Passion of music that makes a difference in so many lives

0:03 executive director said to me carol why 0:05 don't you start 0:06 music for minors in the east bay and i 0:09 started you know so 0:11 i guess it was within me the desire to 0:14 help children and my love of music see i 0:16 really believe when you have a passion 0:19 you should follow your passion and 0:21 probably then find a way to get paid for 0:23 it in some way 0:25 to survive but follow that passion and 0:28 so i modeled our program after the 0:31 mother organization 0:33 but i had to connect with ohlone college 0:35 to get the college credit so i had never 0:38 written an a non-profit status 0:41 application and oh my gosh i just did it 0:44 i don't know it was a power beyond me 0:47 that helped me to get through that 0:49 but i know 0:51 i was just driven by that desire 0:54 that children need music and they need 0:57 it in their classroom and their lives 1:00 especially when they're young like that 1:02 when they're the most susceptible 1:04 and that has been proven true 1:07 we've been doing this let's see that was 1:09 1988 when i started the organization 1:12 recruited parents got a board of 1:14 directors going and now we're in our 1:16 33rd year wow 1:20 so you think music has helped your 1:22 students who were going through reading 1:25 uh problems right they were not at the 1:27 level 1:28 but you were also saying that music has 1:31 helped other students also in your 1:34 non-profit 1:35 do you have any stories like you know 1:40 how do you think that music has actually 1:41 helped some of your students right 1:44 oh yes for sure and i really want to 1:47 shout these out because 1:49 to me it made the whole 33 years 1:52 when with these three these three cases 1:55 and who knows how much more because i've 1:58 run into students that were in the music 2:01 reminders 2 program and one's a high 2:03 school student she says you know mrs 2:04 zilley i was in my high school class and 2:06 the and the teacher asked if anybody 2:08 knew the preamble 2:10 to the constitution she says and i 2:11 recited it and he couldn't believe i 2:13 knew it from memory and it's because we 2:16 learned it 2:17 in music for writers to put to a song 2:20 and a rhythm pattern and you know you 2:23 you don't forget it 2:24 so anyway um you make it more 2:27 interesting by putting music to 2:28 something that's not so interesting 2:31 remember and it's it's using and music 2:34 gets into the brain and integrates the 2:37 brain both hemispheres and we did a lot 2:40 with sequencing and memory retention but 2:43 these three stories one happened in the 2:46 1990s in milpitas because 2:49 our program i started in fremont we are 2:51 now in newark unified fremont castro 2:54 valley unified we've been in for many 2:56 years and milpitas at that time and then 2:59 we 3:00 found out that they weren't wanted to 3:01 hire music specialists we do not 3:04 compete with music specialists we we 3:07 work hand in hand and we would therefore 3:10 go to schools that didn't have anything 3:12 we always target 3:14 children that don't have music and so 3:17 this one little girl was in the class 3:19 with one of our docents who was doing 3:21 the dance pat tapata 3:23 which is 3:24 so popular in africa and she 3:27 she started to cry 3:29 and the docent noticed it and then the 3:31 teacher came over and of course the 3:33 docent continued with the class 3:35 until it was over and then the children 3:37 went out to recess and she walked over 3:39 to the teacher and the child says oh i'm 3:41 so sorry are you sick or what happened 3:44 and the teacher said no no 3:46 she is really very happy because that 3:49 dance was danced in her homeland every 3:52 saturday night and when she came to this 3:54 country she thought she would never 3:56 dance it again 3:58 like connecting this child to her 4:01 country and you know something that she 4:03 really wanted to through right music is 4:06 all about making connections because 4:09 because it's shared with people and 4:12 there's always 4:13 emotions and feelings and 4:16 things that we can connect to and reach 4:18 the second one was in newark and that 4:21 was an autistic child who was in his 4:24 special day class and our music for 4:27 minors two docent was teaching a 4:28 kindergarten class and the special day 4:31 teacher thought you know let's let's put 4:33 him into that class and see how he does 4:35 with 23 or four or four other students 4:39 normally the class size is six or seven 4:41 you know for his special day 4:43 so he did and the docent was sharing 4:47 a rhythm pattern 4:50 and we usually clap tah for one beat and 4:53 tt if there's two short beats two half 4:56 beats in that one top and she put it to 4:59 a poem and she wrote on the board our 5:01 symbols for ta and tt 5:05 and it was really fun the kids loved it 5:07 he went back to his class 5:09 and walked right up to their white board 5:12 and started writing the ta's and the tt 5:16 and reciting the poem that he had just 5:19 learned 5:20 that made the teachers realize that he 5:22 can learn in a setting with larger 5:25 children 5:26 more children and so they they changed 5:29 his whole course of study started 5:31 mainstreaming him into other subject 5:33 areas and what a tremendous wow 5:37 improvement he made in the joy that he 5:39 had that the repetitive basically the 5:42 child needed some kind of repetitive 5:44 learning and that's what he learned from 5:47 your program such a simple way right 5:49 like what did 5:52 and the third one 5:54 story is about a little girl who never 5:56 spoke 5:57 she had come to i think it was vallejo 5:58 mill school she had come uh i don't know 6:02 too much about her background but all i 6:04 knew from the docent was she never spoke 6:06 but she would be there 6:08 sometimes she'd smile sometimes not 6:11 sometimes she would kind of use her arms 6:13 because we do a lot of sign language we 6:15 do a lot of gesturing because we want to 6:17 involve the whole person 6:19 and the fact that we are a musical 6:21 instrument our bodies can make music and 6:24 rhythm as well as our voices 6:26 so anyway several months i think it was 6:29 in the spring i don't know exactly the 6:31 date 6:32 but the first thing that little girl did 6:35 was to sing 6:37 not to speak 6:38 but to sing 6:40 so music can break through barriers 6:44 and 6:45 help 6:46 the brain 6:47 function better because it is integra 6:50 integrative i don't know if i said that 6:52 right 6:53 but it integrates both hemispheres 6:55 here's a visual that will prove it this 6:57 is the left side of our brain and the 6:59 right side brain scans are seen 7:03 when an individual is walking and 7:05 talking and eating and this is what 7:06 their brain looks like 7:08 and the minute that person experiences 7:11 music 7:12 this is what the brain looks like you 7:14 mean music builds neuron bridges and 7:16 connects both hemispheres of the brain 7:18 and the brain is working at fuller 7:20 capacity yes well how can we afford not 7:24 to have it 7:25 in the schools in in not only children's 7:28 lives in our lives that's what i was 7:30 going to ask you when are you starting 7:32 music for adults 7:35 with your passion and all the stories i 7:37 think i want to be 7:39 involved in learning music i've never 7:41 learned music we have thought about 7:43 music for seniors yeah 7:46 and when we have time 7:48 we gotta pursue that uh because 7:51 you know that's what is needed 8:00 you