Getting to know them... A Little!

Over and over you have heard us thank our mentors. Usually people assume that we are talking about our own personal mentors that guide us and help us grow. We are actually talking about a special group of teenagers. These teens have given up countless hours to help us run Cub Club Samba. They would come in every week, whether it was Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. They would show up to many of the performances and join us. They helped with homework, create out door games, and built friendships with not just our kids but us too. We had what we called the Tuesday “Crew”, the Wednesday “Crew” and Jonah the Thursday “Crew”.

Every Tuesday for the past several months we were joined by: Jonah Grant, Hannah Birch, and Noah Perry

Mr. Jonah: Senior at Tucson High, Advanced Steel drum and most Importantly the President of Jovert. Jonah enjoys likes walks in the park… Jonah.. or Mr. Jonah as he likes to be called, is a very dedicated rock climber. He brought a lot of laughter to our program. He helped recruit others to mentor. He is a banana eating machine. Hahaha when Jonah first started mentoring he was very shy. We really don’t understand why he was because once he came out of shell we couldn’t shut him up. Jk Jonah

Hannah Birch: Senior at Tucson High, Advanced Steel drum and Vice President of Jovert and most importantly Jonahs BFF and right hand “woman”. Loves her cat!! Don’t let the quiet shy girl she puts off fool you though. She is funny, outgoing and a free spirit. Our dedicated #3 player brightened up our day with her big smile. Our girls just loved her!

Noah: Senior at Tucson High, Advanced Steel Drum.. and Most importantly the guy with the shorts, hair and cool shades, joined us later in the year (after a guilt trip from lupe hahaha) jumped right in and helped where possible. The kids always looked forward to seeing what he would be wearing for the day. Weird I know but it was funny.

Our Tuesday Crew did a whole lot of drumming with our kids. They worked on the breaks and spent countless hours going over and over and over breaks and songs.

Every Wednesday for the past several months we were joined by:

Rueben Woodruff, Ivan Rodriguez, Aja Hernandez, Tray Young, Sterling Thomas, Cathy Tran and Niomy Perez.

Sterling Thomas: Senior at Tucson High, Advanced Steel drums, Captain of Track and Field team at Tucson high. Sterling, known for being really tall and out going, taught us about patience and teaching techniques. He is our super #1 player! (he always plays one).. He , like most of them always came hungry and ready to eat lol. Our little kids love hanging out with Sterling. Hes funny and makes them laugh. Sterling will be with CCS over the summer

Tray Young: Or Justin Bieber look a like, as he was known. Is in the Advanced Steel drum group. Tray can practically play anything you throw his way. He is .Mr. Everything! It did not matter what instrument we put him on he did his best, and kicked butt.

Reuben Woodruff: Advanced Steel drums, Marching Band and just plain Mr. Music man and babysitter!. This kid can compose, play.. he can just do just about anything musically. Reuben our main snare mentor, challenged Alfie. The kids loved when they went off into their own words drumming away. Reuben helped direct and lead CCS at several events.  Reuben will be with CCS over the summer.

IVAN: Advanced Steel drums, Yoga, Foreign language extraordinaire, Scientist and just plan smartie pants. Ivan grew soo much over the school year. Musically and as a teen, Ivan is the out doors kinda kid that loves to explore and learn about new things new discoveries. Ivan’s wisdom has taught us both soo much!

Aja: Steel drums, Bowling star but most importantly Welder! Our little Ms. Aja, Shy, to herself at the beginning. Blossomed like a little flower. Aja played anything we threw her on. Stepped up to many challenges and is just plain awesome! Aja will be there this summer!

Cathy: Advanced Steel drums, Marching Band, ROBoTICS! And much, much more.

Cathy built amazing friendships with our girls. Even starting their own cheerleading team lol. Cathy is very giving of herself. She Played Ago-Ago, hand drums, and any surdo we threw her on she picked up.

Niomy: Freshmen from University High School, dance and drama!. Niomy jumped right in and got to work. She was nervous at first, but shined like no other. She took charge, making up routines for the kids to learn, taking over several times. Niomy will continue to volunteer over the summer

Our Wednesday Crew worked closely with our dancers. They played all of our songs and helped work out the kinks. They helped devolpe new songs, new breaks. These Teens also worked in small groups with the dancers to teach them the basics of the drums. They were around for lots of Arts projects and fun down times. They would play songs over and over for our dancers some weeks for about 2 hours.

ALL of our mentors have been dedicated and hungry to learn. They asked questions, looked to us for guidance. Some loved it so much they decided to stick around over the summer. We really have some amazing mentors. Hopefully our mentor program will continue to grow and more teens can get involved in something positive. Our first group of mentors have set the bar high. WE have been very blessed and honored to have every single of them. WE have learned so much about them individually and as a group. Thank you to them for helping CCS be amazing. With out their help and dedication this our group wouldn’t have been as big and as successful as it was.

