2007-2008 West Africa Trip
On Tuesday, December 25th [2007] we performed for the President, the Honorable Dr. John A. Kuffour of Ghana (pictured in the center) at his mansion (similar to the U.S. White House).
David E. Robinson III:
Greetings Orchestra Musicians, Conductors, and Parents,
I am proud to announce that the Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia, founded as the William Grant Still Memorial Youth Orchestra of Metropolitan Atlanta, will be celebrating 25 Glorious Years in its annual two-week Summer Camp June 15-26, 2015. The Camp Concert on Thursday, June 25th will mark 25 years exactly. Our Camp will be located at the First Congregational Church Commons located at 125 Ellis St., ATL 30303, which is in downtown Atlanta. Our 25th Anniversary Camp Concert will take place Thursday, June 25, 2015, 6:00 PM at First Congregational Church (in their actual church building) at 105 Courtland St., Atlanta, Georgia 30303. We are looking for Sinfo-Nia Alums and other musicians (amateur and professional) to come and play as well.
We are making this announcement now because most parents plan for their children to attend camps of some kind. This year we are in June instead of July to line up with our 25-year celebration. Also, we are offering a special tuition rate for the first 25 students that enroll (register) and pay-in-full by May 31, 2015. Our regular rate is $350.00 per student. The special rate for those first 25 students is $250.00 per student (a savings of $100.00). We invite student that live out of town that have close friends or family in metro Atlanta they can stay with. We have had students in the past to take part coming from the states of Louisiana, Colorado, California, Florida, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, and Maryland.
We offer instruction to students ages 7 through 18 (college students and high school graduates are also welcomed). We offer strings (violin, viola, cello, and double bass) on the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels; band students (woodwinds, brass, and percussion) on the advanced level only. Students that have graduated from high school and may not be attending college or may be attending a junior college or technical school and have no place to play. They are certainly welcomed as well as this could be a stepping stone for motivation to want to enroll in a college orchestra program. A student that wishes to learn another stringed instrument to bring balance to his/her school orchestra, we offer that as well.
We have done so many exciting things during our 25 years. We have taught over one-thousand students. Many are doing great things in life: doctors, lawyers, engineers, educators (including college professors and school administrators), ministers, government, symphony musicians (Dr. Alvoy Bryan, Ismail Akbar), music educators, ethnomusicologists (one of our alums, Dr. Birgitta Johnson is assistant professor of it at the University of South Carolina), conductors, and so on. We are hoping to see many of them return for our 25th Anniversary Concert - some will even perform. We have traveled all over the United States and twice to West Africa. We have performed on television numerous times. We will perform yet again (our 5th or 6th time) on WATC TV-57 on Friday, February 12, 2015 at 7:00 PM (please tune in). We have done three music videos. We are planning to record our own music that could hit the radio waves. We may be the first live orchestra to perform the music of Trinidad & Tobago called "soca" with recording artist Princess Imani Raychelle. We have our sights set on traveling there someday. We perform a variety of multicultural music: classical, jazz, Negro spirituals, gospel, reggae, ragtime, country, motion picture themes, Top-40: rock, R & B, hip-hop, and so on. We offer quality instruction in a motivational and nurturing environment. Our students come back to their schools making great contributions to their music programs…and even move on to other orchestra programs. A good number of them that attend college earn music scholarships. We host some of the college scholarship auditions.
One important milestone we have reached is that our entire 2nd violin section in our Advanced Orchestra is taking private lessons. This is due to our peer mentoring and motivation. Some have upgraded their instruments already with others planning on doing so soon like the viola, cello, and 1st violin section. Our cello section reads in tenor clef. One of our violists made Allstate. One of our recent college graduates from Alabama A & M University, Khaleelah Benson is teaching orchestra at Banneker High School in Fulton County.
On another note, we are currently holding classes on Monday evenings, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM and Saturday mornings, 9 AM to 12 Noon for the remainder of the school-year at the same location. We do have openings. We do have college students that voluntarily serve as mentors, aides, and coaches to help the younger student along. One of them is my daughter, Briana Robinson who is a junior at Agnes Scott College.
I have attached our Summer Camp flier. Please make copies to pass out to your students and post on your bulletin boards. Please announce other wonderful summer music camps that are taking place as well. Please post on bulletin boards in your classroom, the teachers’ lounge(s), and so on. Please have them available in your upcoming concerts and make announcements to the parents about all summer music camps. Have a wonderful day.
Sincerely,
David E. Robinson III
Founder & Artistic Director
Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia
Please check out our website at www.sinfo-nia.com
Included are some awesome music videos
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