More than 850 students met at San Francisco State University for 2008 GRAMMY Career Day, featuring interactive workshops, student performances and instructive panels. Students from across the Bay Area, Sacramento and even the Central Valley, united for more than a dozen workshops in genres/topics including classical, rock, Latin jazz, gospel, hip-hop, music journalism, album art and video game music.
The morning kicked off with a performance from R&B artist Ariel, followed by a panel with Tion Bukue (tour manager, Del the Funky Homosapien), Taylor Eigsti (GRAMMY-nominated jazz pianist), Tim House (manager, Zion I), Jocelyn Kane (San Francisco Entertainment Commission), Michael Morgan (Oakland Symphony conductor) and moderated by radio personality Marcus Osborne. Students then selected one of 14 workshops to attend, including "Hip-Hop With Zion I" and "GRAMMY Award Winning Vocals With Narada Michael Walden," among others.
The day closed with afternoon performances by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and orchestral student performers from the morning workshop. Student vocalists, rappers and songwriters then shared their songs for the audience before a rousing performance of Latin jazz improvisation from both the professionals and students. GRAMMY Career Day performances were capped by Pam The Funktress, Oakland DJ from the Coup, who has inspired many up-and-coming female hip-hop and R&B artists from the Bay Area.
San Francisco's GRAMMY Career Day continues to inspire and support the growth and development of our young musicians.