Making New AMIS

Elizabeth Brokaw

For a musician, nothing is quite like spending three consecutive days with talented musicians, eating lots of great food, and performing fantastic pieces of music—even if it means suffering from jet lag in consequence. That’s what the Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS) is all about. (“Amis” is the French word for “friends,” so it is pronounced ah-mee, not ah-mis or ay-mis or any other possible way—the AMIS people are quite particular about that.) AMIS is about meeting new “amis” in a new place. This place is an environment where great musicians all feel very much at home—rehearsal.

Based in London, “AMIS is an international, non-profit, non-sectarian, politically neutral organisation dedicated to the promotion of excellence at all levels of music education.” Having students from all around the globe come together to play incredible music is its main focal point; but it also ultimately embraces cultural diversity and overcoming differences to instead work together and perform something beautiful. As it says on their website (http://amis-online.org/about/):

Its objectives are to advance the education of school pupils and teachers throughout the world by developing their understanding, knowledge and appreciation of music; to advance the education of young people and their teachers in global issues and cultural diversity through the performance and study of music; to promote high standards of musical performance in school pupils of all ages and abilities throughout the world; to promote furtherance of educationally valuable music repertoire.

AMIS has a variety of events each year that are hosted by different member schools for both high school and middle school students. They have band, orchestra, choir, and solo and ensemble festivals, as well as a Young Composers’ Competition, a Music Educators’ Conference, and various other workshops. This year from March 16-20, two seniors—Sunny Kim and Elisabeth Brokaw, with the accompaniment of their band director, Miss Laura Danneker—had the opportunity to go to Qatar to participate in their second AMIS Honour Band festival. Last year, Singapore American School hosted it, but this year the American School of Doha hosted it.

During the three-day festival, they had several long rehearsals and an hour-long sectional each day, totalling over 15 hours of playing by the time they performed the concert. The rehearsals were divided up by breaks and lunch, in which the students were all fed delicious foods, such as numerous types of bagels and cream cheese, Arabic biriyani with lamb, and grilled vegetables with rice. After rehearsals finished each evening, students were entertained with special activities for dinner. These included a visit to the night market called “The Souq,” a ride on open-air boats called dhows (which were very cold due to strong winds), and a banquet after the concert.

The culminating event was the Gala Concert on Saturday evening. Both the band and the orchestra performed numerous pieces, including one in which several band members joined the strings to form a symphony orchestra. (The concert can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1HGuWoVU_Q.) Though a bittersweet moment for the seniors—particularly those who had been selected four years in a row—the concert was an extraordinarily memorable experience. The music, memories, and ‘amis’ created will never be forgotten.