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AN OPEN Invitation 

to connect with the world through music!

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OPEN’s music program series is a place where students and teachers can come together to learn, enrich themselves through the music and histories of other cultures, and connect with the world.  

 

Come sign on for

  •  Opportunities for international musical collaborations 

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  • Interviews and “live” conversations with legendary artists 

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  • Interesting and inspirational videos and articles related to music in all of its forms that we will be posting on this very site for you to enjoy!

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  • Numerous outlets for your students’ creative energies and talents

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MUSIC FROM SPACESHIP EARTH™

Cultural Histories of the World Through Music™

Throughout the coming years OPEN will host cross-cultural music and cultural education events and music engagements, between students and professionals via all online means – live, recorded, and through our learning platforms and online forums.  

 

There will be many opportunities for students to collaborate, and also to conduct scholarly research guided by music teachers, musicologists and ethnomusicologists, and even professional artists from around the world.

 

Student online and post-Covid “live” in person presentations on their chosen culture and its music will tell the histories of each country through the musical instruments invented there, the evolution of the music through history, the catalog of music, the influences that shaped that music, and how local songs, traditions and styles influenced others.

 

Part culture and history through the lens of music, part performance, and part students performing in virtual ensembles across borders, our Cultural Histories of the World Through Music program series will be a fun and educational journey for your students and teachers and their families.

 

During the course of this multi-year program your students will: 

 

  • Learn first hand about diverse cultures of the world through music in all its forms while also learning about the evolution of the worldwide music industry and musical instruments and technologies. 

 

  • Learn the histories of others as well as your own local history, while simultaneously performing and sharing your culture's music with your fellow students, music scholars, and artists around the world.

 

  • Have numerous opportunities to share their newfound musical and cultural knowledge through OPEN online forums with other students in the program, and with international scholars and music professionals.

 

  • Participate in cross-cultural music jams between student bands 

 

  • Meet other like-minded students to work together on cross-border collaborative songwriting. This will be highly encouraged through our online forums, and highlighted in future live and recorded events. 

 

  • Learn about indigenous cultures from around the world. 

 

  • Have opportunities to engage with and be taught by music superstars, music technologists, music producers, publicists, managers, and renowned local historians and indigenous leaders.

 

  • “Teach” and mentor fellow students internationally taking turns presenting to one another through "Live" OPEN International distance learning performances and storytelling events, via digital recordings, all of which OPEN will archive for the enjoyment and historical research of future cultures that will follow us. 

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Music Meets History Meets Culture Meets Nature 

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OPEN’s Global STEM education programs are all about sustainable community development with the students of OPEN leading the way applying their studies to real world problems, such as the restoration of the natural environment, destroyed by centuries of careless human development.  Sequestered away in our cities many of us are cut off from nature, and have lost touch with the natural world, which sustains us all. 

That is why our new music program will integrate this ethic of "listening once again to the sounds and stories" that the wilderness areas and the creatures that inhabit great outdoors have to teach us.  So for their It is up to the students how that will play into their future presentations and performances.

OPEN History and Why Now?

 

OPEN was among the early pioneers with live interactive video musical performances over 25 years ago, producing programs with famous groundbreaking music artists, like Little Richard and Graham Nash pushing the boundaries of the new videoconference technology to teach that American musical history of Rock 'n Roll to a young students, initially in the USA.  Graham Nash also pioneered the use of the medium for storytelling and distance songwriting with his band-mate, David Crosby.

Graham Nash – Wind on the Water

Transcontinental Jam - 1996

Little Richard – Distance Learning Classroom - A Rock & Roll History Lesson from the Music Legend - 1995

Since then of course the technologies have advanced and the costs dramatically decreased. This year with the sudden advent of Covid-19, it has pushed artists and educators to rapidly and radically adjust to these underutilized online technologies, finding new and sometimes innovative ways of doing their work. In turn this is bringing about further technological advancements, while actually keeping us safe from the spread of the pandemic while artists are continuing to perform and teachers to teach.

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This has thus opened up new avenues for musical and cultural expression for our young students, to learn more deeply about their cultural roots through the history of music and musical instruments of their lands. 

 

And in performing virtual cross cultural music and presentations to other students worldwide through Music From Spaceship Earth™, students can adhere to recommended guidelines of safe distancing during performances and exchanges while further advancing their education, music, and presentation skills.

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The door is wide OPEN for other cultures and countries to join, and we will also invite and specially highlight music and histories of indigenous cultures and first peoples so the network of OPEN students from around the world can hear their stories and histories, and unique forms of music described and played by elders and community musicians and scholars.

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Part local cultural history research, part student and professionals’ performances – we are creating a unique global music education and cultural exchange program for the online world.

 

Let’s all join together and share our music and our stories.  What better way to learn about ourselves and others through music education on a global scale?!  We have the means, and NOW is the time - the world needs healing and music is the cure.  

George Newman – Founder, One Planet Education Network (OPEN)

First Country of Focus Virtual Global OPEN Festival - Liberia (tentatively June 2022)

We are planning our first country of focus - Music From Spaceship Earth - cultures through music festival to present the music and histories of the many cultures that make up the country of Liberia. Stay tuned for updates, but in the meantime, listen to this great song, written, sung and produced by the current President of Liberia - George Weah.

Below you’ll find more information about our new cultures of the world through music education programs; and soon see music videos from our students and professionals, receive announcements for live performances, postings about our upcoming interviews and events, and links to related stories and articles all posted here and in our social media.

Highlights From Earth Day 2021 Distance Learning Events

Our first event covered the Far East, South Pacific, India and Australia and our second event, The Western Hemisphere, Europe and Africa. So the events spanned almost all of Mother Earth. We had OPEN students, partners, teachers, parents, and even a few rock and roll icons joining us and presenting and performing from 19 different countries. The musical, art and verbal presentations and performances which focused on what Earth Day meant to young students of 2021, were exceptional.  We all learned a lot from one another and had a great time.  I hope you will too!   Thank you for watching,  I hope you can join us next time.  

 

George Newman

Clear Blue Skies by Graham Nash

Music From Spaceship Earth Launch Events (October 2020)

On November 19th and 20th OPEN launched its new Music From Spaceship Earth – Cultural Histories of the World Through Music program – students singing and playing music and explaining to their fellow students around the world about their cultures’ histories, music and musical histories of the ages – A new way to learn and teach history. The launch was a big success - much more coming soon. 

Some of our students were recently featured on Bronxnet TV thanks to OPEN’s music partner, Allan Molnar of Lehman College – founder and creator of the annual Pacheco Jazz Festival

Ceci from Shenzhen and Royal School for Educational Therapy Foundation – Excerpts from OPEN Spaceship Earth Launch Events

 OPEN’s Ernestina Ambiela Introduces OPEN and sings one of her favorite songs 

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