Kindermusik of Clayton

My essay on I Believe in Music…

I believe in Music as the most powerful means of communication in the world. Infants have memory of the music they hear in the womb. It is the lullaby sung by a mother or father to a child. It is the sing songy way a toddler enjoys sharing what he learned. It is the made-up song of a preschooler and her pride in singing it for you herself. It is the favorite song a child sings long after the CD player is turned off. It is that special song that reminds us of one we love. Music joins us together in emotional and memorable times. When we rejoice music help’s us celebrate. When we cry music soothes our soul. When we worship, music reaches inside us, what we experience is the majesty of God, the prayerfulness of worship and we glorify God. Music is able to transcend cultures, and societies. It stays with us through the ages.

In my life I have grown up around music. My parents sang constantly around us and with us, even in the car. One of my favorite little child memories is dancing through the house with my brother to “Tarantella” and “Flight of the Bumblebee”. My favorite part of school was singing in choruses, musicals and going on choir tours. When I was pregnant with my first daughter, Rosalie, I performed in the Carlisle Floyd opera, “Susannah”, a modern tragic opera set in the North Carolina Mountains. This was during my fourth through eighth months of pregnancy. I will never forget the time Rosalie was 10, riding in the car and our family listening to NPR, when selections from “Susannah” were being played. Rosalie looked up and asked where she had heard that music before. That experience impacted my decision to teach music as I realized the power in music.

Teaching music gives me the opportunity to change the world, even just a little at a time. At every Kindermusik graduation I read ‘The Legend’. It tells of a wise man climbing a mountain and looking out across the world. He saw dark clouds and heard angry voices, and knew the world was sad. Then some children came from different parts of the world. They ran into the meadow at the foot of the mountain – they smiled, joined their hands and started to sing. Suddenly, the dark clouds started to drift away, and the angry voices were silent. The children were singing and the world seemed to be listening. The wise man thought, “Perhaps, if these children were to come back here to sing tomorrow… and tomorrow… and were to come back next year…and the next…and if when these children were grown up, they could still come here to join their hands and sing, then the angry voices would be silent forever, the dark clouds would vanish, and the sun would shine all over the world… This is why I teach Music. It is the most powerful means of communication in the world!