Final Reflections

Nine weeks ago, I was making final preparations to take my first trip to Africa, journey to an unknown culture and do what I love to do: play and teach music. I did not know that while I would be here, the students were to be my teachers and the community would be my new extended family. Teaching is not easy and I learned quickly that I would need to build relevant ties to how they define music and the new musical concepts I was teaching. Together we celebrated their music and new musical accomplishments they were achieving.

I always went for the "Kenyan experience": I traveled in the overcrowded matatus (public taxi), spent a night in boarded-up home on a makeshift bed, cooked most of my meals over an open fire, washed my clothes in a basin, and even chased elephants from a neighbor's garden. Very seldom did I enjoy conveniences that I find in America and these people know what hard work really means and the true definition of perseverance. People here do not waste, children don't beg parents for candy in the store and students do not disrespect elders.


My students never give up and instinctively know that their problems would be solved by continuing to work hard. My students developed these skills from their culture and brought their best to our sessions. They have made great strides with musical concepts and their technical ability on their instruments. However, their confidence and self esteem have been the biggest improvements I have seen.

These students work hard to try to make something out of themselves in a country where over half of the people are unemployed and corruption on all levels has become a daily part of life. There is no real market for musicians in Kenya, but there is a market everywhere for individuals who can think critically, pose problems and solve them, be imaginative and creative, work in a team and be a leader, and develop high-level literacy and communication skills. The kids don't realize it yet, but they are developing these traits each day they play these instruments.

For these kids, this music program goes beyond putting on concerts and hoping that they do better in school. This program is about giving support to these students so they may build their lives, families, community and country better than the way they found it.

What music means to these students...

My time here in Meru is quickly coming to an end and for the past two weeks, my teaching team and I have increased our instruction time to take advantage of the month that our students have free from school. Two weeks ago, we invited students from the Bishop Lawi Imathiu Secondary School (BLISS) to come to the Thiiri Cultural Center for our informational meeting. Approximately 70 students attended and we began the meeting with a viewing of the major motion picture, Drumline. The students thought the movie dance routines and music were computer generated, and you should have seen the looks on their face when I explained that everything they saw on the screen is what they actually do. I was able to testify because I spent many hours contributing to that film. The movie was based around my high school marching band program that highlights the marching band styles in the southern United States. My high school band directors wrote the music for the movie and my high school colleagues starred in several of the roles. The highlight of this experience was explaining that the head band director at my high school is originally from Nairobi, Kenya, Mr. James Seda. Now these students claim James Seda and Barack Obama.

After viewing the movie, I posted the month’s schedule and began teaching music. Each day we had a different group of thirty students come for group lessons and taught twelve 30-minute lessons. Many students come each day for private lessons and three times a week for group lessons. During the past two weeks, most of the students have accomplished what it takes my students in America to accomplish in six months. However, these students do not have the distractions that I had when I grew up. During the holiday months, these families do not take vacations, most of the students do not have electricity and many would rather be anywhere else than sitting idle in their homes. One student came to me and told me about a horrible situation he faces daily at home. He continued to explain that participating in this music program has allowed him to handle his stress and express what he is unable to show with his family. I am aware of the power of music, however hearing personal testimonies of the power of music from young musicians always touches my heart. The moment I shared with that young student will stand to be the most profound experience I have had in Kenya.

I am humbled to be part of this exciting project and help bring experiences that no amount of money can buy.

Six Week Progress Report

I can't believe that I am six weeks into my project here in Meru! Time is disappearing and I am doing my best to take advantage of every opportunity I have left. Here is what progress has been made over the past six weeks:

Bishop Imathiu Secondary School: We have retained 87% of the 114 students we originally started in our program. By the end of the July, we added an additional hour of teaching at the school and offered group lessons for each instrument. Each student received three to four hours of group lesson time each week. The term ended on Tuesday August 4th and school resumes in September. When school is back in session, the principal has agreed to dedicate two hours each day to music classes and allow for an additional two hours after school, at the teacher's discretion.

