Photo: Mathew Imaging

Gustavo Dudamel, who will perform at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, has been a key figure in the launch of YOLA, a youth orchestra in Los Angeles, California. SJSU is developing a similar initiative. (Photo: Craig T. Mathew/ Mathew Imaging for LA Phil).

An SJSU initiative inspired by the success of Super Bowl 50 halftime performer Gustavo Dudamel has received a $10,000 gift from a game-related charity and could receive $10,000 more with your help.

All you need to do is go to the StubHub Fan Fair website, scroll down to “StubHub Gives Back to the Bay Area,” and vote for the SJSU Community Music Institute before Feb. 5. The five organizations that receive the most votes will get an extra $10,000.

The winners will be announced Super Bowl Sunday.


Inspiration

Coordinator of Music Education Diana Hollinger founded the Community Music Institute in 2006. A branch of the SJSU School of Music and Dance, the program provides musical instruments and lessons to children.

Hollinger’s inspiration, and the subject of her dissertation, is Venezuela’s El Sistema music education program, which offers a classical music education to disadvantaged youth. Dudamel, the exuberant musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is among its best-known alumni. He will perform at this year’s halftime show.

“SJSU resides in a diverse, creative, and vibrant local cultural life, yet many of our resident urban schools have high levels of student poverty and little or no music education. We hold that every child deserves a complete and quality music education, and that this improves the lives of children and their communities,” Hollinger said.

Projects

The Young Musicians’ Project is one of CMI’s initiatives. It pairs music majors with local elementary, middle, and high school musicians for one-on-one lessons. Now, Hollinger would like to start a String Project, focusing specifically on string instruments.

SJSU student gives a one-on-one violin lesson to a boy.

Photo: Brian Stanley, ’16 Journalism

“The first $10,000 finances the instruments. The extra $10,000 would allow us to provide stipends to the SJSU music students who will teach on these instruments. This is an important piece, as so many of our own students struggle to pay tuition and living expenses,” Hollinger said.

These projects provide the SJSU music majors with hands-on teaching experience, while offering private lessons to young people who would otherwise lack access to such opportunities.

Approximately 15 SJSU students worked with 30 children on the Young Musicians’ Project last semester. There’s room for growth. With more than 100 music education majors, SJSU is one a top provider of music teachers and band directors to Bay Area schools.

Changing lives

Hugo Garcia, ’17 MA Music Education, is the program director for the Young Musicians’ Project. He’s motivated by personal experience.

I come from a low socioeconomic background, and I didn’t have much of a music education because the majority of opportunities to get a good quality music education were and still are very expensive. However, I loved music, and I found that it helped me learn and it helped me find my focus,” he said.

“I think that if I had more of an opportunity to study music, my schooling would not have been as difficult as it became. I had to overcome a lot of obstacles to get the music education that I now believe should be free.”

SJSU connected with StubHub through the 50 Fund, which provided SJSU the initial $10,000 gift. The 50 Fund is the signature philanthropic initiative of Super Bowl 50. Its goal is to help close the opportunity gap that exists for Bay Area children, youth, and young adults living in low-income communities.