In mid-August, CMW welcomed our first-ever Family Engagement Coordinator, Akina Ramos. Akina comes to us through the AmeriCorps VISTA national service program, which means that, before starting work for us, she had to swear an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States! [Pictured: the oath was administered by Vincent Marzullo, Rhode Island's fantastic Director of the National Service Program.]

Akina brings a wealth of energy and optimism to this position, and is already hard at work getting to know CMW parents, adjusting our family volunteering system, and learning about the program. As a mother of five, Akina has first-hand knowledge of the many demands on parental time, and of the importance of volunteering! Three of her children are in a singing group called C3; we hope to have them appear at a CMW event before long.

Akina grew up in the West End, and is a proud graduate of William D'Abate Elementary School. She worked at Brown University and at Citizens Bank before coming to CMW. We're thrilled to welcome her, and we look forward to introducing her to everyone at the first Community Day later this month.

-Chloe Kline, Education Director

CMW warmly welcomes EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, violin, to Providence as a new member of CMW's two-year Fellowship Program ('11-'13).

EmmaLee (known as Emmy) received her doctoral degree from SUNY Stony Brook, studying violin with Phil Setzer, Soovin Kim and Philippe Graffin. She completed her undergraduate work with honors at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Stephen Rose and Annie Fullard. As a chamber player, she has enjoyed the fine coaching of both the Emerson and Cavani String Quartets, and she has served as faculty at summer music festivals such as Birch Creek and the Allegheny Music Festival.

When not playing classical violin, Emmy is well-versed in old-time fiddle music. She has played lead fiddle with the Rusty Pickup String Band since she was ten years old, and she won the Illinois State Fair fiddle championship as a teenager.

What drew you to Community MusicWorks?

After spending many years in music school and focusing lots of energy on improving my own playing and my knowledge of music, I have been yearning for an outlet where I could use these skills to help a community and also to expand my horizons beyond the enclosed community of a music school. At times in my education, I felt a strong pull to leave the confines of the conservatory to put my knowledge to work in the broader world. But I always found ways of serving others within the academic world and so I stayed the course.

When I finished my doctorate, I finally had the time to devote to larger endeavors. I made some attempts to initiate my own mission of change. But I felt deficient in the skills or resources needed to make more than a tiny splash. When I found out about the Fellowship position at CMW, I was elated and I immediately applied. This seemed the perfect fit: a musical organization that worked to bring transformation and change to a community suffering from lack of opportunity.

CMW warmly welcomes Ealaín McMullin, violin, as a member of the '11-'13 class of our two-year Fellowship Program.

Ealaín (pronounced AH-leen) was first introduced to chamber music though concerts given by the Apple Hill Chamber Players near her home in Donegal, Ireland. This began a long connection with the Apple Hill Summer Festival in New Hampshire. For the 05-06 school year, Ealaín was an Apple Hill “Playing for Peace” scholar at Keene State College, enabling her to study with members of the Apple Hill String Quartet. This association led to studies at the Boston Conservatory, where she was a member of the Bricolage String Quartet, the  Conservatory's honors ensemble. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and the Boston Conservatory, Ealaín's teachers have included Michael D’Arcy, Elise Kuder, Mike Kelley and Lenny Matczynski.

What drew you to Community MusicWorks?

I was drawn to CMW because I think programs of this kind send a very progressive and important message about music and about classical music in particular. In both its programming and its educational values, it strikes me as an organization which strives to open up chamber music to new audiences.

The holistic educational principles adopted by CMW are also very appealing to me. I feel very fortunate to have had musical mentors in my life that opened up new perspectives for me personally. I think that CMW understands the value and importance of this mentoring relationship.

While we won't begin posting public events on the website calendar until after Labor Day, here are a few morsels to whet your appetite while we prepare for our 15th season.

1. Another Bach Festival (possibly titled "Bach and Beyond")
2. Haydn Opus 20 string quartets
3. An unusual and beautiful program of music for oboe and strings
4. A season-long sonata series, curated by Minna
5. Plenty of Bartok!
6. A program of chamber music featuring piano and clarinet
7. More experimental music by local composers
8. A collaboration with the Haven String Quartet, resident musicians of Music Haven
9. Festivities to celebrate 15 years of CMW, bringing back past CMW musicians to perform alongside our current roster of resident musicians

Stay tuned!

