JOY is a kindergartener playing the violin.

JOY wrapped up the 2022/2023 school year on a high note! Concerts for supporters, families and friends were held to celebrate what we have learned and look at where we are headed. Students in kindergarten programs highlighted their posture, rest position, playing position, rhythm, bow holds, plucking and even put bows on strings. Older students prepared pieces from the past year to share, and our exiting 5^th graders gave a concert highlighting their favorite pieces from the past six years. Such a fun way to review not only this year, but the JOY Program!

JOY took our annual summer break but returned with renewed energy in August for JOY Summer Camp. JOY instructors welcomed 30 students entering grades 3 through 5 in our Edwards Elementary program to attend a two-week day camp. They had the opportunity to work in smaller groups with four of our JOY teaching artists daily, focusing on their theme of learning traditional folk songs. In week two, they had an opportunity to work with professional musicians from the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival. Students enjoyed working with the artists and later had the opportunity to perform with them at a reception for Yamhill Enrichment Society supporters and families hosted by one of our supporters, Stoller Family Estate. It was a whirlwind and students really had the opportunity to shine.

In addition to the summer school activities, JOY also welcomed our new Program Director, Amy Brunner. Amy relocated to Yamhill Couty from Bend, where she directed the Central Oregon Youth Orchestra as well as the Pilot Butte Middle School and Bend Senior High School orchestra and choir director. Additionally, Amy has an administrative license with the state of Oregon. We are very excited to have Amy join YES to lead the JOY Team!

We are now busy with last-minute planning, working with district teachers, and finalizing preparations for the beginning of the school year. As I sit writing this, three JOY teachers are hard at work in our office with tissue boxes, tape, paint sticks, and craft paper to build more than 70 box violins for our new JOY schools. JOY is launching at Grandhaven and Wascher Elementary in McMinnville and Crater Elementary in Newberg. JOY kindergarten students will be provided box violins that will stay at the school and will be shared with multiple classrooms for the year. These will be used until kindergarten students are ready for their perfectly sized violins later this winter.

 JOY is ready for fall kickoff for the 2023/2024 school year!

The JOY students have been actively out in the greater Oregon Community this spring, sharing JOY with supporters, legislatures, family, and friends. We are making connections and sharing the talents of the youth in the JOY program. During the past few months, students were invited to perform in Salem for an Oregon Community Foundation event and have held concerts at their home schools. We even had to turn down a request for a performance due to scheduling issues. JOY is out in the community in force and gaining recognition!

Our kindergarten groups in both Newberg and McMinnville received their violins in late February and have been working hard to transition from box violins to the real instrument. It is a huge adjustment, but we are seeing that they are mastering it. Recently, the kinder students at Edwards Elementary shared their skills with family and friends at their first concert. It was magical! They were joined by first-grade students and were able to show off their proficiency in rest position, ready position, and playing position. They demonstrated plucking various rhythm patterns and their knowledge of the different strings. They ended the eve with a short song. Parents, friends, and district administrators were all impressed with how far the students have come. McMinnville students will be having their kinder concerts in the next few weeks. If you have not had a chance to do so, I encourage you to follow Yamhill Enrichment Society on social media for pictures and updates of concerts and events. We would love for you to catch one of the concerts in person.

As we have noted in prior updates this year, this is a big year for the JOY program. We are preparing to say goodbye to our inaugural group from Edwards Elementary. This spring they forecasted their schedules for the coming year, met with the orchestra teachers at their new schools and are finalizing preparations to move on. In March, these students joined the middle school and high school students for a joint Spring String Fling concert. It was a hit! They shared a few pieces they had been working on in front of a crowd of parents and musicians. The night wrapped up with a joint performance from all three groups. We have two final concerts in the next few weeks and then we will say our “See you later” to these amazingly talented students.

Spring finds us preparing to usher in the next group of young musicians to the program. Over the past two months we have met with administrators and district staff in both Newberg and McMinnville to solidify expansion plans for the 2023/24 school year. We are moving forward with a true doubling of the program, going from three schools this past year to six this coming fall. We are in the process of assessing, hiring, and preparing for this exciting expansion.

Thank you for your continued support of the JOY program. We could not have come this far without you.

Joyfully,

Links:

• YES Website
• YES Facebook

Hello Friends of JOY!

I would like to introduce myself to you, I am the new Executive Director of Yamhill Enrichment Society, the organization that manages the JOY program. Funding for this position was provided by a generous grant from The Murdock Trust. While I am new to the program, I bring a lifelong love of music, a history of working in the education field, and am looking forward to adding my business background to the mix.  I am very excited to be a part of YES and JOY.

