30th March 2009
An African Adventure
RWCMD music students leave a lasting impression
In the summer of 2008 three RWCMD BMus
students travelled to Uganda to volunteer as teachers at the
Kampala Music School. Sarah Waycott (flute), Karla Powell (oboe)
and Rebecca Teager (clarinet) jumped at this chance to apply their
studies in a professional situation and to do something
worthwhile.
The ‘Trio’, as they became known, arrived at
Entebbe Airport exhausted and nervous where they were met by Simon
Yiga, their host and Director of the school.
Everyone went very quiet on the journey. I
think we were all a bit speechless. From Entebbe to Kampala there
is town after town but no gaps between them. It’s all exactly the
same. Endless shacks and small houses, goods being sold.
It is obviously poor but then you come across one nice house
that is surrounded by poverty. – Sarah Waycott’s
Diary.
For most people in Uganda music is an
unaffordable luxury.
Around 10 years ago a group of boys broke into
the city’s cathedral, wanting to play the piano. This became a
regular occurrence and eventually organist, Fiona Carr, decided to
take them on as her pupils. Passionate musicians, Simon Yiga and
Michael Johnson joined forces with Fiona to initiate the ‘Pianos
for Uganda’ scheme. After an extremely successful campaign that saw
pianos distributed throughout Uganda, raising the funds to open a
purpose built music school seemed the logical next step. Kampala
Music School (KMS) opened in 2001 in a dusty basement of the YMCA
building in Wandegeya, Kampala.
Eight years on some of those original students
are now teachers. KMS has become a renowned centre of excellence
and not just for teaching classical music but popularising what was
a relatively unknown genre in Uganda and using music to positively
change society. With a bursary system and outreach programme the
school caters for motivated students of all ages and backgrounds,
from beginners to professional, and provides its students with the
unique and often life changing opportunity to sit International
ABRSM exams.
The Trio announced their arrival at the school
with a special performance. Everyone they met was extremely
welcoming, greeting them with the customary, “Hello, how are you?”
and the three were soon absorbed in teaching.
After settling in, Sarah, Rebecca and Karla
started to notice that something was missing from the school.
People came for their instrumental lessons and then left, there was
no interaction between them, no social music making. The Trio
resolved to change this. Over the course of their stay they set up
ensembles, choirs and musicianship classes. The school was soon
buzzing with excitement and life. The musicianship classes became
so popular that often there were people literally spilling out of
the room. Playing purely for the love of it was a new concept for
the KMS students and helped them to develop a new dedication for
their instruments. The school was now alive with activity.
“We wanted to get people working together,
not just in the classrooms. I think that’s such a great thing about
the RWCMD - it’s a social college where people work together rather
than just sitting in practise rooms all day, and that’s hopefully
what we took out there.” Karla Powell.
After seven weeks of highs and lows,
challenges and triumphs the Trio performed a farewell concert for
all the people they had come to know. The trip was a profound
experience for them. They were witness to some of the most
wonderful things that Uganda has to offer and some of the most
distressing.
This life changing opportunity offered the
three RWCMD students a unique professional experience and obviously
affected them all deeply. Having studied teaching skills in depth
during the second and third year of the RWCMD’s BMus programme they
all felt well equipped to share their skills and agreed that the
course had fully prepared them for the hard work and long days that
they were to experience at Kampala Music School.
“We took our Head of Department’s (John
Reynolds, Head of Woodwind) views with us really! Everything that
he taught us they now know!” Karla Powell.
“It was just so amazing to experience a
completely different culture. I came away with a totally different
view of the world,” Rebecca Teager.
“One thing common at KMS is that
the students are very eager to learn. They gained tremendously
during the time they interacted with Karla, Rebecca and Sarah who
were living examples of discipline, dedication, hard work, devotion
and time keeping which are necessary for professional musicians.
They left a lasting impression. We all wished they could have
stayed longer.” Simon Yiga, Director of Kampala Music
School.