The Landfill Harmonic Orchestra

This week, one of our tasks in class was to watch this video about the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra.  The girls' statements with the video, such as one girl speaking about the music giving her "butterflies in her stomach," and another girl saying, "My life without music would be worthless" speak volumes about the value of music in people's lives.  In this particular case, music has helped give them something to live for, something beyond the squalor of their lot in life, and a reason to strive for more.  It has enabled them to see the beauty in life while living in a slum built on a landfill.  It allows them to love life while living quite literally in a dump.  These girls, these children, have virtually nothing going for them, and yet music has instilled in them hope, joy, and meaning, allowing them to become something far more than just animals trying to survive day to day.  In this video music was demonstrated as the one thing, above all others, that helped them to feel this way.  Granted, with this mindset music is a choice, but it is one that will not help you only to exist, but to live.  If music can be such a profound influence in the lives of these children, how can it not be important in all of our lives?  If it can give meaning to an otherwise meaningless life, could it not also help enhance the life of someone who has been afforded more benefits to even greater heights?  The power of it is so great, that by this example, to ignore the implications of an education in and a life with knowledge of music is to let our children, our schools, and our society fall short of what it could be otherwise.  To me it is fairly obvious that music is important, as both a professional musician and music educator, but for others it is not quite so clear. 

To make this fact better known in my community and school district needs to be a multifaceted approach.  One of the suggestions for this part of the reflection assignment (think of at least three ways in which you might educate people who are not musicians about the importance of music) was to incorporate a student essay on the topic "Why music is important in my life."  Most of the students I teach are in upper middle school/high school, so an essay is an appropriate way to get them to critically think and organize their thoughts on such a topic, but though I think this approach could work, it does not have as much potential as flipping the topic into "What Would My Life Be Without Music?"  To have students truly explore the ways in which music enhances their lives and what it would be missing if they did not have it, without having to rely on non-musical reasoning to prove the value of music, would be both more introspective and revealing.  This could be given to many types of both music appreciate and performance based classes.  Quotes could be taken from these essays and included within the music classroom/school hallways, in newsletters, within course listings (especially for high school), and within programs for school concerts to demonstrate not only to students, but to parents, administrations, and the larger community how much of an impact music makes on their children's lives.  An offshoot of this project could be to have students perform at homes for the elderly or disabled, and write about how they believe the music impacted both the lives of their audiences and themselves, distributing it in the ways previously described. 


Another idea was for parents to attend a rehearsal for their children, and really learn firsthand exactly the type of information being presented to their students.  Once again, I concur that this idea would work, but with a number of additions.  Not that I go into rehearsals without a plan, but the rehearsal that parents would be viewing should be one that would emphasis the concepts of learning aesthetics and humanization that other subjects do not cover possibly more than a normal lesson, so special care would need to be taken in lesson plan construction.  Rather than just holding a rehearsal like any other school day, I think it would be most beneficial for this scenario to become more interactive, allowing parents to ask why I am doing the things I am doing, which could result in me giving them an answer to me having the students give the answer (for many times they would already know!)  Also allowing for group discussion to take place after the rehearsal among the parents, the students, and myself for the same purpose.  Though many parents would be in attendance since their child is there, some might not be, so recording the rehearsal and distributing it to those who could not be there would help produce maximum exposure in this scenario.  This direct experience has the ability to provide a much deeper connection to the concepts of music's importance being presented. 

Finally, there are so many great presenters that give sessions to schools, children, and music classrooms for free from the US military to local private instructors, theorists, and professors, in addition to the many resources of the Internet.  The more an "outside source" begins to talk about the validity of music's importance in helping to enhance and shape our lives in relation to enriching our spirit and give it meaning beyond just living, the more the masses will tend to believe.  It's one thing for me the teacher, or even the students to try and drive the point home.  It's quite another to have multiple others do it as well.  I love having presenters/performers come into my classrooms, and each time they come in, I record the session to post it on the class website later.  These videos/recordings get added to ones found on YouTube from a great variety of different sources (like the one that prompted this reflection and some others from this class so far) that are never meant to actively try and convince anyone to think as I, or these presenters do, but to show how prevalent the ideas are, in hopes that it may eventually sway some through gentle persuasion of exposure.  This website is public and made available to the school district and promoted on the music newsletter and occasionally to local publications, expanding its reach to the community.  Though I rarely get many non-music parents/individuals to visit the site, when I do the comments left by them are profound and/or moving and get shared quickly with students, parents, and administrations. 

One of the great concepts I am starting to take away from this class is how to present my arguments on the validity of music and music education to the non-musical segment of the population, which often includes the same parents, administrations, and communities of the students I teach.  Having these skills ready are going to prove very useful.