JOY has experienced some changes in the last few months, but we have also been embracing this opportunity for growth and expansion. Recently, Danielle Howard Dye resigned from her position as Program Director for the JOY program, we are assessing our needs moving forward.

JOY has experienced tremendous growth over the last five years, going from operating our program in one elementary school in Newberg Oregon with the first set of kindergartners to now operating in 3 schools within Yamhill County and serving almost 400 students.

Our biggest highlight this past fall is the successful launch at our two newest schools, Buel and Newby Elementaries in the McMinnville School District. We welcomed 150 new students to our program with 4 additional classes of Kindergartners through this expansion.  We are very excited to continue the growth in these additional schools, adding grade levels each year as the initial enrollees move through the school and new Kindergartners join in. Even though these are fresh to the program, the students from Newby were invited to perform on their box violins for the McMinnville School Board during a recent school board meeting. The Principal of Newby, Erika Nesvig, gave a warm introduction to the JOY program and then invited the students along with their teachers to sing songs about bow and violin positions, parts of the instrument and share what they have learned in the program so far. The students were a huge hit. Attendees delighted in the show and marveled with how far the students have come these first few months. 

This fall, all Kindergarten students have been working hard to learn posture, instrument care, bow holds, and more on tissue box violins. The students have now been sized, violins have been ordered and those kindergartners are anticipating their real violins’ arrival in the next week or two. Such an exciting time to be a JOY student! We were recently asked if kindergarteners play on adult sized violins. The answer is no, these kindergartners will be playing on 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, and ¼ sized violins for the first few years.

In December, our 2^nd through 4^th grade students from Newberg performed a wonderful holiday concert for the community, with a special guest conductor at the end of the evening. Santa joined in on the last song, and then visited with the students after the concert. Even with the cold, crisp evening air, it was a wonderful event and a great opportunity to share JOY with the community. We are looking forward to a few more concerts this spring.

In addition to new students, we have welcomed a new teaching artist to our program. Please join me in welcoming Robin Pederson. Robin is not new to the JOY program; she served on our board and helped to establish JOY in Yamhill County. We are excited to have Robin back as both a board member and a teaching artist.

Thank you for your ongoing support of JOY. It is only with your supprt that we have been able to reach so many students over the past five years. We are excited to continue to grow the program and welcome many more students. If you have not already done so, please sign up to give recurring donations through GlobalGiving on our project page “JOY is a Kindergartener Playing the Violin.”

Hello Friends of JOY!

So many new and exciting changes and growth has come to the Junior Orchestra of Yamhill County over the summer and into the start of our fifth back-to-school season. Read on to hear more!

• The end of last school year marked some changes at our Edwards site. Janis Dodson, who taught music at Edwards and brought JOY to life in our first two years, retired from teaching. After my hire as Program Director in 2019, Janis stepped back from the JOY Steering Committee but continued to be an advocate and enthusiastic supporter of the program. I and the JOY team are so incredibly thankful for the work that Janis has done for JOY and the sage advice she provided us in our first four years. Thank you Janis!

• This past August also saw our long-time Edwards Site Director Julia Pridvaka’s departure after 5 years of building the JOY community at Edwards. Julia was hired in 2017, and with Janis Dodson built the foundation of the JOY K/1 Program and Curriculum. Julia and myself also have worked a lot together these last three years in building the after-school orchestra, weathering the storm of COVID-19, and bringing JOY back to the Edwards campus. Julia unfortunately developed health issues over the summer, and had to step down from her position to heal and address these needs. I am so grateful to have worked with Julia and will indeed miss working with her each day to make JOY happen at Edwards and her deep connection to each child and family who comes to JOY! She will be greatly missed.

• While marking this year as our Fifth Anniversary, this also marks our first year of serving all grades K-5 at Edwards Elementary! At Edwards we have a K/1 violin program that meets during the school day and an After-School Orchestra open to students in grades 2-5. Our After-School Orchestra enrollment has also reached a record 110 students enrolled this year, and we have an estimated 150 Kindergarten and First grade students we see during the school day each week!

• Over the summer, JOY and McMinnville Schools signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to formalize a working partnership to bring JOY to Newby and Sue Buel Elementary Schools in McMinnville. This fall now marks the first year of JOY In-School Kindergarten programming to both elementary schools, and we are excited about developing this working partnership with each school’s music teachers and administrators!

• With the new changes in our programs, we have hired on two new instructors: Sara Heyen will join our Edwards teaching team and step in as our new Edwards Site Director. She will teach K/1 violin in the early afternoons during the school day and be lead teacher for our After-School program. Comfort Smith, newly hired violinist for the Vancouver Symphony and trained Suzuki teacher, will be teaching Kindergarten violin at Buel Elementary with music teacher Debbie Chiovaro. We’re so lucky to bring these ladies on to the JOY team!

