Mission

Musikiwest’s mission is to harness the collaborative power of chamber music to engender empathic awareness, promote conflict resolution and build peaceable communities, so that these lessons may extend to youth, their peers and family. The musicians demonstrate how the careful process of concert preparation reveals how necessary conflict resolution and positive collaboration are, and how these are universal and essential for any community. The final concert reflects these efforts to create a harmonious performance.

The Big Idea

Using a scripted dialogue, Musikiwest’s artists will engage local middle grades and HS students in conflict resolution activities. The musicians address negative social behaviors such as bullying, intimidation, exclusion, resentment and shaming. These undermine youth’s relationships with one another. The musicians will also perform a recital for the students to demonstrate how harmonious communications are essential for collaborative endeavors.

Students will recognize the positive and negative impacts of gestures, facial expressions and body language as they identify sources of discord among the scripted artists. Students and artists will enact solutions to create more harmonious outcomes, which will be reflected in the chamber music recital. The students learn that peaceful conflict resolution may extend from each student to their peers, teachers and family. Musikiwest’s program is unique to music education and to students and teachers in our county

Musikiwest’s performance and interactive demonstration was two fold for my Seaside HS students. They not only got to hear the technique, sound quality, and musicianship of professional musicians from all over the country, but experience and understand how to problem solve and communicate positively in rehearsals, practice sessions, and group activities. After their performance, the students were more engaged in the rehearsal process, offering constructive suggestions to each other and the group, and were notably kinder to themselves and others. Musikiwest is a powerful tool for our Seaside community. It is important that students witness professional music take place in their own community, proving to them that they have a spot at the table if they wish to continue their music studies, or even enjoy it as they continue their journey”

- Jess Baudot