(Blog-Off II Entry) Sanctuary in Harmony: How Music Education is Saving Lives in LA

You can also find this article reprinted at the Huffington Post.

Y Photo: Harmony Projects founder Margaret Martin and seventh-grader Kiana Coronado-Ziadie receive an award from First Lady Michelle Obama. Credit: White House

“We look at each student, not as a deficit to be fixed, but as an asset to be nurtured and developed,” whispered Margaret Martin, founder of the Harmony Project, as I tried to keep pace with her determined, long-limbed stride between the classrooms of the stunning L.A. County High School for the Arts.  This was early on a Saturday morning in October and, rather than high-school students gracing the halls, middle-school students from the Harmony Project were availing themselves of the futuristic building’s state-of-the-art acoustics, performing classical music and jazz for their poor, mostly immigrant families.  In one room, exhilarated ‘tweens demonstrated the concept of improvisation.  In another, they taught their hesitant parents to play a song on their own classical instruments.  Outside, a gaggle of youth beat out a heart-thumping rhythm on overturned buckets.  While we buzzed from venue to venue, I noticed two things: 1.) In every room, Margaret’s laser-like gaze trained on the kids’ reactions – what excited them, moved them, made them laugh. 2.) Margaret doesn’t stop for anyone.  

Margaret, herself a trained musician, is a woman on a mission – a decidedly successful one, as evidenced by the $10,000 Coming Up Taller award for excellence in arts education she just received from Michelle Obama on November 4 -- the one-year anniversary of the President’s historic election.

I had met Margaret at a campaign event for Tom Torlakson, who is running for California State Superintendent of Schools.  Instantly, I’d wondered as to the identity of the hip, statuesque blonde standing in the corner of the host’s palatial home, asking the candidate hard-hitting questions about arts education.  At first, I’d thought she was a public school music teacher.  In a sense, I was right.  But instead of teaching 30 kids, she has, with the Harmony Project, extended access to classical music instruction and instruments to over 750 children and counting, in Los Angeles’ very poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods.

It all started when Margaret’s five-and-a-half-year-old son, a violin prodigy, was busking on an L.A. sidewalk.  He’d been playing two years already and a giant talent radiated from his tiny body, attracting a wide array of listeners.  Margaret remembers how astonished she felt when a crowd of gang members approached, entranced by the little boy’s music.  Everything about their body language and words showed deep interest, honor and respect.  They threw a few crumpled up bills from their pockets into the violin case.  Margaret remembers:

I realized that these hard-core LA gang bangers would have given their eye teeth to have someone look at them as a precious resource, give them an instrument and five hours a week of rehearsal.  A lot of these kids have no father at home.  They have parents stressed out with 2, 3 jobs. We haven’t created programs to engage them, while gangs are actively recruiting.

So, nine years ago, with a $9,000 check from the Rotary Club of Hollywood, Margaret founded the Harmony Project, with the vision of providing instruments and instruction to the most forgotten, disenfranchised kids in all of L.A.  Margaret puts it this way: 

We get them early.  Kids start with us as first-graders and, by the time they get to be 12 or 13 . . . well, now I have one who’s applying to shi-shi boarding schools on the East Coast. She lives in a gang-infested, horrible neighborhood. But she plays flute, sings in choir, is self-possessed, willing to give it a shot, knows how to present herself, how to work and achieve – all skills that are generalizeable and transferable.  Music is just a vehicle for the life skills that it develops in an organic and joyful way.  The kids gain a skill set that they can use as a means of social inclusion all their lives. Every body wants the musicians. They make magic.

She emphasizes that “initial catalytic support,” like that of the Rotary Club is essential, and difficult, for a burgeoning non-profit to find.  “[The Harmony Project] was just an idea 9 years ago.  But ideas can have power when you put action behind them.  I tell our supporters that youth have powerful ideas.  What happens when you put action and support behind them?”  

Today, the Harmony Project receives about $1.2 million per year, supporting 7 different full-time youth orchestras with students from more than 60 schools.  Half of the funding comes from private donors and foundations, the other half from the partnerships with the LA Philharmonic (and its Youth Orchestra LA or YOLA),* LA Unified School District, and LA City College – all of which help the Harmony Project obtain rehearsal rooms, venues, instruments and other resources.  

