Build a Permanent Home for Young Musicians

"Education in music is most sovereign because more than anything else rhythm and harmony find their way to the innermost soul and take strongest hold upon it " - Plato

The Guy Simondac Music Studio (GSMS) has been teaching music since 1986. But beyond the music, it is a beloved institution that has created a nurturing environment where music education helps prepare students to begin a life of creativity, passion, work and community. The GSMS has built a universe where children and youth inspire one another to apply their ideas and explore their imaginations with courage. But now, they are in fear of losing their home.

For 18 years, the school operated on a rented building in Pacita Complex, San Pedro, Laguna. They are now facing a deadline to leave the property by August 31, 2018 with nowhere else to go. But rather than stand by and watch their home be taken away, the students launched a fundraising campaign to build their new home that started with a concert last November 11, 2017 at Pacita Convention Hall.

These students are trying their hardest to pull together and achieve their goal. Let's help make their dream a reality.

Contact us:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the.gsms/

See our students' performances:

Youtube: http://tinyurl.com/ybgj8jo6

***

A WORD OF THANKS: A speech by GSMS Founder, Edgardo Simondac, during Homeward-bound, The Launching Concert.

A couple of decades ago, an 8-year old child was brought to me. She was rejected by 5 other music schools because of her learning and personal difficulties. I, too, did not know how to teach anyone with her kind of difficulties. I asked them to give me a day to decide whether to accept her or not. After they left, I went to the internet to research about her condition and what learning methods I can use to teach her. The following day when they came back, and armed only with some fundamental knowledge, I told her parents that I was willing to teach her. They cried and could not believe that someone in this world would accept their child. My journey with her was not easy but something monumental came out of it: I was able to achieve an intimate knowledge of the way a child's brain works in relation to music and thus clearly define our teaching methods. This eventually benefited all of our students. From those who were least able up to the brightest, my teachers and I were able to move mountains to make every student shine on the stage and feel good about himself/herself. When a student is made to believe in his/her capabilities, he/she becomes a productive member of society, and armed with a gentle character that music and other forms of art develop in any individual, he/she contributes to promoting benevolence in the midst of an increasingly violent world. To conclude my story of the 8-year old child: During her last performance with us before she left for the US, I called for community singing of Auld Lang Syne. When she accompanied everyone at the piano - her surprised family was again brought to tears. A seemingly unteachable child paved the way for us to revolutionize music education in the same way that deaf and mute children gave Maria Montessori the methods to change the landscape of academic education.

We staged this concert to launch a campaign for us to build a permanent home and continue our mission for the current and future generations. We are about to lose our temporary home but as the saying goes and fittingly in our case: “A door is being closed, and then suddenly another one opens”. We have suddenly been given an opportunity to buy and build a permanent home through the kindness of Mr. Pete Redito, but to do so, we need all the help that we can get because we do not have the immediate resources to make it happen.

In anything that we do in this world, there is a bigger purpose than the work that we are actually doing. In our case, it is the future character of our children. In our one small place in this universe, I firmly believe that we are doing the world a lot of good. Through everyone’s kindness, The Guy Simondac Music Studio can finally be HOMEWARD-BOUND.

-Edgardo Simondac, Founder, The Guy Simondac Music Studio