March 4, 2003
By Mandisi Majavu
DONATE a discarded musical instrument next month and save the South African orchestra - and, at the same time, help nurture musical talent among the youth.
Instrument retrieval is the theme of this year's De Beers Orchestra Rave, a massed music festival set for the weekend of 22 March in Parktown. Sponsors of the rave, The Orchestra Company, which supports youth orchestras, are asking members of the public to bring instruments to the event for donation.
The concept of asking the public to donate instruments they no longer use was introduced overseas in 1999, as music schools were being forced to close because of a lack of funding, says Laurie Wapenaar, a director of The Orchestra Company. The campaign is being launched in South Africa this month at the rave.
What instruments are they looking for? Symphonic instruments like flutes, French horns, violins, clarinets and trombones would be first choice, Wapenaar says, but any musical instrument is welcome. They will be distributed among the orchestras that belong to the Youth Symphony Africa Association, a collection of 17 groups from the Western Cape and Gauteng.
The idea for orchestra groups to meet annually, as in the rave, is a South African tradition. But now the event is inclusive and the theme is to keep and spread the spirit of the orchestra.
The Orchestra Company was formed as a non-profit organisation under Section 21. Its main aim is to provide a home where young talent can be nourished, guided and provided with performance opportunities.
Half of its annual budget is allocated to the music education of disadvantaged children. It does this by providing full music scholarships and by running outreach programmes.
Many of the young musicians in the programme do not own musical instruments, mainly because the instruments are expensive. However, there are a lot of talented players from the outreach programmes who would benefit greatly from having their own instruments, sassy Orchestra Company's Antoinette Rose. The company is known for its popular development programme in Soweto where it provides tuition in orchestral instruments and music theory.
The famed Soweto Music Conservatoire has received most of its musical instruments from donations made by the public, says principal Michael Masote. Funding from organisations like De Beers, Anglo American, the Mandela Children's Fund and National Arts Council helped the school to buy its own instruments. The usual symphonic instruments are taught at the school, as well as piano.
Needy and talented young musicians have benefited overseas from instrument retrieval programmes. From the UK is the National Foundation for Youth Music, founded in 1999 and funded as a lottery charity. Its retrieval project, "Instrument Amnesty", was initiated as part of the BBC's Millennium Festival Celebrations. In the US, the Mr Holland Opus Foundation, which was launched in 1996, promotes instrumental music by partnering with businesses, schools and communities.
It is a tradition passed from generation to generation that The Orchestra Company aims to preserve. As the Turkish proverb goes: "As the music is, so are the people of the country."