Photo: Leslie Cardenas, front, and Sara Flores rehearse as part of the Harmony Project in this 2007 photo. Credit: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times 

Right now, the Harmony Project is fundraising together with the Mayor’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development.  They have highlighted 12 gang reduction zones (areas with a high documented rate of violent gang crime) in which Harmony Project serves as an official part of the city’s strategy to reduce gangs by keeping kids away from predators, and helping them develop discipline, persistence, self-esteem and accountability which will lead them to success in school and in life.

In the past few years, Harmony Poject has managed to offer $5,000 scholarships to all students going on to 2- or 4-year institutions of higher education.  The students must have remained enrolled in the music program for at least 3 years, have graduated from high school, gained entrance into college, and written an essay about their plans.  As long as each student maintains a C average or better in college, he or she will continue receiving a scholarship for the duration of their matriculation.  Last year, three students won the scholarship.  This year, it was nine.  “We are blessed that we have a donor who has agreed to fund 200 such scholarships,” says Margaret.  Those are good numbers.

One not-so-good number is Los Angeles’ high school dropout rate of 57.1%.  However, kids who stay in the Harmony Project all the way through school, graduate at a rate of 100%.*  Every child must show the program administrators all of their report cards.  “Discipline, focus and time management are required for music. They transfer to school work,” Margaret continues.   Furthermore, “you have your own crew and cohort.  Kids mentor one another [and encourage each other to do better.]” 

In addition to peer, administrative, artistic, and financial support, the kids benefit from rigorous, research-based educational and sociological methodologies:

One of the key factors in the success of our program is that we commit to our children over their entire childhood.  We stick with them until they graduate from high school and we commit to helping their transition to higher education.  Some kids come from homelessness and great upheaval in their lives – this is the one source of stability for some of them.  We offer them a supportive, positive, consistent experience.  

But don’t just take Margaret’s word for it.  One girl, whose initials are A.D., writes in an essay about her experience as a Harmony Project kid:

I come from one of the most poor neighborhoods in L.A. because of having Having [sic] an Autistic [sic] brother I suffered from many thing [sic] anxiety, Depression [sic], thoughts of suicide, and low-self esteem [sic] and sometimes I suffered severe Panic [sic] attacks, I thought I would have what I had for my whole life . . . Music has really turned my life around . . . I have found harmony in the art of choir.  I don’t take choir like just lessons to entertain me but I take it as my sanctuary.  I am glad and proud of being in the Harmony Project.

Another student writes, “My school work has improved tremendously.  My classes have risen to a higher level.  My community enjoys the way I play my instruments.  My family is proud of me because I am accomplishing something no one in my family has ever done . . . the Harmony Project is the best thing that could have ever happened in my life.”

Recently, nine dedicated students earned their place at an event that would have been a highlight in anyone’s life.  Five of the Harmony Project’s best violinists and four of its best cellists were invited, with Margaret Martin, to the White House to receive the Coming Up Taller Award and to perform for the First Lady of the United States.  “I dissolved when Michelle Obama began to speak,” said Margaret, who seems a pretty tough person to ruffle:

She articulated every way in which these youth arts programs can transform at-risk kids’ lives.  She knows how little support we get.  And then her voice hardened, ‘Which is why it is important that we make you welcome in this house.’ The kids were so amazed . . . Never in their wildest dreams could they imagine that they would be invited to participate in an event at the White House.  They couldn’t believe the access their instruments provided them.  It shook their world. They asked themselves, ‘What else is possible?’ and were talking about plans for college.

A program as successful as the Harmony Project grows quickly.  Today, it has twice the students it had only three years ago.  However, in a time of economic crisis, when public and private benefactors alike are cutting back drastically on their giving, administrators of a successful program must remain vigilant about maintaining their upward momentum.  According to Margaret, Steve Venz, Head of Music for LAUSD, announced that the school district must reduce its budget by 450 million additional dollars over the next couple of years, which will result – unless a change in plans occurs – with 50% of over 700 elementary arts teachers losing their jobs – saving the system only a little over $14 million.  In 2011-12, LAUSD intends to cut the other 50% of the arts teachers, eliminating all arts programs in all school districts within two years. 

