Getting their first instrument is an emotionally stirring experience for many children, but for the low-income students served by the Harmony Project, it’s often a life-changing event.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily morning newsletter, How To LA. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news.When Rigoberto Sanchez-Mejia was just 5 years old, he started taking music lessons at the Harmony Project in Los Angeles. He started out on the drums and the piano, but as soon as he picked up the violin, he knew he had found his instrument.
“It’s rough,” said Executive Director Natalie Jackson. “The last two years we have been seeing kids with so much more anxiety, so much more struggle, so much more loneliness.”in 2001 primarily as a public health intervention, the Harmony Project gives the children of the city’s hardscrabble neighborhoods access to free music education. The core belief here, that music lessons sharpen brain function, setting the stage for academic success, was famously studied by neuroscientist.
Discipline is among the program’s grace notes. Children pursue music for years, from K to 12, helping them develop a dogged sense of persistence and keen commitment to their craft and ambitions in music and beyond. That’s partly because the ability to focus for extended periods of time, a mandatory skill in music class, also buttresses all other academic pursuits.
“It used to take two incomes to put food on the table, now sometimes it takes three,” said Jackson. “If they have to change their schedule to pick up an extra shift at Taco Bell, we try to accommodate them.” “I’m impressed with the scope and reach of the Harmony Project,” said Merryl Goldberg, a veteran music and arts professor at Cal State San Marcos. “Building trusting relationships, this to me is fundamental to any success in life, and is often overlooked as a core component of a program. Compassion is crucial to a healthy community.”
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