"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain" –Bob Marley
"Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul"–lato
"This music school has changed my life," said teenager Shaquille Alexander, student at the St James Police Youth Club, of his experience at the Music Schools in the Community programme.
"I learned how to read music, I learned how to play the pan better, I learned how to play the saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and I really hope we have a third semester!"
His direct, heartfelt statement expressed the enthusiasm of hundreds of youths who have found personal meaning in the community music education programme which has been bubbling up through panyards and other centres since 2012.
The programme teaches 84 contact hours of music skills to communities over a 12-week semester, once a year, at several venues.
Recitals at the end of each semester showcase skills learned.
Sponsored entirely by the State, the programme is the brainchild of the Director of Culture, Ingrid Ryan-Ruben, who wanted to develop music literacy anchored in the pan, with flexibility to teach many other instruments.
Now in its fourth year, the programme, by all reports, is a huge hit with students, tutors and communities, so much so that now there are limits to the class sizes.
Any age is welcome–some learners are well into their 60s.
The programme is totally free to anyone interested, with the State supplying instruments, music textbooks and tutors, and collaborating with existing community centres to provide safe venues.
Fun, educational, holistic
The benefits are not singular but holistic. First off, it's fun.
Ian Clarke, the programme's coordinator, said that for many kids (and some adults), it's the first time in life they've ever held a clarinet, a pan or any other instrument in their hands. So that in itself has a big impact. The programme introduces a new activity to many people for whom music education was previously unreachable or unthinkable.
Next, of course, is actually learning how to play a specific instrument. All centres teach pan; but you can also learn the trumpet, trombone, clarinet, guitar, tabla, dholak, harmonium, or even the saxophone, depending on the venue. Skilled tutors teach basic playing techniques alongside music literacy: so students learn how to read music notation, too. They develop the beginnings of a new, non-verbal, expressive voice of their own through music.
"It's a great programme," says Dr Roy Cape, the well-loved 73-year-old saxophone player and leader of the popular Kaiso All Stars band who's been mentoring in the programme since it began.
"As a young man, it took me 12 years–from 1950 to 1962–to buy a horn. And today, Government is buying instruments and paying tutors a stipend to help people learn music. It's a beautiful idea," said Cape in a telephone interview.
Cape spoke of the power of music:
"Music can make you like an angel, it is so wonderful. It is the only universal language. I could go to Russia, and once I can read the music, I can play it.
"Music is also maths. In one bar of music, you have a 64th of a beat, and a 32nd of a beat.
"Music is about harmony, unity," said Cape: "In a band, 12 people on a stage must synchronise to make music. And we all feed off each other. Making music together involves active listening, and paying attention. With discipline, diligent work and commitment, imagine what a band can accomplish. Our band, for instance, has played in festivals of 10,000 and 25,000 people: they don't come to fight anybody, they come to enjoy the music."
Transformations
One far-reaching benefit of the Music Schools in the Community programme is its effect on personal development. Over the months of learning, a process of quiet transformation often takes place, say observers.
Youths and adults gain a sense of accomplishment and pride; they develop a new relationship not only with an instrument but with themselves, becoming more alert, empathetic, attentive, disciplined and more open to creative thought. They learn to connect with mentors and the community in healthy, collaborative ways, say tutors.
Some parents say their children become better in school: the music not only balances the academics but is a fun form of mental exercise and play in its own right.
Some very strong mentoring relationships quickly develop between music tutors and their students. Each venue has on average five tutors, so students can get a lot of personal attention.
Programme artists-in-residence, who come in to talk, inspire and advise the students, have included T&T musicians such as saxophonist Roy Cape, jazz trumpeter Errol Ince, steelband arranger Pelham Goddard, and music arranger, engineer, drummer and pianist Leston Paul.
How it began
"The panyard is sort of the heart of a community," said Roy Cape. So it made sense for the programme to begin in panyards.
In 2010, Cabinet approved the idea of music clinics to reclaim neighbourhoods as well as help fight crime. Initially called Music Schools in the Panyard, the programme began in 2012 with its first free community music classes at six panyards. Those first sessions drew 353 students (roughly 60 per venue), who received 112 contact hours of tuition over four months, said Ian Clark, the steelpan liaison officer at the Culture Division who coordinates the programme.
"The 2012 response was so overwhelming, we had to limit the number of students per semester in 2013 to 25 beginners and 25 intermediates–so, just 50 students per venue," said Ian Clark.
From 353 students trained in 2012, to 274 students in 2013, to 421 last year, class sizes per venue were limited to enable better quality teaching.
The programme was soon streamlined to 84 contact hours. And in 2014, the Culture Division expanded the programme to children's homes: the St Michaels School for Boys in Diego Martin, the St Dominics's Home in Belmont and the St Mary's Children's Home in Tacarigua.
Some of the music programme's musician mentors themselves had grown up in homes–saxophonist Roy Cape and trumpeter Errol Ince, for instance.
"Ninety per cent of musicians in the police band came from institutions...I grew up in Belmont Orphanage...Mr Anthony Prospect, one of our most significant bandmasters, also grew up in a orphanage," said Roy Cape.
The music programme spread to the Youth Training Centre in Arouca, the Western Division Police Youth Club, and last year expanded its scope to teach East Indian music classes in tabla, dholak, harmonium and flute at the Amarjyoth Sabha Mandir in Cunupia.
Future plans
This year, the music programme hopes to expand even more–it's aiming to teach not one but two semesters at each of nine venues, said Damien Richardson, Cultural Officer 2 who oversees the programme.
Planners are also seeking to get approval for five additional non-panyard venues, he said. Richardson emphasised the programme only goes to places where there already exists a strong community organisation.
He said he'd love to see funding for the programme get written in as a regular line item in the annual national budget.
The programme would also, in the future, like to enable talented students to continue their music studies–to be able to sit formal music exams, for instance, said Richardson.
Changing Lives Through Music (Part 2) concludes tomorrow
More Info
Where are the music classes?
Music Schools in the Community programmes have taken place in the following venues:
�2 Casabalanca Steel Orchestra, Belmont
�2 Couva Joylanders Orchestra, Couva
�2 Golden Hands Steel Orchestra, San Fernando
�2 Potential Steel Orchestra, Barataria
�2 Sangre Grande Cordettes, Sangre Grande
�2 Western Division Police Youth Club Steel Orchestra, Petit Valley
�2 Amarjyoth Sabha Mandir, Cunupia
�2 St Michael's School for Boys, Diego Martin
�2 St Mary's Children's Home, Tacarigua
�2 St Dominic's Home in Belmont
�2 Youth Training Centre, Arouca
MORE INFO
musicschoolsinthecommunity@gmail.com