Our K-5 students can play string instruments, thanks to the Junior Orchestra of Yamhill County (JOY) supporting our students and music teachers! The group performed “Breakbeat” by Doug Spata (see the video) at the School Board meeting on Nov. 14.
JOY is present in grade levels K-5 at Edwards Elementary School and fourth-graders and fifth-graders from the school performed at the meeting. However, JOY has expanded to teaching kindergarten at Crater Elementary School this year, with the hope of expanding the program to other grade levels and in other schools in the Newberg-Dundee School District.
JOY provides instruments and JOY Teaching Artists to assist participating schools' music teachers in instructing the students on the art of playing a string instrument, such as the violin, viola, or cello. K-1 students learn how to hold a tissue box violin in music class, and 2-5 students are offered an after-school program in which they can borrow wooden instruments.
Edwards fifth-graders Rebecca Decker, a cellist, and Brinsley Jenkins, a violinist, spoke at the School Board meeting about their deep love of the JOY program. Before their speeches, they took a moment to describe what the program means to them and how it has helped them.
"It's something I want to do; I want to be a professional with it because I really enjoy it," Rebecca said.
Rebecca said that, even when times are hard, playing music brings her joy, just as the program's name suggests.
"Their program is really awesome and amazing and has really helped me with confidence and in life," Brinsley said.
The benefits of JOY include a "growth mindset," said Amy Brunner, JOY Program Director.
"The idea is 'I can't yet,' but eventually 'I know I can,'" Brunner explained.
Participating students are growing through the process almost as quickly as JOY has bloomed in just a few years, despite the pandemic-era economic decline. JOY, founded in 2017, also exists in McMinnville, and the dream is to install it in every school in Yamhill County.
The program's success may also be linked to a strong parent organization and a long pre-history. JOY is one of two programs within the purview of Yamhill Enrichment Society (YES) YES is a nonprofit that, through a partnership with Dolly's Imagination Library, also offers the Yamhill County Imagination Library (YCIL). YCIL provides free books to children in Yamhill County, ages birth to 5. To support its programs, YES holds an annual culinary fundraiser in the summertime called the Bounty of Yamhill County.
But how did JOY come about? The inspiration for JOY is the El Sistema movement, which Dr. Jose Antonio Abreu launched in 1975 in Venezuela. El Sistema brings the gift of music to underserved communities. L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra Gustavo Dudamel brought the El Sistem idea to the United States, and there are similar programs spread throughout school districts all over our country. There are so many young people, including those in Newberg-Dundee Public Schools, who are more confident and more filled with joy because of this deeply rooted program that makes playing music possible for anyone who wants to cradle an instrument in their arms.
As Brinsley said in her speech to the School Board, "JOY is a great extracurricular program. The teachers are amazing, and they help me a lot."
Junior Orchestra of Yamhill County Teaching Artist Sadie Lapiers directs Edwards Elementary School students in a performance during the Nov. 14 School Board meeting.