2023 Spring Newsletter
¡EN ACCIÓN!
2023 Spring Newsletter
What’s happening with Yakima Music en Acción
At YAMA, we work to create a community that practices mutual investment in one another. Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman call this shine theory. Shine theory encourages the idea that “I don’t shine if you don’t shine,” and “your wins are my wins.” This is the foundation upon which YAMA relationships are built.
Salvador & Sandra were co-emcees at our Winter Showcase
Salvador: “Working with Sandra helped me be more confident. I felt supported because I knew if I messed up, the whole thing wouldn’t drop because I had someone there with me.”
Sandra: “Having Salvador there as my co-emcee made me less nervous about going on stage. Even though I’ve only been in YAMA for a few months, I can really feela sense of community here that I haven’t felt anywhere else before.
Lizbeth & Flor started YAMA together and are now both Assistant Teachers
Flor: “Whenever Lizbeth succeeds or wants to succeed, I want to follow her. Having her presence and support nearby makes me want to make sure I’m doing my best.”
Lizbeth: “I was a lot quieter when I first joined YAMA. Mainly because of Flor I became a more confident version of myself. She was always so confident and I wanted to be like her.”
Ms. Hsu & Ms. Mendoza met as student and teacher 10 years ago and now are YAMA co-teachers
Ms. Mendoza: “After we teach together, I get reassurance from Ms. Hsu. We check up on each other. Working together has helped me stop putting myself down and has supported me in being kinder to myself.”
Ms. Hsu: “I have really early memories of Enerida confidently coaching her peers, even as a middle schooler. They respect and learn so well from her. Her presence and co-teaching makes any lesson we teach more successful than if I’d taught them alone.
“YAMA orchestra puts community-building first — musical excellence follows.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Check out what the Yakima Herald had to say about YAMA.
Article: bit.ly/3YpDiD8
Podcast: spoti.fi/3jNhsKW
“Your wins are my wins.”
There’s this magical shine that two or more people emit when they’re discussing or working on something together and are collectively in it. It’s an energy of in-sync-ness that requires a special combination of forces – a commitment to a shared goal or outcome; mutual trust and respect; and an enjoyment from a mix of focus and joy. As educators, we spend a lot of time trying to facilitate this experience in pairs, small groups, and our orchestras. When we learned about shine theory, this idea of “investment in helping someone be their best self, and relying on their help in return,” something fresh clicked into place about how we strive to teach and lead. Leading isn’t just about what one person can do for another, but it is about the reciprocity of what people offer each other.
When two young people are paired to work together on a new skill, the one who has had less practice with the skill gets to learn from one who’s had more practice. When you find the right pairing of students, where there is safety, trust, and camaraderie, the student teaching the skill glows with pride and confidence. The student who was coached shines with the joy of “I get it now! I can do this!” and from the gift of their peer’s patience and confidence in them. Each student’s wins are shared by the other. That’s shine theory en acción.
When young musicians are first learning how to play a new piece, it is natural to be fixated on their own parts. When musicians have learned their parts more deeply, they start to understand how their parts rely on and communicate with each other. Making music becomes about creating something together that they could not have created alone. That’s shine theory en acción.
To you, our supporters, who believe that when the young people in our world shine, we all shine, we wish for you continued experiences of shining with and around others. Because we shine when you shine, too.
Sincerely,
A. S. Pualani, Program Director
Stephanie Lin Hsu, Executive Director