Immanuel
Music School has had 108 students during 2013. 39 of the children have been
learning violin and piano through Immanuel Day Nursery (kindergarten). For the
older students coming to lessons after school in the afternoons and evenings,
21 of them come from the area close to Home of Praise and 48 students got their
first music lessons in Immanuel Church. 19 of the students learning music after
school started to play violin in Immanuel Day Nursery.
Many of the
108 students in Immanuel Music School have been very eager to come to lessons,
orchestra rehearsals and helping out teaching their friends and younger
children:
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| Immanuel Day Nursery Orchestra |
16 of the
students have come between 92-201 times during 2013 (2-4 times a week).
29 of the
students have come between 37-86 times during 2013 (1-2 times a week).
29 of the
students have come between 20-33 times during 2013.
23 of the
students have come between 10-19 times (too little to make much progress)
The ones
coming to lessons less than 10 times (around 30 students) are not counted as
members.
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| Solveig and violin students at HOP |
Many of the
students in Immanuel Music School seems to feel like home when they come to
Immanuel Church or Home of Praise so they also join other activities there like
English, computer and art lessons, BB (Boys brigade), camps and Sunday school.
23 of the students in Immanuel Music School are baptised.
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| Drums donated by Bangkok Patana School |
The age of
the students in Immanuel Music School range from 3-21 years old. At the end of
2013, 8 were grownups/students, 7 were High School students, 20 were Secondary
School students, 42 were Primary School students and 31 were kindergarten
students.
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| Music lesson in kindergarten |
Immanuel
Music School offer individual lessons in violin, viola, cello, guitar and
piano. The students can also join several ensembles depending of their age and
level of playing. We have Immanuel Chamber orchestra (8 musicians), Immanuel
String Orchestra (20 musicians), Immanuel Junior Orchestra (10 musicians),
Immanuel Suzuki Orchestra 13 musicians), Home of Praise Junior Orchestra (8
musicians), Home of Praise Suzuki Orchestra (7 musicians), Immanuel Day Nursery
Orchestra (15 musicians) and Immauel band. In addition to this, the Day Nursery
children 3-6 years old also get classroom lessons containing singing, sol-fa,
music theory and fine motoric skills preparing the children to play an
instrument. (The children only receiving these lessons and not yet playing an
instrument are not included in the 108 members of the Music School.)
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| Immanuel International Choir |
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| Thai Music in Home of Praise |
As projects
part of the year 2013, we also have had Immanuel International Choir with
performances during Easter and Christmas time, Home of Praise Children Choir,
Home of Praise Thai Music Course four days during summer holiday and Thai dance
at special occasions.
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| Reehpaw Saenthawidet (Fiw) |
Immanuel
Music School has had one scholarship student during 2013, Reehpaw Saenthawidet
(Fiw), learning, living and working in Immanuel/Home of Praise. He gets 1-2
piano lessons a week, joins different orchestras, choir and band, learns Thai
Music once a week at LST (Luther Seminary of Thailand) and gets a little bit of
money so he can live here in Bangkok. In return, he helps to teach piano and
cello in the Music School and plays/accompanies the piano in Immanuel Church,
at LST and in Day nursery. Beside the work and music studies, he also is about
to complete his high school through the non-formal Education Department. Fiw
comes from a small Lahu village in Chiang Rai. His family is very poor. Fiw
really wanted to learn to play piano, but he did not have any possibility to do
so before he came to us.
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| Varin Artvilai (Ton) |
Solveig
Meling Johannessen is the leader of Immanuel Music School. She is the one
teaching most of the individual lessons and small groups. She also organizes and
takes care of the economy.
Varin
Artvilai (Ton) is the conductor of Immanuel String Orchestra and he teaches
individual lessons for the violinists in the orchestra about two hours per week.
Ton was earlier a student in Immanuel Music School, but is now last year
student at Mahidol University (Bachelor performing violin).
Dag
Johannessen is the choir conductor and orchestra conductor for special
occasions. Dag is also working to establish local funding for the running of
the music school.
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| Kiattisak Boonman (Man) |
Kiattisak Boonman (Man) is a youth worker at the community centre Home
of Praise. He teaches guitar and other band-instruments and was leading
the Home of Praise Children Choir before Christmas.
Once a week until April we had a Korean volunteer violin teacher named
Jiui Hong (Kru Lin). Ragnhild Danbolt Øygard taught for 4 weeks in
October as part of her study internship and Asiratsit Wilalai (Pae) held a 4 days
course in Thai music at Home of Praise in April 2013.
Even more important is the peer to peer teaching. Several of the
students in Immanuel Music school help out by teaching friends and younger
students.
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| String festival at Bangkok Patana School |
For several years Immanuel Music School has cooperated with
international schools in Bangkok, especially Bangkok Patana School which has
also donated several instruments to the Immanuel Music School. In 2013 Immanuel
Music School attended 2 orchestra-Festivals together with international School
Orchestras, one at International School of Bangkok (ISB) and one at Bangkok
Patana School.
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| Immanuel Chamber Orchestra |
