Paula Fuga Brings Joy Through Music
As Paula Fuga introduced herself as an artist and songwriter from Hawaii, a young boy in the back row perked up. She continued introducing herself and explained that today she was going to teach them a song she wrote for her nieces when they were going through a hard time. The boy got up and moved to the front row to be closer, and even got some personal instruction from Paula as the class practiced their chords.
Paula Fuga performs at Mountain View Elementary
It was a touching moment in a week of music and joy with Paula Fuga. During her stay in Salt Lake City, she taught several classes and met with community members, before her public performance at Kingsbury Hall.
The week started out with a lecture and film screening with students from Dr. Maile Arvin’s Pacific Islands Studies classes. Paula discussed her Hawaiian heritage and how it influences her songwriting. She encouraged the students to be intentional and to always remember your words can be both a blessing and a curse. Students mingled afterwards to talk with Paula and ask questions.
Paula with staff from the Juvenile Justice and Youth Services Program
One of the most impactful classes of the week took place at the Juvenile Justice and Youth Services Center where Paula met with eight young people detained there. As she told them about her difficult childhood growing up homeless in Hawaii, and how she worked to overcome those challenges to become a successful artist, both youth and adults in the room cried. Paula worked with the youth to learn some songwriting skills and ways to direct their emotions into music.
Next, Paula taught two classes to elementary students at Mountain View Elementary. The school has ukulele classes for fifth grade students, though they are just starting to learn chords. Paula performed a song for them and then worked with the students to learn and practice two of the chords from the song. By the end of the class, many students were able to play along with Paula, including the young boy who moved to the front row.
Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program Teachers in a workshop with Paula
Teachers involved with the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program also attended these classes and assisted the students in mastering the chords, and then met with Paula separately to talk and ask questions of both Paula and each other, discussing ways to overcome challenges in teaching music and the arts in K-12 classrooms. A second teacher workshop took place the day after Paula’s public concert, in partnership with the Utah Division of Arts and Museums. This workshop, held at Mana Academy in West Valley, focused on songwriting techniques for the classroom, and the teachers wrote a song together.
The theme of the week, from performance to classsrooms to individual interaction with teachers and students, was joy – joy from Paula’s music and the love she shares through her songs.
