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Partnerships
spacer190.gif (71 bytes)Because of these exchanges, the teachers demand more of themselves too, not only as teachers but as players. Violinist Nicole Garcia, who teaches at Bursch Elementary, says that after three years of teaching in the Partnership Program, she is "a little more emotional in my own playing, knowing that these kids look up to me. When they see me play, they’re kind of drawn in to ‘wow, I wanna be like you.’ I have to keep that going by practicing myself."

Clarinet player Marla Mason has experienced being both a Partnership Program student and teacher. "I feel like I’m giving back, because I’ve received some training from this program when I was at Washington High School," she says. "I know it helped me. I had regular band but no particular attention for just me, so it was good to have a teacher who studied specifically my instrument and could teach me things about my instrument."

This individual attention not only helps students improve musically, it allows teachers and students to connect on a personal level. Brian Switzer, who teaches at both Bursch and Washington Prep, says his music teachers have become his good friends. "That’s what, when I

  teach, I try and be with my kids, a friend who they can look up to. I think for a lot of these kids, especially the young ones, to see a young male who obviously cares about everything, whether they play the trombone well or whether they say, ‘Brian, you like my new shoes?’ — that is as important as them being able to play the horn."

Ultimately it is these personal connections that have the most important impact on Music Partnership Program participants. "You get so bombarded with slogans — ‘Stay in School,’ ‘Don't Do Drugs.’ They pass out bumper stickers. But this program is a program that actually touches kids," Pullum says. "They need to be armed with skills, not a slogan that they can regurgitate when they have the pressures of a gang or drugs. They need real opportunities to be successful. This program is the only program I know that actually comes in and touches the kids in the community."

It touches the larger community as well. "A great university ought to be more than just a research institution. A great university needs to be impacting the community, and by the community I don’t necessarily mean Westwood

  or Bel Air or Beverly Hills, I mean the  community at large that needs the impact," Robertson says. "That’s what I’ve hoped our department speaks to, not only excellent training but gaining that consciousness that there is a world out there. In fact it’s the world that these kids are going to graduate into, so if they can help to make it better, then they’re helping themselves, in a way."
Left to Right: Michael Sheridan, Washington Prep, and Kendra Shorts, UCLA