Appendix 6 - International Music Council

Addendum 9
MELODI YA MAMELODI
“DOING HOPE THROUGH MUSIC”
C. MCLACHLAN, E. MEYER, G. DIESEL & L. PRUNEAU
(COMPILED AND EDITED BY DR LYNETTE PRUNEAU,
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT)
INTRODUCTION
1. “Doing hope” – This term was coined by Kaethe Weingarten as a way
of creating hope instead of despair. “Doing hope” in a community
faced with poverty, hunger, violence, AIDS, illnesses and
hopelessness is by no means an easy task - how do you teach a
hungry, sick, cold, weak child? In an attempt to address these
problems we started “doing hope through music”. By giving the
children the chance to learn a music instrument, some of the despair
has been eased and turned into “hope”.
Music became the bridge between different cultures, communities and
languages, forming a “community of care”. By “doing hope through music”
and by caring, we are binding the different communities and disciplines
together in the New South Africa.
MELODI YA MAMELODI
Mamelodi Secondary School had been selected as a Magnet School by the
Gauteng Department of Education. The music school started on a part-time
basis in May 2003 and by January 2004 was functioning on a full-time basis
with four educators and more than two hundred learners. In 2005 two
additional posts were granted by the Gauteng Department of Education and
we have now approximately 380 learners.
Tuition is given on the following instruments:
• Piano
• Recorder
• Violin
• Clarinet
• Trumpet
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