feature stories

What a ‘Rush’!

by Ellie Spielberg

Mar 13, 2008 9:45 AM

Writing ‘Raise It Up’ gives music teacher an Oscar experience he won't soon forget

The real winners at Oscar night were a bunch of kids at PS 811 in the Bronx. That’s because every day through the whole school year their music teacher puts the same heart and soul into his classes as he put into the song that got him nominated him for a golden statue.

“Raise It Up,” the glorious signature song from the movie “August Rush,” was the brainchild of teacher and musician Tevin Thomas and a few of his jam-buddies from Impact Repertory Theatre in Harlem, a youth leadership after-school program he’s involved with that features acting, music and dance.

“I wrote the song with Jamal Joseph, one of the founders of Impact, and with another musician, Charles Mack, and Jamal and a few of the other people at Impact wrote the lyrics,” the soft-spoken, unassuming Thomas said, certain to give credit where credit is due.

“Jamal is also a screenwriter, and he knew one of the writers of ‘August Rush.’ They needed a youth group of African-Americans to perform in the movie, to give it a little different vibe.

“They wound up meeting with Jamal and Impact members at a church, and coincidentally they wanted to use a church for the scene, so there it was,” Thomas said.

Another coincidence that could only be ascribed to art imitating life was that the theme of the movie was straight out of Thomas’s childhood.

In “August Rush” a musically gifted boy who was adopted searches for his biological parents, and when he finds them, discovers that both are musicians. In Tulsa, Okla., more than 50 years ago, a baby named Tevin Thomas was born, adopted, and grew up musically talented. When Thomas finally found his biological parents in 1995, he discovered that both were musicians.

Call it karma, synchronicity or the Bronx with a Hollywood ending, but Thomas is still shaking his head in awe about it, saying that the only difference in the stories is that he was already grown when he found his birth parents.

“Raise It Up” is “a mellow blend of gospel and an R&B piano motif and then goes into a really soulful vocal and builds from there,” Thomas said. “It’s uplifting. Absolutely.” [To get a truly uplifting earful, you can find it online at www.youtube.

com/watch?v=qwWvBcOW5G4].

Go figure, but at the end of the day on Oscar night the winner of Best Original Song was “Falling Slowly,” a tune from another movie, which to this reporter’s ear sounded rather saccharine and bland. “I guess they liked falling instead of raising,” Thomas quipped, laughing.

Sure, an Oscar in the office at Impact would’ve been nice, but being nominated was an incredible honor in itself. “It’s a great thing to have, and the kids, staff and parents at school and I are still knocked out about it,” Thomas said. “So are the professional musicians and singers and recording artists I work with. It’s rare that a musician gets an Oscar nomination.”

And, man, was it fun while it lasted, from the day he got a letter announcing the nomination to the night of the Academy Awards.

But what’s a guy to wear?

“I hooked up with a gentleman at my church who’s a fashion consultant, and he mailed off copies of the nomination letter and he hooked us up with a lot of stuff,” Thomas said. “I bought a tuxedo, but you have to have more than that. We were going to be with major stars and major people in the business and we had to look like something.”

Duds from companies like Hugo Boss, Geoffrey Beane and Sean John and sunglasses from Robert Marc were just some of the sponsored spoils that got Thomas and his two friends through all the glam in style.

“On Friday night we had a dinner with Warner Bros. and their nominees, mingling with George Clooney, with writers and actors, and got swag bags with lots of stuff,” he said. “On Saturday we had a music nominee luncheon with all the music people and each got another swag bag.”

Thomas added that the prestige of an Oscar nomination is sure to advance his music career.

But listen to him talk about teaching or see him in action and you’ll sense right away that even a Manhattan penthouse and fancy cars wouldn’t keep him from the classroom or his various after-school programs.

“Teaching is a great opportunity for sharing with each other, and being with kids keeps me up on the latest stuff,” he said. “I have a group of autistic kids who perform and they are really fantastic. Just doing music — well, that’s varying. But working with kids — they’re always positive, and it’s uplifting.”

A chorus line and all that jazz: Thomas takes kids through some basic chords at PS 811, a District 75 school in the Bronx.