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The Power of Music Unit 5: Building Community

Transcript VOICEOVER: The mission of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s educational initiatives is to provide disadvantaged youngsters with access to musical experiences they would not have otherwise. Emily Kubitskey and Nikki Shorts use a curriculum built around “A Song of Peace” from Sibelius’s Finlandia. Their lessons introduce students to music from around the world, and to making music in an ensemble using boomwhackers. Students share an extraordinary Sistema-inspired experience as they join musicians from the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles to perform “A Song of Peace” at a moving community concert. CHARLES KIM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, LOS ANGELES, CA STUDENTS (singing): This is my song, O people of the nations A song of peace, for lands afar and mine NIKKI SHORTS, TEACHING ARTIST, LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC AND YOUTH ORCHESTRA LOS ANGELES (YOLA): This is my home. STUDENTS (singing): This is my home, the country where my heart is.

NIKKI SHORTS: The Finlandia curriculum is a nine-week residency for the schools in the L.A. area. It’s connected to the YOLA Neighborhood Project so that the kids are joining in with our YOLA programs. STUDENTS (singing): But other hearts in other lands are beating NIKKI SHORTS: With hopes and dreams STUDENTS (singing): With hopes and dreams

DAN BERKOWITZ, MANAGER, YOUTH ORCHESTRA LOS ANGELES (YOLA): Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, or YOLA, is the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s El Sistema-inspired program where we go into communities and build youth orchestras with them in communities that wouldn’t otherwise have access. NIKKI SHORTS: My country’s skies…

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STUDENTS: My country’s skies…

NIKKI SHORTS: (singing) My country’s skies….

My colleague, Melinda Rice, and I developed the Finlandia curriculum. … are bluer… STUDENTS: … are bluer… NIKKI SHORTS: Than the ocean… STUDENTS: Than the ocean…

GRETCHEN NIELSEN, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES, LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION: Every year we rotate through a different composer and curriculum idea. This year the curriculum focuses on Sibelius’s Finlandia. And alongside learning the music, students are also learning themes of multiculturalism, community, connecting to one another.

ERIK HOLMGREN, FORMER DIRECTOR, SISTEMA FELLOWS PROGRAM, NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY: The Finlandia curriculum is an example of bringing the principles of El Sistema into the general music classroom. They’re singing music of other cultures; they’re singing it together. And eventually, they’ll join with their peers from all around the Los Angeles area to perform music. NIKKI SHORTS: Ready, set, go. NIKKI SHORTS AND STUDENTS (singing): My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean.

NIKKI SHORTS: El Sistema is a social program, it just so happens that music is the vehicle for change. And I really like that ‘cause for me, I think it’s important that we’re creating musicians — kids who are really excited to do something for themselves and for their communities. But at the same time, I just want to help create good human beings.

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CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI, YOLA AT HOLA PROGRAM DIRECTOR; MUSIC DIRECTOR, HOLA: We wanted to find people who are really excited about this philosophy, who really got the mission of going into a community that didn’t always have access to music in this way and reaching out to these kids and reaching out to these families and using music to really change their lives. NIKKI SHORTS: I see what happens in this neighborhood and what the choices can be for some people; I see it all the time. You don’t need to leave your neighborhood, but know that there are other options for you. I just want to open their eyes to that. And that, really, is at the core of all of my teaching. (singing) And sunlight beams... Ready, go. STUDENTS (singing): And sunlight beams… NIKKI SHORTS: Very good. Repeat after me... CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI: El Sistema is not a pedagogy, but rather it’s a philosophy and so there isn’t a right or a wrong way to teach. You can be a Suzuki teacher and employ this philosophy. You can be an Orff specialist and employ this philosophy. So it’s more this idea of using music to create social change than it is the “how.” NIKKI SHORTS AND STUDENTS (singing): This is my song, O people of the nations A song of peace… NIKKI SHORTS: In the Finlandia curriculum, the whole idea is that it starts to open up our eyes to other cultures. NIKKI SHORTS AND STUDENTS (singing): This is my home, the country where my heart is… NIKKI SHORTS: And I think, like for instance, the words, “This is my home, the country where my heart is, here are my hopes and dreams.” Like, I have hopes and dreams and then there is a line, “but other hearts in other lands are beating.”

