‘Music should be accessible to everyone’: Miami nonprofit teaches kids to play violin

Before running her own music education nonprofit, Portia Dunkley was a 6th grade student in Miami who wanted to play the violin.

She rushed to her teacher to sign up for the music program, but she wasn’t quick enough to get her pick. The only instrument left was the double bass, perhaps the exact opposite of a dainty violin. But that didn’t matter to Dunkley.

“It’s been me and my double bass since sixth grade,” she said.

Today, Dunkley helps bring the joy of music to kids across South Florida with her nonprofit Teeny Violini, a mobile music education program that reaches children from 2 year olds to sixth graders. The group partners with early learning centers, elementary schools, after-school programs and community organizations “to foster positive youth development,” said Dunkley, the Teeny Violini founder and CEO.

Teeny Violini helps address the lack of music education available, especially for young children, Dunkley said.

“Even before the onset of the pandemic, schools have been struggling with funding arts programming,” she said. “Even in elementary school, students don’t begin to get art education, whether it’s music, dance, whatever it is that the school can offer, until the third grade year.”

A lifelong musician, Dunkley said she is aware of how instrumental the arts are in children’s lives. Basic music education, like playing simple instruments and dancing to music, benefits children’s fine motor skills, fosters social connections, boosts self confidence and introduces children to literary and math skills, she said. Plus, it’s lots of fun.

“We see that there’s a need. We see all the data that says music and arts education helps kids with fine motor skills and helps them make these social connections,” Dunkley said. “But unfortunately, these schools don’t have access to art programming, to teachers with the capability to be able to provide these [musical] services. For us, our goal is to have programming provide access to all schools regardless of socioeconomic status.”

Born and raised in Miami-Dade, Dunkley grew up in Overtown in the ‘80s and ‘90s. She picked up double bass while attending a magnet school, attended New World School of the Arts and graduated from Florida State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in double bass performance and her master of arts degree in arts administration.

While living in Tallahassee, Dunkley worked in education. She began thinking of an idea to start her own program of teaching children string instruments, but “I never could get it going,” she said. Youth music education was certainly Dunkley’s calling. She moved back to Miami in 2015, where she worked with Miami Music Project as a site director. She loved the job, especially working with kids from first to sixth grade.

“But I realized that there was still this gap in learning music for our kids who were starting our programs, and there was definitely a struggle for our teachers to get them going,” she said. Around the same time, she enjoyed volunteering at her daughter’s preschool and teaching music to children there.

That was her “a-ha moment,” she said. After pondering on the idea of a music program since 2009, Dunkley finally started Teeny Violini in 2017.

The nonprofit started out at just two schools, with the help of Dunkley’s late mentor, Terry Rutherford. Another friend asked her daughter’s school if it would be open to a demo program from Teeny Violini. Since then, the nonprofit grew, reaching youth from Liberty City to Miami Gardens to Brownsville to Fort Lauderdale.

“Music should be accessible to everyone, regardless of whether or not they can afford it,” she said.

So what do kids do at Teeny Violini?

Lots of singing, dancing and laughter, Dunkley said. Teeny Violini teaches kids how to read sheet music, keep track of rhythm, play percussion instruments and, of course, play little violins.

The nonprofit makes sure to set realistic expectations, Dunkley said. Kids may not come out of the program playing like pros, she said, but they will leave with a love and appreciation for music. Parents, schools and early learning centers have told Teeny Violini staff about how much students —and teachers—look forward to the program.

“I’ve crafted it in such a way, we teach the violin in part throughout the entire year,” she said. “Your kids are not going to come out here playing ‘Twinkle Twinkle,’ but they can play some rhythm. They can hold the instruments. They’ll have a relationship with that instrument that’ll hopefully encourage them to explore other creative things.”

Teeny Violini currently has a goal of reaching $50,000. That money will go toward expanding the program, buying new instruments and hiring staff, Dunkley said.

Teeny Violini is always looking for more schools to partner with, Dunkley said. If you are interested in bringing Teeny Violini to your students, email portia@teenyviolini.com .

You can support Teeny Violini by visiting its website https://teenyviolini.com/ and donating through its Give Miami Day page at https://www.givemiamiday.org/organization/Teenyviolini .