Meet Elisa Snyder | Music Educator and Executive Director of Boulder MUSE

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elisa Snyder and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elisa, how does your business help the community?
In 2015, my friend, Mari Madeira, and I decided to create a free music education program for young people. Private music lessons are expensive – on average $40 for half an hour – and a large percentage of parents can’t begin to give their children this opportunity. We felt strongly that every child who wants to learn to play an instrument should be able to, and it should have nothing to do with money. Granted the public schools in our local school district give students the chance to play instruments, but it is nothing like what we as music teachers knew to be the best way to learn: in private lessons or very small groups. The emotional, intellectual and social benefits of studying music are well documented, but our main goal was to give students the opportunity to experience the joy and excitement of seeing themselves as musicians.
MUSE runs after-school music programs at two bilingual elementary schools in the Boulder Valley School District. In small classes of 6 or fewer students, together with an instructor and an assistant, students can learn instruments they choose. Flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, guitar, cello, violin, percussion and recorder are what we are currently teaching. Our teachers are all professional musicians and highly experienced teachers. We have a collaboration with CU’s College of Music that welcomes music performance majors to develop their teaching skills while also earning university credit. We come together to form a whole-community choir as well. Our choir learns music from a variety of countries in a variety of languages. The majority of MUSE students are Latin American, primarily of Mexican heritage. Fifty percent of the songs we teach are in Spanish. Our students’ parents are encouraged to participate in sharing music that is meaningful to their families. The interwoven community of students, teachers, parents, volunteers and board members brings a warm and supportive environment, creating what truly feels like a special family. This fall, MUSE will jump into its 11th year of offering its unique musical experience to Boulder’s young people. I am proud to say that we will be expanding to a third elementary school. My goal is to continue to grow, bringing free intensive music instruction to more and more students in Boulder.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
In the early 80’s I studied music at Naropa University, earning a B.A. in Music in 1983. I then got a teaching license in K-12 education and worked in the Boulder Valley Schools, teaching elementary ed. and music. I had the great joy of working as the Winds Director (winds and brass instruments for 5th-8th grade) at the two Waldorf schools in Boulder for six years. Lovely as this opportunity was, I knew I needed to make a full-time salary to put my two growing children through college. I decided to get an M.A. in ESL/Bilingual Education from the University of Colorado, Denver. I taught ESL to Latin American teenagers at Longmont and Frederick High Schools in the St. Vrain Valley School District for 15 years.
It was at Longmont High that I first learned about El Sistema, a Venezuelan initiative created in 1975 by an orchestra conductor and engineer, Jose António Abreu. He saw Venezuelan young people in the poorer parts of the country with little to do after school, and decided to bring neighborhood groups together to learn instruments and form orchestras. With donated instruments and free spaces, El Sistema was born. It became a national, and quickly an international, movement. In learning about El Sistema from Longmont High’s band director I knew instantly that Boulder needed such a program and that I was going to create it. There is a large, yet somewhat hidden, population of under-resourced people in Boulder. They are primarily of Latin American descent, live in the 4+ low income neighborhoods and trailer parks in town, and are recent immigrants. Their children may have been born in the U.S.

That spring I asked Mari to join me in this venture, and I was thrilled that she believed in the idea as much as I did. We applied to make MUSE a non-profit and received 501c3 status soon after. Columbine Bilingual Elementary School asked us to start a program there for the 2015-2016 school year. We jumped in feet first, with absolutely no funding. So Mari and I were the sole teachers for the fall. By January we had taught ourselves to write grants and were able to hire a few instructors to teach trumpet, violin and choir. Securing funding continues to be, eleven years later, the biggest challenge. MUSE grew from one school to two, and grew in numbers of instructors, numbers of instruments offered, and numbers of students who could benefit. from the opportunity. Our teachers are phenomenal people with a heart for the work, who believe as I do that all young people should have access to exploring what they are interested in regardless of whether or not their parents can pay for music lessons. They are all professional musicians and highly experienced instructors. Studying instrumental and choral music can be catalyst for tremendous growth in the lives of children. The list is infinite, but to start, we have seen growth in self esteem, concentration, respect for self and others, a sense of leadership, caring for others’ needs, an awareness of different learning styles, and love of what they can accomplish as individuals and as a community.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Wow, that’s quite a question! I have been a Boulderite for 48 years, and I have seen this town grow and change in countless ways. My greatest joys living here continue to be the mountains, all that the University of Colorado and Naropa University have to offer, the presence of people from all over the world, and the music, dance and theater scene. Boulder’s a great place to raise children. Mine are now 30 and 34, but their childhoods were rich in eclectic experiences and excellent schools.
One place every visitor must go to is the Dushanbe Tea House. Dushanbe, Tajikistan is a “sister city” of Boulder. The tea house was constructed with every piece sent from Tajikistan, and it is an exquisite building. Hiking, snow shoeing and cross-country skiing are some of my favorite things to do here. For local hikes, visitors absolutely should hike the Mesa Trail, perhaps starting at Chautauqua Park and ending in Eldorado Springs. There are many other trails and gorgeous parts of the vast open space that the city has chosen to preserve. NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, is a fascinating institution with beautiful hiking trails that begin there, an art gallery and science exhibits of all kinds.
Both Universities offer opportunities of all kinds, so visitors should look into events that interest them at CU Boulder and Naropa. If the Rockies beckon, by all means get out in them!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Boulder MUSE brings together all I have learned and loved about teaching over the decades. The stand out elements are working in music and working with young people of other nationalities, and in the case of Boulder County, my main connection has been to Mexican young people.
What began as an idea would never have actually become real without the help of MUSE’s co-founder, Mari Madeira.. Together we shaped the school into something we felt had integrity and heart. There truly hasn’t been one person that hasn’t thought that all children deserve to explore whatever they are interested in regardless of the financial circumstances of their families. My family, Mari’s family, and our close friends have stood by and been sources of helpful suggestions, tech help, encouragement and monetary donations. I must also give a shout out to the foundations that have given grant awards to MUSE over the years. Without them our venture wouldn’t have stood a chance. We are grateful for the continued support by the Boulder Arts Commission, The Boulder County Arts Alliance, SCFD, Community Foundation Boulder County and The Guber Family Giving Fund. Approximately 50 percent of the money that keeps MUSE alive has come from individual donors. It’s heartwarming, to say the least!

Website: https://www.bouldermuse.org

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Image Credits
Elisa Snyder
Mari Madeira