Bishop Imathiu Primary School and Kithoka Primary School: The students have become quite proficient on the recorder and our biggest stride in the music teaching is the involvement we have from the classroom teachers. One of the teachers at Kithoka Primary team teaches with our music teacher, Andrew, and helps to lead some of the lessons. She has been a great asset to the classroom, because of her understanding of the children. The shortage of teachers at this school made it very compelling to have the principal agree to dedicate more time to teach music in these schools.

Thiiri Center for Culture, Music and Community Development: The Thiiri band is becoming stronger each week. The band meets every Monday from 10AM-3PM and several of the members come each Wednesday and Saturday in addition to the regular Monday time. When the students have their school breaks (each August, December and April), the Thiiri center runs a day camp for the local youth. This month, they have added a music program and over sixty of the students from the high school registered and will receive additional musical training.

The community has been very supportive and these kids are doing an amazing job. The programs in the local schools have the right support from the administration and I am very confident about the Kenyan music teachers I work with on a daily basis. This program will be in good hands and I hope that other musicians from the US and Europe would want to come here and spend time with these teachers and with the people in this community.

My last three weeks here will be working closely with the Thiiri Center to help them realize their central role in the music program in this community. We will define their mission and setup their community music school to be effective in the community and serve as the perfect model throughout Kenya.

Laying a Musical Foundation One Note at a Time

Western music is not new to anyone in this community, but most of the people here have never seen a clarinet nor knew a saxophone existed. Many of them have heard these instruments played in the music they listen to, but had no idea they could make those sounds some day. The most exciting part of my experience, so far, has been to watch these students discover new things about music and themselves.

Teaching is a challenge and teaching music is no exception. For the past four years that I studied at The Curtis Institute of Music, I became comfortable with preparing a concert each week. It was common for us to sightread a rehearsal perfectly, discuss some musical ideas and put the music away only to see it next in concert.

Moses Marete, the principal at BLISS high school, welcomed the music program after having a short meeting with Larry Dittmar and I. He told each student in the 9th and 10th grades that if they were interested in learning music, to show up at our meeting. Everyone showed up. I performed a few pieces for them and talked about what we hoped to accomplish in the music program. That evening, the principal came to my apartment with a list of 114 students that wanted to learn music: 54 of them wanted to learn trumpet.

We have been working for the past two weeks with these students to get them to develop a characteristic sound, become comfortable with holding their instruments and introducing them to basic musical concepts of rhythm and pitch. You would think these would be the noisiest kids just by the way they enter the room: They are always busy chatting, figuring out who to sit next to and playfully pulling jokes on each other. Once I enter the room, they straighten up and soak in every word that I say. Each hour of instruction feels like twenty minutes to me, but the students accomplish much more than I expect. They listen, adjust and do not give up.

One example is a kid named Samuel Mutuiri who was the worst trumpet player of all 54. I literally thought that he should be switched to a different instrument to put me out of my misery! He came to me after our first class and said, "I really want to learn to make one note sound as nice as yours". It took me no more than five minutes to adjust his embouchure and he produced the nicest sound that I have heard so far. By this time, a group of 20 kids from the primary school was in the same room, quietly listening and watching me teach Samuel. I didn't think anything about our lesson and after he made that sound, I packed up the instruments and headed home. The next day, Samuel came to me again and tells me that he wants to learn how to make each note on the trumpet just as good as the day before. I taught him for a half hour and permanently helped him correct his embouchure. I sent him home with a mouthpiece and a homework assignment and each day he would return mastering what I gave him and requesting the next assignment. Today, Sunday, I received a knock at my door and there was Samuel, who walked almost ten miles from home. He told me, "Mr. Stanford, I want to become a professional trumpet player."

The work is hard, but I am convinced that lives are being changed each day through music. More than any other musical experience I have had, this experience has humbled me beyond measure. Of all of the students I work with, only a dozen want to become professional musicians, but my work here is not about that. I believe my work is helping these students realize what confidence and self-esteem really is, especially when they are always reminded of what they don't have. No amount of money or resources can vindicate through the spirit of their human condition and raise up their dignity; music and the arts can.