 “This is the 2^nd largest school district in the nation,” Margaret expounded. She went on to explain the backward fiscal thinking behind arts education budget cuts:

 Arts programs keep kids in schools.  When kids drop out of schools, schools lose apportionment from the state, so they lose money and the community gets the additional burden of uneducated kids loose in the community with nothing to do, who fall prey to drug dealers, gang members and sexual predators.  It’s really a false economy that the esteemed managers of our state government have painted themselves into this corner and are seeking to solve their problems at the expense of our kids.  And it’s never at the expense of kids from affluent homes, is it?  Instead of investing in our most vulnerable kids to make them the leaders we need to improve our community, we ignore them, we push them away and then when they get in trouble, we lock them up.  It doesn’t make sense, and fundamentally, it’s not cost-effective.  I’m a fiscal conservative and it’s a waste of money and it’s a waste of talent and lives.  It’s actually cheaper and more effective to address and head off problems while they are developing than try to deal with them after they’d developed.  We just don’t tend to think or  work that way in this country.  But if we play our cards right and are able to deliver our programs, perhaps we will be able to deliver a sea change in that regard.

With a national award, rapidly replicating music programs that still allow room for local identities and methodologies, and a partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its international sensation musical director, Gustavo Dudamel* – Margaret Martin and the Harmony Project are well on their way to contributing to a sea change in how our nation thinks about the value of arts education.

Still, in this economic climate, even a successful program like the Harmony Project must fight hard to hold on to its funds, to say nothing of raising more for its necessary expansion.  The program must prioritize where to spend its precious budget.  “Most of our funds go to pay our teachers because the magic happens between the students and the teachers, that relationship building over the years,” says Margaret.  “By committing to the kids, we’re demonstrating what commitment looks like and, over time, they learn to commit to themselves.  It’s not rocket science.  It’s pretty basic stuff.”

  

If you would like to see 50 violinits and 50 cellists from the Harmony Project perform in a thrilling hip-hop youth orchestra, conducted by famed composer and arranger, Diane Louie of American Idol fame, you can attend their open-house rehearsal day, coming up on Saturday December 12, from 10-Noon at 2303 S. Figueroa Way, Los Angeles, CA 90007 (off Figueroa, just north of USC).  Take the 110 to Adams Blvd. Exit, building straight ahead across exit off ramp.

---

* I first learned about the Harmony Project, at least a month before I’d met Margaret or even knew of her existence, when I was writing a piece for the Americans for the Arts’ Arts Education Blog and the Huffington Post about Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and the Youth Orchestra LA.

*I found and documented a similar differential between the Washington, D.C. high school drop out-rate and the graduation rate of the Washington, D.C. Youth Orchestra in my keynote speech for the Yale School of Music’s biennial Music Educators’ Symposium, which I published in the Huffington Post this past summer.

*Dudamel had held, as a condition of his coming to work with the LA Phil, that he get to help low-income kids learn music.  The LA Phil was able to grant his wish because Margaret Martin – who’d never heard of Venezuela's El Sistema from which Dudamel emerges –  when she founded the Harmony Project, already had a program in place with which the orchestra could collaborate.

Comments

[Francine Levinson]

A fabulous story and a project I believe is so vital for our children!

[Bridget Flanery]

Wonderful piece, Lucia! Your work is vital and inspiring!

[James Strock]

Fine post, well-crafted writing!

[Elizabeth Flynn]

Kudoes to Lucia for an excellent article, and Brava to the Harmony Project!

[Ken Newman]

Very interesting. This is an economic productivity issue at its core. If we want to grow our economy, we have to develop as much of our youth as possible so that they are productive members of society and not drags on law enforcement or prison resources. This article speaks very substantially to one method of ensuring long term economic growth, not to mention making for a kinder, gentler society!

[Jan]

Nice article.

[Steve Kwon]

Thank you for this piece!

[Chase]

Your passion is wonderfully evident

[BeeGee]

Great post! Thanks for bringing awareness to this important issue. You are a great writer. I appreciate your passion.

[stella]

thank you for this beautiful work. so important!

[T. H. Gunterson]

Lovely story

[B.Wojdak]

Great article!

[Mahira Kakkar]

This is a wonderful story- very moving. ASTEP does similar work- I spoke to one of the at risk kids they serve and she was talking about how being in an arts camp helped one of her friends- a former gang member- turn his life around. It also gave her the confidence to pursue her dreams- something she never had before.
I this this is amazing work and I am glad to see it being reported.
Thanks Lucia

[maddalena]

good stuff. thanks!

[Nezer Khan]

Hi Lucia,
Hope you are winning the Game...

Sincerely,

Nezer

[Nuala]

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.
Maya Angelou

Great article, so so worthwhile.

[John]

Great article.

[Jamie]

Thanks for your fierce commitment to an issue that could and would so easily be overlooked in these times of financial crisis.