NIKKI SHORTS AND STUDENTS (singing): …in other lands are beating With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

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NIKKI SHORTS: “With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.” Like, understanding there’s kids like me all over the place who also have hopes and dreams. CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI: And this is a really incredible message of peace, especially for a community like this one in the Rampart District, where we have a large Korean population, we have a large Latino population, we have a large Filipino population — all of these different cultures come together in an incredibly beautiful way in this community. NIKKI SHORTS: So my friends, it’s time to travel to a new place. We are going to go to Hawaii. STUDENTS: Yeah! NIKKI SHORTS: So Hawaii, even though it’s way over here and there’s the ocean separating it, it’s still a part of the United States. You guys ready to fly? STUDENTS: Yeah! NIKKI SHORTS: Strap on your seatbelts…. EMILY KUBITSKEY, TEACHING ARTIST, LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC AND YOUTH ORCHESTRA LOS ANGELES (YOLA): In each of the nine lessons, we go to a different country and we learn about different styles of music as well as Finlandia. So, we will often visit Japan and Mexico; we’ve talked about Native American music and Hawaiian music and music from Ghana. And that way, the students really get an idea of all these other separate musics and different cultures, however, while always coming back and reflecting on Finlandia in order to prepare for our main concert.

NIKKI SHORTS: Okay, the carpet is off the ground! Ready! Wooo-ahh! My foot on the gas! Whoa! Oh, no there’s volcanoes! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Oh no, back in the Pacific Ocean [bubble sounds], again [bubble sounds]. Oh, and bumpy clouds! Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh. Put your foot on the brakes. [braking sound] The stewardess says, “Aloha.” Can you say that? STUDENTS: Aloha.

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NIKKI SHORTS: And Aloha means “hello” in Hawaiian. Even though people speak English in Hawaii, they also speak Hawaiian. Can you say that? STUDENTS: Hawaiian. NIKKI SHORTS: Turn to your neighbor and say, “Aloha!” STUDENTS: Aloha! NIKKI SHORTS: Turn to your other neighbor and say, “Aloha!” STUDENTS: Aloha! NIKKI SHORTS: So my friends, just like you, there are kids in Hawaii, same age as you, and they learn a special song to help them learn how to say good morning, good afternoon, and good evening in Hawaiian. So everyone say, “Good morning, Lele.” STUDENTS: Good morning, Lele. NIKKI SHORTS: And just so we know his full name. Lele is his nickname, but his full name is ukulele. Can you say that? STUDENTS: Ukulele. NIKKI SHORTS: It’s a beautiful Hawaiian name, but what’s his nickname, class? STUDENTS: Lele. NIKKI SHORTS: Okay, so now, he has four strings just like viola, his big sister, okay? STUDENTS: Ohhh.

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NIKKI SHORTS: So, we are going to learn a song and this song, like I said, is going to teach you how to say, “Hello,” “Good morning,” “Good afternoon,” and “Good evening.” Now repeat after me: (singing) Aloha. STUDENTS (singing): Aloha. NIKKI SHORTS: Here’s a funny word: (singing) Kakahiaka STUDENTS (singing): Kakahiaka. NIKKI SHORTS (singing): Means good morning… STUDENTS (singing): Means good morning. NIKKI SHORTS (singing): To you. STUDENTS (singing): To you. NIKKI SHORTS (singing): Aloha. STUDENTS (singing): Aloha. NIKKI SHORTS (singing): Aloha ‘Auinala means good noonday to you. Your turn. NIKKI SHORTS AND STUDENTS (singing): Aloha ‘Auinala means good noonday to you. NIKKI SHORTS: Let’s do it together.

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NIKKI SHORTS AND STUDENTS (singing): Aloha, Aloha. NIKKI SHORTS: Round of applause, round of applause, take a bow in your seat. Very good, my friends. (singing) No one talks, we only sing. I want you to sing to me, who in your family will you teach “Aloha” to? Sing me your answer. GIRL (singing): I’d like to teach my mom.

NIKKI SHORTS (singing): Sing, “my mom.”

STUDENTS (singing): My mom. BOY (singing): My sister.

STUDENTS (singing): My sister. GIRL (singing): My brother. STUDENTS (singing): My brother.

BOY (singing): My dad.

STUDENTS (singing): My dad.

BOY (singing): My baby cousin. STUDENTS (singing): My baby cousin. GIRL (singing): My grandpa. STUDENTS (singing): My grandpa.

