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Bringing the Music Home

Please take 6 minutes out of your day and watch our film…it displays tenacity, courage and determination whilst demonstrating the incredible power of music. MUSICWORKS has been privileged to receive funds to not only rebrand our organisation, but to also make three short films on each of our programmes. The first film made by Plexus Films, showcases our Music for Life (MFL) programme. Following one beneficiary’s journey during a rehearsal process culminating in a concert within the Heideveld community, the story of Music for Life is told by Marcelino Fielies. Marcelino has been part of our programmes for the past 7 years, and his story is one you will never forget! Starting off as a beneficiary of our music therapy programme, Marcelino later joined our after school music programme, learn to play indigenous African marimbas. Displaying exceptional talent, Marcelino quickly progressed and although faced with his own internal struggles and cross roads, Marcelino made positive choices and is now a Community Music Facilitator intern with MusicWorks, training other young people from within his community to play marimbas and runs gumboot dance workshops in Lavender Hill and Heideveld. In a society where positive role models are in short supply, this young man leads from the front… Read More »Bringing the Music Home

Thank you Awesome Without Borders

We are thrilled to announce we are now a grantee of Awesome Without Borders! This chapter of the Awesome Foundation, gives $1 000 no-strings-attached weekly grants to awesome initiatives worldwide. This grant will enable 7 young people to each receive a full music therapy process.  To learn more about Awesome Without Borders, click here. This is what Awesome Without Borders had to say about MusicWorks: “All you need is love…in the form of music! And MusicWorks is making sure Cape Town’s youth are receiving no shortage of the stuff! The dynamic non-profit uses music therapy to unearth the buried treasure inside the minds of young people distraught with social & economic hardships. With MusicWorks, they don’t just learn to play instruments; they learn to play themselves…” To read more, click here. MusicWorks sends a heartfelt thanks to the wonderful people at Awesome Without Borders!

Gumboot Dance Workshops

Captivate your child with the excitement of Gumboot Dance whilst giving the same opportunity to children on the Cape Flats!    Gumboot Dance Workshops is an exciting music programme developed by MusicWorks’ music therapists and community musicians. The Workshops are based on our VIP Principles: Children are Very Important (little) People who should have their contributions Validated, as well as have an opportunity to Initiate creatively and be Playful.  The programme focusses on pre-schoolers (3-6 years) and includes Gumboot Dance songs and routines, as well as musical techniques that encourage creative and physical development in young children. Whether the children are learning the steps to a Gumboot dance, contributing sounds and movements to a story-song, or experimenting on a drum, the VIP activities adapt to the age appropriate levels of creative play. The programme not only develops children’s singing, dancing and rhythmic abilities, but also enhances gross motor function. Furthermore, the songs are sung in Xhosa, English and Afrikaans which exposes children to Cape Town’s cultural diversity. We have piloted this programme at ‘Kidz on Board’ in Sea Point, with high praise from both teachers and parents. We are currently looking to expand this programme in other schools on the Atlantic Seaboard. The cost for… Read More »Gumboot Dance Workshops

Sizwe’s Lullabies

A few years ago, MusicWorks ran a programme at Nomzamo Place of Safety in Langa. Nomzamo offered a temporary home for young children who have had to be removed from unsafe home environments. [gap height=”20″] The centre had sunny rooms, colourful walls, and a wonderful group of caring staff. It offered a haven to children who had experienced unspeakable trauma. MusicWorks ran a weekly programme at Nomzamo, consisting of individual music therapy sessions, as well as music sessions with bigger groups of children. Sizwe Lubengu worked as Community Musician on the MusicWorks team at the time. His music sessions where the highlight of a Tuesday morning. Staff would often pop in to the room where the music was happening to witness children laugh, play, sing and dance – as if they had not a care in the world. The staff’s positive feedback on the children’s response to the music sessions made Sizwe think about how music could further permeate life at Nomzamo. He decided to record lullabies that the nurses could play while the children were getting ready for bed at night. With the help of Jo Edgar, a Scottish music therapist volunteering with MusicWorks, Sizwe recorded lullabies in both English and isiXhosa. Parents sing lullabies to their… Read More »Sizwe’s Lullabies

Singing to a new tune

Sound the trumpets! Drumroll please…and blow those vuvuzelas! On the 10th of February 2014, the Music Therapy Community Clinic becomes MusicWorks! [gap height=”20″] Welcome to our new website – which tells the story of how MusicWorks uses the power of music to unlock potential in the lives of children and young people in Cape Town. Since 2003 we have conducted pioneering work in the field of Music Therapy in marginalised communities, for which we have received recognition both locally and abroad. We‘ve developed a practice that is unique to the South African context, adapted to the needs of our beneficiaries and which embraces the musical and cultural diversity of this country. Our work over the past decade has enforced our belief that music is a social resource, with the profound ability to strengthen and heal individuals, as well as communities. We’ve chosen a new name for the organisation that echoes this: We know that music works – we bear witness to this in our various programmes every day. The new logo is a visual representation of our work. The circle within a circle symbolises a pulse or beat – the music within us and around us to which we all respond. Different colours and sizes… Read More »Singing to a new tune