Birmingham – 12 April 2019 — Music Speaks Volumes: From Bebop to Hip Hop (MSV) is an arts education program with workshops and two culminating performances, designed to give high school students an opportunity to study jazz and hip hop, two transformative music genres that greatly influenced American Culture. The improvisational style of jazz gave way to the freestyle lyricism of hip-hop. The two music forms share a similar path in that both are creative responses to a time of social and political unrest in American society and are responsible for setting the tone for iconic cultural trends that are relevant today.

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MSV's musical timeline commences with African roots, highlights Bebop jazz of the 1930s, continues through the 1980s, the emergence of hip-hop, and finish with current progressive forms of both music genres. Professional dancer/choreographer and Ramsay alumnus, Jaylon Givan and national recording artist and trumpeter, Melvin Miller artists residences were  made possible through funding by the Alabama State Council on the Arts.