MusicWorks Asheville moved to online programming this year. Here is our Virtual Orchestra performing Ms. Claire’s and Dr. Dave’s arrangement of “Do Re Mi,” from the Sound of Music.
With Asheville City Schools currently teaching school online MusicWorks will also switch to limited online programming until we’re able to resume in person. We’re working with Asheville City Schools to help make the transition from online school to MusicWorks programming as seamless as possible. We anticipate a start date of August 31.
Each of our current students will be able to participate in at least three 30 minute sessions with a MusicWorks staff member. On Mondays our students will take small group classes or even individual online lessons on violin, cello, percussion, flute, or clarinet. Every Wednesday our students will meet in medium sized classes for music games and other fun activities. Fridays all of MusicWorks will meet together for online recitals. Staff members, special guests, and our students will play for each other and learn about different instruments, composers, and styles of music.
Dear MusicWorks Friends and Family,
Like much of the country, MusicWorks Asheville mourns at the suffering that racism in the United States is causing. Centuries of oppression and racial profiling daily impact many of our families and friends at MusicWorks. We are committed to working to change these circumstances.
Maestro Jose Antonio Abreu said of El Sistema:
“[El Sistema is] No longer putting society at the service of art, and much less at the services of monopolies of the elite, but instead art at the service of society, at the service of the weakest, at the service of the children, at the service of the sick, at the service of the vulnerable, and at the service of all those who cry for vindication through the spirit of their human condition and the raising up of their dignity.”
https://blog.ted.com/_weve_transcrib/
At MusicWorks we are dedicated to this ideal while we also recognize that there is still room for us to do better. We want our extended family and friends of MusicWorks to know the following:
We recognize that race is an important part of our students’ lives and that racism is a reality, not a remnant of a distant past.
We will continue to make participation in MusicWorks available to all students, regardless of race or economic background. We will strive towards making the demographic of our MusicWorks students mirror the community that we serve.
MusicWorks is proud of the diversity of our staff and we will continue to model diversity to our students through our guest performers, guest teachers, musical repertoire, and other materials.
Lastly, we recognize that we can do more. We want to start a dialogue and hear your concerns and thoughts. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have ideas how we be more supportive to our students and their families.
In solidarity,
Dr. Dave Wilken, Program Director
MW BoD
MW staff
MusicWorks Asheville is thrilled at the recent announcement from Parsec Financial.
MusicWorks received a $10,000 Parsec Prize. “The generous grant from Parsec will help us teach life skills to elementary school students through music,” said Julie Leever, secretary of MusicWorks’ board of directors. “The Parsec Prize will allow us to repair musical instruments, purchase sheet music and other teaching supplies, as well as provide additional support to our teaching artists and academic enrichment specialists. MusicWorks Asheville’s mission is to teach a variety of essential life skills, including perseverance, cooperation, and patience. This gift makes it possible for us to continue to provide music education to all students, regardless of their access to instruments and instruction.”
As one mother said of their programming, “MusicWorks has been an amazing outlet for Analise as it has taught her that it is ok to try. She always wanted to do things but was so afraid someone would laugh at her, but in the last year I have seen her stand strong in her ability and step forward and say, ‘I can do this, I have got this.’ In the last year she has been a GEO girl in Girl Scouts, qualified for swim team, maintained an A honor roll and aced her end of grade exams. Never once did I hear her say she could not do it. For that I thank MusicWorks because without this vital program I do not feel Analise would be the well-rounded, strong, intelligent, and amazing girl she has become.”
The staff, students, and families at MusicWorks thank Parsec Financial for their generous gift!
Download our 2018-2019 Annual Report.
What keeps you up at night? What the things you worry about for the future of our children?
When I think about all the things that we face each day, all the myriad of problems and challenges that face our children, I come back over and over to literacy. Children will grow up to inherit all of the social and environmental issues we face today, magnified. I have no doubt in their ability to solve big problems, in their huge hearts which will care for those around them. But what if they can’t read? What if they don’t have the ability to get information directly for themselves? To learn a new skill or theory by reading and educating themselves? The confidence that literacy brings allows a person self-sufficiency. Nearly 50% of students in our schools are not reading at grade level. Nearly half of the students at Hall Fletcher Elementary have literacy as a stumbling block to learning.
In MusicWorks we work daily on music, which research tells us develops the brain in ways that assist in literacy. Learning to hear the sounds, to identify the notes transfers directly to phonics and reading. Also, each child has homework time where they work on literacy skills. Students who are struggling get specific help in the areas they need from certified teachers with many years of experience. We take it very seriously and you can see the results: MusicWorks students read at or above grade level at more than 83%.
But it isn’t enough. Every one of our students are capable of reading. Every. One. Maybe these students came into school behind. Maybe they have a learning or behavioral difficulty. Maybe they need differentiated instruction. Because we work in small groups we are able to identify needs and continue to work toward 100% of students reading at or above grade level. There is no greater work in my opinion. Every child should have access to the world of words, so that they may make their own choices in life. Create their own solutions based on a broad base of knowledge. Find answers to their questions in this busy and difficult world.
Will you help us? Will you join us? $90 will support one teacher for one day. $15 supports one day for a student. Click here to support our students.
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MW! performed for the community in concert with the Asheville Jazz Orchestra. The AJO contributes their talents for the benefit of jazz education and local schools several times throughout the area. MW! students jammed with the members of the band on several tunes.
MW! students performed for international pianist Emanuel Ax and his protégé Orion Weiss at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville. The pianists were in town for the Asheville Symphony's successful Asheville Amadeus festival which brought together many wonderful artistic, cultural, and culinary institutions across the city. The students played with and for the pianists, variations on Mozart's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.