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21 December 2020 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Supplied
The children who took part in the 2020 music programme received a certificate for completing the project.

The yearly Heidedal music outreach progamme presented by the Odeion School of Music (OSM) and the Reach our Community Foundation (ROC) is growing from strength to strength each year. Amid the uncertainties of 2020 three students from the OSM persevered and vowed to continue with the teaching progamme to bring music by the community for the community. 

This annual outreach programme was founded by the Music department at the OSM in 2015 and forms part of the BMus, BA (Music) and Diploma in Music qualification which integrates Music education modules with service learning.

This year’s progamme was established as an alternative to the Marimba Project which has been running for five years. “The aim is to continue with the programme in years to come, equipping and empowering the students to continue with instrumental training,” said Nadia Smith, a BAMus honours student and programme leader. 

Students take charge of 2020 programme 

Nadia Smith, together with third-year BMus students Liana Bester, and Chrismari Grobler, who all voluntarily took part in the progamme for six weeks, presented music lessons to 11 children in Heidedal. “Apart from the music knowledge these children gained they learned about teamwork and collaboration. They gained confidence and self-assurance, and reaped the fruit of their hard work,” said Smith.  

For Smith the six weeks of learning was a wonderful, joyous experience. “As a student music teacher, I am privileged to realise early in my career that to teach music is to teach life. Seeing the children smiling and performing enthusiastically I realised that everyone deserves to be educated in, about, and through music.”

Community concert also to engage and educate 

The teaching culminated in a much-anticipated community concert which took place on Saturday 14 November 2020. The community concert is presented as an ‘informance’, a collaboration between informing and performance. 
“It enables us to engage with the audience by inviting them to sing and move. We also demonstrated to them the process, development and outcomes of the programme,” said Smith. 

“In only 12 lessons the Heidedal students were exposed to different music styles including classical music, jazz and African music, and learned to read and write music notation, and to play the recorder,” said Smith. 

News Archive

Meeting between Prof. Jansen and Mr Julius Malema conducted in a positive spirit
2009-10-31

This morning, Thursday, 29 October 2009, the senior leadership of the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted a meeting with the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) as well as SASCO leadership. The delegation was led by Mr Julius Malema, President of the ANCYL.

In a spirit of mutual respect, the two parties outlined their positions on the Reitz matter and the decision of the university management to invite the students back for purposes of learning. President Malema supported the principle of opening the doors of learning but made concrete and useful proposals on how this could be done and, especially, the importance of corrective measures that ensured full integration of the students into the university.

President Malema encouraged the management’s decision to meet with the five workers to hear their representations on a way forward for the university and to address the working conditions of the members of staff.

Both parties agreed that the independent processes led by the Human Rights Commission were critical in building a sense of conciliation and integration for both the workers and the students, and that the university was and should remain a stakeholder in this process.

The delegation also recognised that the university would be continuing its own processes of further consultations, and recommended that the process be opened up to enable all constituencies to bring their own concerns about racial difficulties to an open and safe forum.

“I very much appreciate the positive spirit in which the meeting was conducted, and the clear leadership and constructive proposals offered by President Malema,” said Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

“It is open and frank discussions like these that will take both the campus and the country forward in addressing the twin imperatives of racial reconciliation and social justice in South Africa,” said Prof. Jansen.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Deputy Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
29 October 2009

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