working
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on that child and the family sothe child has the confidence to walk in
an audition. And that's a really, really useful skill, even for families
who have chosen not to go toBAK. I would agree. And just
totally random thing. Part of agroup on Facebook and it's talking about like
food and nutrition going to the gym, and the leader of the group she's
like, I gotta be honest.She's like, I'm afraid to go to
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the gym because she doesn't have towear the clothes. So this is a
fifty plus year old woman who isnot confident enough to walk into a room.
So if you can give a fiveyear old, six year old,
seven year, eight year old,these kids are going to rule the world.
I have a very funny story totell about that one of our founding
members, who was actually the childof Melanie Blankstein, talks about what being
(24:25):
and young singers meant for him becausewe have students to stay with us eleven
years and graduate as seniors from ourprogram, and he was one of them,
and he's talked about they'll never forgetthis story about standing on that stage
in elementary school and all your friendsare standing there with you because you've been
rehearsing with these people for four tosix to eight months, and you can
(24:48):
hear the audience, but it's darkbackstage, and that curtain goes up,
and what people don't realize is allthat cold air from the house rushes in
over you all like a breeze,and you were suddenly looking out about all
of these bright lights and everybody iskind of this amorphous blob, and in
that moment, you realize that thereare two thousand people sitting in that audience
(25:15):
listening to you. So when hedecided to finish his doctoral dissertation up at
Notre Dame recently and he was asked, are you nervous about defending it?
He said, why would I be? I sang on the Kravis Center.
I know these people. It's onlythirty of you, so you know,
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I've stood on that stage and it'sintimidating for me, and I'm in my
fifties. I'm not going to beon that. You can all come to
my little room here. His degreeand astrophysicist by the way, so you
know yeah, and he says musichelped him make it through that program because
he knew that attempting something once youwouldn't solve it, like when you rehearse,
(26:00):
you had to continue to work onthat and fix such problems until you
found the solution. So there isone other event that we're going to be
doing, and I wanted to say. On October the fourteenth, the CRAVIS
is having a community day where they'rebringing in a lot of different arts groups
and we will be leading the singalong in Dreyfuss Hall, And basically it's
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just going to be songs we loveto sing. So the first one that
came to all of our minds wasSweet Caroline since everyone knows the words,
and then for me the West VirginiaBoy and me Take Me Home Country Roads,
So songs that we know the communitywill love to come in and sing,
very low pressure lots of fun.And also we're going to invite some
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of the other local community choirs tojoin us on the stage to lead this
event. Oh that's gonna be alot of fun. Yea if they want
around the office several years ago thanright, the little microphone that enters the
Sweet Caroline, it's like I gotI'm like okay next because people don't remember
(27:06):
the words they remember then yeah,exactly, do much better than me.
Before we go, let's get thedates for the audition and the website for
people to come and get all theinfo and the phone number. So your
audition dates coming up are Saturday,August fifth, and then the next audition
date is going to be August nineteenth. If the dates that we have listed
(27:27):
don't work for you, please giveus a call at five six one six
five one four four two nine orsend us an email at information at YSPB
dot org. Melanie myself for Jessica. We'll get back to you and we
look forward to seeing all of youout there, and hopefully if you don't
join us for the auditions, you'lljoin us for our concert in December.
(27:48):
Definitely. Why want thank you bothfor doing such a cool thing in the
community very much appreciate it and Ithink needed to help these kids thrive.
Thank you, Thank you. Ifyou need more information, reach out to
me Palm Beach Perspective and iMedia dotcom, and don't forget you can always
download a podcast of the show onour iHeartRadio app Hope everybody has a wonderful
weekend. I'm DeVoe and this hasbeen my perspective. Remember life is good,
(28:11):
so be your healthiest with you andlet's get out there and live it.
