It’s a chilly Sunday afternoon at Morris Isaacson high school in Soweto. But nobody is complaining about the cold.
They’re too busy grooving to a pumped-up version of Meadowlands — played by a group of young classical violinists. Parents, teachers and learners have gathered to celebrate the opening of the Cape Gate MIAGI Centre for Music: the first such centre in Soweto.
The name MIAGI might sound foreign, but it stands for a homegrown South African initiative: Music is a great investment. Established in 2001, with support from the Department of Arts and Culture, the organisation aims to bring music education to young people — especially those who live in rural, or disadvantaged communities.
MIAGI’s Soweto partners are the Wesson School of Music in Pimville, and the African Youth Ensemble. The new centre will teach keyboard, guitar, marimba, and singing to Morris Isaacson students. It will also provide a space for community-based music initiatives.
“We are extremely grateful for such a place,” said the school’s principal, Elias Mashile, in his welcome speech. Mashile hopes that the centre will offer young people in the township an alternative to drugs and crime.
MIAGI’s director, Robert Brooks, played an important role in building the centre. He believes that music is the heartbeat of African culture. “There’s a pool of talent that needs to emerge from the townships,” he says, pointing to the African Youth Ensemble who are jiving and jazzing on stage.
Kolwane Mantu, a music teacher who works closely with the Ensemble, says it’s not just about show-casing talent. He believes that music develops life skills. Both his daughters study violin. “I’ve noticed that ever since they started playing they’ve become good listeners,” he says.
Katlego Mekgoe (18) juggles her matric studies with music classes. Her school mates tease her for playing violin, but she doesn’t mind. “They call me ‘cheese girl’!” she giggles. The phrase is township slang for someone with “white” suburban aspirations.
Mekgoe says that music education has helped her to overcome challenges at school — especially with her “worst subject”: economic management science. She now applies the mantra: “practice makes perfect” to her academic studies. And it works. “I’ve learned that to be good at anything you have to give it your best,” she explains.
Scientists have long recognised the links between maths and music. The 17th-century German philosopher, Gottfried Liebniz, described music as “the pleasure the human soul experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting”.
Derek Fish, director of the science centre at the University of Zululand, takes it a step further. He believes music can inject creativity into the teaching of mathematics, because both involve problem-solving. “Musical notes, and things like pitch, are also quite mathematical,” he adds.
In September, the centre will open a special unit to stimulate children’s scientific and mathematical abilities by teaching them to play musical instruments. It will be the first initiative of its kind in Africa. Back at the MIAGI launch, professional violinist, Lebo Thabethe, describes how music has opened him up to a “whole new world”. Soweto-born Thabethe plays with the Gauteng National Youth Orchestra.
People in his community call him “Desperado” — a joking reference to a popular movie villain who carries his gun in a guitar case. Thabethe has become something of a celebrity, and children often stop him in the street to find out how they too can study music.