Without the opportunity to learn music many children will enter the world as young adults with no idea who they are and what they want to do. We offer an outlet to be creative and true; a safe place to communicate and learn music. What pleases me most is to see our students learning respect, discipline and what real love and caring is all about.

When children receive music education the whole fabric of the community is strengthened. The musical benefits of learning to sing or play an instrument during youth have been well documented. Musical training in youth correlates with numerous positive lifelong outcomes, including increased self-esteem, stronger math and verbal skills, and greater college preparedness. Participating in music also correlates with a decrease in unwanted behaviors, such as classroom disruption (including dropping out of school) and drug and alcohol use. For these reasons, and especially in our inner cities where drugs, crimes, violence, and abuse are rampant, why not keep it simple?

Give children music.

I felt alone in the school: most children were one of two large families and they always had a special bond that I could not find. I didn’t understand this as a kid, but did find my place and my emotional escape through music. When I transferred out of parochial school into public school, I found that I had a unique talent that made the adjustment easier. It was obvious that even back in 1979, the basics of music taught to me through private lessons and parochial schooling were far above what others in my peer group had experienced.

Music shaped my life and became a profession in 1984, the year I graduated Swan Valley High School in Saginaw, Michigan. I began playing piano solo at private clubs and restaurants and had my first gig with a band at our local theatre company in 1986, in the musical revue, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living In Paris. The excitement of a responsive audience and playing with others to create this awesome sound of which I was a part captured me! During the run of the show I had invitations to play with others in the area and soon after the show closed I joined an area variety band and performed around the state of Michigan until 2001.

My wish is that every child has the opportunity to receive lessons and experience what music may have to offer them in their own lives.

Music benefits children and the communities in which they live throughout a lifetime. I believe music is the universal language through which we can all communicate.