Until next week, enjoy I HeardCommunities, the community engagement arm of
the station, champions critical issues andcauses in the area of health and wellness,
social impact, education, literacy,and music and art. Join us
next week for Palm Beach Treasure CoastPerspective
I Heart Communities presents Palm Beach TreasureCoast Perspective with dab Nap. Good morning,
Welcome to Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective. I'm your host step Nap,
Thanks for spending your weekend with me. Lots of great things happening coming up
on Monday August seven, ten am. It is intro to Pickleball Clinic the
West Point In Rec Center. Pickleball'sall the rage now. Also coming up
(00:22):
on August ten, six pm atthe Sunset Cove Amphitheater is Dirty Heads and
Bone Thugs and Harmony Concert happening there. Saturday, August twelfth, ten pm.
Okay Killing Nature Center, They're doingleaping Lizards. It's always the fun
little animal things, so come onout learn about the native and non native
lizards that live in our area.This was good for all ages for the
(00:44):
whole families. Three dollars a person. You do need to RSVP so they
make sure of enough staff to gowith you on the walk. A Lets
see Green Kay Nature Center. OnSaturday August nineteenth, nine thirty am they're
going to do a Butterfly Talking walk, so they do different talks and walks
up plastic. Last week it wason the Raptor birds, so they mix
it up. August nineteenth, twopm back at Sunset Cove Amphitheater in a
(01:08):
summerfest, lots of different music.We check that out as well. We
have Geology Rocks happening at Daggerwing NatureCenter Saturday, August twenty six. They
always have functional fitness happening at MorecamiePark on Tuesdays and Thursdays at eight thirty
in the morning. It's free withyour admission to the park, so a
nice way to get the day startedbefore it gets too hot. So and
(01:30):
of course it's now definitely too hot, so make sure you wear the right
shoes, take your sunscreen, takeyour water bottle, all that good stuff.
They have some special fans happening alsothe BMX Racetrack, some water ski
Championships happening Eithery're doing some group cleanupsat the different beaches with the parks.
Something going to PBC Parks at pbcgovdot org and everything's listed right there for
(01:53):
you and you can make your reservationsand stuff and coming up on Saturday,
August twelfth from nine to three pm. The Fence Center is the Minority Business
Expo. It's going to be alot of fun. It's a free event
to attend, like out learn aboutall different kinds of things they've got,
like different seminars, all kinds ofgood things. People coming in doing lectures
like how to start your small businessor how to do some marketing things.
(02:15):
It's really fun. Reach out toAngela at Minority Expo FP at gmail dot
com and she's happy to answer allyour details about all the different vendors and
different classes they're going to have.That day. Coming up on August twelfth
and the thirteenth is the Obone Festivalthat have some Panasian cuisine, garden stroles,
(02:35):
and they're doing a new thing thisyear. You'll launch loading lanterns as
part of their dinner fundraiser, Sodefinitely when to check that out. You
can go to more Commune dot orgfor more details on that one. I'll
let's see our friends in Treasure CoastSaint Lucy County UF and the if AS
Extension Program are offering their Best ManagementPractices class for backyard chickens. So that's
(02:57):
coming up on September ninth, Soif you'd like to have your own chickens,
get your own eggs and all thepeople doing that because the price of
eggs have gone up about thinking allthe directions on how to do that.
It's ten dollars a person to takethe class. Simply go to Saint Lucy
co dot gov ford slash chickens andthey have all the details right there for
you. All lots of fun thingshappening at the Saint Lucy County Libraries during
August. Coming up on August ninthis the Lego Challenge. This is gonna
(03:21):
be the Morningside Branch. Good forall ages, building with legos. Of
course, they'll have the legos therefor you to use. They have Bilingual
Storytime coming on Friday, August eighteenthat ten thirty. This was good three
to five year old range on.They also have morning movie matinees happening Saturday,
August twenty six at two pm,but it's going to be the Super
Mario Brothers. They have Anime MultimediaClub, storytime, jams, music emotion
(03:46):
for kids that are small, allkinds of fun things. Simply go to
St. Lucy Library dot org andall the classes are listed there for you.
