April Centrone

Stream

No recent updates in this category.

Why not...

Comments

Photos

Badges

April Centrone hasn't earned any badges yet... have you?

Interests

General
Music, Instruments, Art, Drawing, Exercising and Health, Psychology, Law and Forensic Psychology, Languages, Teaching, Learning, Traveling, Experiencing, Physics, Cooking, DRUMMING, Strumming, Recording and Mixing, Managing, NOT watching TV, Facing adversity, New challenges, Improving in every way, Figuring out how Everything works, Being the best I can possibly be...
Music
Sheikh Abdul Baset Abdul Samed

Bio

April Centrone is one of the leading classical Arabic percussionists in the U.S. April plays riqq (Arabic tambourine), frame drum, darbekkeh (dumbek), oud and violin, and is also a proficient jazz and rock drummer. April has performed around the city in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Symphony Space and Town Hall; lectured at numerous universities, museums and cultural centers around the country; directed and composed music for plays; and has toured throughout Europe, the U.S. and New Zealand. She has performed with artists such as Marcel Khalife, Najib Shaheen, Eyvind Kang and Samir Chatterjee, and with groups such as Kristjan Jarvi's Absolute Ensemble, the Bassam Saba Ensemble and the New York Arabic Orchestra.

April's passion as a performer arises from her passion for teaching and working with children. For several years, April has been at the forefront of the movement to bring cultural arts education to the city's youths. April, as the Lead Teaching Artist for Musicians For Harmony, designs and teaches "Music of the World, " rooted in the belief that the universal and visceral language of music is the best medium through which to breed cultural understanding. In an attempt to build a program specifically around Arabic music, April co-founded the New York Arabic Orchestra with Bassam Saba in 2007. As recently appointed Executive Director, April is building a program within the NYAO that will encompass visits to local grammar/high schools and colleges, in addition to its current program to educate adult trained musicians. April will accompany Saba on a nationwide educational initiative on the collegiate level for Arabic music in 2010, intending to expand also to the grade school level in the coming years.

Holding an MA in Psychology from John Jay College, Centrone is presently constructing an educational and therapeutic music program for a leading children's psychiatric center. Within the program, April teaches drumset to groups of females, through which they learn coping skills, focus and ways to manage aggression, and acquire the longterm self-esteem and confidence that can only come from acquiring an instrument they love. Following a school career of psychology and experience with other methods, April feels there is no better therapy than that of learning music.

About Me
I am interested in many different styles/genres of music. Currently at the forefront of my listening and practice is Arabic music. Secondarily, music from various other areas of the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Italy. Always in my car or radio, I'm listening to my generation of rock music... 90s grunge. :) Nirvana, STP, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. And of course a huge fan of Tool and Led Zeppelin.

I always have rock and jazz in my life (and everything in between, raggae, funk, grunge, R&B etc), overlapping and fusing constantly with my "world" music interests. Many other "world" musicians also listen to and play rock and jazz, as jazz is especially a strong foundation for us. Without a doubt, its rudiments and improvisation techniques accelerated my learning of ancient music forms and their complex rhythmic structures.

Ancient music gave birth to all we know today, yet we still only see it in small pieces, such as sitar in a rock song or a riff of the Hijaz scale behind a rap song. People go wild for it even when they have a taste of it! It is my dream that everyone's lives be enriched by ancient music...by the scales in All their glory - not just in a riff - and it is my belief that everyone would love Arabic music in its full and true presentation. It is everything we know plus what we don't know and wish we did.. the missing piece - the emotion and enrichment and wisdom - that is missing in our culture.
Movies
American Beauty, Beetlejuice, The Forbidden Zone (Richard Elfman), Devil's Advocate, Miss Congeniality 1 and 2, Twister, The Mask, Edward Scissorhands, most movies with Johnny Depp, Kevin Spacey and Al Pacino.
Television
Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Ren & Stimpy, Family Guy, Liquid Television.
Heroes
My grandmother, Madonna, my musical colleagues, and myself.

Latest Blog Entries

Jan 13, 2009 1:47 PM THE NEW YORK ARABIC ORCHESTRA - January 17th, 2009

Friends (22)

Music

View Full Playlist ►

Blurbs

About me:

MARK YOUR CALENDERS FOR THE NEW YORK ARABIC ORCHESTRA'S CONCERT FOR HAITI ON FEB 28 AT THE CHURCH OF ST. PAUL AND ST. ANDREW! FOR DIRECTIONS, VIDEOS, AND MORE INFO, VISIT:

WWW.NEWYORKARABICORCHESTRA.ORG

My Commercial!

