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. 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.
Progress to Date
For my part, I am taking a dozen recorders with me as I travel to Nairobi. I spent many hours with my own children making very bad music on them but we had a lot of fun along the way and they all went on, with varying degrees of interest, to create music. It is an experiment and to be honest I can only remember three notes anymore but nothing ventured, nothing gained and a few recorders is not a major investment... lisa
January 14, 2009 - Well, recorders are not a problem for kids anywhere...nor is singing. Yesterday 20 or so children from the orphanage sang for me in English and Swahili. At the end they asked, 'Aunty, why are you crying?' Little did they know that anywhere on the planet I can never make it through the sound of children's voices without shedding a tear. As Laura mentioned, they are the voice of peace and with these orphans, they are safe here, at least for the moment. But also their voices were also the sound of hope. It is Samuel's plan to someday make a CD and send it out to churches but like most projects it is on the back burner ... no resources to make it happen. But those young voices, Massai, Jimmy, Sonya...they continue to sing on for a better future and once they understood why I was crying they said, 'tomorrow Aunty, we will try to sing even better for you'.
Playing FOR CHANGE - Stand by me
'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.
There is nothing more beautiful, no matter what part of the world one is in, than to hear the voice of a child in song, or from a child's musical instrument. I'm sure even the recorders (with three notes... ) sound lovely. Music is peace.
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