And of course Mandel Public Library hasgot lots of great classes going I
check out Morning Meditations on Mondays.They have technology and their Innovation Center and
this was by appointment. You comein and use the like the three D
printer and all the different fun stufflike that. They have English practice with
(04:09):
board games. You learn to driveusing the driving simulator. That's a lot
of fun. They do have careersources for job help. I've been wanting
refresh your resume or if you're outof work, looking for work. Lots
of programs for that, and they'redoing happy little paintings like bob Ras style
And the next one coming up forthat is going to be August eleventh from
two to four pm something. Togo to WPB City Library dot org and
(04:33):
all the different classes are on there. There's yoga of course, all kinds
of books and stuff to check outas well. They've got their Create Center,
lots of fun things to do andlearner from her friends over the COC
Science Center and Aquarium the nights themuseum was back. So the next one
coming up is August twenty fifth,and it's going to be Ocean Commotion.
For to sign up for the show, call them at five six, one,
(04:54):
eight three two nineteen eighty eight andl give you all the details on
that. Speaking getting all the details, I want to welcome my guests for
today. I have Holly Stewart andSean Barry from the Young Singers at the
Palm Beaches. Good morning, goodmorning, good morning. Thank you for
coming in. So, Holly,tell me what is it you do with
the What is the Young Singers ofthe Palm Beaches. So, the Young
(05:15):
Singers of the Palm Beaches is PalmBeach County's largest community youth choir. We
have children from second through twelfth gradethat do choral singing at the Kravis Center
for Performing Arts. We have aboutthree hundred children. And then we have
a smaller program at the Boynton BeachCultural Center for second through fifth graders and
who also practice there. Now,all of these children come together twice a
(05:39):
year to sing at the Kravis Centerfor Performing Arts. In addition to that,
we see about another two thousand childrenin after school programs all over Palm
Beach County. These are free afterschool choirs. Many of your children may
actually be involved with them. They'retaught by really high quality choral teacher teachers
in the schools and it's really aboutintroducing children to the basics of singing.
(06:01):
But more than that, we knowthat singing really helps children do better academically
and emotionally. And a lot ofthe research, especially during COVID that came
out, found that children who wereinvolved in these types of activities and the
arts just did better, they weremore resilient. I would think so because
it's just the way the music worksfor folks. Because, like we talked
(06:25):
before the show years ago, interviewedthe folks from I interviewed the folks from
the Astomers Association. One of thetreatment therapies they use is music therapy.
They'll play the song and the patientis like, I remember that. They
have an instant memory cued by thesong. So I can see where the
same thing would happen with these kids, you know, fifty years from now,
songs and come there like remember wesang that on stage and they're going
(06:47):
to have that instant positive response.So, Sean, what does it you
do with young singers. I'm oneof the co founders and I'm the artistic
director, So I have the honorof being able to put together the themes
of the concerts and um working withour wonderful conductors, putting together the flow
(07:13):
of the show, I should say, and just helping actually with the musical
mission of what we're doing with youngsingers of the Palm Beaches. And I
just I want to just say onething that has to do with this,
But you just advertised a pickle ballevent and I tried to play pickleball and
I went one time, and um, I recommend everyone go to the beginner's
(07:38):
class because I ended up at anurgent care because when you're playing, you
know, you play tennis, andthen you know the racket ball racket is
not as large as a tenor tennisracket. So I went flying for the
ball and yeah, you know itis, and U and I will go
back. I was playing with thegroup from the Crevits that it was just
(08:00):
wonderful. So anyway, oh yeah, well, I know they've been doing,
especially in Saint Lucy County, lotsof clinics to teach people how to
play, because I think a lotof folks are like you and me,
where we just assume that it's goingto be just like an easy transition from
tennis to pickleball. That's the samething, and it's not like you're like,
it's just not shoes very important,a good correct shoes to wear.