Antonio Fargas AKA Huggy Bear from the series "Skarsky and Hutch" is the star of this commercial, and I am the intriguing drummer girl he meets on his quest to discover the "sweet life" of Harlem.

.. width="425" height="350">..

....>

..SUMMER/FALL 2009 CONCERTS!..

SATURDAY JUNE 27 @ 2:30PM - .. THE NEW YORK ARABIC ORCHESTRA.. Headliners of the "Plein Air" Festival - Northport Harbor Gazebo, Long Island

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27 @ 6:00PM - .. THE BASSAM SABA ENSEMBLE - CD-RELEASE.. Wong Auditorium, MIT Campus, Boston, MA

FRIDAY OCTOBER 23 @ 8:00PM - .. THE NEW YORK ARABIC ORCHESTRA.. Symphony Space sponsored by the World Music Institute

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 28 @ 7:00PM - .. THE NEW YORK ARABIC ORCHESTRA-CONCERT FOR HAITI..Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, 263 W 86th St.

__________________________________________________

AUGUST 23, 2007 @ 7pm - ..BASSAM SABA ENSEMBLE.., Pasadena, CA Levitt Pavilion Pasadena..

AUGUST 25, 2007 @ 8pm - ..Absolute Arabian Nights.., Lincoln Center, NYC Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors - Free Admission!..

OCTOBER 7, 2007 @ 11:00AM - ..Eyvind Kang Orchestra.. - Milano, ITALY @ Teatro Manzoni TEATRO MANZONI EN MILANO

OCTOBER 9, 2007 @ 9:30PM - ..Eyvind Kang Orchestra.. - Barcelona, SPAIN @ Mercat De Les Flors ..Click "Agenda" - MERCAT DE LES FLORS, SPAIN

NOVEMBER 8, 2007 @ 10:00pm - ..BASSAM SABA ENSEMBLE.. - Montreal Festival Du Monde Arabe @ Place D'Arts

DECEMBER 12, 2007 - ..Daniel Schnyder's Musiques Exotiques.. - 15 W. 65 st, NYC

JANUARY 11, 2008 @ 9:30pm - ..*BASSAM SABA ENSEMBLE.. - Sullivan Hall, NYC

JANUARY 26, 2008 @ 9:00pm - ..*NY ARABIC ORCHESTRA.. - Alwan, 16 Beaver St., 4th FL., NYC

FEB 29 - MARCH 8, 2008 - ..THE ABSOLUTE ENSEMBLE with BASSAM SABA and MARCEL KHALIFE.. - NEW ZEALAND

JUNE 30, 2008 @ 8:00pm - ..*NY ARABIC ORCHESTRA.. - Greenwich, CT

OCTOBER 15-17, 2008 - ..Arabic Music 3-day Workshop.., Bucknell University, PA

SATURDAY JANUARY 17 @ 8:00PM - ..THE NEW YORK ARABIC ORCHESTRA..Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, 236 W. 86th St., NYC.

SATURDAY JANUARY 31 @ 8:00PM - ..THE NEW YORK ARABIC ORCHESTRA..Round Hill Community Church, Greenwich, CT. Great Lebanese food and drink included!

Other myspaces you will find my playing:

..Bassam Saba Ensemble
..The New York Arabic Orchestra
..Snack
Paul Bachmann Trio
..Akram Abdul Fattah

You scored as Materialist. Materialism stresses the essence of fundamental particles. Everything that exists is purely physical matter and there is no special force that holds life together. You believe that anything can be explained by breaking it up into its pieces. i.e. the big picture can be understood by its smaller elements.

Materialist

100%

Postmodernist

94%

Modernist

81%

Cultural Creative

63%

Existentialist

56%

Romanticist

56%

Idealist

50%

Fundamentalist

38%

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

Just an Extremely Funny Youtube.. You won't regret it

........

Who I'd like to meet:

Details

Status: Single
Here for: Friends
Hometown: NYC
Orientation: Straight
Body type: 5' 4" / Athletic
Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Zodiac Sign: Aries
Smoke / Drink: No / No
Education: Grad / professional school
Occupation: Musician and Psychologist

Schools

Cuny John Jay College Criminal Justice
- New York, NY
- Graduated: 2008
- Student status: Alumni
- Degree: Master's Degree
- Major: Forensic Psychology
2006 to 2008
Cuny John Jay College Criminal Justice
- New York,New York
- Graduated: 2006
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
- Major: forensic psychology
2005 to 2006

Companies

Sagamore Children's Psychiatric Center
- Dix Hills, New York US
- Psychology
Jan 2008 - Present