A-Flat Music Studio Inc.

Here is an event for youth. On July 13, Anthony Cardenales of the book Random family will be coming to Kansas City to talk about his experience of growing up in a hopeless community where young men are addicted to drugs or trying to sell drugs until the end up in the grave or the prison. He is going to talk about his journey from prison to the corporate world in becoming a supply chain manager with people reporting to him. It's a story of the journey from hopelessness to hope. I feel that it's a story that young people need to hear. He will be coming to Jamison Memorial Temple CME on Saturday, July 13 at 11:00 am. This event is open to the public and if you have youth in your project, I think that it would do them well to attend. Call me at 816-606-9542 for more information or just show at the church at 3115 Linwood Blvd KCMO.

There were those who did not think that we would make it this far. We stayed true to the dream and stood fast. What you see today is not the completion, but it is yet part of the beginning. When the story is complete, you will look upon it and say, "Wow! Look at that!"

The Scholarship Guru - Teen Kids News Some tips on getting over some of the highest hurdles to getting a higher education from the Scholarship Guru... Carlynn Greene.

From time to time, I talk about my Idea-to-Reality Model. This is a model that I have used for a long time. It's about taking an idea and turning it into something that is real.

In 2004 I came to work for Wabtec Global Services which is a subdivision of Westinghouse Airbrake. They supply airbrake systems for 70% of the freight trains in the United States. I was asked to design an automated tester for the air compressors on the trains after they had been rebuilt. Here are my preliminary drawings and the final product. I use my Idea-to Reality Model for anything that I create. It was this same model that I used when I created The A-Flat Youth Orchestra. The Idea-to Reality Model is simple, and it goes like this:

1. Everything starts with an idea. You add imagination to an idea and an idea becomes a dream.
2. You add a focus to a dream, and a dream becomes a vision.
3. You add hard work to a vision, and a vision becomes a reality.

So when I began with the idea of forming an urban youth orchestra, this is the path that I followed.

It takes years and years to grow a tall tree. Likewise, it takes years to grow a child into an adult. If we want to have adults who are productive citizens who make a difference in their communities, we must be investing in our children now. Investing means giving our time for them, sharing our talents with them, sharing our resources with them, caring when needed; it's a lot of work.

Making the community better is not done overnight. it's an investment that takes about 18 years. If you are disappointed at what the adults did at the Kansas City Chiefs' parade, do know that the community failed those adults some 20 years ago. What you see in The A-Flat Youth Orchestra and other groups that work with children is an investment that you will see the fruit of ten or more years into the future. If the kids are not our priority, then we will see the result in about ten years. I encourage you to find a way to make kids a priority in your life.

https://aflatmusicstudio.com/Donationpage.htm

The Helzberg Hall stage at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is the most magnificent stage that Kansas City has to offer. We were humbled and honored to participate on this stage. I was told that we were the largest group to perform this year. We are still growing. Each year, our story gets more and more exciting.

Here are the instructors who make up the sections of The A-Flat Youth Orchestra. Missing are Lester Morris, and Dr. Eric Chapman and special assistant Joy Hervey.

The orchestra is taught in classes according to the section. Left to right are Ethan Kuba and Tina Bilberry who teach the three classes of the string section. Each is a master of their own area. Next is myself who teaches the brass and woodwind section along with guitar, bass, and marimba. As the director of A-Flat Music Studio, I oversee all class instructors to ensure that we are working as a team. Last on the right is Mike Tope who teaches the percussion section and creates all of those interesting sounds that you hear in the percussion section. Sometimes I write the music for the percussion section and other times I ask Mike to create something. That is because I tend to give him new students and ask him to put them to work. Not in the picture are Lester Lee Morris who teaches the beginning brass and woodwind students and Dr. Eric Chapman who has taught the brass section since 2019 but will be serving as a clinician as we move forward. Joy Hervey serves as an assistant to the cello section.

We do not do a weekly rehearsal but teach individual classes by section. We do a single mass rehearsal on the week before a performance such that the students do not get to hear what they sound like together until we do the mass rehearsal. In the individual classes we stress that they read the music properly and if they do that, the music merges seamlessly in the mass rehearsal. You be the judge as you hear the recordings that I post of the orchestra. It's amazing but it works. We have to do it this way because we are teaching the constructs and technical aspects of the music in the classes. The sound of The A-Flat Youth Orchestra is all about teamwork.

