Jambo Friends!

The past two months have been very exciting as I finished my final requirements and earned my Bachelor of Music from The Curtis Institute of Music, organized and ran the Philadelphia All-City Brass Symposium and returned as the artistic director for the 2009 Reading Summer Music Institute. I was sad to say goodbye to so many great friends at Curtis, however I made so many more in Philadelphia and Reading.

The Philadelphia All-City Brass Symposium was a project inspired by an all-day All-City Orchestra retreat at Curtis. I collaborated with the School District of Philadelphia to put on a two week Brass program at Curtis. My aim was to expose music students in the Philadelphia School District to professional musicians and diverse musical experiences through interactive master classes and engaging rehearsals. Four members of the Curtis faculty (and the Philadelphia Orchestra) presented master classes and my fellow colleagues helped coach rehearsals throughout the weeks. The students also heard a performance of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the performed a final concert in the Field Concert Hall at Curtis.

The Reading Summer Music Institutecompleted its second program at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in downtown Reading, PA. This year, we worked with eighty-five students from Berks and Montgomery counties. The camp was divided into two concert bands and the students had the opportunity to participate in smaller ensembles including a jazz band, jazz combo, woodwind ensemble, a brass ensemble, and a percussion ensemble.  At the close of the camp last Friday evening, a two hour concert featuring the bands and the ensembles was presented and the kids performed in a way that showed they had learned a lot during the week. The feedback from students and parents was excellent. I am very proud of the clinicians who worked with me to put together this program. They worked hard and effectively with the young folks with a wide diversity of musical talents and brought them together musically and socially.

I am currently in Meru, Kenya working on the Meru, Kenya Instrumental Music Project. This program is the first instrumental music program in the country and I will work with 257 students at the Bishop Lawi Imathiu Secondary School (BLISS), hundreds more at the three local primary schools and the community cultural center for the next 9 weeks designing music programs for the community.  

Instrumental music is alive and thriving at BLISS in Meru, Kenya and lives are being transformed through music education. BLISS is the least expensive and one of the newest secondary schools in Kenya. The first graduating class in 2007 sent every student forward with a diploma and two-thirds who qualified for higher education. These students represent the poorest students in Meru and the first in their families to attend secondary school. Currently 257 students attend BLISS and very soon, each student will have to opportunity to participate in music courses as part of their curriculum.

Two years ago, retired Ann Arbor, MI music teacher Larry Dittmar, began an instrumental music program with dozens of recorders and 194 students. While the students learned how to read music, Larry gathered more than 80 donated instruments to deliver to Meru last February and a helping hand to implement the first instrumental music program this summer. More help is needed and if you are interested in helping this effort, please be in contact with me.

I will spend nine weeks working closely with the BLISS principal, Moses Marete, and the three neighborhood primary schools to add music classes to the school curriculum. I will also direct and expand the local community music program available for Meru adults and create a summer music program for the students to sharpen their musical skills.

Stay in tune with my weekly blog: http://kenyainstrumentalproject.blogspot.com – Become a “follower” of the blog to receive an e-mail update whenever I update the blog.

Interested in making a donation? This project is made possible by the Kenya Urithi Education Fund. Donations are tax deductible and may be sent to 3456 Gettysburg Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

Please wish me well and keep in touch. I’d love to hear from you!

Warmly,Stanford Thompson
www.StanfordThompson.com

 Part 3
http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/05/12-questions-for-marvin-perkins-part-three/

http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-teams-with-biamba-marie-mutombo-hospital

See http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/090421water.html

Elder Sitati earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Nairobi, a diploma in accounting and finance from the Association of Certified Accountants and has also done course work for an MBA degree. He has worked as an executive for a nongovernmental organization and in several positions with a large oil and gas company. More recently he served as the Church’s international director of public affairs in Africa. Elder Sitati and his wife Gladys Nangoni are the parents of five children.

See http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/new-general-authorities-and-auxiliary-leaders-called

He is the first Black African General Authority of the church. Other church leaders of Black African descent have served in the Seventy quoroms. The others were Elder Helvecio Martins from Brazil who served as a General Authority from April 1990 – September 1995 in the Second Quorum of the Seventy, and Elder Elijah Abel, an African American, who was ordained in 1839 to the Third Quorum of the Seventy.

See also http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12148790

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1700526.html

While the U.S. is generally considered a highly religious nation, African-Americans are markedly more religious on a variety of measures than the U.S. population as a whole, including level of affiliation with a religion, attendance at religious services, frequency of prayer and religion’s importance in life.

See A Religious Portrait of African-Americans by The Pew Forum.

“It was really great to see so many people in the community showing up,” said Kristin Scott, 27, of University City. “Everyone is so willing to help each other.”

She and Karen Meyer, 31, were among nearly 20 people with Mormon Helping Hands who decided to spend the day cleaning the street bearing the name of the civil rights leader.

“The leader of a nation asking people to go out and do it makes a big difference in inspiring people,” said Meyer, of St. Louis.

Via: St. Louis area heeds Obama’s call for service (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Story and Photos by Elder John Bingham and Sister Jo Bingham — Africa Area West Public Affairs Missionaries

http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/081010ghana.html