Youth Orchestra of the Americas 2017

Over the Easter holidays, two representatives from the The Global Leaders Program and YOA Orchestra of the Americas worked with our projects in Kawangware and Juja. We worked on teamwork, ensemble, and learned many new skills and approaches to teaching.

Below are some pictures from Nathaly Ossa, who worked with our violinists in Kawangware.

The Global Leaders Program Cohort Member, Gabrielle Molina distributed much needed reeds, strings, and other musical supplies on behalf of the Trade Winds Quintet to partner organizations El Sistema Kenya, Ghetto Classics, the Nairobi School aka Patch, and the Precious Blood School.

To make this possible, Trade Winds clarinetist Brian Gnojek recently spent months collecting materials from friends, colleagues, and The D'Addario Foundation, consisting of 1800 reeds; 244 tubes of cork grease; 96 reed holders; 30 guitar and violin strings; and 54 drumsticks—all distributed by Gabrielle this week. Trade Winds is a nonprofit woodwind quintet that has organized volunteer teaching residencies in Kenya and Tanzania. To learn more visitTradeWindsQuintet.com

New instrument lessons in Juja!

We are excited to see what the upcoming year holds for us! This past year we introduced clarinet and guitar lessons in Juja.

From our hosts in Juja, Pendo Amani:

El Sistema today is a movement that has an impact on young people throughout the world. It is credited with improving the lives and lifting the aspirations of participants and their families, reducing crime, increasing school attendance rates and preventing anti-social behaviour.

Pendo Amani, in partnership with El Sistema Kenya and Atvidaberg Kenya Organization, continues to use orchestral music making as a model for social development targeting youth in Juja and its environs. In adolescence, music makes a major contribution to the development of self identity and a sense of belonging, and is seen as a source of support for young people.

#Inspiring #potential #elsistema #sistemaglobal #kenya #music #hope#future

We are realizing dreams!

Pendo Amani/Juja end of year concert

This December, our Juja students had their end of year recital, with a special performance by Swedish violinist, Olof Flodin! Elly Owidi, our clarinet teacher, said, "It was really interesting and a great opportunity for the students to build their confidence and performance skills."

Thank you to all of our teachers in Juja who made this performance possible and who worked so hard with our students to help them feel confident and create beautiful music!

Thank you, Ensemble Medici!

We are very grateful for the Medici Ensemble's visit from Germany, sponsored by the Rotary Club this October! Our students enjoyed a free concert by the quartet and a successful fundraising concert was held at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music. In their words, "The days in Nairobi ... were among the happiest in my life. It was really great to see classical music come to life in Kenya and to feel how excited people are." Asanteni sana, Medici Ensemble!

Ensemble Medici fundraising concert

Ensemble Medici, a visiting string quartet from Germany, is performing a fundraising concert for El Sistema Kenya at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music in the Ballet Studio at 6pm on Thursday, October 20th. Suggested donation for entry is 1,000ksh. The program includes Schubert's "Death and the Maiden," Dvorak's "American" Quartet, and Mozart.

They also met with our kids who attended the concerts and everyone had a blast!

Playing For Their Lives

At the beginning of our journey, Eric Booth visited us in Kawangware and saw our children's potential. El Sistema Kenya has a feature in his new book, "Playing for Their Lives," so please buy a copy today and help support the global movement of music as an agent of social change!

http://playingfortheirlives.com/

Thinking Outside the Box

We invited Matt Kolb from Fieldston School in New York City to share a social skills project with the children at DeBridge School in Waithaka. Matt used an identity box project to get students to think about the kind of people they are, and list their “inside” and “outside” characteristics on the inside and outside of the boxes. The project ended in a presentation by the children to their peers. 

This project was perfect for children who struggle to interact with adults on a peer-to-peer level and/or have difficulty expressing themselves. This project was able to help students increase their confidence and self-awareness, which is likely to improve their musical performance capabilities. 

We are very grateful to Fieldston School for their generous donations of instruments to us over the years, and for loaning us Matt Kolb and the work he did with our children in our Waithaka location!