Kids and Music

'Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast'. Like Congreve who allegedly penned this in 1697, I am not sure that it is entirely true but there is plenty of 'evidence' out there indicating that music makes you smart and parents who have time to worry about this start their babies off early.  It all has something to do with that left brain/right brain stuff.  Most people probably haven’t time to read these studies.  Most of the world creates and enjoys music seemingly as an end in itself.  Measurable outcomes, and evidence based interventions aside, what better reason than that we are simply driven to create music?    We seem to have been born with a beat in our souls…some of us listen more efficiently to our souls  and some of us can reproduce better what we hear but it is in us all none the less.  There is something in us that makes us create and something that makes us listen.

What sparked this blog was the story of  Filiciano Dos Santos, a seemingly indefatigable  spirit born in Mozambique who is changing his native village and the world with music.  He sings about washing hands, about music for healing and about not forgetting who we are and where we have come from. But he is also building simple, environmentally appropriate latrines and fighting for clean water projects.  He uses multiple ways for creating change and by all accounts it is working.  But for him, there is much left to do.  In his words, one cannot wash her/his hands if one has no water.

A few years ago my son sent his little cello to the middle east.  I don’t remember the organization responsible for collection but I do remember that the instruments were destined for a school music program.  The cello was battle weary, had traveled from Canada to France and was well loved.  Through it Isaac found peace.  I often wonder if another child fell in love with the sound that a cello makes because of this program.  I thought of the movie ‘The Red Violin’ where the instrument was a life force independent of the player.  I wondered if Isaac’s cello was an appropriate instrument for the culture it ended up in and did it carry life within it? Dos Santos started out with a battered guitar.

Using music to bring about change is exciting but finding something where the process is to be so enjoyed makes this particular journey very special.  Lead the project Music for Change or join and find your soulmates.