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GIRL (singing): My dog. STUDENTS (singing): My dog. NIKKI SHORTS: Pat yourself on the back and say, “Good job, me.” STUDENTS: Good job, me. NIKKI SHORTS: Turn to your neighbor and say, “Good job, you.” STUDENTS: Good job, you. NIKKI SHORTS: Turn to your other neighbor and say, “Good job, you.” STUDENTS: Good job, you. NIKKI SHORTS: Everyone say, “Bye, ukulele.” STUDENTS: Bye, ukulele. NIKKI SHORTS: Bye, viola. STUDENTS: Bye, viola. NIKKI SHORTS: And, “Bye, Miss Nikki.” STUDENTS: Bye, Miss Nikki. CHARLES WHITE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, LOS ANGELES, CA EMILY KUBITSKEY, TEACHING ARTIST, LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC AND YOUTH ORCHESTRA LOS ANGELES (YOLA): (singing) Hello everybody! How do you do? How do you do? How do you do?

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One of my goals in the K through 2 curriculum, especially with the younger students, is to kind of trick them into really learning musical concepts.

EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing) High low, high high low. STUDENTS (singing): High low, high high low.

EMILY KUBITSKEY: A lot of them have a difficult time in the beginning identifying high pitches and low pitches; everything is kind of everywhere at all points. So, one of the first things I do is I will just do a simple call and response with high notes and low notes. Ti-ti-ta, ti-ti-ta. STUDENTS: Ti-ti-ta, ti-ti-ta. EMILY KUBITSKEY: And then I will have them repeat after me with rhythms on their knees and in their hands so that they start feeling that rhythm, that innate rhythm, with everything that they do.

(singing) Hello, class.

STUDENTS (singing): Hello, Miss Emily.

EMILY KUBITSKEY: And then, about in the second week I was able to relate that to singing “Hello, class,” and they would respond “Hello, Miss Emily.” EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): High, high, low. STUDENTS (singing): High, high, low. EMILY KUBITSKEY: And from there, we would go back and forth. We were able to sing high and low, we were able to sing sol and mi, and slowly, but surely, they were able to get through those solfège syllables and really complicated rhythms without even understanding that they were doing it. Normally, we are right here in Los Angeles. We’ve been all the way over to Finland and down to Hawaii. Today we’re going all the way over to Africa, to a place called Ghana. So in order to do that, we have to fly over what ocean?

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STUDENTS: Atlantic. EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): Charlie over the ocean. STUDENTS (singing): Charlie over the ocean. EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): Charlie over the sea. STUDENTS (singing): Charlie over the sea. EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): Charlie caught a big fish. STUDENTS (singing): Charlie caught a big fish. EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): He can’t catch me. STUDENTS (singing): He can’t catch me. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Wonderful. Now, something really amazing about Africa is how much they love making music in communities. Can someone tell me some time they’ve ever made music in a community? STUDENT: I did a song with Mr. Chen. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Wonderful! Has anyone else ever made music in a community? Eric, what about you, sir? ERIC: My teacher was Ms. Luna and I sang music with her. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Fantastic! Fantastic. And last one, Melanie.

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MELANIE: Me and my sister, we practiced singing. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Awesome. Very, very cool. And I have a question for you guys: don’t you sing music everyday in here with Dr. Hong? STUDENTS: Yeah. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Absolutely. So this is your very own music community. Now we are going to learn another language today, just like we do when we go to a lot of our different countries. This song is a song that they sing in elementary schools in Ghana, talking about how they want to go out to recess and play. Now, repeat after me: (singing) Mo paco meeno sway STUDENTS (singing): Mo paco meeno sway EMILY KUBITSKEY: Get your hands ready: (singing) Mo paco meeno sway [claps] STUDENTS (singing): Mo paco meeno sway [claps] EMILY KUBITSKEY: [laughs] Good, you have to wait for those two claps right at the end. (singing) Mo paco meeno sway [claps] STUDENTS (singing): Mo paco meeno sway [claps] EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): Mo paco meeno sway [claps] STUDENTS (singing): Mo paco meeno sway [claps] EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): Mo paco meeno sway [claps] STUDENTS (singing): Mo paco meeno sway [claps]

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EMILY KUBITSKEY: Good.

