Andrea
LaFrae is a genius female drummer who is known as a sought composer, musician, and educator. LaFrae Sci’s dedication to music education is undeniable. She has made many contributions to the industry.
Other than being someone famous for her educative idea, she’s also an in-demand drummer. She performed with many great singers and musicians, including Irene Cara, Burnt Sugar, Reuben Wilson, and many more. LaFrae is a true genius when it comes to creating catchy rhythms and beats, and she is, without a doubt, one of the best drummers of her generation.
Founder of Girl’s Rock Camp
LaFrae Sci, or LaFrae Olivia Sci, has a strong will to share her knowledge about music with aspiring musicians. She leads a music education program for Jazz at Lincoln Center and is also the founding teaching member of the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls in NYC. Interestingly, Sci is also the Cultural Ambassador for the US State Department. She has many experiences in teaching music. In total, she has taught master classes and performed in more than 30 countries.
She’s also active in doing community projects with other musicians, like how she developed and launched a project called the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Groove Diplomacy, which helps connect people from different cultures through musical expression.
LaFrae Sci and Sonic Black
Besides being an educator to pursue her dreams in music education, she’s also formed a band named Sonic Black, a group of teaching artists that creates presentations focusing on the genius of the Black American musical contributions. They are rooted in the African American tradition and tours and had some activities like performing and teaching about African – American history in jazz, the blues, and music in general.
One of the examples of what they have been doing is giving presentations about Music and Social Justice, Women’s Empowerment, Music & Entrepreneurship, and Finding Your Voice Through Improvisation. She’s also performing and teaching interactive workshops in NYC public schools, touring as a representative for Jazz at Lincoln Centers Jazz for Young People On Tour concert, and many more. These programs and projects show how serious LaFrae Sci and her band mates about giving something to the industry and their community.
Her Achievements in All Areas
With those contributions and dedication to music, especially for the jazz industry and black musicians, it’s clear that she has many achievements and honors from critics and the government. She also got featured in many popular magazines, including Modern Drummer, NPR, Jazz Times, and The New York Times.
As an educator, she with Groove Diplomacy participated in the first Intercultural Garifuna Festival in 2016. It’s a project they did with the Afro – Guatemalans in the Livingston, Guatemala region. This collaboration project led her and the NGO to establish the First Annual Jazz Camp Guatemala in December 2016. At that event, Sci had the experience of presenting a masterclass with the Orquesta Alaíde Foppa‘s members, the only all-female orchestra in Latin America.
As a performer, LaFrae has experience as the session drummer of many artists. Some artists she played drums with are Burnt Sugar Arkestra, Black Rock Coalition Orchestra, Keziah Jones, Eli Yamin, Vernon Reid, Kelis, Irene Cara, Cyndi Lauper, Reuben Wilson, and Rachel Z.