[Norma]

What an amazing article!

[jackson gay]

Thank you for this. --Jackson Gay

[Jill]

What a great article!

[James]

Brilliant !

[Yolanda Vega]

Wonderful article!

[Linda Newman Boughton]

Beautifully written and really informative! thank you, Lucia for this article.

[Sonja Mushahid]

I'm glad that Ms Brawley included Margaret's contention that arts education is less expensive than the alternative and it's consequences. That should attract support if the more obvious benefits don't.

[rebecca osvold]

Wonderful! Amen! Your efforts bring me to tears of joy and I know personally that music is key not only to cultural solidarity, but a profound note to be sounded in the constant effort toward world peace based on mutually respectful harmony.

[Cassie]

Thank you for your inciteful and engaging piece! I'd love to know how to get involved and work to create more arts education in my own city (Miami).

[Ronald]

Ms. Brawley-

A wonderful post about a very important social issue. Please continue your work in shining light on the arts in education.

[Esther Pan]

So great to see what you're working on these days, Lucia. Keep on fighting the good fight!

[Ernest Brawley]

Brava Lucia! A brilliant article about a brilliant lady doing an eesential job for the children who need it most. Everyone should read it. Everyone should register its message. Everyone should put pressure on their congressmen to continue funding the arts. Not because it's fun, because it's vital!

[DNA]

Great piece Lucia! I was particularly struck by the point about investing in our kids early, rather than spending a fortune locking them up when they succumb to the ravages of the world around them. Artistry breeds discipline, self-confidence and creativity. What better gift could we give our kids, than the tools that will enable them to give back to society? Well done! D.N.A

[Julie]

so true

[lynn]

gorgeous article. Thank you...

[Peter W.]

Thanks for spreading the word! I'd actually like to see the unabridged version. Harmony Project is a flagship program for the rest of the country to emulate!!

[Toni Ann Johnson]

Spectacular piece. Thank you for all the information you shared!

[Arlene Goldbard]

Thanks, Lucia! Always a pleasure to read what you have to say.

[sara]

Thanks for the info!

[Leighton Haynes]

Beautiful ... inspirational ... insightful!
Hope your work continues to cataylze positive change!

[chiara coletti]

You couldn't be writing about arts in education at a more important time. Your piece on the Harmony Project reads more like a full-scale magazine article, one which of many which are desperately needed for publication in widely-read forums such as the New York Times Magazine. At a time when state budgets are sinking, education, and especially arts educaion, will be increasingly sacrificed. President Obama's laudable education stimulus money will go to back-fill budget holes. It will be used to save teachers' jobs, thank God. It will be used to save essential curriculum, thank God. But here is the point: at times of crisis such as this, culture is rarely viewed essential. Music, writing, dance, visual arts, theater come to be viewed as frills as extras. The politicians and the DOE bureaucrats really do not stop to think that it is culture that keeps society civilized. It is the arts that make many young people want to go to school. For many the arts provide the primary reason to go. And, so, of all the essential subjects, arts is usually the one that actually saves lives. The arts motivate young people to stay alive. For many children, the arts are their reason to be. Keep writing about these things, Lucia.

[Marie]

Your blog is great however this is one of those times when I don't have the time to read it all but for the most part scanning through it I loved what it represent. Good writing and very detailed. Thanks

[Betty]

Thanks for this piece!

[Richard Kurdt]

That's faaaaaaaaaaaantastic!!!

[Ken]

I am not a musician, singer, actor or "artsie"at all. I am a science and history guy. However the arts are very important to the positive self-development of our young people. My daughters never played an instrument other than their voices. I always told their teacher, Sue Barta. at Rice Lake (WI) High School that she was the best teacher my daughters ever had. She was open and always building up each student.

[Mozhan Marno]

Fantastic piece, very inspiring.

[Elle O]

Wonderful. Thanks for a great article.

[lorcan carpenter]

It is amazing to have such a direct impact on peoples lives with something that most of us only use for getting away from the stresses of life. Inspirational.

[Judie Montoya]

What a wonderful program and idea. I've read several studies lately about the contribution that music makes to children's brain development. It's so important!

[Heather]

I know these folks through my work at LA City Council President Eric Garcetti's office. Harmony Project does amazing work! Thanks for sharing! Heather

[Lee Marshall]

What an impressive project!

[stravaigin]

Word.

[Dyan Collings Ralph]

Beautiful!!! Thank you for this!

[alonzo fretwell]

keep up the good work!

