Friday March 12, 2010
In Memory of Dr. Samuel Wasson Siurua
In early February after the earthquake in Haiti Donna Lively Clark forwarded an e-mail to me regarding a project to replace instruments and other music materials lost by Holy Trinity Music School and Port au Prince, Haiti. The e-mail was from Dr. Jean Montes of Loyola University and the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra.
Below is an image of the plea from the website of the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra
In Dr. Montes' own words:
Dear Friends,
Words are not enough to thank you for the level of kindness
you have expressed toward Haiti in the past few weeks. This
enormous tragedy exposed the fragility of our human
existence. It has also helped us reassess the true meaning
of our own lives.
Today, I am reaching out to you and your friends to make a
contribution to the future of Haiti.
The Holy Trinity School of Music, the most well-established
music school in Haiti, which gave me and many others the
foundation we needed to be musicians and become valuable
contributors on the world stage, lies in ruin. But the
spirit of the school lives on. Now, more than ever, we can
work together to make a positive impact in the lives of
Haiti’s young musicians.
While we are making efforts to rebuild the school, which was
a cultural center for the performing arts in Haiti, we need
to do something immediately to save lives and heal wounded
souls through the power of music.
Therefore, in this first phase of our efforts and with the
generous support of the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra
(a 501.c3 nonprofit organization), I am organizing a massive
effort to collect music instruments, as many as possible,
for the music students in Haiti who have lost everything.
We will be giving these students something tangible to hold
on to so they can continue to keep music in their lives.
Their new instruments will bring them comfort and support in
the wake of the earthquake in which most instruments and
supplies were lost.
In eight weeks, I will travel with a small group of
volunteers to Haiti for a three-day trip during which these
instruments will be distributed to the music students who
have survived the tragedy.
If, in the corner of your room or in your attic you have an
instrument that you would love to share with these children,
please send it to the GNOYO address on the attached flyer.
Place a legal-sized envelope with your name and address
inside the instrument’s case. We will take pictures of
each student with their new instrument and send the picture
to you.
The values and lessons I learned while growing up in Haiti
have made me the man, conductor, musician, and teacher I am
today. I have always been dedicated to giving back and
instilling hope in the youth of my homeland and I truly
understand the needs and struggles that the young people
encounter in the country. I believe that our efforts will
bring hope, joy, and relief to these students and will make
a valuable contribution toward a brighter future for the
people of Haiti.
Please share this with anyone you know who might be
interested in making a donation and help us spread the word
in various media outlets, such as the newspaper, radio, TV,
and the internet.
Thank you so much for your help. I will keep all of you
updated with the progress of our efforts.
Sincerely,
****************
Dr. Jean Montes
Director of Orchestral Studies and Coordinator of Strings
Associate Professor of Music
Loyola University New Orleans
College of Music & Fine Arts
6363 St. Charles Avenue
Campus Box 8
New Orleans, LA 70118
504-865-2167
Fax: 504-856-2852
With the passing of Dr Samuel W. Siurua on February 21, 2010 it seemed only fitting to assist this relief effort by donating a violin in his memory. A number of Sam's friends and my own including Diantha Degraw, Charles Hewitt, Leslie Kenny, and Joie Kipka contributed funds to this end. Luthier Benjamin Parrott agreed to quickly finish a good quality violin in the white and set it up with appropriate fittings under the auspices of Indianapolis Violins at cost. The deadline for delivery to New Orleans, March 22nd now rapidly approaches.
Below are pictures of Ben and the violin with the ground coats of varnish dried and the next coat being applied on March 12th.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Work Progresses on Local Haitian Youth Music Relief Collections and Sam's Violin
Donna Lively Clark, an Indianapolis based professional violist and teacher, has coordinated the collection of instruments in central Indiana for the Haitian Youth Music Relief effort. Donna has taught at the Holy Trinity Music School in Port au Prince on a regular basis and has a number of students who were impacted by the earthquake. This afternoon I picked up the last 2 of the 7 K. Holtz Model 30 Carbon Composite viola and violin bows from Frank's Violins.
Mark Kurkowski, General Manager, ordered the bows through Eastman Strings who deep discounted them because they were for the Haitian project. Mark passed along the hugh savings so that we could stretch our tight budget as far as possible. Unfortunately, 7 of the 12 violins and violas donated came without bows which were as essential to the students receiving them as the instruments themselves.
Below Mark is shown holding a purple K. Holtz Model 30 Viola bow just received at his new location, 6450 West 10th Street, Suite 6.
After thanking Mark I headed downtown to Indianapolis Violins to check on Ben's progress with Sam's violin.
As I mentioned before Benjamin is working with Ted Skreko and Chris Ulbricht who founded the Indianapolis Violins shop.
Below Ted and Chris stand holding the Jon Paul carbon fiber bow to go with Sam's violin which they generously provided at cost. Ted rehaired and restored this previously owned bow to near new condition.
I was delighted to see Ben's progress on Sam's violin today. Here you can see the violin with the clamps still in place holding on the finger board he had glued this morning.
Below now with the clamps removed Ben stands showing on the left the beautiful one piece maple back and on the right the fine spruce top. Ben says that he may be pulling an all-nighter tonight so that he can fine tune the finger board and finish and setup the bridge, sound post, the end post and pegs as well as stringing it up, all by tomorrow morning's deadline.
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