Students anxiously await start of new music program

Music has been proven to nurture the hearts and transform the lives of people but nowhere is this more obvious than when children learn to play a musical instrument.

Unfortunately, with today’s high cost of living, music lessons are only a remote dream for many youth who are living in a one-income household. Rent or mortgage payments, utilities, groceries and other basic necessities often consume all disposable financial resources.

Bill Swieringa has assembled a team of concerned community members that is trying to change that.

“I have been a school social worker at Abbott and R.J. Scott elementary schools in Beverly for the past five years, and I live in the neighbourhood,” he said. “I’m dismayed at the lack of opportunities for kids here. The few programs that are currently available all cost a lot of money, which many parents don’t have.”

Swieringa has found through working with the families in the neighbourhood’s schools that many are living close to the poverty line, and that includes the high population of Aboriginal households.

Working with at-risk youth is not new to Swieringa as he was involved with African-American kids in Chicago for many years before relocating with his wife to Edmonton.

“I could see the world from their point of view and I see the same thing going on here,” he said.

In Chicago, music is everything and when he established a rap program there, it was hugely successful, giving the kids an opportunity to be creative and to vent their worries and frustrations in a healthy and fun atmosphere.

Being involved in a music program has numerous benefits in addition to simply learning to play a musical instrument. A recent article in the Globe and Mail echoes the findings of music educators everywhere. “What we found was that people who start their music lessons earlier in life have better performance on certain kinds of tasks and also have differences in the connections between the motor regions of their brain,” says psychology professor Virginia Penhune of Concordia University, who co-authored the study.

Numerous studies have found a definite benefit with the students learning discipline, working both sides of their brain which in turn increases productivity in the critical thinking area of the brain.
Best of all, though, is the positive relationship that students have with their teachers. “Instructors will be chosen who are committed to becoming mentors and role models to their students,” said Swieringa.

Once the program is established in Beverly, it will be expanded to other schools in the capital city region.

Currently the organizers are looking for donations, including monetary support and gently-used instruments and music books.
“Instructors are welcome to apply to teach as well and will receive compensation for their time,” said Swieringa. “We are well into the planning stages and are getting a good response from parents. We hope to have the program up and running by fall.”