[Sue]

I was very impressed about the invitation to the White House for the 9 children and Margaret. Did they have to raise the money for the travel & hotel to D.C., or did it come out of the $10,000 Coming Up Taller award?

Very nice article and it kept me interested all the way!

[Tom L.]

A truly inspirational piece. I was reminded of a PBS special that may be of interest:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/musicinstinct/about/

As well as an interesting article on the topic: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/17049/why_music_stimulates_the_human_brain.html

Also found this from our Alma Mater: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2001/03.22/04-music.html

There's plenty of research and literature that supports the very positive effects you've observed. I hope the program continues to expand and applaud the effort. Thank you for sharing!

[NR Davis]

Thanks for this great article!

[Pam]

Wonderful. The kids who are involved in arts or music or sports or something -- they're the ones who'll be our leaders in their generation.

[Susie]

This is a brilliant article. My husband is a musician who teaches guitar. It's amazing to watch his students blossom as their musical skills improve and their general confidence improves. Knowing that the arts are helping young people thrive in this way makes my soul sing.

[Monica]

This a perfect example of how music can impact a child's self-confidence and bring a sense of hope to a child who otherwise might not be exposed to the arts. Music not only builds self- esteem but it also enhance their cognitive development and helps in their overall academic success.

[Carlana Stone]

So inspiring!

[Robin Gerber]

What a beautiful and beautifully written piece. Thanks so much for sharing this.

[Joe Markowitz]

I have been impressed with LA Unified's ability to not only construct a first rate arts high school but actually get it up and running in a short amount of time. What is still needed, though, is to improve music and arts programs in every school. It is not clear to me that reading and arithmetic are more fundamental than art and music, but art and music are always the first things to suffer when budgets get tight.

[Carlos Michel]

Loved the post! The subject of music education mirrored in El Sistema is always a good read. Thank you for the information.

[Lucia Brawley]

Thanks, everybody, for your encouraging comments. Also, I appreciate the comments about the piece being a little long for certain tastes. So I've edited down it a bit and hope you like it even more! Cheers, Lucia

[Van]

Great article! Indeed I have come to realize the importance of the Arts in the social fabric. Thanks

[Philip]

thank you for sharing this. very informative and moving.

[Gary]

Thank for this article. Amazing...

[Esther]

Great post, thank you. I'm a public school teacher and my school has no music education at all. Some students are involved in after school music programs, but I wish that we had funding for a music teacher and even an orchestra or band.

[Levy Lee Simon]

This is an awesome article. We need more people like Margaret. She's an amazing God send. The story about her son and the gang members is testimony to the power of art, and as she says, accessibility. I applaud the Harmony Project. And, thanks to this article, many more people know about it. Thank you.

[Darlene]

What a wonderful article, I love the story and I felt like I was walking or running to keep up with the pace. A little long, however very engaging. Thank you for sharing this story.

[Candice]

This issue speaks to me because I first experienced music-making in my school life, and now it is my profession. It's relevant to everyone because it empowers young people to express themselves, relate to others and work in community, no matter what they go on to do in life. Thanks for your advocacy, Lucia.

[Brenda]

Great article! I agree that Arts Education is an important resource for our youth.

[claire]

great subject, great writing, a little ray of hope in my day!

[Victoria]

Thank you for writing such a detailed and effectively wrought article on the Harmony Project and on the students whose lives have been beneficially affected by this valuable program. The portion of the story where you describe the children's visit to the white house, such a high honor for even the most economically established, was especially poignant in relaying just how powerful access to the arts can be in opening doors to all, regardless of one's social or economic background. Now, that is hope!

[Eyzwidopn]

Exceptional writing, informative piece, and an extremely valuable subject that for too long has been treated as a back-burner issue. Despite the many proven studies and hard number statistics, we as a society still fail to give arts education the credit it deserves for the positive, powerful impact it has on a child's life. Thank you for shining a light on this subject and the efforts of Ms. Martin and her Harmony Project. Let's hope we all carry this message forward and continue to speak out and fight to preserve access to arts education by all of our kids.

[Mia]

Incredibly well-written and inspirational -- a great call to action. We must pick up the ball as individual citizens and contribute what we can to ensure that programs like this one are preserved and protected; our children deserve nothing less. Thank you for posting!

[Quentin Williams]

Thanks for the enlightening post. Very well done!

[Tim]

I'll be honest, a little long for my taste. The subject was great and your writing skills are amazing.