Center for Music National Service

MusicianCorps celebrated the end of its 2010-2011 program year with an abundance of service events and student performances around the San Francisco Bay Area! This past year was filled with many great experiences ranging from MLK Day, our first major collaborative service day event, to an open mic housewarming party at our new headquarters located in San Francisco’s historic Mission District. 

To recap an eventful spring at MNS, here are some of our favorite moments from our end-of-year performances and events:

Music Day with Unity Care at Montgomery Elementary – May 20, 2011
San Jose, CA

MusicianCorps Fellows and MNS staff collaborated with Unity Care's Hip Hop 360 program to provide a day of musical engagement to 6th grade classes at Montgomery Elementary in San Jose. Students participated in a drum circle while learning new musical skills and interacting with peers in a supportive environment. Many of the students who participated do not have regular access to music education. At the end of the day, students had the chance to perform for their peers and reflect on the experience of making music. For most, this was their first taste of being in the spotlight playing music for others. There was an enthusiastic response from students and staff for future involvement in MusicianCorps programs!

MusicianCorps Fellow Hernando Buitrago commented, “It was nice to be able to speak individually with a couple of students who expressed their enthusiasm for music and shared how much they enjoyed the day.” Former Hip Hop 360 Program Director Demone Carter added, “A lot of kids in these areas don’t have access to music lessons. For a lot of them this is literally the first time being given an instrument…It was just amazing to see how quickly they took to it and how much they participated.”

See more Music Day at Montgomery Elementary photos here!

The Center for Music National Service Open Mic Housewarming Party – May 25, 2011
San Francisco, CA

The Center for Music National Service hosted an Open Mic Housewarming Party to celebrate our new Mission District headquarters. Friends and family, including donors, staff and MusicianCorps students, gathered to socialize, play music and experiment with unique instruments with help from our talented MusicianCorps Fellows. 

Sequoia Elementary Healthy Start – June 2, 2011
Oakland, CA

MusicianCorps Fellow Mikki Boyd, along with three other afterschool classes, put on an end-of-year performance of their music projects for teachers and parents at Sequoia Elementary in Oakland, CA. Ranging from Kindergarten to 5th grade, students from three MusicianCorps classes performed using percussive instruments known as boomwhackers. The first class demonstrated to the audience how the boomwhackers worked by playing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Students of Mikki's second class added to the boomwhacker extravaganza by performing a traditional 12-bar blues. The third class concluded by singing the Sugarhill Gang classic “Rapper’s Delight,” accompanied by Mikki on cajón and a student on djembe. 

See more Sequoia Healthy Start photos here!

Think College Now Student Music Videos – May 3 - 24, 2011
Oakland, CA

As their end-of-year project, MusicianCorps Fellow Laura Cambrón's 4th grade Think College Now music students composed, choreographed, and recorded a song and music video for youth patients at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in San Francisco (watch full video here). The video premiered in UCSF's newly redesigned All Star Technology Center where the young patients and MusicianCorps fellows watched the students sing to them, "Get better, feel better!"

See more of Laura’s Think College Now students' music videos:
Think College Now 5th Grade Wisdom
Think College Now Afterschool Program Music Video

Music Day II at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital - May 27, 2011
San Francisco, CA

Volunteer musicians from all over the Bay Area came out to perform for and engage with hospitalized children, both in groups and during bedside visits throughout the day. MusicianCorps Fellows collaborated with Bay Area organization BayKids to create a music video in response to the special message that MusicianCorps students in Oakland created for these young patients (see above story). As a culminating event, Bay Area Carnaval performers, Quimbanda, brought together patients, families, volunteers and hospital staff for a high-energy performance, including dancing and drumming in the hospital playroom.

See more photos of Music Day II at UCSF Benioff here!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this a successful year with MusicianCorps!