As school budgets across the country tighten, there is a feeling that cutting arts & music is a way out (here is just one example).  The idea that music and art is a luxury, not a necessity in education and society is as pervasive as it is wrong.  Likewise the notion that a country such as ours cannot afford innovative music programs, or that they do not have lasting impacts on individual participants and the society at large belies the facts.

Take for example, the country of Venezuela that has a per capita GDP of just over $12,000 versus $45,000 in the USA.  One of their most precious exports to the USA is not oil, rather the maestro Gustavo Dudamel, the new Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  Dudamel is a product of the national music program El Sistema (The System) in Venezuela that has trained up over 250,000 musicians through 600 neighborhood orchestras.

Dudamel founded Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) in an effort to transfer The System to the USA.  After 3 years the program is working with 300 children in South LA, and The System is expanding to cities across the country.

On May 10th, 60 Minutes ran a wonderful profile of Dudamel and YOLA, including a new program in Baltimore called “OrchKids” spearheaded by Marin Alsop, the conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

The criteria for participating in this privately funded music program at Lockerman Bundy Elementary School is that they “be there, get good grades, and take care of their instruments.”  Indeed, according to Dudamel a major benefit of these programs is that they instill not only discipline, but character and teamwork, and keeps the children “off the streets.”

Indeed it seems to me that if we want our education funds to be more effectively used, and truly want to engage and inspire our children, wouldn’t one of the first investments be in an instrument and musical instruction? If you watch the 60 minutes piece, you will see the enthusiasm of the children and hear DeShane Parker, a single mother of three children explain how the OrchKids has caused their children to not want to miss a day of school, and be more responsible.

Watch the 60 Minutes piece and tell us about inspiring music programs near you.   We want to feature the heroes across this country that are bringing music to life for our children, and in more detail than this short blog post.  In the words of Dudamel, “Can you imagine classical music for everybody? You know, this is a crazy dream.  But it is true, because it’s happening.”

With the countless numbers of websites in the world, do we really need one more?  There are websites that will track your finances, track your children, organize your time, organize your closet, not to mention tell you the time.  Do we really need another?

Not only are there websites that do all those things, there are definitely wonderful websites that review children’s music, give it away, and promote musicians.  We certainly want to do some of that here, but what we really want to do is promote an idea.

That idea is very simple:

Children are born creative with a natural love of learning.  The arts can nurture & enhance this innate creativity and make them more successful in every other area of their lives.

By arts, of course I mean the anything that allows us to express our creativity, from drawings and sculptures,  to dance and song, to our speech, and beyond.

In our rush to deal with decreasing budgets, music & art are the first to get cut, and we are left with an imbalance with math & science.  Yet, did you know that music and math are inextricably bound?  Children that learn an instrument are really learning about fractions, and counting, and much more.  According to Michael Ballam’s work on Music and the Brain, music, math, and brain development in general in inextricably connected.

In our pursuit of “excellence” our society feels that test scores are the only measure of achievement, so we teach our children to memorize facts. Are we doing our children a disservice by teaching them to memorize facts, when our society no longer requires rote memorization of facts to get ahead in life.   If there is one thing the rising generation does lack it is information; nor do the lack the skills to find the information they need, when they need it.  What is sorely needed is the ability to process that information in a coherent way.

In fact, according to Seth Godin, best selling author, of the newly released book Linchpin, the two things children need to learn from their education is: problem solving and leadership.  Both of these skills come only from a multi-discplinary approach, that is rich in the arts.

This site is about exploring the importance of the arts and music in the lives of our children and education in general, and spreading that information to parents, educators and legislators.  It is about getting children excited about all kinds of music and supporting the heroic efforts of those around the world that are helping children to dance, sing, and make music an important part of their lives.