This thing that is known as The A-Flat Youth Orchestra started as an idea.

Everything starts as an idea.
You take an idea and add imagination, and an idea becomes a dream.
You take a dream and add focus, and a dream becomes a vision.
You take a vision and add hard work and a vision becomes a reality.

This is the idea to reality model that created The A-Flat Youth Orchestra. This model will work for most any project that you are involved in.

Here is a little girl who wears some big shoes. Her primary instrument is the cello and most times you can see her playing in the string section of the orchestra. However, she is also studying the flute, and can be seen at times playing in the percussion section. Many of our students are learning more than on instrument. One of the things that I am proud about our program is that we allow the students the space to grow.

https://aflatmusicstudio.com/Donationpage.htm

We got lucky this year at the Future Stages Festival. They put us on first. That allowed us to run through some of the music and do a sound test before the audience came in. That was helpful because we usually don't get to do that. In previous years, we simply walk onto the stage and start playing.

https://aflatmusicstudio.com/Donationpage.htm

It takes years and years to grow a tall tree. Likewise, it takes years to grow a child into an adult. If we want to have adults who are productive citizens who make a difference in their communities, we must be investing in our children now. Investing means giving our time for them, sharing our talents with them, sharing our resources with them, caring when needed; it's a lot of work.

Making the community better is not done overnight. it's an investment that takes about 18 years. If you are disappointed at what the adults did at the Kansas City Chiefs' parade, do know that the community failed those adults some 20 years ago. What you see in The A-Flat Youth Orchestra and other groups that work with children is an investment that you will see the fruit of ten or more years into the future. If the kids are not our priority, then we will see the result in about ten years. I encourage you to find a way to make kids a priority in your life.

https://aflatmusicstudio.com/Donationpage.htm

The little girl in the middle is learning to play the violin. I wanted her to have the experience of performing on the stage at the Kauffman Center, so I asked our percussion teacher, Mike Tope, to teach her some things that she could do in the percussion section. I explained that she could read whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes. Mike assured me that it would not be a problem. So here she is working with the percussion section. If you heard those interesting things that were happening in the percussion section on the song "Bang bang," she was a part of that. When you see us again at the Kwanzaa celebration, she will be playing the violin.

https://aflatmusicstudio.com/Donationpage.htm

This girl started playing the alto saxophone and I think that it was a couple of months ago that she came and asked me to learn to play the soprano saxophone. Whereas I had one in my stock, I told her, "sure you can." So here she is playing the soprano saxophone. She also played the alto saxophone in this performance. Many of our students learn to play more than one instrument. For those of you who donate to A-Flat Music Studio Inc. this is what your donations do.

https://aflatmusicstudio.com/Donationpage.htm

Before I began this amazing journey that would become A-Flat Music Studio, I talked to some local music teachers to get their opinion. One told me that it would not be successful because the parents would not support it. Here we are in our ninth year of operation and parent support has been a big part of our success. The students are supported by parents, grandparents, guardians, and along the way, one was a ward of the state. The support has been strong over the years. Sometimes you have to ignore negative comments as you go forward.

Music study prepares the students for the great tasks that lie ahead for them. It requires them to pay attention to detail and be focused on the task at hand. It requires them to be proactive and take the initiative to solve problems when they occur. They go on in life to do great things in whatever task that they face, and they go on to touch other lives in amazing ways.

The parents were so proud of their children and their hard work. You can see it as they gathered around to take pictures of their children. Parent support is very important to us and it have been one of the reasons for our success over the years. Take a bow parents of The A-Flat Youth Orchestra.

Yesterday was a powerful day for us. We returned to perform at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts for our sixth year! We had some new students performing on this stage for the first time and some veterans who were coming back. It was a wonderful day.

https://aflatmusicstudio.com/Donationpage.htm

It takes many years to grow a strong tall tree. That's many years of sunshine and rain. Many years of good nutrients from the soil. Ten, twenty, thirty years go by to grow a good strong tree. However, a tree that grows lacking sunshine, rain, and nutrients, may not grow tall and strong.

Likewise, it takes many years to grow a child into an adult. To get a good strong adult that is a credit to his community, it takes 18 years of positive and nurturing things. It takes 18 years of good parenting. It takes 18 years of good community support. If we invest wisely in the child, like the tree, one day we get good strong adults who make a difference for their community. If we expect good from our youth, then we must invest good in them. If we expect good from adults, we must invest in them in their youth

It takes many years to grow a strong tall tree. That's many years of sunshine and rain. Many years of good nutrients from the soil. Ten, twenty, thirty years go by to grow a good strong tree. However, a tree that grows lacking sunshine, rain, and nutrients, may not grow tall and strong.