Shall we do the final version? Are you ready? Everybody shake it out. Shake out the right hand. Get ready, shake out your left hand. Get ready, shake out your left foot. Can you shake out both feet? Okay, you can sure try. Shake out your knees. Shake out your head. Gotta get all serious. (singing) A Keelie Makolay, mo paco meeno sway EMILY KUBITSKEY AND STUDENTS (singing): Yeah, yeah, mo paco meeno sway EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): A Keelie Makolay, mo paco meeno sway EMILY KUBITSKEY AND STUDENTS (singing): Yeah, yeah, mo paco meeno sway EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): Mo paco meeno sway [claps] The students, instead of being hindered by the fact that they were speaking a language that they did not know, they’ve kind of taken the musical aspect and they’re not worried about the pronunciation, they’re not worried about the rhythm, because all of a sudden, they’re just amazed that they can sing this song, and they’ve forgotten about the fear of doing something different. Jasmine, right up here, what did you think of the song, sweetheart?

JASMINE: I think it was funny because we really learned it and we could do it already.

EMILY KUBITSKEY: I know! You guys learned it so fast and it was so good. Karina.

KARINA: I think it was great because we learned a new language and a new song. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Amazing. Absolutely. I would like to sing a song in Spanish. Because remember we are visiting Mexico today, okay? And even if some of you don’t speak Spanish, you will be able to pick up on the song.

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STUDENTS: I know Spanish. I know. I speak Spanish. I know. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Raise your hand if you speak Spanish. Good. Hands down, please. Fantastic. This is going to be about how our bodies can make all sorts of types of music. So before you do anything with your hands, repeat after me. Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo… STUDENTS: Mi cuerpo mi cuerpo… EMILY KUBITSKEY: Now, repeat after me: Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo, Hace musica. STUDENTS: Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo Hace musica. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Joseph, what does mi cuerpo hace musica mean? JOSEPH: It that means makes music. EMILY KUBITSKEY: What makes music? JOSEPH: It means your body. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Absolutely. So, repeat after me: Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo Hace musica. STUDENTS: Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo Hace musica. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Wonderful. I think we are ready to stand up and do this. Now invisible hand piano. Hace musica.

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STUDENTS: Hace musica. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo, STUDENTS: Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Air guitar. Hace musica. STUDENTS: Hace musica. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Now listen: (singing) Mis manos hacen [claps] STUDENTS (singing): Mis manos hacen [clap] EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): Mis pies hacen [taps with feet] STUDENTS (singing): Mis pies hacen [tap with feet] EMILY KUBITSKEY: Mi boca hace la la la… STUDENTS: Mi boca hace la la la… EMILY KUBITSKEY: Mi cuerpo hace cha cha cha. STUDENTS: Mi cuerpo hace cha cha cha. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Now friends, can we do it all together? STUDENTS: Yeah! EMILY KUBITSKEY: Or do you have to have me do call and response?

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STUDENTS: No! EMILY KUBITSKEY: No. Are you sure we can do it all together? STUDENTS: Yes! EMILY KUBITSKEY: Okay, one, two, three… EMILY KUBITSKEY AND STUDENTS (singing): Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo Hace musica Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo Hace musica. Mis manos hacen [claps] Mis pies hacen [taps with feet] Mi boca hace la la la Mi cuerpo hace cha cha cha. NIKKI SHORTS: Double check that you’re holding underneath the tape. Okay? Pep-pe-ro-ni piz-za. STUDENTS: Pep-pe-ro-ni piz-za. NIKKI SHORTS: Boomwhackers in themselves, they’re wonderful. They’re just these plastic tubes that are different colors. And they instantly make a sound. You hit it on your hand and there’s a pitch. You don’t have to sing, you don’t have to play, be formally trained in an instrument.

[STUDENTS play notes with boomwhackers] NIKKI SHORTS: Round of applause! It involves physical learning, which there’s a lot of kids who are physical learners. And actually using your ears — watching — I mean, it involves all these different skills that are needed for musicians and just for people in general. We have these three groups. See where your color fits. Don’t touch your boomwhacker. Just see where your color fits.

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JUDITH HILL BOSE, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES, LONGY SCHOOL OF MUSIC OF BARD COLLEGE: Boomwhackers are really fun. But in addition to being fun, you can also use them in some strategic ways to accomplish some sophisticated melodic and harmonic ideas. NIKKI SHORTS: You’re going to see that red happens more than once. And green, dark green happens more than once. Okay, let’s try this. Are you guys ready? STUDENTS: Yes. NIKKI SHORTS: All right. Please get your boomwhacker if you are in this first group. One, two, ready, go. JUDITH HILL BOSE: They’re all pitched, so you don’t have to know extensive technique on an instrument to be able to put them together and play melodies, simple melodies or quite complicated melodies. NIKKI SHORTS: Here we go. Those people only. One, two, ready, go. Dark green especially. Make sure you play, okay? One, two, ready, go. Good. JUDITH HILL BOSE: They’re all color-coded, so you don’t have to be able to read standard notation in order to follow a color score or grid. NIKKI SHORTS: Dark green, you happen twice. Here we go. One, two, ready, go. Red and dark green especially, you play more than once. So really use your eyes. It’ll look like this, watch. One, two, ready, go.