(08:22):
Okay, so now we will wewill get back to this. And I
wanted to say one thing about umkids and singing. Um. You know,
if you grew up in an artsprogram, which I did, I
grew up in a I was inband, and I just knew how it
made me feel. But there wasnot brain research out there that told anybody
(08:46):
anything about that. And anybody that'sbeen involved in the arts, drawing,
acting, dancing, singing, weall know that we get this certain flow,
this certain feeling, and we're involvedin it. But now you know
there is research being done it evenwithin our community, on why the arts
(09:07):
are so so important. And nowyou know when we're looking for those grants
or learning for those stories, wecan find them out there. But I
just want to say one thing thatI found the other day and it just
hit me, and I'm like,all of us are wired for creativity.
We just are. But maybe somewherealong the way someone told us we weren't
good enough and that it was awaste of time. But we are all
(09:31):
good enough because perfection in anything,and it's saying, is not possible.
So why to do it? Youknow why? Do we do this.
And I was one of those peoplewhen I was at you know, certain
schools trying to aim for perfection.There's nothing wrong with trying to get that
perfection, don't get me wrong,but the reality of is is um you
(09:52):
know, we use arts to escapefrom stress, from different things, and
then here we are putting it backon to try to be perfect in this
area. So we have an incrediblestaff of people that help bring out these
talents and these kids, but itis a time to come and just let
the kids express through singing and beingtogether. And so we are very diverse.
(10:18):
Basically every kid is accepted at leastyou know, financially, we have
scholarships and all kinds of stuff tohelp kids. But I know I went
into a long story about this,but I just want everyone to know that
although we're a house at the Kravis, sometimes that can appear to be overwhelming,
you know, and scary, butyou know, we have kids from
(10:39):
all phases of life and we welcomeall. So there. Oh, I
think it's fantastic, And I know, having spoke with Kravis before, part
of their mission is this art outreachinto the community. Sure, whether it
be musicals, ballet, or youguys using the facilities. It's important because
it um to richest folks and itbrings a sense of community to communities.
(11:03):
And I was very fortunate you guysinvited me to come see when the performances
and the kids are so good.I love singing. But I was one
of those kids. They did likemusical aptitude classes when I was in I
think third grade, and like,oh, you'd be good with this,
you'd be good in this piano,you'd be whatever. And they told me
I should play the radio. Sohere we are. It worked out well
(11:24):
for me. I'm like, challengeaccepted. But but yeah, I like
the how that you were inclusive andlike, if financial concerns are a concern,
there's a way to work around thatwith scholarships. So beforehand, how
you were saying that there's a placelisteners can go and sponsor students. How
do we do that? Yes,so that your listeners are aware, forty
(11:45):
percent of our families around financial assistanceto receive scholarships to participate in this program.
So last year it was over fortyeight thousand dollars that we received in
donations to make sure that these childrenhad equal access to high quality music education.
So if you're interested in making adonation, and it can be large
or small, you can go directlyto our website. It's YSPB dot org
(12:07):
and you can click on the getinvolved. And it's not just monetary donations.
We're looking for a lot of times, it's snacks. During the holidays,
we actually do a gift drive forour choir and the Glade students because
the students were working out with outthere come from a minority population, ninety
(12:28):
five percent of people living out thereliving in poverty. We also are always
looking for people to get involved,get engaged, volunteer, come to our
five k And of course one ofthe best ways that you can help us
out is by coming to one ofour concerts, just like you did.
We have one coming up this December. It's going to be Winter Tapestry twenty
(12:48):
twenty three, and it's December sixteenth, twenty twenty three, obviously, and
the tickets actually go on sale inOctober at the Travis Center. So the
Winter Tapestry, Yes, Winter Tapestry, And I believe you came to our
Spring concert, which is always inMay. This coming year, it'll be
May fifth, twenty twenty four.But Winter Tapestry has become one of these
(13:09):
concerts that people from all over thecounty have made part of their family tradition.
It's welcoming to everybody. We haveindividuals who come over from the island
who have been doing this every yearwhen they come back for the holidays.
