BY: AYESHA KHAN
Toronto City Council has approved exploring the feasibility of the creation of a new music school to be opened at the Yorkwoods Library, as part of the library’s renovation project. The school is intended to provide free music programming for local youth, right in the heart of Jane and Finch.
This concept is nothing new to the community. Prior to this, the Regent Park School of Music had been operating out of various local spaces, providing free music lessons and programming in Jane and Finch for about 15 years. They had become so embedded in the local culture, and rooted in the neighbourhood that Jane and Finch was the only natural choice for a new home. It was also the reason behind the name change.
The Executive Director of the (now named) Community Music Schools of Toronto is a friendly man named Richard Marsella. As he shows me around the space it becomes clear how personally invested he is in these children and their learning, as well as the surrounding community. So as not to disturb the rehearsals for the evening's concert, we conduct our interview outside, under the shade of a tree at their latest home on Eddystone Avenue (in a building well known as the home of local mainstay youth organization PEACH, who they often partner with.)
“There’s a vibe going around, and I want to preserve that vibe.” Comments Marsella on the school’s roots in Jane and Finch. “Through music making we’re showing you a model of what community could be. If one child of that 20 is having a bad day, the other 19 will huddle around them.”
Marsella prides himself on direct involvement with the kids. He knows them all by name, and as such they know him as well. He comes to their weekly concerts and is always cheering at the sidelines. He is able to speak directly to the immense impact felt on the confidence and budding talent of the children.
“The impact measures best when you can see kids moving on to leadership opportunities that they may not have seen in a different perspective. We’re almost running interference in their life in a way, right?”
The school also makes a point of hosting community advisory meetings, where residents and stakeholders can raise ideas and concerns they have.
“It’s been humbling to hear ideas coming from different sources in the community where you’re like ‘yeah, we never thought of it that way, and thank you for your perspective.’” Marsella remarks on community input, which he works to create opportunities for.
The potential of a new space in Jane and Finch opens up a world of possibility for the Community Music Schools of Toronto. Not only is the location more accessible to families, but the increase in space and visibility will mean more children can be taken on to the program.
“[Pre-pandemic] we were reaching like 250 kids in the neighbourhood…we’re at about 125-150 kids now in Jane and Finch, and we’re trying to grow back to those levels. And now this new building space with Yorkwoods would get us to like 400 kids by 2028.”
After our interview, he ushers me inside to a small seating area in the back of the space. The crowd starts to build with parents trickling in and finding seats. Eventually, there are so many more chairs that have to be brought.
MC’ing is camp counsellor Simone. She welcomes the families with enthusiasm.
It is 3 pm on a sunny Friday. All of the camp faculty have a glow on their faces. The parents trickle in, each fishing for phones in their pockets to record their children's special moments. These weekly concerts do more than build confidence; they measure growth. They build community. They foster talent.
And the talent is palpable, the vibes light and low pressure. Each of the bands have come up with their own name: The Sunflower Seeds, the Nids, and the Funtastic Six.
There are kids nodding along in the audience, smiles aplenty. The familiar, feel-good anthems are flowing well.
There is a little girl named Angelica singing with her chest, in a little angel's voice as she is aptly named and with all the confidence in the world, that she is unstoppable. And I don't know anything else about her, but this I know. I believe her. She is.