Playback - Spring 2009 - (Page 27) Latin American Music Program Receives National Award NAMM MEMBERS BANSBACh MuSICAL INStRuMENtS AND yAMAhA CoRPoRAtIoN FIND SuCCESS WIth thEIR “CoStA RICA IN hARMoNy” PRoGRAM, GRoWING thE MARkEt WhILE IMPRoVING NAtIoNAL EDuCAtIoN AND CREAtING RESPoNSIBLE CItIzENS In 2002, the Bansbach family and Yamaha Music Latin America S.A. implemented a program in Costa Rica with the goal of giving every student access to music in the country’s public education system. The program, called Costa Rica in Harmony, grew into a widely supported initiative with help from the country’s Minister of Education and has reached an estimated 135,000 students so far. Costa Rica in Harmony works in two ways: to give all students lessons on the recorder (selected because of its accessibility) and to improve public school music teachers’ abilities for a better educational system overall. The benefits trickle down from there—students who are accomplished on the recorder can transition to other instruments, and the teachers who have received specialized training can share what they’ve learned with their colleagues. “Our aim is not to necessarily create professional musicians; it’s to create a better country through all of music’s power,” explains Werner Bansbach. “Music can help in the general development of a human being. We’re trying to show that music can bring harmony into the homes where music is played.” The program, which is organized by Ginnette Solana from Bansbach, recently received a national honor for “contributions to an improvement of a better quality of life for the Costa Rican people” and for “contributions in the development of a better musical culture in Costa Rica.” The committee that assigns this yearly prize is organized by the country’s four major government-owned universities and the Government Human Rights Organization of Costa Rica. Costa Rica in Harmony is also said to have a “green heart”: a portion of the program is financed by recycling efforts. Students are required to collect empty cans in order to participate in the annual Green Heart National Band Competition, and the money from that event is recycled back into the program to finance more seminars for the teachers. “We promote that the students recycle in their schools, which shows them that through recycling they can actually achieve things,” Bansbach says. Our aim is not to necessarily create professional musicians; it’s to create a better country through all of music’s power. SPRING 2009 27
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