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| NYer of the Week |
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Musicians Help Inner-City Kids Learn
How To Play An Instrument
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JULY 25TH,
2003
Not all public schools in New York
City have music programs, so two women decided to "pitch"
in and help children get their opportunity to play an instrument.
School's out for the summer, but to Dominique Jones, this
lesson is music to his ears.
“HARMONY is a very good program. It helps me because it's
a music class that I don't have in school,” Jones said. “The
homework is to practice; that's the only good homework. Homework
is actually fun.”
HARMONY, or Housing Authority Resident Musicians of New York,
is a music program founded by Anne Fitzgibbon and Lenora Helm
a little more than a year ago. They met at a musical event
and ended up leaving with a new partnership and a key idea.
"We started talking about our ideas and we realized that we
were kind of kindred spirits in this,” said Fitzgibbon. “We
decided to join forces and create a program to fill the gap
in the education system.”
The gap in the system is that not all public schools have
music programs. And so Anne, with her background at City Hall
and studies at Juilliard, and Lenora, who's a jazz musician
and a teacher, were a perfect fit in their fight to bring
music to kids from the New York City public housing system.
"What we're trying to do is develop in these kids the qualities
that we think are important: commitment, focus, creativity,
expression," Fitzgibbon said. "It's also a heck of a lot of
fun for them.”
They found supporters of their idea almost everywhere they
turned, and in February of last year launched HARMONY with
the help of the New School University and its student-teachers.
Jones, like the 30 other students, had to complete an application,
write an essay, and interview for a spot in the program. And
when he was accepted, he got his very own instrument.
“The guitar is fun,” he said. “You can play a lot of different
stuff on the guitar.”
And like Anne and Lenora, Dominique's mom, Ivy Wilson Jones,
said she knows it's not only fun, but will make a difference
in her son's life.
“For a child to learn how to play an instrument, it's very
important,” she said. “It gives them a sense of accomplishment
and confidence.”
The students meet every Saturday and have small group lessons,
sometimes working one-on-one with the teacher. Fitzgibbon
and Helm even take the kids on field trips to Carnegie Hall
and have musicians come to rehearsals. They learn notes and
scales, but more importantly to Fitzgibbon and Helm, they
learn to dream.
“Guest artists come and then they say that, 'I can do that
too,'” Helm said. “That's the most amazing reward, and that's
what's important - that these kids can dream bigger and see
further than what they see every day.”
So, for giving kids a chance to find a dream in HARMONY, Anne
Fitzgibbon and Lenora Helm are NY1’s New Yorkers of the Week.
If you would like more information or to donate, please call
917-692-3159, or write to anne@harmonyprogram@.org
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