Choral students say it best...
by Dr. Nicole Lamartine, Director of Choral Activities, University of California, Santa Barbara
At the February, 2022 Suburban East Conference Music Festival in Minneapolis, my friend and colleague (now the chief conductor of Chor Anno) Dr. Nicole Lamartine, adjudicated festival choirs and then conducted an honor choir made up of students nominated as representatives from their group. As part of the "deal," Nicole says, she was asked to make a statement at a reception to school board members, the superintendent, parents, and teachers about the importance of music education. Nicole said, "I could have gone on and on, but I thought they might listen more deeply if it came from the students." So, after passing out small cards, she asked the honor choir students to say in 30 seconds why they make music and what it does to or for them.
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Nicole said she read through 130 responses. Many could be grouped into categories. She said students were astounded that despite the fact that most of their colleagues were "strangers" when they entered the first rehearsal, they each felt much the same way. She combined their strong statement into a poem which follows:
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Part 1: Music - The Presence
Music...
Gives me a space where I am in control
Takes me to a world of imagination
Slows the chaos of the world around me
Shows me parts of myself I didn’t know I had
Tells me I can be whoever I want and love whoever I want.
Music...
Pushes me to work hard, endure. It makes me feel defeat…and victory.
Music...
Lightens my heart - (as I'm) surrounded by beautiful souls and beautiful people
Gives me a reason to wake up each day and be glad
Makes me feel like I’m important and part of something
Takes me to a new place where I feel welcomed, invited, heard, and believed
Music...
Is like the Google Translate to every emotion and situation presented to me
Makes me feel connected to life and to others - gives me purpose
Offers stability…a sense of belonging and calm in my soul
Gives me hope, freedom, confidence
Lifts me up
Resembles the order of human society within a chaotic world
Takes me to another world where my voice will echo
Music...
Opens the world to me
Gives me life
Paints colors
Takes so much focus that my mind stops spinning
Music...
Saves lives…(is) a glorious refuge
Fills the void and allows me to speak
Brings people together when they most need it
Helps me focus and stay motivated towards becoming the strongest and best me I can be
Music brings out a part of me that I love a lot.
Part 2: Music Allows….
Music allows me…
To explore who I am and what I can do
To channel the beauty of the earth
To express myself beyond words and most authentically, in a way that is unique, sometimes vulnerable
Music allows me…
To become a more confident version of myself
To actually truly feel proud and accomplished in myself
Music allows me…
To show myself to the world through a lens others might not have already seen
To connect to my higher self, and feel the expression of others
To purely enjoy the present moment…like our heart is at peace
Music allows me…
To create things I never thought I could
To fill the empty space with something beautiful
Music allows me to be who I am, and to just be, in my own light, and in the light of being one with not the people, but the true souls around me.
Part 3: Music is…
Music is…
Everything to me
My hypeman, my uplifter, my comforter. The being I confide in the most - it knows the most about me
Music is…
My lifeline - the medium from which I understand my mind
My flight - it helps me and others be lifted from their pain and sorrow, to grow nearer the sky
Hope for tomorrow - I reflect on myself and become a better person
My release
Truly passion incarnate
My outlet of peace and healing
The audible representation of the soul
Music is Joy.
Epilogue:
I keep going because there are too many songs in this world that I have not yet sung.
There is nothing close to music that uses the same strategies and skills.
Music doesn’t judge you.
Music allows me to see all the pathways of my life
Music allows me to say everything I never got to say
Music---It sets me free…
…so, just sing.
Sing your song. Tell your truth. You ARE.
__________________________
For LCRMEA honor choir student "poem" of February, 2023, based on a couple of different prompt questions,
Click HERE
