In Friday’s (7/2) Miami Herald, Mara Rudolph writes, “Every Sunday from September through June for three years, Ryan San Juan would board the No. 54 bus in Hialeah, sheet music and clarinet in tow. One bus transfer, two Metrorail rides and nearly three hours later, he’d be in the principal clarinetist’s seat, ready for the Greater Miami Youth Symphony’s weekly practice. … The hundreds of hours spent on public transportation paid off for San Juan, who in August will join the U.S. Marine Band. … His introduction to music performance was made possible by the 51-year-old youth symphony, which has 600 students from age 5 to 19. … There is a tuition fee to join the symphony, but financial aid is made possible by grants from groups like The Children’s Trust. Many students come from families on food stamps, and about 250 of the members receive free music instruction and instruments. … Though the symphony has grown more than 300 percent in the past several years, the group has only been able to do so much during the school year since it doesn’t have the budget to rent practice space. Currently, practices are held in several venues, from Florida International University to the University of Miami.”
Posted July 2, 2010
