OverviewOur Programs
OrKidstra’s free after-school programs appeal to children of all ages, offering a progressive musical study that is inspiring, engaging, and fun! Led by professional Teaching Artists, OrKidstra works to create a harmonious community with a focus on singing and playing together.
OrKidstra’s after-school programs provide a safe, beneficial, and creative environment for students to thrive. Research continues to show that music education helps improve academic and social skills, promotes discipline, increases teamwork and problem-solving skills, and boosts self-esteem!
OrKidstra currently offers after-school programming to kids living in and neighbouring the Ottawa communities of Centretown, Vanier, and Heron Gate.
KiddlyWinks
KiddlyWinks is an energetic music and movement program that’s great fun for children ages 5 to 8 years old.
KidSingers
KidSingers is an upbeat choir program that celebrates the beauty and joy of singing together for students 8 years and older.
KidStarters
Get ready to play an instrument! KidStarters sets students up for instrumental success. (8 years +)
KidPlayers
KidPlayers explores the joy of playing wind and brass instruments in a group, proper technique and the basics of music theory. (8 years +)
KidStringers
KidStringers explores the joy of playing string instruments in a group, proper technique and the basics of music theory. (8 years +)
OrKidstra
Orchestras, chamber ensembles, masterclasses, improv & composition, and a youth group. (8 years +)
Locations
CalendarTimes and Locations
We’re proud to say that OrKidstra has over 3,000 hours of programming per year! Led by dedicated professional Teaching Artists, find out when and where OrKidstra classes are happening.
At OrKidstra, we celebrate each and every student for their achievements! Created in 2020-21, our OrKidSTAR awards honour the students and mentors who have reached for the stars and gone above and beyond with their kindness, commitment, respect, musicianship, helpfulness, and love. Please join us in congratulating these shining stars in our community!
2023-24 OrKidSTAR recipients
Anita Adeoye (KidSingers/Beginner KidPlayers)
Edison Boyle (KidSingers/Beginner KidPlayers)
Eleanor Fritsch (KidSingers/Beginner KidStringers)
Elias Ray (KidSingers/Beginner KidPlayers)
Karson Sutherland (KidSingers)
Mialy Coyo (KidSingers)
Nancy Ngoc Diep Doan (KidSingers/Beginner KidStringers)
Nathaniel Falana (KidSingers/Beginner KidPlayers)
Olatide Bankole (KidSingers/Beginner KidStringers)
Vu Nguyen (Junior KidStringers)
Fenton Hammell (Junior KidPlayers)
Edwin Tchonang (Junior KidPlayers)
Alma Falah (Intermediate KidStringers)
Lottie Honeywell-Dobbin (Intermediate KidPlayers)
Ali Hassan (Senior KidStringers)
Andrea Andrade Urrutia (Senior KidStringers)
Ayaan Choudhury (Senior KidStringers)
Colin Keyu Shen – Musicianship Award (Senior KidStringers)
Jayden Smith-Desir (Senior KidStringers)
Moyra Kenward-Park (Senior KidStringers)
Rohan Gillis (Senior KidStringers)
Ricky Tan – Citizenship Award (Senior KidStringers)
Aiden O’Ree (Senior KidPlayers)
Eva Situ (Senior KidPlayers)
Jillian Lewis (Senior KidPlayers)
Sophia Figueroa (Senior KidPlayers)
Ana Paula Muacasso (OrKidSTAR Volunteer Recipient)
Maha el Gharbi (OrKidSTAR Volunteer Recipient)
Karson Sutherland (KidSingers)
Lottie Honeywell-Dobbin (Intermediate KidPlayers, Trombone)
Jayden Smith-Desir (Senior KidStringers, Violin)
Eva Situ (Senior KidPlayers, French Horn)
TeachersHelp change a child’s future
OrKidstra’s Teaching Artists are extraordinarily talented musicians and music educators who are passionate about OrKidstra’s social mission of success through music.
Our Teaching Artists care deeply about the well-being of their students and guide them towards making positive life choices by encouraging commitment to musical and personal excellence. OrKidstra Teaching Artists are deeply engaged in the community as well as their musical craft.
Our Teachers
OrKidstra’s Teaching Artists are highly skilled musicians and music educators with their own unique experiences and expertise.
Become a Teaching Artist
Are you interested in exploring how your skills as a teacher and as a musician intersect?
Experiential Teaching Artist Program (ETAP)
In partnership with the University of Ottawa, OrKidstra offers a 3-credit course to undergraduate and masters level students.
MentorsA safe and welcoming place to learn and grow
We encourage and foster mentorship with all our students, along with peer-to-peer teaching, which breaks down barriers and fosters friendship. As the late Maestro José Antonio Abreu said, “A child who knows five notes can help a child who knows only three!”
We also proudly extend this philosophy to our partnerships with local universities and high schools. Since our beginning in 2007, mentors have made a profound and positive impact on OrKidstra’s students – and it’s a two-way street, as there’s no better way to learn about your playing than by teaching it!
Overview
OrKidstra encourages mentorship with all our students, along with peer-to-peer teaching, which breaks down barriers.
Become a Mentor
Do you want to make a difference in a child’s life? Do you have musical skills you would like to share? Think about becoming a Mentor with OrKidstra!
I hope to pursue medicine in the future and OrKidstra has definitely helped me reach the potential needed for my goal…
In the fall of 2015, my family moved from Colombia to Ottawa. Our life in Canada faced difficulties in the immigration process as refugee claimants, the process of integration into…
I hope to pursue medicine in the future and OrKidstra has definitely helped me reach the potential needed for my goal…
In the fall of 2015, my family moved from Colombia to Ottawa. Our life in Canada faced difficulties in the immigration process as refugee claimants, the process of integration into Canadian culture, and the linguistic barriers of immigrants. OrKidstra welcomed my brother Mateo and I with open doors and caring feeling as it does for every single person that seeks the love for music.
