David and his Growing Sound music will feel right at home in Mamelodi, which translates to “Mother of Melodies” and because of its tremendous history of contributions to jazz.   David’s song One World also captures the theme of well-known township song, Mamelodi Melodies, “For the shine that glows on your face; for the melenin that origins trace; for the color of all melodies face; trinity for all my equal people takes over the space.”

In addition to the Youth Day concert, David will be visiting schools, making music with children, providing music lessons and exploring ways in which Growing Sound and its resilience curriculum could benefit the children of Mamelodi and other South African townships.  David will be bringing the children penny whistles and harmonicas, as gifts from the children enrolled in Children, Inc.’s centers in Northern Kentucky.

The risk factors are very real for Mamelodi’s children with HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty taking their toll on the community.  These make the Songs of Resilience’s internal protective factors of attachment, initiative and self-control very important to the children of Mamelodi in coping with these serious stressors.  The joy of music and soccer are wonderful antidotes to poverty and illness.

We are very grateful to have the opportunity to bring the music of Growing Sound to the children of Mamelodi.  You can travel along with David via his daily blogs from Mamelodi on this site.  Also, if you would like to contribute a penny whistle ($5), harmonica ($10) or keyboard ($75) to the children, please contact sheila@childreninc.org.  Join Children Inc. in wishing David Bon Voyage and wishing the children of Mamelodi the beautiful music of hope.

Tom Lottman
Director
Growing Sound

The idea for this song came from the use of a rubber band in teaching Resilience Theory by the Devereux Early Childhood Initiative instructors. They explain that although we can’t always know what adversity children may face in the future, we can give them internal tools of resilience to bounce back from whatever occurs. Building resilience in children is critical, and resilience can (and should) be taught. The rubber band is a great physical representation of these internal protective factors.

So, I got a bunch of rubber bands of different sizes and started stretching them over card board boxes and plastic containers to see what sounds I could create. I strummed, plucked, slapped, stretched, plucked and stretched at the same time, etc., until I found sounds that I liked, and then headed to the recording studio. The result is the recording of I Am a Rubber Band on the Songs of Confidence CD.

The first phrase that came to mind was, “Hey, Jack, I bounce back.” I started there with the lyric and went through as many examples as I could of how a rubber band resembles a resilient child’s ability to cope with all that life brings. The result is fun filled frolic that ends with Jack and Jill fixing the water can with, you guessed it, a rubber band.

When listening to the song, it might be fun to stretch a few rubber bands over whatever you can find and play along.