Jesse Mell Email & Phone Number

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

It's a great honor to be the coordinator of school drumline programs across our amazing city! Uniting the efforts of teachers, students, administrators, arts-ed organizations, and community partners, my goal is to create opportunities for every student to experience the joy, self-confidence, and collaborative skills that team drumming engenders. Currently, there are 11 high schools and 5 middle schools in our Philly School Drumlines network. Contact me if you are interested in bringing a drumline program to your school: jimell@philasd.org

Philadelphia

Regional Ensembles Coordinator, Teacher Coach, Student Leadership Training, Curriculum Design

Philadelphia

Today’s music and band rooms are very diverse; unfortunately, most music educators arrive in these spaces unprepared. Universities are years behind, with course catalogs that focus solely on building classical ensembles. Even worse, national publishers continue to produce content that doesn’t address the way Black and Latinx cultures consume and appreciate music. Through ongoing collaboration with Black and Latinx musicians, Mad Beatz Methods creates standards-aligned books, activities, games, and lesson plans that teach fundamental skills with the social/emotional learning practices of Black and Latinx communities. Founder Jesse Mell began teaching music in predominantly Black and Latinx schools in 2003. He was struck by the innate musical brilliance of his students; they grasped difficult patterns very quickly, and loved to perform for assemblies! Students, teachers, and families who attended the assemblies loved them, too. The secret to success: Ask the students what they would like to perform, deconstruct the song(s) for fundamental concepts, and create warmups and activities that teach those concepts in a social/emotional and kinesthetic style. 18 years later, Jesse is a teacher coach for Philadelphia School District and continues to design books and resources based on the feedback he gets from teachers, students, and families. Mad Beatz Methods’ resources and collaboration with culture bearers have been the spark for an explosion of drumline programs across the city.Mad Beatz Methods is proud to provide these resources for diverse music and band classrooms, Grades 4 & up:Food bEatz: a Rap Battle card game that improves math, rhythm, and confidenceMad Beatz for Beginning Drummers: the first lesson book designed to teach fundamental skills & performance readiness within cultural contextProfessional Development sessions for teachers: How to teach music with the Mad Beatz Method, develop student leadership, and build inclusive ensembles

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

I founded Mad Beatz Philly in 2013 with one mission: to provide drum students ages 16 and older from under-resourced neighborhoods an opportunity to hone their performing and teaching skills in a community of motivated, passionate peers. 10 years later, the results speak for themselves:1. Nearly 40 active members and alumni connected with professional teaching & performing work; of those, 5 are currently employed as full-time teachers, and 16 teach part-time.2. Education partnerships with Phila Parks & Recreation, Episcopal Community Services, and the Mann Music Center3. Two proprietary learning systems - Mad Beatz Methods & Food bEatz - developed through cultural collaboration that build musicianship and social/emotional skills with intuitive processes, centering the soundtracks and interests of our students and engaging them like never before!Mad Beatz Philly just celebrated its 10th anniversary by appointing Marcangelo Rodriguez, dedicated alumni and compassionate leader, as Director of Operations. We are so proud of our grass-roots growth and impact in the greater Kensington community!

Philadelphia

My time with Musicopia was rewarding and very inspirational! Longtime Executive Director Denise Kinney asked me to assume the role of Drumlines Director in the Spring of 2015 with a goal of expanding access to our award-winning after school percussion programs. Working together, we included a new school site each year until 2019, developed programming for Grades 4-8, and added a summer honors ensemble in 2018 - the Musicopia Royals - which performed at every MLS Philadelphia Union home game in the summers prior to COVID. Together with Catherine Charlton, we wrote grants that sustain our expansion sites and overall mission of culturally relevant, excellence-based school percussion programs through 2021.

Master'S Of Education, Administration, K-12

Bachelor Of Music, Music Education, K-12

Activities and Societies: Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity