About Us

Our mission is to use the power of music to inspire, educate, and connect children and communities. We envision a world in which all people have access to the transformative experience of making music together.

CONNECTING COMMUNITIES THROUGH MUSIC

S’Cool Sounds (SCS) provides hands-on music instruction for K-12 children through classroom teaching, after school programs, and community events. S’Cool Sounds maintains on-going relationships with over 30 New York City public schools and partnerships with schools and community centers abroad. SCS also offers professional development and school workshops around the country and overseas.

SCS programs emphasize cross-cultural musical training within an ensemble setting. Students learn to play recorders, percussion, ukulele, and violin, quickly coming together into vibrantly functioning musical ensembles that remain accessible to any level of training. Montessori and Orff Schulwerk music expert Matilda Giampietro works with SCS Teaching Artists to develop a flexible curriculum that utilizes Artistic Director Nina Stern's “Recorders Without Borders” method as well as proven techniques for cultivating students’ music literacy— including songs, dances, and singing games that integrate physical, aural, and language skills.

Teaching materials focus on regional and world music, with elementary-aged students learning to play Afro-Cuban rhythms, African children’s songs, or a Swedish midsummer festival song as part of an eclectic variety of pieces. Singing and vocal arts are also central to SCS programs. These materials also act as a primary gateway through which students explore musical resources, develop critical responses, and gain cultural sensitivity. As part of its cross-cultural focus and commitment to joyous community building, S’Cool Sounds works with several local humanitarian organizations to connect children through the experience of music-making in communities across their world. Exchanges between SCS students in New York City, Jordan, Burundi, and Kenya have proven to positively affect student motivation and learning.

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OUR STORY

S'Cool Sounds was founded early in 2002 out of a desire to share the joy of music-making with NYC children. Since graduating music conservatory, I had always enjoyed opportunities to teach aspiring young professionals as well as communicate with and connect to audiences. The richness of my own experiences, however, magnified a painful awareness that many children in my community faced barriers to accessing their own musical voices. The process of learning to play an instrument far transcends the music it generates, with gains in self-expression, connectivity, and creativity that literally impact a lifetime. I founded S'Cool Sounds so that I could share this transformative experience with the children of my community.

Now in its twenty-first year, S'Cool Sounds was first established as a pilot program at The Ella Baker School, a public school in New York City. By 2003, the program was already featured by Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post in an article highlighting philosophies and techniques of innovative teachers. One of my favorite quotes from that article was from then nine-year-old Nyja Poe who said, “This music helps me express my feelings. I thought I couldn’t play the recorder - now I know I can, and if I can play the recorder, I can play almost any instrument. And I can learn other new things, too.” Since then, S’Cool Sounds has reached tens of thousands of local students and currently provides hands-on weekly musical instruction to thousands of children throughout New York City.

The cross-cultural focus of S’Cool Sounds found a natural expansion in 2010, when I was invited by a local humanitarian organization to introduce the SCS music program to children living in the Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi. Here I again witnessed the transformative power of music – this time watching it lift spirits and change lives in the largest informal settlement in Africa. Today, S’Cool Sounds programs have been implemented in six schools in Kibera, including three that have sent performing groups to the Kenyan National Music Competition. One school returned home with first prize in 2016, 2017, 2018 and again in 2019. Those kids are so proud! In recent years we’ve also developed partnerships with a health organization in Burundi and an organization serving Syrian Refugees in Jordan. Connections abroad uniquely complement SCS activities back at home creating a meaningful exchange between our communities – here in NYC our students have made recorder cases for refugee children in Jordan and learned traditional Kenyan beats from our community in Kibera. Fourth-grade Jamzeed Jossain got to the heart of what we’re doing when he said of our transnational friends, “We play the same song.”

In 2016 S’Cool Sounds became an independent non-profit organization reaffirming our dedication to expressive communication, mutual respect, and global awareness through musical training for children and adults who lack access to arts education. What began as a vision is now a community that believes in social connectedness, in stimulating creativity and imagination, and in giving the gift of music. By making music together we tell our stories and listen closely to the stories of people around us and far away – communicating and connecting in a way that is more important than ever.

Nina Stern