Music Program at Sing Sing Prison Gives Detainees a New Start

 

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a high-security prison about an hour by car north of New York City.

Sing Sing holds 1,600 prisoners.

As the men serve their sentences, prison officials are planning for the time those detainees will be released.

One of those officials is Leslie Malin, the deputy¹ superintendent² for program services at Sing Sing. Malin says the prison offers technical training and educational classes.

It also has a music program, which works in partnership³ with New York City’s Carnegie Hall fine arts center.

Making musical connections

Two times a month, artists from New York go to Sing Sing and spend a day working with the 30 detainees involved in its Musical Connections program. The program is nine years old. Before that, Sing Sing had just a music room.

A man identified only as Rob is a former prisoner. New York’s Department of Corrections asked that VOA not give any last names of prisoners.

Rob remembers there were often fights over who could use the music room. But he said it was hard to hate the other men when they are helping⁴ each other with music and performing songs.

Rob has been on parole for the past year-and-a-half, after spending seven years in Sing Sing. He says he performed just two times before he went to prison.

A man called Joe had even less experience. "I didn't know what an A flat was," he admits. "I've heard these terms. I couldn't have explained them to you. I didn't know what they sounded like. I didn't know what they meant."

Joe spent four years in the Musical Connections program. He studied music theory during that time. Now, Joe is writing an operatic work. He said he became interested in classical music after working with opera star Joyce DiDonato. "She definitely opened my eyes to something that I didn't even know I had within myself," he added.

Kenyatta, who has been in prison for 23 years, calls the music program "the most transformative thing I have ever experienced."

Kenyatta earned a master's degree after completing a higher education program in religious studies. He has been a speaker in a TED⁵ talk video from Sing Sing.

Kenyatta has been a part of the music program since it started. He says music has helped him open up to others. "I can be a little less alone,” he says, “because I know you understand some part of me, at least, and you can be a little less alone because you know that I understand some part of you.”

Increasing musical skills

The Musical Connections program is under the direction of Carnegie Hall's Manuel Bagorro. He leads similar programs in homeless shelters and community centers.

Bagorro says all the programs have similar goals. He says “People have come together. They play together. They negotiate⁶ artistic⁷ decisions. They sort out problems…”

And those are all skills that prisoners can use when they are out of jail. Danny was released from Sing Sing three-and-a-half years ago, after seven years in the prison system. He learned to play the violin in the Musical Connections program and started writing music.

Danny said that after his release, he was able to take the same energy and effort required to learn an instrument, and put it into other areas of his life.

One of the teaching artists, Sarah Elizabeth Charles, says she has seen both personal and musical growth in the prisoners over the years.

"I just think the sky's the limit for so many of the men in this workshop. They're professional. They're working. Many of them are working on the level of a professional musician….Yes. Sky's the limit," she says.

Music training

Carnegie Hall holds a monthly gathering⁸ for the programs’ members who have been released from Sing Sing. Rob says that at these meetings, the men do more than play music, they also talk about what's going on in their lives.

He told VOA "It showed me that everybody was struggling trying to find a job, trying to stay employed, trying to find some time to practice…I knew I wasn't alone in any of these things."

I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

A flat - n. a note a semitone below an A? note

operatic - adj. relating to or characteristic of opera.?

parole - n. permission given to a prisoner to leave prison before the end of a sentence usually as a reward for behaving well?

transformative - adj. causing or able to cause a change?

classical music - n. serious or conventional music following long-established principles rather than a folk, jazz, or popular tradition.?

violin - n. a musical instrument that has four strings⁹ and that you usually hold against your shoulder under your chin and play with a bow?

master’s degree - n. a degree that is given to a student by a college or university usually after one or two years of additional study following a bachelor's degree?

professional - adj. relating to a job that requires special education, training, or skill?

workshop - n. a class or series of classes in which a small group of people learn the methods and skills used in doing something?

practice - v. to do something again and again in order to become better at it

1 deputy   

n.代理人，代表，副职；adj.代理的，副的

参考例句：

• John will act as a deputy for me during my absence.我离开期间，约翰将代理我的职务。
• She is the deputy headmistress of the school.她是那所学校的代理校长。

2 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

3 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

6 negotiate   

v.洽谈，协商，谈判，顺利通过，成功越过

参考例句：

• I'll negotiate with their coach on the date of the match.我将与他们的教练磋商比赛的日期问题。
• I managed to negotiate successfully with the authorities.我设法同当局进行了成功的协商。

7 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

8 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

9 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。