{"id":2576,"date":"2016-04-04T03:05:50","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T03:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/?p=2576"},"modified":"2016-04-04T03:05:50","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T03:05:50","slug":"an-educators-perspective-on-trentons-music-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/2016\/04\/an-educators-perspective-on-trentons-music-history\/","title":{"rendered":"An Educator’s Perspective on Trenton’s Music History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many people associate specific places with different music styles; for example, Nashville with country, New Orleans with jazz, and Jamaica with reggae. \u00a0Some have been the birthplace of these genres, and others have helped the music become popular around the country. But what most people do not know is that an influential place filled with musical history is located right in the heart of New Jersey. <\/span><\/p>\n

Trenton, New Jersey has been home to many famous musicians throughout the years- Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, who sang with Patti LaBelle and are known for the song \u201cLady Marmalade\u201d and Maury Muehleisen who played guitar with Jim Croce, just to name a few. But what is concerning is that not many people know about Trenton\u2019s musical history- even people who teach in and around the city. <\/span><\/p>\n

Reverend Todd McCrary, a professor at The College of New Jersey and an avid church goer in Trenton, is moderately informed of some of Trenton\u2019s musical history. He teaches a Freshman Seminar titled \u201cHistory of African American Gospel Music\u201d where students learn about and listen to influential artists in gospel and actually take a trip to both Baptist and Methodist churches to get a true experience of the music and the culture. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am quite limited on what I know\u201d said McCrary when asked about his knowledge on Trenton\u2019s Music History. He then proceeded to talk about multiple artists from Trenton, like Craig Hayes, Nona Hendryx, and some local artists in the gospel scene. He also read a list of notable Trenton musicians and did not know that so many recognized musicians were from Trenton. He then corrected his initial statement because he realized that he knew a lot more than he thought he did. <\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike McCrary, many people are not aware of the vast amount of history within Trenton. To a lot of people, when they first hear that Trenton has influential music history, they are surprised at the information. \u00a0Given Trenton\u2019s current reputation, it is not the first place people think of to have a diverse and important part in history. \u201cPeople just don\u2019t do the research. It\u2019s mostly about advertising- it\u2019s just not out there for these folks,\u201d said McCrary. <\/span><\/p>\n

Students and professors at The College of New Jersey are currently involved in a project titled \u201cTrenton Makes Music\u201d which is a compilation of work from various artists from Trenton. The project aims to educate people on the vast cultural and musical history of Trenton that most people do not know about. <\/span><\/p>\n

McCrary thinks that it is important for people, more specifically students, to learn about the history of Trenton and how artists from Trenton have made a huge impact on the music world as a whole. \u201cA benefit is the college\u2019s location, it\u2019s about the distance to New York, the distance to Philly and that\u2019s great! So why not talk about some of the history surrounding the area? Notable musicians are right in this area,\u201d McCrary said. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Trenton Makes Music project is spread across many media outlets, but it is most popular in an app form. The app provides videos, websites, and various projects that students have worked on in order to relay information to other people and get the important facts out to boost the project\u2019s popularity. McCrary believes that it is important for students particularly to learn about Trenton\u2019s music history because of the \u201caha moment\u201d when they realize that they are capable of similar accomplishments that these musicians have achieved who grew up in the same city as they are. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of possibilities,\u201d said McCrary about how the Trenton Makes Music project will help Trenton and New Jersey as a whole. He added, \u201cIt\u2019s very inspiring for elementary or even high school kids to know that talent came from Trenton and it\u2019s a positive plug for Trenton; it can use all the positivity it can get.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people associate specific places with different music styles; for example, Nashville with country, New Orleans with jazz, and Jamaica with reggae. \u00a0Some have been the birthplace of these genres, and others have helped the music become popular around the country. But what most people do not know is that an influential place filled with musical history is located right in the heart of New Jersey. Trenton, New Jersey has been home to many famous musicians throughout the years- Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, who sang with Patti LaBelle and are known for the song \u201cLady Marmalade\u201d and Maury Muehleisen who played guitar with Jim Croce, just to name a few. But what is concerning is that not many people know about Trenton\u2019s musical history- even people who teach in and around the city. Reverend Todd McCrary, a professor at The College of New Jersey and an avid church goer in Trenton, is moderately informed of some of Trenton\u2019s musical history. He teaches a Freshman Seminar titled \u201cHistory of African American Gospel Music\u201d where students learn about and listen to influential artists in gospel and actually take a trip to both Baptist and Methodist churches to get a true experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2446,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2446"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2576"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2578,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576\/revisions\/2578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pearson.immtcnj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}