TGE Supports Kiambu Music Program

The Giving Exchange will be supporting music programs in seven public schools in Kiambu county, Kenya in 2019. Most public schools in this area cannot afford instruments and instructors to teach music studies to their students. By providing instruments, instructors, and a safe academic environment, The Giving Exchange along with The Kenyan Conservatoire of Music, are giving children in the community the opportunity to explore a musical education and develop new skills.

Music is known to have many educational benefits for the developing brain, including exercising different parts of the brain, shaping young minds, and improving students' ability to retain factual information.

Studies have found significant correlations between language and music-related skills. According to results from the Harmony Project, after three years of music education District Officials found a dramatic increase in test scores “…a 61% increase in reading and 54% increase in math proficiency among Harmony students, compared with non-Harmony same-school peers.” In addition to the educational benefits music will bring to the students of Kiambu, a new music program will also increase interest in attending class. The learning experience will be more exciting because many of the students have never been exposed to instruments and music learning. The students will have the opportunity to explore new skills and talents they never knew they possessed.

The Giving Exchange aims to provide various instruments to the school children, from violins and guitars to pianos, drums, flutes, saxophones, clarinets, microphones and more. Each class in the seven schools will be encouraged to form a band to participate in interclass competitions. The top band from each school will also compete against bands from other schools. The goal of the program is to foster new practice and study techniques in the students’ routines and allow the children to explore opportunities for development. The Kiambu Music Program will first be introduced to seven public primary schools with approximately 600 students per school. This program intends to benefit more than 4,000 Kenyan students each year.

Projects such as the Kiambu Music Program provide much-needed resources to communities that would otherwise not be able to afford the needed equipment. Supplying the schools with musical instruments creates a sustainable music program as the schools will be able to maintain the equipment and keep using it for many years to come. The Giving Exchange is grateful for all of the support it receives from donors like you who make programs such as this possible.