OUR HISTORY
Beginnings
In 2008, 4th Grader, Ginny Brooks collected 200 recorders donated by students at her elementary school in Austin, Texas. She and her family took the instruments to a classroom in Tanzania filled with 50 eager students. There Ginny performed Amazing Grace — the first song these students heard on the recorder! Then she taught them all to play Hot Cross Buns. The delighted students pronounced these, “the BEST gifts they’d ever received!”
The Recorder Project
From 2008 until 2014, as The Recorder Project, we collected recorders and placed them with groups traveling to developing countries. These musical ambassadors taught simple lessons and shared their experience upon their return. Students who donated their recorder received a letter sharing the news of their recorder’s journey to its new owner. Recorders were sent to Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Madagascar and Uganda.
In the summer of 2014, Austin singer, songwriter Sara Hickman traveled to Uganda to assist in the creation of the African Children’s Choir’s CD, “Love is a Journey.” She also carried about 200 recorders supplied by Recorders without Borders. In a profound moment of musical inspiration, Jeffrey, a young Ugandan boy, came up to Sara and played a song he had taught himself on recorder. It was “Amazing Grace.” Sara continues to be a supporter of our work in Africa.
Recorders without Borders
In 2015, we established Recorders without Borders, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit. We sponsored our first two U.S. music teachers, who traveled to Kenya to pilot the program. They invited local teachers to a dinner and recorder lesson, which was followed by classroom demonstration lessons over the next two weeks. It was a huge success!
From 2016-2019, our program evolved to include a full day Teacher Workshop, two visits per school and a final Showcase where students performed for each other. Our curriculum included songbooks, vinyl wall music banners, and local music adapted for recorder, supporting the program’s ongoing sustainability.
We paused our visits from 2020-2022, and reworked the Program to align with the Kenyan Competency-based Curriculum. We held a four day retreat in 2022 to begin the work that resulted in our Companion and the videos we offer today. We then returned to Kenya in 2023 to film the videos, conduct workshops and share an additional 2,000 recorders. In 2024 we filmed eight new videos and brought over 700 recorders.
The original musical exchange has blossomed into Recorders without Borders, which has shared over 10,500 recorders--and made a lasting connection--with children in seven countries around the world!
The Recorders without Borders program was one of the best things that happened to us as a school. I also truly benefited from this program.
I have always loved music and getting to train as a music teacher with Recorders without Borders and earning four certificates was awesome! After training I was able to teach my children in school who have really taken a liking to playing the recorders.We are able to play songs like Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and our Kenyan National Anthem just to name a few. This introduction of recorders into our school has put our school as one of the top schools in Kajiado where we come from. Thank you, Recorders without Borders for enriching our dear children. This is knowledge that will go down in history from one generation to the next.
— Kathyline Mbirua, Oloserian Academy