To families of our alumni who arenow bringing their grandchildren to come see this
concert. That's so cool. Orwe even have grandchildren now singing. We
(13:33):
love to tease Shawn Barry that hehas taught actually two in three generations of
singers right here in Palm Beach County, and many of them have gone on
to be music educators and Broadway stars. They always tend to make their way
home. Oh yeah, So someof the kids that participate are going to
bak or Drive us. But youdon't have to go to BAK or d
drive us to participate, right exactly. No. In fact, you know
(13:58):
there are there are a lot ofschools buck and Drives, we know have
those different specific areas if you wantto be a major in this. But
there are a lot of schools inPalmi's County that also have good choral programs,
and there are there are some thatdon't have any choral programs. And
that's actually why we started Young Singersin two thousand and three, was because
(14:20):
we we knew that there were secondaryschools at that time that we're not going
to have choral music in their schools, and we knew how important it was,
so that's when we started. AndI do want to say our May
concert is it's May fifth, andthe title was called I'm Home Very nice,
(14:43):
and it is that theme can berelated to many different things, but
we have conductors that come from avariety of backgrounds. We obviously have singers
very diverse, and I think moreimportantly it's Simboli is that when our kids
come together every Sunday and Monday,that they are home and that YSPB is
(15:05):
our home. I like that.And I gotta say watching the show,
the kids have so much fun andthey're very well coordinated. And whoever your
volunteers are, they get them onand off the stage. Kudos to them
because they do it seamlessly. I'veobviously gone to the Kravas to see musicals
and other shows, and you guysget them on and off just like they
(15:26):
do in a big show. There'sno wait, wait, hold, up
mom and dad kind of thing.There's none of that, or if there
is, we don't see it.I will tell you that's challenging. We
are probably the largest performing group theKravis Center has ever held. Our May
concert last year actually had four hundredand fifty children participating, So we had
three hundred singers from our main program, We had another forty come from the
(15:50):
Glades, and then we had anotherone hundred and forty children from our primetime
programs after school programs who sang inthe lobby. And why this is important
for some of these families and thesechildren, they would have never stepped foot
in a venue like the Cravis Centerand it's their first time being there.
So those volunteers are just so importantin making sure every child feels welcome and
(16:15):
feels comfortable, and making sure thefamilies feel comfortable too. And to make
all that happen, we actually giveaway all of the seats in the balcony
and the mezzanine sections two families sothat they can come to these events.
And it is incredible to look upthere and just see that entire balcony filled
(16:36):
of people who again may have notthought of the arts as a place for
a family to enjoy, and yethere they are. Oh yeah, and
the rill of performing on the Cravastage. That's a big stage. It's
a big stage. And you know, I think one of the really exciting
things for me at least was seeingeven all the after school kids in the
(17:00):
aisles on the very last song withthe glow sticks and and all that.
And you know, being um theperson that gets to conduct that, you
know, to turn around and seethat everybody's in place and know that I
didn't have to do that, butyet I'm so happy. You know,
(17:21):
I have to give a shout outto Melanie Blankstein, our managing director,
who um has kids in place,alumni in place, parents in place,
everybody to be sure that those kidsgo where they go. And we also
have a really wonderful relationship with theCravis Tech. You know, we've been
there for twenty years. There thereour family and d Q dan Quinn,
(17:47):
the CEO, comes to the concerts, supports us, knows exactly you know
what we are, and we andwe actually start her in the hallway and
say give us, you know,any ideas, you know, so always
reaching out to these people that arejust so wonderful and welcoming to us is
really important to the success of ourprogram. So for the kids listening and
(18:10):
their parents, how do kids signup? You have to audition and how
does that work? Yes, sowe do have an audition process. It
is not meant to be scary atall though. Our next set of auditions
are actually coming up on August nineteenth. You can go online and register at
YSPB backslash audition And for our littleones, they literally come in, they
(18:33):
learn about the program and they haveto sing Happy Birthday. Very simple,
not meant to intimidating half the time. What we're looking for is that child
is interested and wants to learn.We don't require any formal vocal training.
