Four days a week, after the final bell rings at Parkdale Junior and Senior Public School, the colourful three-story building on Seaforth Avenue transforms into a bustling music academy.
On a chilly winter afternoon, the halls are filled with cacophonous bursts of music and hushed giggling as children trudge between classrooms in their snow boots, lugging classical instruments or twirling a pair of drum sticks.
In one room, a group of students practice percussion, pounding rhythmically on a colourful collection of xylophones, djembe drums and glockenspiels. Down the hall, a mini-orchestra made up of tiny violinists and cellists are guided through a shaky (but promising) rendition of the “Mission Impossible” theme song.
“It feels like school, but special,” says Olive, a fourth-grader who plays violin. “Orchestra is my favourite part of the day.”
The west end school is home to Sistema Toronto, an intensive music program for students in grades one through eight. Provided completely free of cost, the innovative program offers students both sophisticated musical training and a safe, socially enriching after-school environment in the some of the city’s most underserved communities.
“In so much arts programming these days — and even in sports — the barriers to access are really high,” says Sebastian Ostertag, the centre director for the Parkdale program, “but at Sistema there truly are none.”
Founded in 2012, Sistema Toronto initially served about 50 students. Today, the program has 450 students in four core locations across the city — Jane and Finch, Lambton Park and East Scarborough — and plans to expand to 1,000 by 2028. In January, the program received an almost $200,000 capital grant through the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which it used to buy new instruments, including 85 violins, 70 djembes and 46 cellos.
“When I started, our percussion program was just a bunch of paint buckets and a random assortment of sticks. It was deafening,” Ostertag says with a laugh. “Now these students have access to a complete assortment of instruments. You can just see how excited they are.”
Parkdale is in the process of gentrifying, but is still among the lowest-income neighbourhoods in the city. According to the most recent census information, the median household income in parts of Parkdale is around $50,000, compared to $106,000 in parts of neighbouring High Park.
“We’re still seeing impacts from the pandemic: emotional, social and academic challenges that students are dealing with,” says Debbie King, the Toronto District School Board Trustee for Ward 7, adding that underserved communities are most impacted by what she calls a “youth mental health crisis.”
“But we know that involvement in the arts helps stimulate and complement learning. Kids benefit greatly from being engaged in activities after school that supports their mental health and their socialization.”
Chrissy Whittick-Penman, a proud Parkdale resident and mother of two boys, has experienced that in her own family.
Whittick-Penman and her husband previously owned The Football Factory, a sports bar on Bathurst Street. A 2019 fire, followed by the pandemic, forced them to close the restaurant in 2020.
“That changed our lives substantially,” she says. “My husband now works in construction, and I work multiple jobs while trying to stay home with our kids as much as possible.”
During the pandemic, Whittick-Penman’s older son, who is now grade 10, was struggling. He had a hard time concentrating and acted out. Unable to afford daycare, the family enrolled their sons in Sistema.
As schools reopened, she watched as her son turned his life around. “The teachers at Sistema were so patient with him — he just thrived in that environment.” In addition to providing “creative enrichment,” Sistema impacted “our ability to make a living, and to know that our kids are safe, social and intellectually stimulated while we finish our shifts.”
Today, her older son is studying at the Etobicoke School of Arts; her younger son will start at ESA next year.
—
Shawn Earle, CEO of Sistema Toronto, says that while the program prides itself on the quality of its musical training, social development is also a top priority.
“We’re giving students a way to express ideas, and share their thoughts and feelings,” Earle says. “There’s a lot of social skills — empathy, leadership, teamwork, communication — that are inherent to learning a musical instrument in a collaborative setting, and our curriculum makes that explicit.”
“Our goal is to build thoughtful, intelligent, smart, well-rounded young people with music skills, but also the soft skills to take them wherever they want to go after they graduate.”
Maxine Bromfield says she has seen a change in her 11-year-old daughter, Aniyah, who plays viola, since she began at Sistema.
“The program has taught her to be patient, to slow down,” Bromfield reflects, beaming with motherly pride. “I can see the difference at home and when she’s playing with her friends. She loves it.”
—
Parkdale — sometimes referred to as Little Tibet — is home to one of the largest populations of Tibetans outside of India or Nepal.
Last spring, Sistema’s Parkdale cohort worked closely with Tibetan elder Penpa Tsering to learn traditional songs from the region. At their June concert, the students performed “We Tibetan Nomads” — sometimes referred to as Tibet’s unofficial anthem — alongside Tsering in a gym full of family and community members.
In 2023, the cohort spent weeks working with award-winning rappers Cody Coyote and Saukrates to write and record their own hip hop song, which was released alongside a music video last May.
These events, Earle explains, reflect the organization’s “culturally-responsive” approach to music education,” which seeks to both emphasize and celebrate the specific communities where the program takes place.
“There’s no hierarchy in the music we’re doing,” Earle explains. “Often, when you hear ‘orchestral instruments,’ you’re thinking of symphonic music — you’re thinking of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart — all the past great composers. But orchestral music can be used in so many different ways.”
Over the past several weeks, Sistema students from Jane and Finch program have been working with Juno-nominated reggae singer Jah’Mila, in preparation for a concert that will celebrate the neighbourhood’s Caribbean community at the York Woods Library Theatre on March 7.
“Reggae has this powerful way of telling those stories of hope and resilience, and I wanted to share that with the students,” Jah’Mila told the Star via email. “I really hope they walk away feeling like they can be proud of who they are and what they bring to the world.”
Before I leave the school, I chat with Noah and Dante, two 10-year-old boys who play the violin and are also buddies. Noah is shy, while Dante brims with energy.
“I like that we can play cool and difficult stuff,” Noah says. “But it’s very nerve-wracking, playing in front of everyone.”
“I like doing the concert and playing different songs,” Dante, also 10, chimes in. “And usually you get a freezie after.”
