Teens Involved in Cultural Music Concert
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
Summary
Ho Asogli is a San Diego drum and dance group that performs traditional music of Ghana, West Africa. 70+ Students from Madison High School and Hawthorne Elementary school were part of the performance, in an effort to promote the arts in education.
About The Event
San Diego State University Professor John Flood directs Ho-Asogli and has been working with the music department at Madison High School for the past few weeks in getting the students ready for the performance. Students learned about traditional African dance, received drum lessons from Professor Flood, and even got to dance and perform during the actual performance on Friday May 2nd. Kwame Degbor, the Artistic Director of the group, is native to Ghana, West Africa and came to the US in 2004 to teach about African music and culture. Being able to learn about African music and dance from Kwame and other members of Ho Asogli was truly a joyous event for the students to get involved in extracurricular activities.
image above: Kwame Degbor of West Africa talks to the audience
How Does This Relate to My Blog?
Attending this event made me realize that there are so many ways to get your teen involved in various hobbies and after school activities. These activities not only keep them out of trouble (from being bored at home), but they also open your teen’s mind to things in the world that they might not have previously realized were available. After seeing how much fun these teens had at the performance, I’m sure a number of them will pursue this cultural education even further through their classes, internet research, and future performance.
Get Your Teen Involved in Something!
Having your teen involved in some sort of hobbies is of utmost importance in this day and age. Help your teen find something that they can be proud of, that they can work hard at, and that they can focus on through their teen years. This will help them to keep on the right path in life and not get distracted by the so many negative alternatives that exist in teenage culture.
What Were My Hobbies…What Kept Me On the Right Path?
As far as my own personal experiences with staying involved in hobbies, I got immersed in the world of music and performing. I was part of 2 relatively “successful” rock groups (in my hometown…not the world ha). I guess you could say we were “home town rock stars” haha. We practiced almost every day after school, recorded music as often as possible, and played concerts on the weekends throughout my hometown and neighboring areas (including Hollywood and Ventura).
This experience with being in a band is what really kept me on the right track as a teen. We were all so driven to make the best music possible, continue to progress with our writing, and keep making our concerts bigger and bigger. I can’t explain how amazing the feeling is to be on stage in front of a few hundred people in your own hometown and have everyone singing the words to songs that you wrote yourself…it’s truly amazing.
My Parents Got Me Involved…You Should Too
I credit my parents with getting me involved in music: my Mom pushed me to keep taking guitar lessons at a really really young age; my Dad used to drive me to concerts and hang out with us when I joined my first real band at age 14. Both of my parents really made sure that I stayed involved and driven to succeed in this hobby…it’s because of them that I never really considered getting involved in drugs or any of the other negative influences that were available in my teen years.
Ideas to Get Your Teen Involved
Sports: either team sports, or even solo sports like surfing and skateboarding
Music: get your teen involved in playing an instrument. Teach your daughter to play piano, or maybe even get your son a loud and obnoxious electric guitar setup (you may want to buy earplugs for yourself though haha)
Community Organizations: get your kids involved in the local community orgs like Boy Scouts of America (find your local org here), YMCA, or any of the other community organizations in your hometown.
Entrepreneurship: my father, a successful business owner (my Mom is also), sparked my interest in being an entrepreneur. When I was 15, he allowed me to work at his office and make $10/hour helping out his team, but he actually let me use that time to start down my entrepreneurial path. I started an EBay business and saw that I could make money by organizing a business model and I’ve only progressed since that time.
If your teen is at all enterprising (or if you are), show your teen how they can make money by using their brain. It’s an opportunity that will really motivate them to use their brains to succeed in life and avoid the negative influences in teen culture that would stop their success.
Tell Me Your Ideas
If you have any other suggestions of hobbies or ways to keep your teen involved, please do post them in the comments for other parents to see. This blog is all about networking and working together to make this world a better place for your teen.
Help each other out…leave a comment with your thoughts!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
