Mission
We provide therapuetic music to the alcoholic, chemically addicted, dually diagnosed and criminal justice involved!
The Jeptha Group Inc. uses the transformative power of music to build community leaders and trust specifically among the alcoholic, chemically addicted, and seriously mentally ill and violent human beings in prison and those with a history of criminal justice system involvement. To define participants as artists who are valued and loved above all else is our aim. To help participants build a sustainable set of tools to maintain a positive everyday living pattern that speaks to the redemptive power of music. It is crucial to address the needs of this traumatized population with positive team-building activities that center on finding a common ground to meet upon and creating harmony. Those who have lost their freedom as punishment for crimes committed (or not) deserve an opportunity to fully explore what it means to be free, and to express in an open nonjudgmental environment. We work in close partnership with MUSICAMBIA & Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program.
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Therapeutic Music Activities
With a wide range of evidence based Music Therapy approved activities msuicians are born!
DRUM CIRCLES
The collective sound of a drum circle is powerfull like the beating of a heart.
LYRIC WRITING
The writing of lyrics gives the musician a voice.
SONG WRITING
The writing of a song gives the musician the power of telling a story-theirs,
CALL & RESPONSE
Through the leadership of our facilitators we venture out into building community.
SONG ANALYSIS
The critical analysis skills are sharpened when focused on existing music of any genre.
CHOIR
The power of community can be palapable when a group of musicians sing together.
BEAT MAKING
A popular way of engaging musicians in the music creation process.
BAND
Sheer joy is found in the production of a band of musicians making music together.
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Workshops
Workshop Duration and Some Details:
A individualized program of therapeutic music activites will be designed in advance. Musical sharings for a larger audiancce are suggested. Each workshop lasts from 2-4 hours depending on agreement. Instruments may be provided. Snacks and beverages may be provided. Contact us for Workshop cost.
- 1 Day
- 3 Days
- 5 Days
- Monthly Workshops
After years of not talking, I found my voice!
Jeptha Group Particapant
" Best workshop ever... " A Jeptha Workshop Particapant
To collaborate and not be judged gave my soul flight...
Jeptha Group Particapant
The compassion of our teacher made me open up and I never did that before.
Jeptha Group Participant
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Our Facilitators
Kenyatta Emmanuel Hughes
Singer and songwriter Kenyatta Emmanuel Hughes will offer song and story to contextualize and reinforce the human reality of our movement. Kenyatta is an artist and activist who had shared his music from Sing Sing to Carnegie Hall, offering a full live concert the same day of his release after serving 24 1/2 years in prison. Kenyatta collaborated with a range of stakeholders in and out of the carceral spaces to impact the world artistically and socially, forming initiatives such as Voices From WIthin, which serves the children of incarcerated parents. His offering of music and message is consistent from his 2014 TEDx Talk, through his presentation at the 2022 International Wellbeing Summit, exploring the beauty of life, love, and the human condition, reminding us all that we hold in common. Kenyatta Emmanuel is on the Board of Directors for The Jeptha Group. He is a teaching artist with Carnegie Hall's Musical Connections program, as well as the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program. He is a Galaxy Leaders Fellow, and is currently devloping a curricualum for Racial Justice and Abolition Democracy as an Artist in Residence for the Initiative for a Just Society at Columbia Law School.
Carlos Ivan Calaff
Carlos Ivan Calaff Sr., B.S. is a life long Bronx native and proud father of two sons. He is a graduate of Mercy College, a Hudson Link for Higher Education Scholar at Columbia University. Ivan is currently a Research Assistant at the Center for Justice at Columbia University where he supports the development of educational programming--including college courses for adults involved with the justice system; speaks to diverse audiances about the effects of the criminal justice system on individuals and communities and ways in which the system can be transfromed; and is helping develop the Center's research agenda on the relationhsip between, education, identity and democractic engagement for justice involved individuals. His favorite music is country, Jazz, house and old school hip hop. His favorite movie is The Book of Henry and his favorite pastimes are making music, coin and card magic, reading and playing chess. His greatest fear is living life without purpose.
Hannah Pietra
Hannah Pietra is a clinician and the Arts & Minds Coordinator at the Syracuse Jewish Family Services in Syracuse, NY. She holds board certification as a music therapist and is a licensed creative arts therapist. Hannah has experience working with children, teens, and adults in hospital, clinic, school, and community-based settings. Hannah completed a Bachelor of Music degree in string performance and a minor in music industry from Syracuse University, and a Master of Science degree in Creative Arts Therapy with a Music Therapy focus from Nazareth College. Whether it has been professionally, therapeutically, or life Hannah continues to be an active freelance cellist throughout New York State and sings with the Syracuse Chorale.
Brad Balliett
New York City-based musician Brad Balliett is in high demand as a composer and bassonist. Principal bassoon of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Brad is an artistic director for the chamber music collective DECODA (Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall), and performs with leading music groups in New York, including SIGNAL, METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE, and DEVIANT SEPTET. Brad has performed with the Houston Symphony, Metropolitan Opera Musicians, New York City Ballet, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Festival performances include Marlboro, Tanglewood, June in Buffalo, Newport Jazz Festival, Festspiele Mecklenberg-Vorpommen, and the Lucerne Festival. His creative collaboration with Elliot Cole and Doug Balliett as the band ORACLE HYSTERICAL has yielded a number of operatic works, including a spoken-word opera premiered at the Lucerne Festival as a SpotllightArtist in composition. With his twin brother, Doug, Brad hosts a weekly radio show on WQXR's Q2 music (The Brothers Balliet), curates a monthly concert series at Spectrum in the Lower East Side, and is on the faculty at The Julliard School (Evening Division). As a teaching artist, Brad regularly leads composition and sing writing workshops in schools, hospitals and homeless shelters. Brad gaduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 2005, and holds an MM from Rice University. His hobbies include writing sonnets, running, and reading Shakespeare.
Jeremy Jordan
A member of the Young Steinway Artists roster and critically acclaimed "a clear technical virtuoso"; "a true Wunderkind", pianist and native Chicagoan, Jeremy Jordan burst on the music sccne at age 9 playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 1 in a live televised performance, followed by appearances on the acclaimed radio program FROM THE TOP and FROM THE TOP: LIVE FROM CARNEGIE HALL performing Liszt. He has twice again appeared at Carnegie Hall playing Chopin, Liszt and Wagner. Jordan attended the Juliard School where he recieved undergraduate degrees in piano performance, studying on the Van Cliburn and Irene Diamond scholarships. He made his concerto debut with Maestro Alan Heatherington and the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra playing Grieg, followed by performances and recordings of the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Paul Freeman. Mr. Jordan susbequently peformed solo and chamber concerts throughout Europe and America including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Rudolfinum in Prague, Chicago's Orchestra Hall and the Ravinia Festival. Other notable performances include his appearances with renowned clarinetist, AnthonyMcGill and cellistYo-Yo Ma, recitals for the American Liszt Society in New York and California, and his own Julliard lecture-recital celebrating the bicentennials of Liszt and Wagner. In 2011, Jeremy Jordan was featured in a 'live' interview on Chicago's WFMT Radio program IMPROMPTU with Kerry Frumkin where he performed his own transcriptions of Liszt/Horowitz, Wagner and Saint Saens. Jeremy studied with distinguished pianists Matti Raekalio, Yoshe Akimoto and Regina Syrkin; and recived tutoring from renowned artists including Andre Watts, Jerome Lowenthal, Eteri Andjapandze, Steve Million and Ron Perillo.
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Contact Us
Please email us at thejepthagroupinc@gmail.com