It's more about the interest, thedesire, and their ability to take feedback
(18:56):
and learn. These are some ofthe most important things because we use music
to teach life skills, We usemusic to make connections. This is the
source of why our singers look sogood on that stage. Is when you
start with the child and making thatchild feel good and feel confident and feel
like they know what they're doing,then everything else follows, of course,
(19:19):
because then they're just going to dotheir thing and enjoy themselves because they know
they can and they'll do well.It may not be perfect, but they're
going to have a good time doingit exactly. And our audition also is
a way for us to you know, for the younger ones especially, and
let's just know whether they would besuccessful and being in a room for an
(19:42):
hour, you know, getting someinstruction. And also if they aren't,
then usually we can direct them toeither someone that can help them or maybe
we just say this way, yeah, you know, because we really we
used to when I started the organizationwith some friends if fourth grade was the
(20:06):
limit man, because we were like, we can't handle a third grade or
a second grade. I remember withthe third grade girl with their head stuck
between the chair and who ended upbeing like one of the best thingers we
ever had when she graduated. Butum, we're now down to second grade.
Because we also know how important exposureto any type of music is the
(20:29):
earlier the child is. So yeah, oh yeah, the young age like
music, Um, the stem stuffyou get exposed kids too, very young,
they do they do fantastic. Soobviously there's health benefits, there's mental
health benefits because we have that community, that sense of they're self confidence.
Yes, so I think that's afantastic thing. Um, how do people
(20:52):
find out, like you said,there's a choir in the glades, there's
prime time. How do they findabout all the differ programs? Is that
listen on the website. All ofthat information is on our website. So
you can go to YSPB dot org. And if you're interested in really seeing
what our performances look like, someof the best ways is to follow us
on Facebook or Instagram if you wantto know what a concert looks like.
(21:18):
Again, we are on YouTube.Easiest way to find all our channels is
if you go to our web page. They will be listed up in the
top right hand corner and you know, all the information you need there to
get involved to audition is easily accessible. O. Very cool. And you
said you guys have been around sincetwo thousand and three. Yes, we
have. Yeah, that's a goodthing. You So you just finished celebrating
(21:40):
twenty years. Yeah, twenty yearsand twenty and hopefully many more than twenty
coming up. One of the thingsyou know this upcoming year, I did
want to say, you know,we are going to be in the pompe
ch Opras Tasca. We have achildren's choiring that so, um, we're
going to offer a little class insongwriting for kids to learn how to actually
(22:07):
write music. And also we're takinga group of singers to Carnegie Hall in
June. Very nice. So we'llbe working this year that well. And
you know, if you audition onin August the nineteenth, you can still
be a part of that group thatgoes. It is the older choirs.
(22:30):
I think it's grades seven, sixand above that we'll be going. We're
really looking forward to that as well. So and of course you have an
auditioned this weekend as well, righton the fifth. Yes, so we
have about thirty children right now auditioningon August fifth. We're hoping to increase
that number. Again. You cansign up for that on the website.
You can also always call us Informationat YSPB dot org is our email,
(22:53):
our phone numbers five six one sixfive one four two nine. Because we
know that we do a lot ofauditions on Saturday mornings and that just doesn't
work for all families. So again, our role is to kind of meet
the family where they are and wedo do auditions at other times on a
one on one basis. When familiesreach out to us. Sean Barry does
(23:17):
a lot of those, or KanyeDrasakas, who is also one of our
conductors. The other class that weforgot to mention we have coming up that
may interest those of you who havefourth graders is we do have a Bach
audition prep class. Oh nice.It's taught by Connie Drosakas, And it's
not just about picking your music andlearning it. It really is about working
(23:40):
on that child and the family sothe child has the confidence to walk in
an audition. And that's a really, really useful skill, even for families
who have chosen not to go toBAK. I would agree. And just
totally random thing. Part of agroup on Facebook and it's talking about like
food and nutrition going to the gym, and the leader of the group she's
like, I gotta be honest.She's like, I'm afraid to go to
(24:03):
the gym because she doesn't have towear the clothes. So this is a
fifty plus year old woman who isnot confident enough to walk into a room.
