Classical Chaps

Vital Stats

Griffin G

Portland, OR

  • people helped 10
  • People Doing It250

The Problem

Portland, Oregon's public schools provide not one elementary stringed instrument education program to their students. Contrary to this fact is a 1997 Gallup poll which revealed that 89% of respondents felt music education helps a child's overall development. Those respondents couldn't be any closer to the truth. Students who participate in band and orchestra are two times more likely to attend college than those who do not. Those same students score higher on SAT's, secure more stable post-graduate jobs, are the most likely demographic of students to be accepted to a medical school, and consistently graduate higher in their classes than non musical students. When schools cut music programs they are stealing limitless potential out of the hands of unknowing children. Playing a stringed instrument holds a stigma requiring immense musical knowledge and financial ability but music is not just something for the talented elite. It holds all of the power to be a life changing instigator of meaningful change in a child's life.

Plan of Action

Over the summer I began brainstorming this project, starting with lofty ambitions and whittling down my ideas as I saw what would become feasible for the first year. NW Portland's community center Friendly House became the host of this terrific program. Their reduced cost after school care program, 'Chaps', seemed the ideal student base to create this program for. In early October of 2008 I held a benefit concert and silent auction event called Portland Unplugged (portlandunplugged.blogspot.com) in which many professional and youth local musicians performed to aid this program. After raising $2,500 I was able to purchase 10 violins, bows and cases (deeply discounted from a local stringed instrument shop) which I then donated directly to Friendly House. As soon as the instruments were purchased, parents of Friendly House students were notified of the opportunity to join this 'violin club' of sorts. Currently I am volunteer teaching on a weekly basis for this program in 1.5 hour group lessons. I'm amazed at the eagerness of this group, all of whom are between 3rd and 5th grade. I strive to create a class environment that is fun and exciting for the students yet still studious and diligent in nature. In subsequent years the program will become an entity of Friendly House, and the teaching role will be taken over by volunteer youth musicians (from the Portland Youth Philharmonic, the nation's oldest youth orchestra) or professional musicians willing to volunteer their time as teachers. With more funding and help from the community this program will expand first to a larger program at Friendly House and later to other community centers around Portland and surrounding cities. An enlightening moment came to me during the first day I met with and sized the students at Friendly House for their violins. One student giddily shouted "I'm going to faint, this is so amazing, I've never seen a real violin before!" Witnessing the pure excitement and joy in every ounce of that student's body was an electrifying moment. While I wish for these students to become budding young classical musicians, I have realized that Classical Chaps is remarkable because it is extending a life changing hand to children of all backgrounds.

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