Appendix 6 - International Music Council

In Melodi ya Mamelodi we generate no income. We rely heavily on
donations and the goodwill of companies to assist us in our various needs,
but with the minimum of comfort, facilities and finance, the school is
running extremely smoothly. The principal ensures that all our basic needs
are catered for in order to ensure that the children receive the best tuition.
My priorities have shifted from expecting the teachers to hand in “perfect
files” for inspection, to being concerned that a child has something to eat
or to wear. This is about survival and giving hope through music.
Clarinet
I started teaching part-time in Mamelodi in May 2003 to pave the way for the
future music school. The first day was any teacher’s nightmare! About 200
learners arrived and wanted to take music. I started teaching them a little
Theory of Music and soon some of them disappeared. The remaining
learners were serious about their music and I could start with piano and
clarinet.
I started with nine clarinet students (there are only nine instruments) and
twenty piano students. Very soon I could identify the talented learners.
There were two outstanding, hard-working and dedicated clarinet students:
Thato and Dikeledi. I realized that with a little more pressure, they could
play Music Performance (7 th subject) the following year. That would give
them approximately 15 months to prepare and to get up to Grade V
practical level. I started on the portfolio work that included the History of
Music, Form and Analysis. All this information had to be absorbed in less
than 15 months…bearing in mind that previously they did not even know
what a crotchet was!
To my astonishment, they progressed to Grade VI level for their
examination. Thato passed with a distinction and Dikeledi with a B-symbol.
Thato has in the meantime played and passed his audition at the SAP-band
and will soon take up his post as musician!
CONCLUSION
It takes some magical effort and dedication to be able to teach music under
these circumstances that we experience in Mamelodi. As a teacher one
must be able to identify with the children’s suffering and understand their
basic needs. Listening and counselling often takes priority in a lesson after
which music eases the pain.
Our music is intertwined with “doing hope”, and as the months passed, the
children’s eyes began to shine and they became more lively. Melodi ya
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