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Finding the truth is not enough.
What we also have to find is justice.
                               ~Rigoberta Menchu
A Message from Sinfo-Nia Founder & Artistic Director David E. Robinson, III
Sunday, 05 August 2007

Greetings Media and Supporters,

Members of the Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia have just returned from Las Vegas for the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM) Conference.  It was a great success.  It was a lot of hard work but we had a great time. The students’ performance was outstanding in front of a national audience of musicians, music educators, composers, arrangers, conductors, clinicians, and so on. Sinfo-Nia stood out and shined in the national spotlight.  There were some young students from Chicago that took part in playing in the Orchestra as well.  One of them, Ifetayo Ali is age 4 on cello (and her sister, Adjedmaa Ali, age 7 on violin).  Both of them performed solos.  The other three along with those two are part of the Hyde Park Suzuki [Institute] under the direction of Lucinda Ali.  It is great to know about this great institution as Sinfo-Nia will someday expand into having a Suzuki Violin program to start children on strings as early as age three.  She has 75 families of students in her program. 

Each of our students should take in this experience of working hard at a higher standard, holding extra rehearsals, making sacrifices, working with other instructors (such as Lucinda Ali, Lesa Terry who did a jazz workshop, and Rachel Barton who also helped), learning a new piece of music (and new dance) on the grounds of the Conference, which was James Brown’s, “Living in America,” and so on.  Sinfo-Nia is a serious performing arts organization that is being featured more and more in the spotlight of media, national (and international) musicians, educators, etc., and so on.  Lesa Terry who performs with a lot of recording artists (and has appeared on The Cosby Show as a part of her Uptown String Quartet on an episode where they performed James Brown’s, “I Feel Good”), performed on numerous movie and television soundtracks, traveled around the world, knows many celebrities, etc. will tell people about Sinfo-Nia.  She is proud to have found out about us.  She will introduce us to some people who can help us fund our trip to Africa.

The students from Chicago are also interested in traveling to Africa.  They are already making plans to go.  They will be holding their own fundraisers there including performing all around the city as the Williams Family String Trio [A.K.A. SugarStrings]: Ade, violin, Mira, violin, and Ayanna, cello.  These girls performed at NANM as a trio and did an outstanding job.

Going back to our performance, our students were well-received and well-complimented by many of the NANM members.  President Roland Carter (of NANM) made an appeal asking individual members to contribute to Sinfo-Nia’s trip to Africa.  Making such a profound impact in an historic arts organization can bring great results.  When each student fills out his/her resume and bio, he/she should include each time he/she performed at the NANM Conference, what year, and what city. NANM is an historic organization since 1919 (www.nanm.org).  NANM's Youth Division is led by its director, Dr. Nina Scott from Detroit, MI.  The Junior Division is led by yours truly (David Robinson who also conducts the NANM Youth/Junior Orchestra).  Sinfo-Nia whose members are a part of NANM Kemper Harreld Youth have been attending the NANM Conferences since 1990 (even in 1989 in Atlanta I gathered students from another youth orchestra that I had at that time and from another, plus from Clark College).

Speaking of James Brown, a gentleman named Ollie Lamey allowed us to use his drum set for the Conference for Brandon Woods to rehearse and play.  Mr. Lamey is one of James Brown’s former drummers back in the early 1960s.  He is going to put us in touch with a radio deejay (maybe radio station owner) in Atlanta and have us interviewed so that we can recruit more students.  This deejay just happens to be the former announcer at James Brown’s shows.  He was the one who put the cape on James Brown.

We also performed Rossini's “William Tell Overture,” which featured our dancers (with the horses), “Irreplaceable,” Robert Fryson's “An Exhortation of Praise,” and Percy Bady's (originally sung by Yolanda Adams) “Still I Rise” featuring our pianist, Ariel Conley singing the solo.  We have talented students in Sinfo-Nia that can also sing.  

I feel that this Conference is moving us to another level.  We raised our standards locally as well as nationally.  We will continue to do so because this valuable experience will benefit our children and youth in any field of human endeavor.  Next year’s Conference will be in Chattanooga, TN.  That is only a two-hour drive.  We expect to have the entire Orchestra and Dance Company there to participate.  We will have our Summer Academy Session 2008 to prepare for it.

We will begin our School-Year Session 2007-08 on Saturday, August 11, 2007, 9:00 AM at Providence.  We are always seeking more students to enroll. The following weekend is a big performance that will feature Judge Hatchett, radio personality Larry Tinsley, many surprise guests including public officials, and others.  There will also be another concert the following day.  In September, we are scheduled to perform in concert with gospel recording artist, Vickie Winans.  We had a great summer academy where we are expecting many of them to join us this school-year to build more strength to the Orchestra and Dance Company.  We have added a dance routine to “Love’s Theme” choreographed by Candace Woodall from Detroit, MI.  We will have some more new songs on the horizon, two of which will be tap dance numbers: “That Ol’ Black Magic” and “Chattanooga, Choo-Choo.”  We will add dancers to Curtis Mayfield’s, “Move On Up.”  We will continue to perform, “Living in America” plus add some more James Brown selections.  We are looking ahead to doing an official tribute to James Brown possibly in August, GA.