Thank you for a great year

Alfie and I want to Thank you for all your support, help and dedication. Our program would not be successful if we didn't have parents like you. You have been giving of yourselves. We are forever grateful, that you let us borrow your children 2-3 times a week.They really are like our own family. We love every single one of them. They are all talented in their own areas. Some are stronger dancers then drummers some are stronger drummers then dancers, and some can do both amazingly. Our 2nd year as taught us soo much. Not just about working with children but about ourselves as well. Every single one of this kids has taught us something, and we will carry those lessons.

Thank you for braving the cold, rain.. and hot. The time changes..and much more.

Even though we loved everysingle one of our performances, we have to agree that the highlight of the year was Tucson High. I am sad that not everyone could make it, but happy for all those that did. It is an experience that the kids will remember forever. We will be working a lot more with the Jovert program, speicfically with Khris Dodge. As most of you already know, They have given us the biggest gift we could ever ask for.. they will be purchasing all new instrusments and equipment just for us for our next year.

To have all of you and those in our community believe in our vision, and support what we are passionate about is humbling, rewarding and a blessing.

Some have asked what our goals are.. where we see ourselves and this program. And the answer is to continue working with the youth. Finding ways to get kids of all ages, backgrounds, working together no matter what school they are from. Our long term school is be in a community center, become a Non-profit, find a space in the community where kids can come and learn and experience what its like to discover themselves through music. We want to continue the Mentor program, and ask other High schools to join us. Tucson High is looking at starting a CCS Mentor Club for the next school year..how cool is that?! We are all inspiring each other, as teachers, parents, mentors and kids.

Again thank you for all that you have done! we hope you have a great summer

Ache
Lupe and Alfie

Performance time!

Let the fun begin!! Performance season has hit Cub Club Samba! It is exciting and humbling to see all the people in the community that contact us to perform for their events and participate. Its always a blessing to get to work in the community. We have several exciting events coming up. Starting with Tucson's Cyclovia. Cub Club Samba will be performing at Ochoa Elementary School. While we are there the students will get the opportunity to walk through Mr. Alfie's studio. None of our students have seen it so they are excited. We have also invited 5th grade students from Ochoa to join us at this event.!! Love it when youth from different parts of Tucson can come together and create something magical!

April 14th has been set for Tucson Carnaval. The details for this event are still being worked out! But we want all our family, friends and community to mark their calendars!! It promises to be a day full of lots of fun, music and dancing! It also happens to be 2nd Saturday downtown.

May 4th is the Lineweaver Spring Carnival/ cinco de mayo celebration. We are happy to working with the Lineweaver PTA to put together a event that is sure to both fun and entertaining! Come out and support us all! We have invited our mentors from Jovert to join us and put on a performance at well. Super exciting! the Carnival will be held from 5pm-8pm. CCS will be putting on two performances!

May 11th, Roberts/Naylor K-8 school has invited CCS back for their annual Spring Festival. We all had such a great time there last year. It is an honor for us to be returning this year.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!! Cub Club Samba needs to buy new instruments as well as repair our current ones. We are asking all our family, friends to collect aluminum cans and plastic water bottles for us. We will be recycling them and putting the money towards the purchases needed. Our goal is to raise $2200!! We are more than happy to come pick up the collected items or they can be dropped off at Lineweaver. Feel free to contact us at 520-204-4717 or cubclubsamba@gmail.com

So much going on!! We are truly blessed to be able to do what we love on a weekly basis with a group of kids that really enjoy what we are doing! Thank you to of you for being soo supportive. we wouldn't be where are now if it wasn't for all the support. Thank you!!! Axe!

Difficulties .....

There are always difficulties when working with children. One of them being motivation. Motivating kids to keep doing something they like with so many distractions in their lives isnt always easy. Especially when you add distractions.

Samba is like a sport. It takes a team that works together and practices. A team that is motivated and dedicated. Focus is the Key to Samba and world music. We care about these children, so much so that we want to see them pursue anything with out giving up. We understand that often times we might come across as mean or tough.  That it starts to become too much. What most do not see is that these kids are learning music that is not very easy to play. They are not just learning how to play music by sound but they are learning how to read music as well. It takes time and hard work to play the kinds of rhythms and breaks that our children are learning to play. These children also play more than just one instruments most of our kids can play up to 3 to 4 instruments which is not easy to do. Our little kids are learning to listen to the rhythms and beats being played and put it to movement. Some of our dancers have contributed to dance routines.

We understand that a big frustration with our families is homework. Please be assured that ALL the Samba Kids are given time to work on homework after Samba. A typical samba day starts off with students and mentors taking out the instruments and laying them in playing order, we then stretch and warm up. We review and learn new music. On Wednesdays, we start with stretches , warm up and then we review and learn new steps.at last we close with a our samba circle where we recite In Lak'ech. We then join the rest of Cub Club and have snack. During and after snack ALL samba students are given the time to work on homework.

