Music In Me Project | KBProEd Music School

The Music In Me Project

Music is in all of us. Music is all around us. Music develops the brain. Music makes whole, it develops a child in more than just one way.

In 2022 we started classes at House 9 in the Louis Botha Children's Home under an NGO. The children were given piano, theory and singing lessons. In the first 6 months, significant development was observed in the children. From self-confidence to better grades at school. In December 2022, the children performed in their first very successful house concert in front of an audience. There were various sponsors and were able to offer every child staying in the house for the December holidays a Christmas present specially made up for each child's special necessities and passions. The kids showed a lot of talent and progress all the way to the concert and in the concert itself. This leads to the NGO's decision to prepare for a full concert for 2023.

In 2023, the children began to rehearse the "Masquerade" Production which is a musical consisting of several musicals that tell the story of a day in the life of every daughter in the orphanage. It focuses on the obstacles, peer pressure, identity questions and problems of being a child/teenager, but also the character development of each where they learn that the sisters they have in the house are the most important sisters in their life and that the housemother will always be there for them and love them very much. The story ends with everyone learning and realizing who they are and that they are good enough!!

But life, unfortunately, is not always in our favor. 6 Months into 2023, the NGO were working very hard on the production when the original NPO had to leave the project and the new NPO Music In Me Project was born.

There are so many people who had given up on these kids, and we were not going to put another figure on that count. We're not going to give up!

So we started the search for how we're going to stage this Production. Over the next 5 months, we successfully received everything to make this possible. From costumes from Creative Costumes, To Trophies and ingraving thereof at a trophy shop in Pretoria North, Gifts and décor by various sponsors, Sound Equipment and Sound Engineers of Audio Mafia SA, lighting and technicians of Firedropz and a full audience waiting in anticipation for this event. The 2 hours production with a break between made people laugh, be nostalgic, make them cry and walk out of the concert inspired. The House social worker termed it as "awesome, wow, I can't believe it's the same kids!". And that's exactly it.

The year's classes were about teaching the children "they can" and it's in their control, nothing can take this knowledge away from them. It's about them building self-confidence, about taking on new projects and knowing "I CAN", and that was our goal.

The concert's aim each year is to develop their self-discipline, endurance, confidence, love of music and the arts.

2024 was no exception. The Music In Me Project took the hands of KBProEd Music School to make the Year’s Concert a reality. The showcase was titled "This is Us" in order to give each individual the chance to show on stage what they can offer, throughout the year they're challenged, playing or singing harder, more difficult pieces, challenging themselves to various other manières as well, while also teaching them routine and “hard work pays off”. We again joined hands with Audio Mafia SA, Firedropz, Karin Bekker Artist, a team full of the willing, volunteers, Choreographers, The Piano Friend, WS Pianos as well as another NPO founded by Lynique Odendaal (Miss World Finalist 2024) to make this possible.

This Year we are back at it again. With a full Concert, filled with dancing, singing solos, Duets, Groups and ensembles with Piano solos, Groups and ensembles which makes up for a fun filled extravagant evening filled with all things musical.

In 2025 we want to emphasize the role music has in our lives. Taking our audience into the magical fantasy world of Musicals, Showcasing growing up, group pressure, Coming-of-age, finding oneself and realizing the power of family and people who become family.

All the funds raised will be used to buy the children's music books. Our Goal is to give a music theory book for each child; Exam books if needed, Backtracks en sheet music as well as hopefully enrolling them in various arts festivals such as Eistedford, Noordkruin etc for next year, so that they can also submit them to their schools for performance evenings and just generally showing "I can”. The Goal is not just to cater for the present but to grow and build the children and future children in House 9.

Our 5 Year plan is to gain funding and support to gain more teachers to teach more houses, to develop more children. Music lowers stress relieves anxiety and helps with memory consolidation, studies have shown that music can have a positive impact on creativity, cognitive functions and overall wellbeing. We want to help the children to grow as musicians so that we to can send them for international accreditation in music, even get a NQF 5,6 or 7 in matric when they graduate high school. That will in turn help them maybe to get into college or University.

The short-term goal of the project is to get these children to perform in front of an audience, that will help with dealing with stressful environments, creating a love for music and the arts. Teaching the children self-discipline, self-control, self-worth and teaching them to not give up even when it’s hard, and to ultimately help them to challenge themselves. But most importantly, to teach them that they are good enough!

By joining with a music school for this The Concert we can raise the funds to do just that, ensure they will be able to grow next year to the best of their abilities.

The Team currently consists out of volunteers, that goes to the house at least 3-4 weekends in the month to teach these kids pro-bono. We would like to thank our sponsors and teachers in the smallest of gestures, for all their hard work making the event and classes throughout the year possible. Without this group of people, I don’t think I would be able to do any of this. In Truth We're just a bunch of people who have a love for the arts and who know what it can mean for a kid. And we've already seen the difference, and what it means to these girls and could still mean for them in the future.

We have a bank account for sponsors to donate money for this cause and to ensure that the funds will be only allocated towards to show and the children.

Tickets will be sold from August until the 18^th of October as that is our concert date for this year’s concert.

The Music In Me Project – Where You Are Enough!