New Music from We Are BAAMS

On a fall day, the teacher asked the music students, if they could have anything, what would they like to see more of in their world? For these thoughtful young people gathered together inside their music academy building in Heritage Park, North Adams, Massachusetts, (the smallest, most northwest city in the entire state), a consensus for the answer took almost no time to arrive. "Peace".

“Can We Try Peace?” was created during a series of Saturday ensemble classes at BAAMS — the Berkshires' Academy for Advanced Musical Studies — during fall 2024 while preparing a body of original music for the 2024 LumiNAMA Holiday Celebration "Day of Music" in North Adams. BAAMS students worked closely with me, first debuting the song for a private audience on December 8, 2024. It features the writing and vocal talents of students Morris Israel along with Emerson Bullett, Evan Miller, and also includes a powerful spoken-word rap by Moses Kamil.

In the Spring of 2025, "Can We Try Peace?" was further refined by these students and faculty at BAAMS. It was decided that this would be the song to be recorded and released as the very first single from publisher, BAAMS Presents.

The song asks a perennial question, "Can We Try Peace?" and serves as a powerful reminder of what is so very much needed in our world today. 

Lyrics written by:  Morris Israel, Emerson Bullett, Moses Kamil, Evan Miller.

Many thanks also for additional support for its creation from saxophone teacher and BAAMS' alumnus, Luke Seto, from recording engineer, Charlie Stewart, and also to BAAMS' communications director, Jane Forrestal. It all was perfected finally during the mixing and mastering process by another BAAMS' faculty member, Dario Boente, of One World Music Group, Inc.

We would especially like to express our tremendous gratitude for the donation received from Stepping Stones' Education Foundation for those funds designated to purchase necessary recording and sound equipment for our studio at BAAMS, and additional generous support from the Jameson Family Foundation. These donors answered the call to help us reach this very important real-life learning goal, a true creative milestone for our nonprofit music academy, which simultaneously reached its five-year anniversary!

Thank you also to Emerson Bullett for use of the photograph as the background of the cover design, and to Just Plain Ffun Productions for front and back cover design.

Richard Boulger

Spring 2025

Students and Faculty at BAAMS were invited to participate in the first-ever 5K Race put on by the nonprofit organization HOOSIC RIVER REVIVAL set for the first day of summer in June, 2025. Of course we were delighted to be able to partner with an organization “dedicated to transforming the aging Hoosic River flood chutes using leading-edge engineering and naturalization measures to reduce flood risk and enhance climate resilience.”

The initial idea was to perform encouraging music to inspire runners as they passed by our academy building in the Heritage Park, North Adams.

True to form, our enthusiastic group of Ensemble students took it miles further. Right away, they created a new song to honor the river, to the communities through which it has flowed for over 13,000 years, and to celebrate the efforts of all involved in the Hoosic River Revival project. To learn more, visit this link: https://www.hoosicriverrevival.org.

We think you’ll enjoy “Wise Old Hoosic River”, a song that pays homage to the power, beauty, and sustenance the Hoosic River has given to animal and plant life, to human survival, to travel, recreation, and industry, on its path through the City of North Adams “from Cheshire to Stillwater”… This song also serves as a great example of what people can do when they work together, from different organizations with distinct missions, to make something truly wonderful.

Thank you to Dan Morgan Photographer for the use of his images for the covers and promotion of this wonderful new track.

More to come!

BAAMS’ Ensemble students created another incredible song in the spring of 2025 called, “We, the People”.