Please spread the word to families with children on your jobs, in the churches, schools, through the media, etc.  Attached is our recruitment flyer.  If you are interested in doing a story on Sinfo-Nia or a radio (or television), please contact me at (404) 328-0840.  The first week of school for most school systems is a good time (week of August 6th).  You may also want to do a story on Sinfo-Nia's trip to Ghana, West Africa scheduled for December 22, 2007 through January 4, 2008.  It will be an exciting way to spend our Christmas holiday season sharing our talents to children over there and providing some assistance to some orphanages.  Sinfo-Nia is requesting monetary support for this trip through various fundraisers.  A radiothon is just one idea.  If you have any suggestions or would like to state this need in your publications, please let us know.  When we begin our School-Year Session, we have asked our parents to do the following:

SCHOOL SUPPLIES FOR AFRICA: We are asking that when you come and register your child during the month of August for our school-year session, please bring some school supplies so that we can take them to Africa in December and give them to the children we are seeking to help.  Right now Target and Wal-Mart are having their annual sales on school supplies.  What is needed most are packages of pens, pencils, some school glue, rulers, erasers, paper, notebooks, and so on.

Please call us at (404) 328-0840 or reply via e-mail if you have any questions.  Our mailing address is:

Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia
P.O. Box 42732
Atlanta, Georgia 30311-0732

 
Thank you for your time and encouragement.  Below is our 2007 Summer Academy Summary (in case you did not receive it earlier).

Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia's Summer Academy Summary and Upcoming School-Year Enrollment Information. Progress Report on Sinfo-Nia.

Greetings to Everyone,

The Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia 2007 Summer Academy at Providence Missionary Baptist Church (many thanks to Providence for hosting us for many years) was a great success.  We all had a lot of fun.  Our students have learned a lot, met new friends, played some exciting, beautiful music, and so on.  Those of you who were new to Sinfo-Nia learned that Sinfo-Nia has a tradition of providing quality instruction in music and dance featuring a variety of music: classical, jazz, Negro spirituals, gospel, reggae, country, motion picture themes, ragtime, Top-40: rock, R & B, hip-hop, classic oldies, and so on.  Most of the school music and dance programs do not offer such a variety.  This instruction can be very helpful for a student in his/her school program.  That includes providing motivation and even leadership to his/her classmates.  I am sure that there are students in the schools that would benefit from this experience.  Please talk to them, talk to their parents, and encourage them to join Sinfo-Nia.

We had some students from out-of-state to come and take part this summer: two from Charlotte, NC, one from New York, NY, and one from Chicago, IL.  We had two instructors as well: Candace Woodall, dance instructor/choreographer from Detroit, MI, and Sheri Lee, strings instructor from Cleveland, OH who has been teaching in China the last two years.  She wants us to plan a trip to China in a few years.  Someday we will become a national (and international) music camp.

We are collecting pictures from parents who have taken them at anytime during our Summer Academy (and School-Year) to add to our historic archives and website.  If you have pictures, please let us know.

Our staff has done an outstanding job.  We want to invite them all back next year:

-         Kimbraly Grimes, Advanced Orchestra Conductor

-         Tara Harris, Junior Orchestra Conductor

-         Selinda Jefferson, Beginning Orchestra Conductor, week one

-         Sheri Lee, Beginning Orchestra Conductor, week two

-         Jonathan Maze, Winds/Percussion Conductor

-         Lester Pleasant, Winds/Percussion Conductor

-         Adrian White, Percussion Instructor, week one

-         Edith “Cookie” Dean, Percussion Instructor, week two

-         Rebekah Pleasant, Dance Instructor

-         Candace Woodall, Dance Instructor, choreographer for “Love’s Theme”

-         Dynesia Cowan, Dance Instructor

Sinfo-Nia is receiving more recognition around metropolitan Atlanta.  Performing in events of the National Black Arts Festival is just an example of a major national festival honoring what we do to be a beacon of light for young musicians and dancers serious in studying their art.  In a time when we see the music of many young people on the radio and on music videos that degrade women, glorify violence, gang life, materialism, and so on, the world needs to see young people on instruments and studying ballet.  The discipline can make a difference in a child’s life and set him/her on a path of professionalism and success in any field of human endeavor.  All children need a challenge.  Challenge can make setting goals much easier.  It can help a child plan his/her future.  That future does not have to be a career in music or dance.  This experience can carry over to medicine, law, education, administration, business, computer science, and so on.  The music and dance in this case can be something that is relaxing, a way of ministry, a side job, an aide in mentoring other young people, and so on.

Our final performance for the 80th Birthday Celebration of Dr. Richard Long, famed dancer and historian was also a success.  There were a lot of well-known Atlanta celebrities present such as Olympic track star Edwin Moses (my Morehouse classmate), Dr. Johnetta Cole (former president of Spelman College), numerous people that I know from music and music education, and so on.  There was an article on Dr. Long on the front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this past Saturday, July 21.  Please click on (or cut-and-paste) this link and read about him:

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/news/stories/2007/07/21/long.html

During the school-year Sinfo-Nia does a lot of performances; on the average of two a month.  Sinfo-Nia sometimes uses a smaller chamber group within the Advanced Orchestra.  Sinfo-Nia has also used the Beginning and Intermediate (Junior) Orchestra at times.  We really want to build those two areas to showcase our entire program.  In such a short time, our beginners have learned to play several selections where in most school settings it would take at least until December to learn a few songs and then the spring to learn more songs of that difficulty.  Sinfo-Nia’s “nurturing” environment is unique where as in other programs auditions are required to get in.  The Advanced Orchestra students are certainly an inspiration to the Beginners and Juniors.  These students see that making it into the Advanced Orchestra is a goal.  Many of them accept that challenge and run with it by practicing at home everyday.

 

 
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