About Music Works NW
Our mission is to enrich the quality of life for children of all ages through accessible music education and experiences.
Goals- Improve self-esteem, communication and social skills.
- Reach out to underserved populations.
- Provide a safe, encouraging environment in which to explore music.
- Provide a nurturing environment to serve children with disabilities.
- We believe that music is an essential part of our lives.
- We believe that music develops essential life skills.
- We believe in nurturing creativity.
- We value the process of exploration and inquiry.
- We value the diversity of the communities we serve.
In February of 1966, a small group of individuals dedicated to music and youth formed the Imperials. The Seattle Imperials Drum & Bugle Corps was formed after a split took place from the Seattle Buddhist Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps. It saw little success, however, as the Imperials only fielded a Colorguard (all girls) of 14, a horn line of 16, and 10 drums. In the 1966 in the American Legion State Competition, both the Corps and Colorguard finished in fourth place.
With their first season over, the Imperials looked towards 1967 with greater hopes. They discarded their old make-shift uniforms of white “Imperial Jackets” and green Explorer pants and purchased new red, white, and blue uniforms. The 1967 season began with the Imperials classified as the “B” Corps. Striving hard for an “A” classification the Imperials competed in contests throughout Oregon and Washington. Finally at the 1967 ALL State contest they earned their second successive score of better than a 55, thus becoming an “A” classification Corps. The final results of this contest showed the Imperials Corps in the third place, while the Colorguard was crowned the American Legion State Champion!!
In 1968 the Imperials continued their climb upward. The Corps now consisted of 25 horns, 16 drums, and a 21 member Colorguard. In the VFW State Competition the Corps took second and the Colorguard third. But at the ALL State contest the Colorguard retained their title, with the Corps finishing second.
In 1969 the Imperials made their move. Both the Imperials Corps and Colorguard took sweeping first places in both the American Legion and VFW State contests. They also departed on their first national tour. They competed in two major contests, the World Open in Lynn, Massachusetts and the VFW Nationals in Philadelphia. Illinois, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming also saw the Imperials that year. Final placing in the shows was anything but impressive, but the Seattle Imperials had at last become exposed to the nation.
A clean sweep in VFW and American Legion state shows was again in order for the Imperials in 1970. This year their Mid-West tour took them to Illinois and Wisconsin. Returning to the Northwest with no trophies, the Imperials prepared for the American Legion National Competition in Portland, Oregon. The Corps took fourth place, with the Colorguard finishing second, a .1 of a point behind the Santa Clara Vanguards.
In 1971 the Imperials had grown by 30%. The horn line was now 49 strong, with a drum line of 19 and 39 girls in the Cologuard. Again retaining both of their state titles, the Imperials prepared to leave on their longest road trip ever (for 3 weeks). This trip took them to Wyoming, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas, the Mid American Open and the VFW Nationals in Dallas, Texas. As in years past, the Imperials returned with no first place awards, but their scores had improved tremendously over the past years.
Declining membership in 1972 weakened the Imperials considerably. Nevertheless, the Corps made a fourth consecutive clean sweep at both State Championship shows and the Colorguard added state titles 9 and 10 to their list of victories.
By 1973 the loss of key instructional personal caused the Corps to become inactive except for parades. The guard seeking to defend their State Championship, failed, losing by less than a point. But by 1973 they did have a bright spot as the Corps fund raising ability was firmly established.
With financing strongly maintained, the Imperials turned once again to competitive activities in 1974. A great deal of pride had to be swallowed when the Imperials found themselves starting from scratch once again, but progress was made and many new members were introduced to the world of competitive drum corps. The Colorguard entered the tough inter circuit and with many “rookies”, emerged as the number three guard in the area.
The start of the 1975 season held visions of even greater success. These visions were distorted by problems in management personnel and when the Corps finally had the opportunity to concentrate on the production of the summer show, it found itself in a rush to “get on the field”. The drum corps spirit cannot be dampened, however and the corps put itself through the toughest summer schedule in its history. Confidenceand desire increased as the Corps worked on their show and scores went up.
The Colorguard again entered the wintertime competition and traveled twice to California to increase their competition territory. At the Northwest Circuit Championship, the guard moved up a notch to second, and at the Western Regional Championship, the “Olympics” of competitive guard, the Imperials finished fifth.
The Corps had hope of even greater success and kept busy through various training programs, producing well trained performers necessary for the activities. The Imperials managed by the Seattle Imperials Drum & Bugle corps, Inc. The Corporation consisted of three policy making groups: corporate management, the parents group and the members of the corps themselves, the Imperials Youth Organization. Each group had a separate and equal vote in the way the Imperials Drum & Bugle Corps was managed.
From their small beginnings, the “Seattle Imperials” dominated drum corps in the Northwest for nearly twenty years and rose to achieve a 15th place national ranking.
In keeping with this heritage of dedication to music and youth, the Seattle Imperials plotted a major course change in October of 1986 to enable them to better serve the musical needs of King County area youth. This change was heralded by a new name, Imperials Music and Youth Organization, and by a shift in goals, direction and programming.
Their mission of the Imperials Music and Youth Organization was to instill in each person they serve the joy of artistic achievement, the discipline of commitment, the pleasure of participation, and a positive sense of self esteem through music.
It was the vision of the Imperials Music and Youth organization to be the leader in music education in the Pacific Northwest providing programs and activities with a dynamic and caring experience of the highest quality for people of all ages and abilities.
Their programs included a jazz studies program, a youth choir program, percussion and chamber music program, and a variety of service projects and festivals. Through these programs and outreach activities they were able to serve over 2,000 King County area youth each year.
The Imperial Music and Youth Organization felt that music training not only provides students with a life-long appreciation of their cultural heritage and the ability to better enjoy the arts in all forms, it also provides students “life” lessons that few other activities can duplicate. Students learn about and experience excellence and beauty. They discover creativity and innovation. They witness the true joy of the human spirit. In addition to these things, there are the multitude of practical skills such as self-discipline, organization and communication which music students learn and develop because of their importance to almost all artist endeavors. These things all make better citizens, employees, or simply said, better people.
Music Works Northwest is a twelve year old institution, although the charter for the nonprofit license dates back to the 1966 when it was the Imperials Drum and Bugle corps. The actual school was founded in the fall of 1998 when the name was changed from the Imperial Music and Youth Organization to Music Works Northwest. At that time the operations for the educational programming moved to Bellevue from locations from all over King County. From its inception the goal of the school was to have musical experiences for a wide range of people from all age brackets, ethnicity, and socio-economic backgrounds. Holding to our vision to open the doors of Music Works Northwest we stay true to our mission to enrich the quality of life for children of all ages through accessible music education and experiences.
MWNW offers the most comprehensive variety of music education and experiences in our region, with a continuum of music experience available for students at every level of music ability. Our programming includes lessons in more than 20 instruments from guitar and percussion, to euphonium, oboe, and piccolo. We have masterclasses from nationally and internationally renowned artists, performance ensembles in which the students apply their skills in collaboration with our professional faculty. There are opportunities to perform at free concerts onsite and through our Puget Sound region. We have a Music therapy program to help individuals with disabilities and special needs to attain and maintain their maximum levels of function. We offer Musikgarten, an early childhood music education program, which fosters music and movement as a natural joyous part of childhood. As well, we off our outreach programming to benefit public school groups to help supplement public school music programs and enrich programs with our partner organizations.
As a nonprofit community music school, we continue to look to find ways to be more relevant to our community including the expansion of our range and services. MWNW understands the need for music in our community as such we continue to develop programming that can be available for children of all ages, regardless of ability or financial status.