I experienced two really unique moments of kindness over the past week and I want to bring it toward music. Let me explain.
First off, last Saturday I had the opportunity to accompany 40 string students from 2 middle schools. I was paid for my time and absolutely love doing it, even though I know nothing about strings. Well….technically, I know some things, but I couldn’t teach or play them! Anyway, one young man, at our first rehearsal, asked me what my favorite candy was. I thought that was curious, so I told him Reeses. Well, day of, many students had hand written thank you cards for me as well as their judge, which was highly impressive. But this young man had more than a thank you note. He had a 4 pack of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups for me. I was blown away! And when I mentioned how impressed I was to their director, she responded with “it’s our tradition”. That was amazing!
The second experience happened earlier this week, when I received my stickers from Betty Sue (Susan Paradis). I had previewed the stickers on social media and saw that they were ladybugs. I emailed Liz to let her know how much that meant to me, because my younger sister was born in March, and loved ladybugs. She passed away from cancer in 2023. I didn’t expect anything extra, because I just wanted to share my feelings and gratitude. And yet, in with the smaller stickers for my students was packed 3 larger stickers and a note letting me know that she included those for me. She didn’t have to do that, but it impressed me, and of course, made me cry!
So, how does this all connect to music? Easily. One of the things we learn as we go through our musical journey is how to bring out the emotional connection and feeling in the music. And that makes us more in tune with our emotions and makes us more empathetic. That makes us better people. Whether or not we become world class musicians or continue to make music for our own enjoyment, that connection with music brings out the best in us and challenges us to make us more kind and thoughtful in how we interact with others. Which strengthens my belief that everyone needs to spend at least a little time learning music, not only to make them better consumers of music, but also to make them better people.
What do you think? Do you think that music shapes us emotionally, or is that more empathic and emotionally connected people are drawn to music? Comment with your thoughts.