Likewise, it takes many years to grow a child into an adult. To get a good strong adult that is a credit to his community, it takes 18 years of positive and nurturing things. It takes 18 years of good parenting. It takes 18 years of good community support. If we invest wisely in the child, like the tree, one day we get good strong adults who make a difference for their community. If we expect good from our youth, then we must invest good in them. If we expect good from adults, we must invest in them in their youth.

Come out and see The A-Flat Youth Orchestra today, June 9, at 12:00 pm. We will be on the Helzberg Hall stage of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in our sixth performance there. Come out and encourage the kids for working so hard to do something that is positive. If we don't praise them and lift them up, who will? Let your voice be heard that you support Kansas City's youth. It's worth changing your schedule for this. We will start on time, so if you are late, you will miss us.

Tomorrow, August 20, we will be taking some of the students of the A-Flat Youth Orchestra to Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church to perform with the MMBC choir in a special rendition of Richard Smallwood's Anthem of praise. Rehearsal today went very well I am excited about what's going to happen tomorrow. If you are free, come out and join in the high praise! It's going to be powerful. You don't want to miss it! The church is located at 2310 Linwood Blvd.

I think that I was about six years old when my father took me to his auto repair shop and showed me a power sander. He allowed me to hold it in my hands and feel the power of it. Then he showed me how to hold it against the fender of a car to sand the fender while he guided my hands. I felt ten feet tall. As the years would go by, I would spend a lot of time at his automobile repair shop. I learned a lot of things about automobile repair that most boys my age did not know. In fact by the age of 12, I knew a lot about automobiles that most men did not know. I could install and set ignition points properly with a feeler gauge. I knew how to use the motor manual to look up the proper setting for the motor whereas motors used different settings based on the manufacturer. I pulled my first motor when I was about 14. What my father did not know was that the things that he taught me would be used years later when I would be working with robots and automation.

My experiences in my father's repair shop guide my thoughts when I work with kids in instrumental music. I don't limit them by their age. Just as my father did for me, I let them explore anything that they want to explore. A few months ago, I shared a professional music writing program with a couple of my students. I thought that they would have fun exploring it. They have really surprised me. Last week their father sent me an email with a song that they had transcribed which was written by Mozart. This picture is what they transcribed into the program. This required some real technical thinking. These boys have a real future ahead of them.

Two of the boys also attend my weekly technology class. I don't water down the information as I teach it. I take my father's approach and show them the concepts and let their imagination do the rest. As you see the developments in the A-Flat Youth Orchestra, you are seeing a part of my father's investment in me. Sometimes you start out teaching one thing like automobile mechanics and music comes out of it

I think that I was about six years old when my father took me to his auto repair shop and showed me a power sander. He allowed me to hold it in my hands and feel the power of it. Then he showed me how to hold it against the fender of a car to sand the fender while he guided my hands. I felt ten feet tall. As the years would go by, I would spend a lot of time at his automobile repair shop. I learned a lot things about automobile repair that most boys my age did not know. In fact by the age of 12, I knew a lot about automobiles that most men did not know. I could install and set ignition points properly with a feeler gauge. I knew how to use the motor manual to look up the proper setting for the motor whereas motors used different settings based on the manufacturer. I pulled my first motor when I was about 14. What my father did not know was that the things that he taught me would be used years later when I would be working with robots and automation.

My experiences in my father's repair shop guide my thoughts when I work with kids in instrumental music. I don't limit them by their age. Just as my father did for me, I let them explore anything that they want to explore. A few months ago, I shared a professional music writing program with a couple of my students. I thought that they would have fun exploring it. They have really surprised me. Last week their father sent me an email with a song that they had transcribed which was written by Mozart. This picture is what they transcribed into the program. This required some real technical thinking. These boys have a real future ahead of them.

One of the boys also attends my weekly technology class. I don't water down the information as I teach it. I take my father's approach and show them the concepts and let their imagination do the rest. As you see the developments in the A-Flat Youth Orchestra, you are seeing a part of my father's investment in me. Sometimes you start out teaching one thing like automobile mechanics and music comes out of it.