The magic of connecting students to music

City Connects coordinators connect students to everything from eyeglasses to health services, but they also connect kids to music lessons. 

“Enrichment is so important,” Mary Walsh, City Connects’ Executive Director says. “Students have to have basic services, but they also have to have opportunities for creative growth.”

One example is Micah, a fourth grader whose story we told in our 2018 Progress Report. His City Connects Coordinator connected him to a “music program that offers performance opportunities, which was a match for his specific musical interests, and because transportation was available.”

And in Minneapolis, students are studying piano and guitar. 

The educational and personal benefits for students can be vast, as world renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma explains:

“I think music, in some ways, is the science of the soul; it’s the science of the inner life. So the teaching of music… it’s more, you activate all your senses to activate your imagination with the result of having mental acuity, creativity, and a form of expression that is very precise. There is no greater magic than seeing young people getting turned on by an idea and starting to grapple with things.”

Connecting students to music lessons is one of the ways that coordinators help immerse kids in that magic.