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What an eventful and exciting 30th Anniversary year for Music for Minors II! From marching in the July 4th parade, our fantastic Blues in the Schools (BITS) Workshop in August, countless interactive booths at community events, library musical hours, Family Music Nights at school sites, a harmonica workshop, 28 new docents trained and placed making our total docent count at 83 serving 204 classrooms weekly, a fun-filled 30th Anniversary Gala in November, countless free school assemblies sponsored by MFMII in Taiko Drumming, BITS, a classical violinist, and a new classroom patriotic presentation, Red, White and Blue (RWB), docent sharing sessions, many school site spring concerts, holiday and year-end volunteer recognition luncheons, etc., verify another successful MFMII musical school year!
Added to all of this are the many performances of our MFMII Kids Choir in their holiday and spring concerts and at new local community events. MFMII is so proud of the Kids Choir which has completed its 4th year of serving the community under the fine directorship of former MFMII docent, and private music teacher, Lydia Concepcion.
It was a very good year!
HATS OFF TO STAFF!
And of course none of this would have happened without the outstanding MFMII Part-time Staff: Program Manager Veera Kazak, Docent Manager/Mentor and Training Coordinator Susan Schwartz, Administrative Asst. Sharon Filippi, Recruitment Coordinator Serena Huang, and Event Coordinator Maggie Namauleg. What a fantastic dedicated team!
It is with heartfelt sadness however, that we bid farewell to staff member Susan Schwartz as she is moving to San Diego. Words cannot express MFMII’s appreciation for Susan’s contribution to the success of our training and mentoring program and for her past service as a MFMII docent and board member continually exemplifying excellence, integrity, perseverance, expertise, creativity, loyalty, and just above and way beyond the call of her jobs. We will miss Susan greatly but we wish her the joy of being with family and hopefully one day soon, the amazing experience of becoming a grandmother who will undoubtedly share the joy of music with her grandchildren.
Another staff member leaving us for Hawaii residence is Event Coordinator Maggie Namauleg. In her short time with us, MFMII has been blessed by her commitment to our mission and her successful coordination of our gala among other duties, and all of this while holding a full time job with Cisco. Thank you Maggie for your wonderful service. Aloha!
Veteran docent of 12 years Liz Baker, who shared the joy of music at Chabot Elementary School in Castro Valley, is retiring. What a loss to the children and MFMII as “Grammie Liz,” affectionately called by the children, parents and staff, celebrates her 8th decade of life with her dear husband and family. We are grateful for all of her dedication, sacrifice, creativity, mentoring, and sheer joy of making music with others including other docents at our docent sharing sessions. MFMII wishes Liz good health and happiness and I’m sure she will be sharing a tune or two at Chabot with the special day class there once in a while given her impact with them too.
We also bid farewell to Docent Dawn Sawyer who has shared musical joy at Birch Grove Elementary in Newark for many years and also served on the MFMII Board of Directors. Dawn will always be remembered fondly for her beautiful and creative jewelry, especially our musical note earrings, key chains, and a wide variety of items that we have given to our docents, liaisons, and staff as tokens of our appreciation. We are confident that Dawn will be a music advocate in her new home in Colorado. Thank you Dawn for all you have done for MFMII. You are a great promoter and friend. We will miss you.
Thank You To Our Wonderful Docents!
Welcome new staff members joining the MFMII team! Docent Cissy Chen at James Leitch School in Fremont will replace Susan as Docent Training Coordinator and Ashwini Sharma, new to MFMII, will be our new Event Coordinator. Both of these ladies bring great backgrounds and new ideas and energy which will strengthen our program. We look forward to working with them as we continue our mission.
MFMII thanks our principals and classroom teachers who have given us their feedback on our program this year which has been so positive and appreciative of our wonderful docents. It is always encouraging to read about the powerful impact music has on children in their behavior, ability to focus, increased confidence, creativity, listening skills, music appreciation, memory, cooperation, and respect for others while being a powerful core learning tool. These are just a few of the positive results teachers have observed in their children not to mention that their attendance is always great on MFMII days and they are always happier after their MFMII lesson.
Just a few quotes from classroom teachers below:
“They hum the songs as they work. I love that the kids sing during the day. MFMII allows them to feel successful because everyone can sing and everyone has something to contribute.”
“It gives an important brain break in the new reading and writing program which is very challenging for many students. When we have music, there is more enjoyment and less stress.”
“Children need to have music in their lives. It’s an extension of math and science and is an art form. It adds to our curriculum for fine arts.”
“They have learned an array of songs that have educational connections to what they are learning in class. Some kids have learned how to challenge themselves.”
“Docents are excited about what they teach and it shows. They put a lot of effort into the prep and lesson plans. They make music fun!”
“Thank you so much for reaching out to the special day classes. Music does wonders and our students respond so well with varying beats and rhythms.”
And that’s what it’s all about. Our mission is fulfilled for another milestone year. MFMII continues to nurture the love and literacy of music in children’s classrooms and lives thanks to the generosity of our trained volunteer docents and donors who know how important music is in the lives of children. One final quote from a classroom teacher says it all:
“Music brings the understanding of beat, rhythm and scales. Kids learn to recognize patterns and have patience as they await the chorus of a song or a favorite part of the piece they are singing. They learn self-control as they need to sing together and blend. Music is something that everyone can enjoy together regardless of skill levels in other academic areas. It is vital to a child’s development and makes a huge difference in a student’s day and classroom cohesion. I would love to have MFMII again next year! Expand to third grade!”
Happy Musical Summer to All!
Carol Zilli
Executive Director
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