The Musical Future of Meru, Kenya

My name is Stanford Thompson and I am a recent graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA. I was asked to come to Meru, Kenya to help the community develop music programs - preserving their traditional music and developing a western-styled concert band. Over the past two years, Larry Dittmar has collected instruments, supplies and funds through the Kenyan Urithi Education Fund and has equipped the community with over 80 instruments. A music program was started at the local Bishop Lawi Imathiu Secondary School (BLISS) and 140 students came to our first informational meeting and demonstration. We introduced every student to western band instruments and I performed for the students. 114 of those students decided to join our pilot program and the school has given us an hour each day to work with the students.

After meeting with several community leaders, we decided that this program needed a feeder program to sustain the high school. We approached the headmasters at three primary schools: Fred's Academy, Kithoka Primary School and Bishop Imathiu Inegrated Boarding School. These schools have allowed us to establish music programs and our work has begun. I am working closely with two talented musicians, Andrew and Boniface, to help train them to run the program. Andrew will work in the primary schools to teach recorder and other musical concepts to prepare the student's interest to continue at the high school level.

The government use to support music programs in the schools, but in 2000, the Ministry of Education made music to be neither a required nor examinable subject in primary schools. As I found, many people in the community are interested in learning music and being involved in this program. Music as a performing cultural art springs from people’s experiences and reflects their aspirations. It is from this understanding that music education curriculum have been developed in many countries across the world. As we develop this curriculum, we will focus on the following objectives which will achieve the well-rounded development of the learner in terms of the social, economic, physical and psychological spheres.

1. Acquisition of basic skills and knowledge, such as reading and writing music.
2. Emphasizing practical skills that are achieved through performing of songs, dances and instruments.
3. Using one's ability and skills in a productive way. After acquiring the basic and practical skills, the learners use them to express their own ideas, feelings and experiences through the art of performing music and dance.
4. Target and build positive social skills through the principles of unity, co-operation, self-identity and patriotism both locally and internationally.

This curriculum does not stop at only learning how to recognize notes and to sing or play an instrument. Group dancing, singing and performing instruments can enhance the spirit of unity, co-operation and tolerance among others. These virtues can be achieved especially when students from different social backgrounds come together to rehearse and perform music from the local, national or international traditions. It is more important to impart on the students Kenyan traditional musics in addition to learning western instruments and performance. Music performance as a verbal and visual art embodies people’s cultures. Therefore, reinforcement of music education can be one way of enhancing cultural identity and integration while at the same time guarding against cultural disintegration.

View a video I produced about the Meru, Kenya area and schools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzFXVGAzhk

Feel free to contact me for more information on how you can help!

Kara Bwega,
Stanford

Introducing the Meru Music Project

Instrumental music is alive and thriving at the Bishop Lawi Imathiu Secondary School (BLISS) in Meru, Kenya and lives are being transformed through music education. BLISS is the least expensive and one of the newest secondary schools in Kenya. The first graduating class in 2007 sent every student forward with a diploma and two-thirds who qualified for higher education. These students represent the poorest students in Meru and the first in their families to attend secondary school. Currently 257 students attend BLISS and soon, each student will have to opportunity to participate in music courses as part of their curriculum.

Two years ago, retired Ann Arbor, MI music teacher Larry Dittmar, began an instrumental music program with dozens of recorders and 194 students. While the students learned how to read music, Larry gathered more than 80 donated instruments to deliver to Meru last February and a helping hand to implement the first instrumental music program this summer.

Stanford Thompson will spend eight weeks, beginning July 2009, working closely with the BLISS principal, Moses Marete, and the three neighborhood primary schools to add music classes to the school curriculum. He will also direct and expand the local community music program available for Meru adults and create a summer music program for the students to sharpen their musical skills.

Mr. Thompson was raised in Decatur, GA where he attended Southwest DeKalb and North Springs High Schools. Stanford earned his Bachelor of Music at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA where he held the William A. Loeb Fellowship. He has performed extensively throughout the United States, Asia and Europe and runs several musical organizations that engage under-served communities in America.



This project is made possible by the Kenya Urithi Education Fund. Donations are tax deductible and can be sent to 3456 Gettysburg Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.