The OrKidstra program is based on the building of community and that is one of the most important facets of the program for me. We live in a world where we face globalization and rapid urbanization, these sometimes lead to the sympathetic division of people within. Whenever we are faced with overwhelming different kinds of people whether personally or through the media, our empathy becomes selective and we stray from the definition of humanity. OrKidstra helps enforce the multiculturalism and proficiency of an unified world by giving the gift of music free of charge. OrKidstra serves as the social basis for children to learn not only music but to realize that they belong to a community and to a program that is bigger than themselves and extends to impact more children to come. This sense of community is rare and that is what makes me a proud member of this organization.
OrKidstra has impacted and shaped the character I possess today. Learning a new instrument, the double bass, as a teenager is an unorthodox decision, but it has shaped how I see learning and has made me mature as it takes patience and discipline. Being one of the few bass players at OrKidstra has also pressured me to develop and attempt to play at the highest level of music. Music is a part of who I am and allows me to appreciate more genres of music as OrKidstra, and my teachers, introduce me to new possibilities. Appreciation, gratefulness, and humility are probably the things that I can confidently say that OrKidstra installs in its graduates. What I love about playing music is the human connection, being able to make something sound beautiful with another is a gift and allows not only for the amusement but for the enrichment of the soul as it takes a lot of feeling to play music and do it justice. As well, the never-ending aspect of learning an instrument is something that allows for the thrill of learning to motivate a learning brain.
Both my brother Mateo and I are excelling as students and aim to be useful to society both inside and outside of school by doing volunteering and working. We speak Spanish as our first language, however we have worked hard to become fluent in both English and French in Canada. For the integration into Canadian culture my brother and I are prime examples of excelling citizens and dedicated people in the things we do. OrKidstra has been a pillar of support for our family, the OrKidstra family and has taken care of us during our hardships with language, culture, and health. Thanks to the support of community organizations like OrKidstra, we are in the process of waiting for our citizenship oath celebration. The result of the OrKidstra program is not hard to see, it is a radical change in the community and builds amazing citizens for new generations of Canadians.
Being able to learn a new instrument has been amazing and I am so grateful for this opportunity. OrKidstra has also been a place where I have made important friendships and I could not imagine my life without all of it, all of OrKidstra. I hope to pursue medicine in the future and OrKidstra has definitely helped me reach the potential needed for my goal. The discipline, motivation, and patience OrKidstra has taught me are the values that I hold dearest and the stress-reliever that is music will accompany me for the rest of my life. OrKidstra will always live in my memories as a place of growth and hope.
OrKidstra has been a pillar of support for our family. OrKidstra has taken care of us during our hardships with language, culture, and health and I also hope to contribute and help to the growth of the organization in years to come. – Javier, OrKidstra graduate and Honours Bachelor of Science in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa
MusicTeach the children the beauty of music and music will teach them the beauty of life.
Timeless pieces. Modern classics.
At OrKidstra, we choose music that excites our students and resonates with different cultures. We’re proud to say that our students come from over 62 different linguistic and cultural backgrounds and our program includes music from classical, jazz, world, pop, folk and other traditions.
Teaching Method
All OrKidstra Teaching Artists are professional musicians and music educators. While they focus on teaching music, they also deeply care about the well-being and social development of the child.
Under the guidance of their Teaching Artists, OrKidstra’s Kid-Powered levels allow students to determine their own level of commitment.
Research
Music education has proven benefits on the cognitive and emotional development of children and these benefits last a lifetime.
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“Music lessons spur emotional and behavioral growth in children, new study says” – The Washington Post
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“Arts engagement can help counter divisions in society” – ScienceDaily
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“Early Music Lessons Have Longtime Benefits” – The New York Times
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“The Argument for Music Education – Musicians’ brains show striking benefits.” – American Scientist
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“Music Training Can Be a Literacy Superpower.” – George Lucas Educational Foundation
“What you have done in the past has a legacy…Older adults who have had music training in childhood…have stronger sound processing in the brain of these particular details…that are so important for communication.” – Dr. Nina Kraus, Ph.D. and Professor at Northwestern University
Anne Taylor Summer ProgramRemembering Anne, strengthening the future
The Anne Taylor Summer Program enables students from OrKidstra after-school programs to benefit from individual lessons and ensemble rehearsals in July and August. The Program, established in memory of Anne Taylor, also gives students the opportunity to strengthen their role in the community.
Anne Taylor was a member of OrKidstra’s Board of Directors who passed away in the summer of 2014. For Anne, OrKidstra was a perfect fit, combining her abiding passion for children’s education with her deep love of music.
Wisdom & Compassion
The late Anne Taylor was at heart an educator, teaching in Montreal, Alberta and Pakistan. Anne was also responsible for bringing a wealth of films from the National Film Board into Canadian classrooms. As well, she founded and co-directed MediaSmarts, an online media literacy site for kids. Anne was a much-loved volunteer in the Ottawa community; she is truly missed by all those who knew her.
Summer fun & music
We are honoured to dedicate our OrKidstra summer program (also known as CAMP OrKidstra) to the memory of Anne. OrKidstra students benefit from individual and group music lessons as well as special workshops, community service events and recreational outings during the summer months.
Apply to OrKidstraBring music into your child’s life
OrKidstra offers free after-school programs in Centretown, Vanier, and Heron Gatebfor kids ages 5-18. Parent Marie says, “I really like that my kids can be involved in music; it’s a very beneficial place for them to be after school.” Help your child grow their potential through music!
