A Tour of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus

One of the exhibits I had looked forward to seeing here at the Macworld Expo is the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. I read about it through an Apple press release a few months prior to coming here.

The bus is an outgrowth of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest which  began back in 1997.

A brief tour of the bus by engineer, Jesse Jensema, was seriously inspiring. The bus has been in operation since 1998 and is heavily support by companies like Apple and the Maxell Corporation, and is recognized by the National Educators Association and NAMM, the International Music Products Association.

The bus’s five member staff, plus, the driver, is supported by well over a million dollars worth of equipment, including a two Dual 2.7GHz Powermac G5s, installed with Logic Pro 7, GarageBand 2,  Final Cut Pro Studio software displayed on a 23- and 30-inch HD Cinema Displays. The bus is also outlined with Roland Keyboards, a Yamaha Digital Console, Audio-Technica microphones, mixing boards, turntables, and JVC video digital cameras.

Bus staff member, Jesse Jensema.

The crew roles into a school or college and spends a day with an average of eight students. By the end of the day, students complete an actual musical CD and video that they each take home copies of. While some students remain in the bus producing an original song, others go and shoot material for the song’s video. A music template and lots of other preparation is used to help students get started and complete their project. The staff works with both experienced and inexperienced students.

The bus’s staff members have worked with students from ages 8 to 66. They get hands-on experience working with real instruments and digital music software, but more importantly, Jensema told us, “they get the opportunity to work together on a similar goal. That’s what’s most challenging and rewarding about what we do.” The alumni for the for the educational tour bus is of course large and Jensema says he and his staff receive email from past students all the time.

The bus is on tour for ten months out of the year and is pre-booked until May ’06. A quick review of the tour’s schedule reveals that it reaches a different city/school almost every three to four days. So if you’re interested in the bus coming to your school, you’re well advised to contact them as soon as possible.

A few students here at the Expo working on a musical project. I didn’t want to interrupt with questions. It was clear they had a deadline to meet.