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

For the last three years, Elizabeth Hollander has been the fearless leader at the helm of CMW's Board of Directors. Liz completed her maximum term (six years) on CMW's Board in June and has since been recruited by Lynne McCormack in the Department of Art, Culture, and Tourism to help lead an effort to make arts education accessible to all Providence school children. So we know that we'll still be in close contact with her going forward. Liz, we are grateful for all that you accomplished and inspired while at CMW.

Stepping up to the plate is David Bourns, recently retired from his post as Paul Cuffee School's first Head of School (since 2000) and previously the Head of School at the George School in Newtown, PA (1979-2000). We warmly welcome David, and we look forward to his inspired leadership as we pass the midpoint of CMW's second decade this season.

 
Download a listing of CMW's 2011-2012 Board of Directors and Advisors here.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

The Community String Project (CSP) is a non-­profit organization founded in July 2009 with the goal of serving disadvantaged and at-risk youth in Rhode Island's East Bay area through an innovative music program centered on string instruments. Fall, Spring, and Summer sessions are offered to both children in adults.

Former CMW Fellow (and current adjunct Resident Musician) Laura Cetilia was hired recently to be the Project's first Executive Director. Congratulations Laura! Now that makes two former CMW Fellows leading related community-based music projects in Rhode Island…

By popular request, we're excited to announce that we'll be adding more Musical Workshops back into our programming this year! In addition, we're hoping to have our students choose some of our presenters. So, this year, two of our workshops will be chosen by our Phase II students during their overnight retreat in September.

Are you a potential workshop presenter? Send us a workshop proposal detailing what you'd like to share with our students (ages 7-18, violin, viola, and cello, all levels), what your past experience is, some background information about you or your group, your fee structure, and where we can find your music online.

Have an idea for someone you think should come do a workshop? Please pass this info along to them. We'd love to give Phase II a lot of presenters to choose from!

You may send workshop proposals to Chloe Kline, Education Director, at ckline [at] communitymusicworks [dot] org by September 8.

Violas play that C! Say what?!
Cellos, cellos, take it low. Cellos take it to the flo’
Violins play that Eee!
Together we are, CMW! Whooo!

The much-awaited camp week arrived July 25 at 8 am at the CMW office. Parents and children scurried around the space, looking for camp leaders and leaving their children and their instruments.

This is how every morning began; yet some things did change as the week progressed. Fiddle tunes, music labs, mini lessons, orchestra, chamber music and jam lab tunes were planted in each student and counselor’s brain, germinated, and then bloomed later on that week. Experiences such as a bus ride, or a boat ride (on a lobster boat, that is), lunch time, going on a mini hike adventure and petting farm animals were all events that brought children, teenagers, and adults from different ages together. By the end of camp, we all knew each other’s name, what class sessions each person was in, and had a whole list of songs that put together a performance on Friday.

As part of the Nelson String Quartet, Luis, Kirby, Joshua and I were given the opportunity to open up the Friday afternoon performance in the chapel with a piece by Paganini. This made me think about my first years as a student at CMW, when the Providence String Quartet opened up every Performance Party with a piece. I always dreamed of maybe, just maybe, being able to do something similar. This camp showed me that maybe’s were just not part of dreams when you put your mind to making something happen. It did happen and I am so grateful that we were given such an opportunity.

Each class performed a piece, or sang. As each performance passed, my amazement just kept growing. In five days, we all came together, learned together, laughed together, and even cried together at the very end. Togetherness. A term that comes up in quartet rehearsals, in music, in life and most importantly, in Community Music Works and what they offer to a community of youth, ready to dive into the world of music.

-Sidney Argueta, CMW ’09 (Brown University ’13)

Name games. Ice breakers. Name tags. What ifs. Camp songs. All these phrases were significantly important in organizing the annual CMW Summer Camp. The counselor team was made up of teachers, alums, current students, and volunteers. It may seem as if planning for a children’s camp is easy, but let me tell you, it is not. However, it was definitely one of the most fun-filled, interesting and meaningful weeks I have had this summer.

As a former CMW student, I had the opportunity to step into the shoes that all the teachers at CMW wear everyday as music teachers and coordinators. During training week, we scheduled a week of camp, bonded with new faces and old faces, and most importantly, were able to come to the realization that we were old enough to hold more responsibility.

Each one of us was assigned a group of students that we would take care of, talk to, walk with, and learn with. Our first connection to them was calling their homes to remind them of camp. Our second connection was assigning name holders to each. Lastly, we would give them their t-shirt Monday morning and spend a week together. Now, I anxiously wait camp week. Bring it on!

-Sidney Argueta, CMW '09 (Brown University '13)

Created by Liam

Created by Alana