In New Orleans, there is a community program called Silence Is Violence, which focuses on countering the city’s violence to achieve a safe New Orleans. One of the group’s longest-standing programs is the Music Clinics, an after-school youth empowerment program offering students a positive activity and an introduction to music performance.
A couple of years ago, Music Rising gave a grant to the Music Clinics in support of the venture, and we are pleased to find that we, along with other supporters such as the Threadheads organization, have made a huge different in the lives of these students. Below, read what Youth Outreach Coordinator Allison Padilla-Goodman has to say about the success of the Clinics!
The youth all rush into the empty space near the Sound Café, grab an instrument off the rack, and set up their chairs and music stands, eager to get started. Every Tuesday, trumpet virtuoso Shamarr Allen and his band teach a large group of students from across the community to play trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, guitar, drums, and piano. Thanks to Music Rising, these students who normally would not get to take music lessons are able to learn how to play on real instruments with recognizable music teachers who serve as important role models in their lives.
The students come from different neighborhoods and schools from all over the city, and are from a variety of racial and class backgrounds. The Tuesday night SilenceisViolence Music Clinics is one of the few events in New Orleans that is a true celebration of diversity and collaboration. Friendships are formed across differences, and music brings them all together. And it’s not just important for the students, as parents Sonia Gomez and Hope Jones exemplify: their students are in the same class at the same school, but they had never met before the Music Clinics brought them together. Now they are friends and enjoy celebrating together in the positive changes they’ve seen in their children’s lives.
The parents attest that the Music Clinics have provided a very important shift in their children’s behaviors. The students are so enthused by learning to play that they practice, very diligently, every day at home. This has made them sharpen their time management skills, as they learn to balance their homework and music, and complete their homework efficiently so that they can satisfy their urge to play. Hope’s daughter, Rumor (age 8), loves learning to play the guitar and has become a much more disciplined student. On Tuesdays, she rushes home from school, gets her homework done right away, and gets her mom organized to get to Music Lessons on time.
Sonia’s son, Joaquin, who is learning to play the drums, has even taken to focusing on the drummers when he listens to music at home. He insists that his family partake in the local music scene and go to hear live music whenever they can—like during all of the city’s many music festivals—where he watches the drummers and learns what they do.
Hope’s son, Roddrick (age 5), is one of the youngest musicians there, but also one of the quickest learners. He is able to keep up with the older students around him, and loves learning to play the trumpet. As his father is a trumpet-player, it is especially meaningful to him to get to follow in his father’s footsteps and continue an important New Orleans musical tradition.
Be sure to check out a video clip from the Spring 2010 Clinics' finale performance in the "Media" section above!
Click here for more information on the Silence Is Violence campaign and the Music Clinics.
musicrisisng.org/news
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