It is said that mediums of art offer a platform to transmit a message when mere words fail. It is therefore easy to imagine how musical waves can contrive to transport words or feeling straight to one’s center of the soul in a way a harangue or charismatic speech may fail to. This, in another way, highlights the importance of Soweto Theatre’s development program of conducting workshops at various schools in and around Soweto.

The Soweto Theatre has embarked on a mission to assist the development of live music to learners, ensuring that the theatre is accessible to the community, and that it also meets their development and empowerment needs.  Soweto Theatre has created a schools music outreach programme which aims to link and expose learners to different forms of music disciplines, by providing workshops to identified schools, followed by a live music performance at the school.

Having had renowned artists like Tshedi Mholo, Nothende and The Muffinz facilitate the workshops at different schools in previous months, SATMA winner Nathi Bantu will be this month’s musical tutor at Naledi High School ahead of his own musical performance at Soweto theatre on the 30th of this month.

From the 27th to the 29th of September, Nathi will go through several techniques to help Naledi High pupils of the age 14 to 16 years of age to prepare them for the last day of the workshop wherein the school will host a mini concert to allow their pupils to showcase what they have learned in the three days. “What will happen is that there will be a theme under which the program will be run on the days. So it will be structured under the theme ‘Making of A Hit Song’ which will see us take them firstly through an ‘ice-breaker’ with 5 minutes of theatre exercises, and then we will proceed to the song.

A song obviously comes first with an idea or a message. So we will structure the music accordingly, where will talk about the verse, chorus and ending of the song.” What will be important to Nathi Bantu, however, will be originality from the students. “We will need to check if they will have their own sound or original music and then from there the onus will be on me to develop the sound to the hit track. “They will also have the chance to choose a song from one of my own that I will offer to them,” He remarked. Joburg Post also spoke to the head of Youth & Community Development at Soweto Theatre, Khosi Hlatshwayo, who laid out the origins of the program.

“The program is not a new one, it has been running since 2010 in what was a partnership between Roodepoort Theatre and Pro Musica, but when Soweto Theatre was built, it moved to the township since majority of the students were form Soweto.” With the ultimate goal of creating a Soweto Theatre Orchestra, the aim is to recruit interested students into the program.

“Essentially we are building a Soweto theatre Orchestra through this program. After the workshops we ask the learners who are keen on participating and learning further in music to join us,” said Hlatshwayo “With our learning program in music, we want to make it a complete package. We want to do away with the idea that if you do not go to music school you cannot have a complete package. So we take them in, develop them and then we have them write exams with the University of South Africa for accreditation. From there on they graduate and then they can join the Orchestra, with which we wish to expose them to further musical opportunities.”

For more information about the Music Tutorial Programme and how to get your school involved, please contact: Khosi Hlatshwayo (Community and Audience Development Manager) Or Call 011 930 7461/071 551 0720