The soul-stirring voices of learners, most of whom learnt to sing in church, filled the Music Building at Nelson Mandela University for the recent launch of the pre-tertiary group training programme, led by the Department of Music and Performing Arts.
This was the motivation for the group pre-tertiary programme, launched at the beginning of this year for learners and community members with musical talent from under-resourced schools and homes.
Dr Rudi Bower teaching Paterson High learners how to read and write music.
“It is a pre-tertiary programme where they gain formal music training and theory, including learning to read and write music, so that they can apply to university and further their careers,” Dr Bower explains.
The first two groups are from Paterson High School in the Northern Areas of Gqeberha, which has no music teacher, and the Roselane Conservatoire of Music in Uitenhage, which trains talented musicians from under-resourced communities.
“We mainly selected Grades 8, 9 and 10 learners, but a nine-year-old trombonist has also been admitted, and we are open to accepting young people who have completed school,” says Dr Bower.
The programme is an extension of the formal one-on-one pre-tertiary training the Department has successfully been offering for many years at significantly reduced rates compared to private tuition.
“We wanted to build on this and create a Youth Music Hub to help larger groups of learners who cannot afford the fees or the transport to our Music Building on Bird Street Campus where we do the training.”
Hanna Barth, third-year Music student doing voice lessons with learners from Paterson High
Dr Bower went to Paterson High on 28 February this year and did auditions with the entire choir, with the full support of Principal De Doncker. He listens for music proficiency, which includes musical phrasing, breath control, the quality of the voice and intonation, and says he found lots of talent there.
Many of the choir members sing in church and there is a strong gospel influence in the Northern Areas of Gqeberha, as well as R&B.
“We have to start small and so we selected 10 out of the 40 who auditioned from Paterson High and another 6 to 10 from the Uitenhage Music Academy to participate in the first group programme,” Dr Bower explains.
“We have exclusive use of the Music Building – it’s a beautiful, historic building that has been refurbished, and is a wonderful setup with a small concert hall, offices, practice rooms, a kitchen and library – it’s every bit a self-contained mini campus.”
Mandela University is initially carrying the financial costs of the group programme, but Bower is in discussion with the Department of Education for support.
On 14 February, a delegation from the University, that included the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Professor Pamela Maseko, who is highly supportive of the initiative, had a meeting with the District Director of the Eastern Cape Department of Education, Ernest Gorgonzola, and his team.
“We raised the issue that there are so many schools under their care where no music is offered, and that we have a possible solution,” says Bower. “With funding, we could considerably expand the Youth Music Hub and offer formal music group training to far more schools at a cost of about R30 per learner for an expert training session.” T
The one-on-one rate offered by the Department of Music is currently about R100 per lesson, which in itself is extremely reasonable.
“The meeting went very well and Mr Gorgonzola and his team were excited by the proposal,” says Dr Bower. “It also transpired that a member of his team, Nomsa Mzinzi from Education Social Support Services had studied choral conducting at Mandela University. While there is no formal commitment, there were verbal agreements to pursue the collaboration further.”
The learners selected from Paterson High do not play music instruments at this stage, and so they will start with voice lessons and music theory, which Bower will teach.
They will then progress to an introduction to music instruments, assisted by senior students in the department. The learners who have showed progress in their theory will then also receive music instrument training.
Learners from the Roselane Conservatoire of Music all play instruments to different levels and will do theory and instrument training.
The programme has the full commitment of the Department staff members. Music lecturer Dr Erna Cloete is one of them. She lives in nearby Jeffreys Bay and teaches recorder at JBay Academy every Friday afternoon as part of the pre-tertiary programme. There is no music teacher at the school and 12 youngsters take recorder lessons from her, with the school paying their fees.
“Through the Youth Music Hub we can change the lives of so many learners, and we have everything in place to make this happen,” says Dr Bower. “It has all the potential to rapidly expand.”