The day the music died ...
Music classes at Eluxolweni Primary School in Khayelitsha have come to a halt after thieves stole trumpets, saxophones, trombones, keyboards, a drum kit, cymbals and stands, acoustic guitars, a guitar amp and bass amps earlier this month.
This is the second time in weeks that the school has been robbed and earlier this year, five computers and a laptop were stolen in a break-in.
The Institute for Indigenous Music and Arts Development provided the musical instruments to offer access to music education to Eluxolweni’s Grade 4 to Grade 6 pupils.
Music teacher Babalwa Meintjies demonstrated how the security gate and door of the blue shipping container, where the instruments were stored, had been broken by thieves.
She said the theft had “hit hard”. “You should have seen the sadness and tears when the children heard the news. It was like they lost hope,” said Meintjies.
The music programme was started in 2007 in schools in Eluxolweni, Lansdowne and Langa, she said.
At Eluxolweni about 65 pupils took music lessons after class and on Saturdays. They learned how to play, read and compose music. They learned how to play the guitar, drums, trombone, saxophone and trumpet, and to sing. Grade 6 pupil Siphesihle Mani plays the saxophone. “We are very hurt by what happened,” she said.
– Republished from Groundup. org.za
You should have seen the sadness and tears when the children heard the news. It was like they lost hope.
Babalwa Meintjies music teacher Eluxolweni Primary School