As our readers may recall, last week’s issue of Orchestra News included an item about the launch of Sistema New Brunswick, a new offering of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, inspired by the remarkable Venezuelan program. We had a follow-up note from Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy director John Gomez about another, Sistema-inspired organization that’s been active in the Ottawa area since 2007.
Duly motivated, we had a follow-up phone conversation earlier this week with Tina Fedeski, an accomplished flutist and teacher and the Executive Director of the Leading Note Foundation, which runs both Orkidstra and KidSingers. Tina reports that she first heard about El Sistema when listening to broadcaster Rick Phillips’s Sound Advice program on CBC Radio Two in September 2006. Coincidentally, her sister had just moved to Venezuela – and, in the winter of 2007, Tina traveled to Venezuela for a combined family and study trip, with a particular interest in learning more about El Sistema, and bringing it to Ottawa. By October 2007, she had launched Orkidstra – and it’s since grown to include an orchestra, two choirs, five to six violin classes, a band class, and classes in cello and guitar, all offered in the after-school time slot to children in designated “high needs” neighbourhoods.
The group enjoys two formal partnerships, one with the Ottawa Youth Orchestra, a number of whose members works as mentors to students in the program, and another with the University of Ottawa’s Department of Music, from whence seven undergraduate students with a keen interest in music education have been recruited to shadow and then emulate the program’s expert teachers. The OYO’s high school students can use this supervised volunteer experience for their mandatory volunteer credits, and the University’s students are eligible for an academic credit for their work in the program. As well, Orkidstra and KidSingers have grown from 40 students in their opening months to a projected 100 for 2009-10.
To learn more about the Leading Note Foundation and its programs, please visit their website here.
