Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Chamber Music at Gleason's Gym?

AMB: Gym

N: Gleason?s Gym is tucked in among the cobblestone streets in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. Over a hundred world champions have trained here since it opened in 1937?Muhammad Ali, Riddickk Bowe, even Mike Tyson. For the last 26 years, Bruce Silverglade has owned the Gym.

AX, Bruce Silverglade: I?ve been requested many times by the people that train here to have music playing, and I?ve always chosen not to do that. I?m a traditionalist, an old-timer in the sport of boxing. You don?t need music to do it.

N: A cellist named Dan Barrett got him to reconsider.

AX, Dan Barrett: I had trained when I was about 19, and I had heard about Gleason?s, which is the Juilliard or the Vienna Conservatory of boxing.

N: Barrett stopped by Gleason?s one day and asked Silverglade what he?d think of chamber music concerts at the gym.

AX, Bruce Silverglade: This is a different type of situation, this is an introduction of contemporary music and chamber music to the kids that are today traditionally known for rap, and I thought it would be nice for them to learn what this is all about.

N: Silverglade agreed to a three part series. On a recent Saturday night, about 50 people
showed up for the second installment. Two of the younger fighters waited anxiously??.

AX, Josiah Ochoa: Josiah Ochoa, I?m 11 years old, and I live in Queens.

AX, Khalid Twaiti: Khalid Twaiti, I?m 11 years old, and I?ve been training very hard to be the best boxer in the world.

AX, Josiah Ochoa: Yeah, me and him come here like every day and every week, right?

AX, Khalid: Yeah. And we work hard together. We?re friends and we don?t try to hurt each other when we fight and stuff.

AMB: bell/music

N: For the first part of the evening, The musicians sit inside a ring and play 10-minute sets. The audience crowds around to watch. Then, they walk over to another ring
to watch short exhibition bouts.The first set began with a piece for alpine horn.
Khalid watched from the corner of Ring 2.

AX, Khalid: I think that it?s like kinda cool, cuz it gets me into my rhythm of boxing.

N: When the first set ended, Khalid and Josiah went three short rounds.

AMB: Bell, start of Khalid/Josiah fight.

N: This is the weirdest part of the event, the switching back and forth. The exaltation of your soul that accompanies a great classical music performance is a different beast than the primal rush that a watching good beating brings on.

AMB: Bell,

N: During the second half of the night, the musicians improvised over the bouts. The fighters were older, but they were newer to the game. They threw punches sparingly, but when they did, the musicians sent up staccato jabs.

AMB: Musical jabs.

N: The audience is about half musicians and half gym regulars. They seem fascinated with each other?s worlds. Dave Taylor is a trombonist for the chamber music ensemble

AX, Dave Taylor, trombonist: It?s nice, I like being around boxers. You know boxers, they?re something so beautiful about the one-on-oneness of it, man, it?s like?right?

N: The music gave boxer Angelo Santos a new perspective on the sport.

AX, Angelo to me it?s a whole new experience, it?s like watching something I?ve never seen before. I?m old time, I?ve been boxing at this gym 20 years.

AMB: Music

N: After the last bout, there was one final set of music. The French horn and trumpet players taped their sheet music to each other?s chests and circled each other while playing. ?

AMB: music up

N: At the final bell, the trumpet player was on the ground and the trombonist raised the French horn player?s hand in the air, triumphantly?. Knockout.

AMB: Brass trio finishes last song, applause.

N: From Gleason?s Gym in Brooklyn, I?m Lawrence Lanahan for Weekend America.

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