Last spring, the Philadelphia chapter of the American Composers Forum awarded Maggio a $10,000 Community Partners Grant,which challenges composers to engage a community in the creative process and compose a work reflective of that community's culture. In May, Maggio and Neenan, of BalletX, the Wilma's resident contemporary company, visited Jackson for the first of six sessions with the school's rock band.
Music teacher Chris Argerakis, 37, of Northeast Philadelphia, started the rock-band program two years ago after acquiring several dozen acoustic guitars from DonorsChoose.org, a website that connects needy classrooms to prospective donors.
Argerakis has since received two electric guitars, a bass, and two drum sets for the band, which on weekday afternoons forms a semicircle to practice the tunes of Cheap Trick, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones.
"It's the best part of my day," he said.
Of Jackson's students, in kindergarten through eighth grade, 75 percent come from economically disadvantaged households. They are culturally diverse, representing heritages of 24 countries, and speak 14 languages.
"For a little school like mine, it's exciting," Jackson principal Lisa Kaplan said. "Not every school has their own ballet."
At show-and-tell-style meetings, where two groups would swap playground hand-clapping routines for pirouettes in the basement music room, Maggio found inspiration for Jackson Sounds' 33-minute score for two cellos.
Sajan Lama, 13, performed a guitar folk song from Nepal, which Maggio incorporated into the final movement of the work.
