Sweet Plantain Visit Glacier Valley

Mrs. Vreeland's 1st grade class proudly stands with members of Sweet Plantain

Sweet Plantain, a string quartet that blends classical, jazz and Latin styles, visited Juneau as part of their Alaskan tour.  While here, they gladly accepted an invitation to perform at Glacier Valley Elementary School before hopping on a plane to their next stop.  This dynamic quartet supports music education in their hometown of New York City where they started a string ensemble program for a school in South Bronx. They designed curricula "to empower the students through musical forms representative of their community's cultural heritage, while at the same time exposing them to classic Western forms.  Sound familiar?  Yes, one of the members of this quartet is a product of Venezuela's El Sistema.

After performing for the entire student body, the quartet attended an impromptu performance by Mrs.Vreeland's 1st grade violin class in the music room.  There we had a chance to ask the members questions and personally thank them for such an inspirational performance.  But it was Sweet Plantain who thanked us for inspiring them.  One member explained that in NYC cuts had been made to an instrumental program that he'd been involved with for years.   Seeing a program like JAMM gave him hope.

Thank you, Sweet Plantain, for showing your commitment to music education wherever you travel.  Thank you, Juneau Arts and Humanities Council for sponsoring them and making a performance at Glacier Valley possible.