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[STUDENTS play boomwhackers] NIKKI SHORTS: And freeze. Round of applause! Now, here’s a challenge, can you do it without me? STUDENTS: Yes. Yeah. NIKKI SHORTS: All right. One, two ready, go. [STUDENTS play boomwhackers]

NIKKI SHORTS: They can actually really start to make real music and we’re using “This Land is Your Land.” They’re able to build chords as they sing and you can actually get really, you can really build lots of skills. EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): This land is your land… STUDENTS (singing): This land is your land… JUDITH HILL BOSE: You can use them as Nikki and Emily do to really create an ensemble experience, where children have the thrill of creating something quite musically sophisticated in a fun and an easily accessible way. EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): From California… STUDENTS (singing): From California… EMILY KUBITSKEY (singing): Nice. (singing) To the New York island. Really loud! STUDENTS (singing): To the New York island…

EMILY KUBITSKEY: Another piece that we always come back to in all of the nine lessons is “This Land Is Your Land.” And we come back to it as a point of being proud of California and where we are from because the lyrics reference this being your land, from California to New York and the United States.

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STUDENTS (singing): This land was made for you and me. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Awesome. Give yourselves a boomwhacker round of applause. MIKE BLAKESLEE, DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/COO, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MUSIC EDUCATION: The school-based program connected with the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles shows some of the breadth of programs that can be inspired by El Sistema. The Finlandia curriculum follows a core tenet of the music standards. That is, that students need to be able to connect music and their music studies to their cultures, their communities, and their lives. YOUTH ORCHESTRA LOS ANGELES (YOLA) AT HEART OF LOS ANGELES (HOLA) EMILY KUBITSKEY: Team Mozart and trumpets, come sit over here, please. CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI: I believe that it is very important that an El Sistema program that’s operating after school not be a replacement to in-school music education. And so, what we do here, we see as being supplemental to what’s happening in school. NIKKI SHORTS: An El Sistema phrase is “if you know three notes, you teach someone who knows two.” And I really believe in that, I feel like if you know something you can teach something. And so when we bring in new kids, what we do is we just kind of just throw them in. I say, “Okay, it’s time to teach.” Now, they also know the phrase “peer-to-peer teaching.” CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI: Peer mentorship is a really essential part of our philosophy and the philosophy of El Sistema. So when we began the program, we actually started with first graders and fourth graders for the intentional reason of having our older students be paired up with our younger students, so that those older students would really feel a sense of responsibility right away and a sense of ownership right away. And our younger students would have somebody to look up to, would have a role model. And this became “Buddy Time,” where we ask our students, “What can you do with your music to make our community better?” BUDDY TIME FOR STUDENT MUSICIANS EMILY KUBITSKEY: Carlos, what can we do to help the kids who haven’t performed before?

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CARLOS: Maybe we could like, teach them songs that they haven’t learned before and play some music that they haven’t learned before and teach them. EMILY KUBITSKEY: High five. Absolutely. DAN BERKOWITZ, MANAGER, YOUTH ORCHESTRA LOS ANGELES (YOLA) The origins of “Buddy Time” came from the beginning of the program and this was when we decided to take first- and fourth-grade students, we wanted a formal way for them to mentor one another and for them to be together each week. So each week we put aside an hour and we think about either a community project that we can do or an ice breaker, an activity we can do together to teach one another something that we’re learning throughout the program. EMILY KUBITSKEY: I’m going to choose people and I want everyone except that person to say their name, okay? What’s his name? STUDENTS: Daniel. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Daniel, awesome. Daniel, what’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? DANIEL: Vanilla. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Vanilla. Mine, too. Perfect. So, what’s my name? STUDENTS: Emily. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Miss Emily. What’s my favorite flavor of ice cream? STUDENTS: Vanilla. EMILY KUBITSKEY: What’s his name? STUDENTS: Daniel. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Favorite flavor?