We want parents and families to know that we value education. We know and understand that home work is important and needs to be completed. The kids are asked if they have homework, and most of the kids let us know if they have home work that needs to be finished.

part of our commitment is to work close with families. To help each other in the development of the students lives. To work together to help them succeed.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012 Samba family and friends! We are really excited for this semester.  Last semester was filled with so many exciting events. We’ve said it before we’ll say it again, we love getting to work with our community.  Thank you to all that invited us to participate in the various events throughout Tucson.   

This semester we will be trying some new things and learning some new rhythms, breaks and dance moves. It is very important to us to get input from our kids and to hear their ideas.  For them to feel like they have a say and that we value their opinions. The kids came up with so many ideas it would take years to get through them all, but we think we have figured out what to focus on.  We will also be giving our Jovert mentors the opportunity to step up and teach a song of their own. They will be teaching and directing. We feel it is very important for our mentors to feel like they have a voice and that we trust what they bring to the table.  

With all that being said, we feel it is important to take you all on our quest.  We have approached members of Batucaxe with the hope of being able to work together. Mr. Alfie was a member for many years and would be amazing to get to work together.  Also, Mr. Alfie has joined the Ochoa Elementary School family. He will be teaching music there and we hope to collaborate with kids from Ochoa as well.  So if you see him be sure to congratulate him. Its very exciting and we are all very proud of him! Don’t worry while Mr. Alfie is NOT leaving Samba. He is fully committed to CCS and has no plans to leave.  The Jovert mentors and I have committed to help him balance both things right now as he gets settled in at his new job and prepares.  This promises to bring nothing but positivity to community! Just think more kids to play music with! Its really exciting.

Mr. Alfie and I have big dreams for this group. We know and are fully aware that it will take a lot of hard work and time. Many do not know that this group is primarily funded out of our pockets. It gets expensive and have been looking for ways to get help. 

Thank you again to everyone that supports us helps us and believes in our vision.  We are very passionate about what we do.

catching up!

This has been a busy year for sure! It has been fun and rewarding to get to participate and be part of our community through so many events. Every performance thus far has been different. They have all been fun and exciting. Its always really nice to get to meet new people.

The Procession of Little Angels was so much. Seeing all our kids in purple... literally purple! was so cool. Like every "gig" we had our moments, But all in all we all had such a fun time. Having our Jovert mentors there is always a blessing.

FAME at the Children's Museum was a blast for sure! Who else gets to say they have paraded through the museum and made noise?! Not many people. The kids played so well and they got the the crowd going.

Purplelight Vigil was an event that we will most remember. To be appart of a community that honors those that have passed on due to health. Its a great way to show the kids how music touches people lifes. That why they are playing is making a difference in a life.

JOVERT MENTORS: We have had our mentors coming in to work with the students. They have truly become a part of the CCS family.  Just the simple fact that some of the our mentors show up to our CCS performances ready to be a part of the group and play some music.

Coming up we have Winter Solistice at the Childrens Museum.
Stuff the Hummers at Sullivans steak house

All are welcomed to join us at these events. You never know when we will need soem extra shakers....

Show Time!!

Time really does fly when you're having fun. C.C.S has so many fun events coming up. Starting with Tucson Meet yourself/ Festival of Schools. We have been hard at work learning new breaks, rhythms, and songs. One of which was written by our very own director Mr. Alfie.

Richard Noel, band leader of Sticks and Fingers a local group and board member of Tucson Meet Yourself,  came to teach and work with our group. He taught us a fun Caribbean rhythm. Richard has invited C.C.S. to join him for a Caribbean Parade at this year's Tucson Meet Yourself. The parade will take place on Saturday October 15th @ 7:00pm followed by a performance at the Tucson Convention Center, with C.C.S. joining in on the finale.

That is not all that C.C.S. is participating in the Festival of Schools being held during Tucson Meet Yourself Event On Saturday October 15th @ 1:55. We will be performing on the TUSD stage by the TCC Arena, C.C.S. will be particticing in the Move Your Body flash workout and finish up with a performance.

The following week we will putting on a fun performance at the Tucson Childrens Museum. The performance will take place on Sunday October 23rd at 1:00pm. This is the 3rd time C.C.S has been invited to participate in an event at the Museum. The kids are really excited to go back!

Besides rehearsing for upcoming performances. Our kids have started working on our new belt systems. Most of the kids have already earned their white belts. We are really proud of them for working really hard. In order to earn a belt, the students show responsibility by bringing their materials to weekly rehearsals, they participate and work on music provided by Mr. Alfie, our younger group shows they have learned a dance taught by Ms. Lupe.

Its brings us great joy to annouce that C.C.S. grows more and more each week. We are up to almost 50 students signed up. So exciting to know that kids are really enjoying what we are doing.

We invite you all to come out and support our kids as well as join in all the fun!!

http://rdnoel.com/about/bio/
 http://www.tucsonmeetyourself.org/
http://www.childrensmuseumtucson.org/