Musicman Magazine

Dantes Y. Rameau holds a degree in Bassoon Performance from Yale University. He played with several orchestras, but his destiny was to found the Atlanta Music Project, where he teaches bassoon to underserved children. When Dantes taught in the New Haven public school system, he realized that students had no connection to Yale. Dantes said, “I had many opportunities in Canada that these children did not have. That spearheaded my decision to do community outreach.”

In Hartford, Connecticut, Dantes recalled a student who went to an interview and was accepted. She was so shaken that she broke down in tears. But Dantes said, “I laughed my way through school because I was born seven miles north of Ottawa, Canada, and I had many opportunities for success.”

From 2005 to 2007, he was the only black student at the Yale Music Conservatory. This was during the rise of The Obamas and others, who said, “If you make it, you have to reach back and help others.”

In 2005, Dantes was one of 10 fellows in a one-year Nonprofit Management Program in Boston. He spent three months in Venezuela with conductor and violinist, Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez, founder of El Sistema USA, a nationwide movement of programs to effect social change through music for children. Ramírez directs the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera.

Dantes met Camille Love at the City of Atlanta, who identified three recreation centers for his music program. Together, they raised $30,000 from Coca Cola as seed money to hire music teachers. At the Gilbert House, five days a week from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., students learned music theory, instruments, and choir. At a community meeting, Dantes met Durand Bailey, who applied for and was hired as the Operations Manager.

Each fellow went on to run orchestras or other organizations. Dantes’ roommate was a trumpet player from Atlanta and introduced him to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Another contact, Al Myers called the fellowship office for a fellow to come to Atlanta. Myra did not provide financial support, but he connected Dantes with people who helped him incorporate the nonprofit, build a board, and get a cubicle with a computer at the symphony’s offices.

The Chief Program Director Aisha Moody is from Savannah, Georgia. Her field is Music Education, and she plays piano and clarinet. Aisha taught music at elementary schools and directed the choir, which she has done since she was 13. Unlike Dantes, she worked in Washington, D.C., where there were many resources for students from Ivy League schools. In Georgia, Aisha taught middle school in Cobb County.

Aisha heard about Dantes’ music project and from his blog, she learned that he was a fellow in El Sistema, a program she went through, also, in Venezuela, too. She envisioned an after-school program. She said learned how to organize a music program because “in the El Sistema Program, they put music first, so students emerged at a high level.”

When she got to Venezuela, she was surprised at how young choir members started. “They are far more serious. They told me that I had new levels to reach,” Aisha admitted.

When she returned to the States, she was highly qualified to lead the choir at the Gilbert House. “I contacted Dantes in 2010, and we connected. So, I taught students at his program at the Gilbert House. He had the same goals as I had, and we worked well together. I was a volunteer in the first year, then, moved into the position as Program Director.

AMP has a Holiday concert cycle, a Diaspora Festival in February, and a Spring concert series in April. Since 2013, they have offered private lessons and those students perform three times a year in a public recital. There are 35 faculty members with multiple positions.

Atlanta Music Project community center partners are South Bend Center for Arts & Culture, Perkerson Recreation Center, Utopian Academy for the Arts, Atlanta Youth Academy

Go to https://www.atlantamusicproject.org/amp-events to stay up to date with Atlanta Music Project concerts and events!