• JOY continues to search for a Kindergarten violin instructor at Newby Elementary and an additional teaching artist to support the After-School Orchestra at Edwards. While job postings aren’t live yet, we do appreciate any leads for qualified instructors to join our team!

As we start our fifth back-to-school season, I reflect with gratitude on the people who have come before me to bring JOY to Yamhill County. I also express gratitude for those who have come and gone, those who are just joining us on this journey, and those who continue to stick with us as we grow and change each year. Thank you all for your support of JOY! Every little bit counts. 

If you haven’t already, please sign up to give recurring donations through GlobalGiving on our project page “JOY is a Kindergartener Playing the Violin.”

With JOY,

Danielle Howard Dye

Links:

• 30 second Promo Clip- JOY
• Official JOY Promotional Video (5 minutes)

Hello Friends of JOY!

Since I last gave an update, JOY has hit some major milestones and has made progress towards attaining our New Year’s resolutions for program expansion in 2022. I’m very excited to give you a brief overview of what has happened!

• JOY @ Edwards had their first annual Spring String Festival at George Fox’s own Bauman Auditorium on April 15. This was the first major concert event that JOY has put on since our inception in 2017, and held special meaning especially after the last couple years of the pandemic. This concert featured all students from the After-School program and our friends from the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival (WVCMF): Sasha Callahan, Leo Eguchi, and Charles Noble. Each group got to play a short set of music during the concert and we concluded the night with a combined performance of the round “O My Love.” WVCMF taught our kids the round in rehearsals both on zoom and in-person leading up to the concert as part of their visit. It was a truly special night where everyone left feeling positive, reinvigorated, and more unified. 

• JOY has released our new promotional video series on YES’s Vimeo channel! Myself and my good friend and talented filmmaker Ty Cayatineto have been working on this project for well over a year to develop 3 videos to help educate and promote awareness of the JOY project and its impact in Newberg to the general public and to community and school leaders. This project was made possible with matching funds from the Yamhill County Cultural Coalition (YCCC). Links to view these videos can be found below.

• Based on initial forecasting, we have had about 62 new Edwards students express interest in enrolling in our After-School program this fall. Compared to our current enrollment of 55 students across three ensembles, that is well over double our enrollment and the largest turn out in JOY’s 5-year history! Next year will also mark our first year where JOY will serve all grades K-5 at Edwards in both our K/1 In-School violin program and After-School orchestra. 

• Beyond Edwards, JOY is in talks with both Ewing Young and Antonia Crater Elementary schools in Newberg about the possibilities of JOY in their schools this academic year. We initially pursued Joan Austin Elementary in January and February, but it became clear that it would make more sense to revisit that possibility at another time. 

• JOY has found enthusiastic support for bringing the program to McMinnville schools! While many current and incoming teachers and admin in MSD elementary schools want a JOY program at their school (including the likes of Wascher, Memorial, and Newby), JOY is exploring Sue Buel Elementary first and will have MSD administrator Davey Alltree and Sue Buel music teacher Debbie Chiavaro visit our K/1 program at Edwards Elementary this week to meet current JOY staff and get a glimpse of how the program works during the school day. Once approved, JOY aims to secure funding to cover needs for the new site, which would cover instruments, supplies for box violins, hiring a contracted Teaching Artist, music, and other related costs.**

**As part of our pending approval in Mac schools, individual elementary schools not only need support from their music specialist and school admin to operate, but need upper administration approval to agree to a 6-year strategic plan that the district will hire a strings teacher at the Middle School level with JOY and YES. The fact that JOY is finding support so far given a much more intensive obligation on the district’s end is a step in the right direction for JOY and for music education in Yamhill County!

The push to expand our offerings has come from increased, enthusiastic support on all levels: from families of current students, friends, administrators, teachers, and partners in the community. I have also seen more inquiries in recent months from community members in Newberg outside of Edwards expressing interest in JOY for their kids, which makes the work we’ve done with Edwards these last almost 5 years all the more validating and all the more needed beyond our one site.

As always, dear friend of JOY, thank you for your ongoing support of our project! If you haven’t already, please sign up to give recurring donations through GlobalGiving on our project page “JOY is a Kindergartener Playing the Violin.” Included below, in lieu of photos, are links to JOY’s new promotional video series as well as a recording of our Spring String Festival at Bauman Auditorium. 

With a JOY-ful Heart,

Danielle Howard Dye

Links:

• OFFICIAL: JOY Promotional Video (5 minutes)
• Click to view JOY's Spring String Festival Concert Recording!
• OFFICIAL: JOY Promotional Clip "What makes JOY great?" (30s)