Giving Voice Back to the City of New Orleans
There were just musical opportunities for growth and music that doesn't happen anywhere else.
Woody Raker moved to New Orleans four days before Hurricane Katrina. Yet, even after having to relocate to Mississippi and back home to Seattle for his first semester of college, he turned to New Orleans in January 2006.
“All of my music teachers were from here,” Woody says. “Katrina didn’t change my reasons that I came here in the first place, so I figured I should see it through.”
Just as for the people of New Orleans during its emergence in the 19th century, the region’s music was a necessity for survival following the devastation of Katrina. People of French, Spanish, African, Italian, German, and Irish ancestry were united around the distinctive jazz culture (National Park Service, “A New Orleans Jazz History,” 2015).
Following his graduation from Loyola New Orleans, Woody decided to stay in the city to teach music and science--while also continuing to play “gigs” all over the city. When it came to choosing a place to live, he chose the Ninth Ward because of its proximity to the water, which reminded him of his roots in Seattle, and the music haven of Frenchman Street.
“You can be invited on any stage in any club to sit in,” he says of the city’s music scene. “I felt like my playing benefited from that here as opposed to a more competitive environment.”
Although Katrina could not sway the city’s passion for music, it did affect the way it could be taught and shared. As per Tulane University’s Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, decentralization and the creation of more charter schools--not financed or supported by the Orleans Parish School District--changed the education system city-wide; parents could now choose any school in the city to enroll their students. Even then, notes Paul T. Hill of the Urban Institute, a larger problem remained that, like many of the students, not many teachers returned to the region following Katrina.
Even before Katrina, the Orleans Parish schools began to see a transition between music educators who taught jazz by day and played by night to those who focus primarily on the school’s marching band. Parents, too, writes Joseph Torregano, Director of Bands at East St. John High School in Reserve, LA, don’t often invest in instruments for their children, let alone private lessons.
But then there is Woody, who, in addition to teaching at a local school, also teaches jazz privately at his Ninth Ward home--and has no intentions of leaving the area any time soon.
“This is definitely my home now,” he says. “There’s such a high appreciation of music here among the average people… there’s a much greater appreciation for jazz as a result.”
“All of my music teachers were from here,” Woody says. “Katrina didn’t change my reasons that I came here in the first place, so I figured I should see it through.”
Just as for the people of New Orleans during its emergence in the 19th century, the region’s music was a necessity for survival following the devastation of Katrina. People of French, Spanish, African, Italian, German, and Irish ancestry were united around the distinctive jazz culture (National Park Service, “A New Orleans Jazz History,” 2015).
Following his graduation from Loyola New Orleans, Woody decided to stay in the city to teach music and science--while also continuing to play “gigs” all over the city. When it came to choosing a place to live, he chose the Ninth Ward because of its proximity to the water, which reminded him of his roots in Seattle, and the music haven of Frenchman Street.
“You can be invited on any stage in any club to sit in,” he says of the city’s music scene. “I felt like my playing benefited from that here as opposed to a more competitive environment.”
Although Katrina could not sway the city’s passion for music, it did affect the way it could be taught and shared. As per Tulane University’s Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, decentralization and the creation of more charter schools--not financed or supported by the Orleans Parish School District--changed the education system city-wide; parents could now choose any school in the city to enroll their students. Even then, notes Paul T. Hill of the Urban Institute, a larger problem remained that, like many of the students, not many teachers returned to the region following Katrina.
Even before Katrina, the Orleans Parish schools began to see a transition between music educators who taught jazz by day and played by night to those who focus primarily on the school’s marching band. Parents, too, writes Joseph Torregano, Director of Bands at East St. John High School in Reserve, LA, don’t often invest in instruments for their children, let alone private lessons.
But then there is Woody, who, in addition to teaching at a local school, also teaches jazz privately at his Ninth Ward home--and has no intentions of leaving the area any time soon.
“This is definitely my home now,” he says. “There’s such a high appreciation of music here among the average people… there’s a much greater appreciation for jazz as a result.”