So if you can give a fiveyear old, six year old,
seven year, eight year old,these kids are going to rule the world.
I have a very funny story totell about that one of our founding
members, who was actually the childof Melanie Blankstein, talks about what being
(24:25):
and young singers meant for him becausewe have students to stay with us eleven
years and graduate as seniors from ourprogram, and he was one of them,
and he's talked about they'll never forgetthis story about standing on that stage
in elementary school and all your friendsare standing there with you because you've been
rehearsing with these people for four tosix to eight months, and you can
(24:48):
hear the audience, but it's darkbackstage, and that curtain goes up,
and what people don't realize is allthat cold air from the house rushes in
over you all like a breeze,and you were suddenly looking out about all
of these bright lights and everybody iskind of this amorphous blob, and in
that moment, you realize that thereare two thousand people sitting in that audience
(25:15):
listening to you. So when hedecided to finish his doctoral dissertation up at
Notre Dame recently and he was asked, are you nervous about defending it?
He said, why would I be? I sang on the Kravis Center.
I know these people. It's onlythirty of you, so you know,
(25:36):
I've stood on that stage and it'sintimidating for me, and I'm in my
fifties. I'm not going to beon that. You can all come to
my little room here. His degreeand astrophysicist by the way, so you
know yeah, and he says musichelped him make it through that program because
he knew that attempting something once youwouldn't solve it, like when you rehearse,
(26:00):
you had to continue to work onthat and fix such problems until you
found the solution. So there isone other event that we're going to be
doing, and I wanted to say. On October the fourteenth, the CRAVIS
is having a community day where they'rebringing in a lot of different arts groups
and we will be leading the singalong in Dreyfuss Hall, And basically it's
(26:21):
just going to be songs we loveto sing. So the first one that
came to all of our minds wasSweet Caroline since everyone knows the words,
and then for me the West VirginiaBoy and me Take Me Home Country Roads,
So songs that we know the communitywill love to come in and sing,
very low pressure lots of fun.And also we're going to invite some
(26:45):
of the other local community choirs tojoin us on the stage to lead this
event. Oh that's gonna be alot of fun. Yea if they want
around the office several years ago thanright, the little microphone that enters the
Sweet Caroline, it's like I gotI'm like okay next because people don't remember
(27:06):
the words they remember then yeah,exactly, do much better than me.
Before we go, let's get thedates for the audition and the website for
people to come and get all theinfo and the phone number. So your
audition dates coming up are Saturday,August fifth, and then the next audition
date is going to be August nineteenth. If the dates that we have listed
(27:27):
don't work for you, please giveus a call at five six one six
five one four four two nine orsend us an email at information at YSPB
dot org. Melanie myself for Jessica. We'll get back to you and we
look forward to seeing all of youout there, and hopefully if you don't
join us for the auditions, you'lljoin us for our concert in December.
(27:48):
Definitely. Why want thank you bothfor doing such a cool thing in the
community very much appreciate it and Ithink needed to help these kids thrive.
Thank you, Thank you. Ifyou need more information, reach out to
me Palm Beach Perspective and iMedia dotcom, and don't forget you can always
download a podcast of the show onour iHeartRadio app Hope everybody has a wonderful
weekend. I'm DeVoe and this hasbeen my perspective. Remember life is good,
(28:11):
so be your healthiest with you andlet's get out there and live it.
Until next week, enjoy I HeardCommunities, the community engagement arm of
the station, champions critical issues andcauses in the area of health and wellness,
social impact, education, literacy,and music and art. Join us
next week for Palm Beach Treasure CoastPerspective
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