We need your help!
Help Agape make a difference to children's lives by allowing them to learn and practise music
We have had several volunteers go to Mansek in Ghana over the years. Jenny Brown; Ghana Coordinator, and colleagues from MK Music Service visit regularly to give teacher workshops, model good practice and help the teachers to develop their own technical and theoretical skill. We have had volunteers who played brass, woodwind and strings, as well as piano, keyboard and some recorder and guitar. Some did not have much teaching experience but were confident enough in their own level of playing to pass on good habits and sound theory. The two main teachers, Fiifi and Samuel Quayson, would like to take Grade 6 theory in the near future.
Mansek is beginning to develop some teaching in local schools, where some parents are able to pay for the lessons. One school in particular is keen to develop a school orchestra and funding to allow this to happen would be invaluable.
donation progress
Our first contact was made by Emily Forrester, who went to Ghana when she finished her degree. She was placed with this school to help the Director, Frances Fiifi Assan to develop it. With help from her mum, Jenny Brown, and the staff, parents and students at Milton Keynes Music Service, Mansek was able to gain many donated instruments and become much more ambitious in terms of instrumental range and number of students taught. Jenny Brown visited Ghana while Emily was based there, and together they began some teacher training workshops. While Fiifi and his teachers have great musical skills, they do not have the instrumental technique to play all the instruments donated, nor the detailed knowledge of western classical music that they wish to pass on to their students.
Where your money goes
The idea of this project is to allow the good work that has been started in the Mansek region of Ghana to continue. This is not a cheap project to sustain as musical instruments are expensive no matter where in the world you are. Music is an often neglected part of the African curriculum, which is unfortunate considering the joy it brings to the lives of so many children. Your money will go towards:
- The purchase of new musical instruments for partisipating schools
- The support of music teachers within Ghana who would otherwise go unpaid
- The continuation of the perspective orchestra project
donate to Ghana Music Project