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STUDENTS: Vanilla. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Okay. Let’s move on over. What’s his name? STUDENTS: Kevin. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Kevin. Okay. What’s his name? STUDENTS: Daniel. EMILY KUBITSKEY: What’s his name? STUDENTS: Kevin. EMILY KUBITSKEY: What’s his favorite flavor of ice cream? STUDENT: Whose? KEVIN: Cookies and cream. EMILY KUBITSKEY: You can’t decide for him! What’s Daniel’s favorite? STUDENTS: Vanilla. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Kevin’s favorite? STUDENTS: Cookies and cream. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Good. What’s her name?

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STUDENTS: Anna Ivette. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Anna Ivette. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? ANNA IVETTE: Vanilla. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Perfect. So, now we have a pattern going: vanilla, cookies and cream, vanilla. Okay, let’s go around to my next trumpet. What’s his name, in the blue Aéropostale shirt? STUDENTS: Jorge. EMILY KUBITSKEY: And what is Jorge’s favorite flavor of ice cream? They need to understand the power of knowing someone’s name and knowing who is in your section and your orchestra and with whom you’re making music. And what we will do is we will relate it to ice cream flavor.

STUDENTS: Jorge. STUDENTS AND EMILY KUBITSKEY: Cookies and cream. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Okay. CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI: So within buddy time, we spend a lot of time doing cooperative games and really team-building activities away from the instruments that help us come together and work together in a much stronger way.

EMILY KUBITSKEY: What we are going to be doing is we are going to be passing around a clap to each other. So as soon as I do this, [claps] I’ve passed it to Daniel. Daniel then has to pass it to Carlos, Carlos passes it to Kevin and so on, and so on, and so on… okay? So get your hands ready!

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CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI: We went ahead and played a game where we tried to clap together, so it’s all about the students interacting with one another, really paying attention to who’s around them, and really listening and focusing. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Okay. Give yourselves a round of applause! Okay.

CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI: And so what we find is that when we do that and then we go away from the game and back to our instruments, the kids are more attuned and more ready to work together. EMILY KUBITSKEY: How can you help your teammates get ready to do their best concert? José? JOSÉ: You help them, like, by motivating them and like, like, giving them, like, like, and telling them they’re going to do really good, like, in the concert? DAN BERKOWITZ: Another reason we use “Buddy Time” is to set goals for our students in a comprehensive way as a community. GIRL: The person who’s in the seat could rosin our bows and… EMILY KUBITSKEY: Could get everything ready? GIRL: Yeah, and we could cooperate. DAN BERKOWITZ: So, for example, we have a performance at the cathedral downtown and we want these students to create goals for themselves, for their teams, and for the community, that they can then hold themselves accountable to and we can reflect upon in the weeks leading up to a concert. EMILY KUBITSKEY: What are you most excited about for this concert? STUDENT: You could show other people how good you’re at and show your talent.

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EMILY KUBITSKEY: Yes, you get to show the whole community how amazing you are at your instrument, don’t you? Amazing! Carlos. CARLOS: You could show, like, your beautiful face and show them what you’ve done. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Absolutely, absolutely. Christian, what are you most excited about? CHRISTIAN: I’m excited to play with all my friends. EMILY KUBITSKEY: Wonderful. CATHEDRAL OF OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS, LOS ANGELES, CA YOLA NEIGHBORHOOD PROJECT DAY CONCERT GRETCHEN NIELSEN: The YOLA Neighborhood Project Day is the culminating performance of a nine-week residency in four to five schools around each of our YOLA sites. And it involves kindergarteners through second graders in those schools. And it involves, then, orchestras at each of our YOLA sites. And this is a day to celebrate music, to understand the power of making music and the arts. And to bring our two YOLA communities together as one.

[STUDENTS performing Finlandia in concert.] NIKKI SHORTS: So, all those kids learn that curriculum and then they come together and we all sing the words together to Finlandia. So it’s this gigantic concert.

[STUDENTS performing Finlandia in concert.] NIKKI SHORTS: It’s free. It’s for our families, the families in the community to be able to really just have this amazing community experience. [STUDENTS performing Finlandia in concert.]

CHRISTINE WITKOWSKI: In Venezuela, they say “tocar y luchar,” which means “to play and to strive.” In times when we’ve really been striving, we’ve all really been working hard, that’s where we’ve grown the most musically and that’s also where our students have

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become the closest. That’s where their friendships developed, that’s where they developed their self-esteem.