Make Music NOLA
[2020 UPDATE]
Make Music NOLA is doing our best to continue to provide high-quality music education to our students during this time.
We are currently offering weekly online video lessons to 180 students, with assignments that can easily be completed by cell phone or email. MMN is also offering weekly one-on-one Zoom instruction to close to forty students.
Even though many of our concerts are postponed, we plan to hold a virtual student solo recital on April 26th and a final end of year concert on May 9th. Our team is also working on creating high-quality curriculum resources that can be distributed to families that do not have access to the internet.
MMN is committed to paying our eight teaching artists, all of whom are freelance musicians, through the end of the school year. All funds raised through t-shirt sales will be put towards paying our musician teachers to continue doing what they do best, training the next generation of New Orleans musicians!
The MMN team plans to continue making music as best we can through COVID-19! For more information visit: www.makemusicnola.org or follow us on instagram, facebook, or twitter.
String Instruction.
Make Music NOLA (MMN) is an intensive music-for-social-change program. Every day, they keeps at-risk youth ages 6-16 off the streets during a crucial time, and engaged in a positive activity. They provides focused, tuition-free, in-school and after-school music training to students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch at six charter schools and three community centers throughout New Orleans.
MMN began in September of 2011 with just five students under the name “Youth Orchestra of the Lower 9th Ward”. Since then, the program expanded to eight new locations. In 2012 they enrolled twenty-five students. The following year the program nearly doubled in enrollment and they now provide free music education to over 130 students in their string program and over 300 students in their general music programs. This year, they have provided over 2,000 hours of tuition-free music instruction and instruments to over 450 students at four charter schools and three community centers. That’s over 500 hours of string instruction and 1,500 hours of general music classes.
MMN’s curriculum focuses on New Orleans traditional jazz, while introducing students to pop, hip-hop, and classical music. Their string curriculum is coordinated by outstanding jazz violinist, Matt Rhody. During their first three years in the program, MMN violin students learn “Saints Go Marching In,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “IkoIko,” “I’m Walking,” “A Closer Walk With Thee,” among many other tunes. MMN uses the Suzuki method book for teaching the basics of string playing.
Make Music NOLA has given four of their students scholarships to French Woods Performing Arts Camp in Hancock, New York. That’s four Make Music NOLA students that were able to spend three weeks at camp on a beautiful lake, playing in orchestra, taking private lessons, horseback riding, and canoeing! They have also provided students exciting performance experiences. Their students have played live on WWOZ, at Tulane University, for Big Easy Rollergirls Games, and at the Marigny Opera House with the Preservation Hall Band!
Raising $1,000 would cover over 25 hours of music instruction for ten students. Raising $2,000 would additionally provide eight violins for their program. Raising $5,000 would fund one of Make Music NOLA's program sites for a year, this includes teaching artist fees, concert costs, and program related supplies.
Make Music NOLA hopes to retain their student enrollment and increase the quality of musicians they produce and the number of opportunities available to the them. Their goal is to get more students accepted in NOCCA and summer camps outside of New Orleans. Support their Screens for Good Campaign today and help at-risk kids cultivate a musical future.