Amplifying Voices

The last three months have seen a great deal of musical activity with Walla Walla Music Organization, the music training youth advocacy program I joined mid-pandemic, teaming up with founder Rodney Outlaw and serving as a program coordinator. We continue to function as an independent organization, licensed with the State of Washington, and partner with other agencies to connect our musical passions with the growth and development of students.

We were hired by the 21st Century Learning Centers program through Walla Walla Public Schools to teach music sessions in their five-week Summer Sol day camp program, which ended July 29. We ran rhythm and percussion sessions with primary grade students; and introduced older students to a tool called “Garage Band” – a beginning level music mixing program. The software itself was almost beside the point: watching kids’ brains light up as they worked with it was the main event. Visual, auditory, kinetic, and collaborative learning modes were all in operation.

This was followed by directing Rock Camp, an annual week-long opportunity for middle and high school students to enhance music skills and experience personal growth. Rock Camp is sponsored by the Walla Walla Symphony, with many community supporters. Students collaborated on performances of diverse musical styles for the final jam concert, which was held August 5 at Washington Park in Walla Walla. Students executed the entire concert on their own. A highlight for me was working with a 14-year-old who confessed he had “stage fright” about the idea of playing in front of an audience. It turns out all he needed was the basic chord structure of the song they were working on. He took it and ran with it – working out on his own the rhythmic mojo needed to pull off a solid, clean performance with two other bandmates. The smile on his face afterward? Priceless.

This fall Garrison Middle School will serve as our base of operations as we continue to provide after school music instruction and sound mixing labs for middle and high school youth.

We are advocates of the 21st Century approach to student learning, which focuses on the four C’s: Creativity, Creative Thinking, Collaboration, and Communication. This approach engages young people on deep levels in learning how to think, as well as how to express themselves. One thing that defines 21st Century learning is the emphasis on the students' roles as active discoverers who take ownership of their experiences as they develop knowledge and skill.

Music fits this bill perfectly. Research has shown how central music is in the overall spectrum of learning. Music naturally enhances whole-brain and whole-person development. At Walla Walla Music Organization, we’re passionate about this.

Accordingly, we are ready to begin rolling out a new “arm” of our work: the “Amplify Your Voice” project. On August 9 and 10 we were invited to introduce “Amplify Your Voice” through two four-hour workshops at this year’s DO Conference for after-school program workers at Walla Walla Community College. “Amplify Your Voice” focuses on advocacy awareness for youth and instructors through the creative process to build stronger relationships with students.

Under this banner we will offer workshops, consultation, program implementation and curriculum support to school districts and other organizations across Washington State in support of youth after-school programs. We want to share how we use music to engage young people, teaching them marketable skills, connect to the needs and issues of their day-to-day lives, and empower them to find their unique voice as confident, capable persons.

For more information on WWMO visit http://www.wwmo.org or “Amplify Your Voice,” contact Rodney at routlaw@amplifyyourvoiceproject.com.