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Asheville native singer Indigo De Souza visited Lucy S. Herring Elementary School Friday, Oct. 10, to talk with students about music, answer their questions and deliver instruments to the school to raise awareness about the importance of music education.
“I learned guitar when I was nine years old. I also sang in my chorus class and I loved writing songs,” said Indigo De Souza. “If I hadn’t had access to music from a young age I would not have discovered that.”
The event was sponsored by Concord, the world’s leading independent music company according to their website. The event was arranged by the largest nonprofit music program in the U.S. public school system, Music Will.
According to their website, Music Will provided access to music education to over a million students, striving to make music education available to all students regardless of their socioeconomic background.
“Our method is really about helping kids become lifelong music makers,” said Janice Polizzotto, chief growth officer of Music Will.
The instruments donated to Lucy S. Herring Elementary School included keyboards, mini keyboards, electric guitars and speakers.
“With the partnership with (Music Will) came the donation of the instruments. They have a distributor they work with and basically the items that were donated were based off of what the classroom needed specifically,” said Anoush Kirakosian, head of philanthropy for Concord.
According to Polizzotto, elementary students need a creative outlet for self expression. Music not only helps kids academically and for attendance, but also as a tool for youth development.
“We hear from kids as young as second grade that they are dealing with stress, anxiety and depression. Music is the one thing that gets them to school, gets them to class and it just helps them thrive,” Polizzotto said.
De Souza said self expression and emotional connection with yourself is important for developmental growth and always will be.
“I think for people in general, young or old, it is just kind of a cleanser for your body and your spirit. I think music helps me all the time just to process things I have been through, whether it’s hard things or beautiful things. It just helps me engage with whatever emotion I am feeling,” De Souza said.
Music Will is student directed, allowing students to build team-work skills and build connections with peers.
“Our programs are student directed, they select the song they want to learn. There’s negotiation. They have to be able to work together as a class or band to determine what they are wanting to learn,” Polizzotto said.
Along with events, students are provided performance opportunities. At the event, a music class performed a drum performance to the song “Run Boy Run” by Woodkid.
“ Alot of our kids have performance opportunities whether it is school assemblies or community events,” Polizzotto said. “We always look for ways to give kids opportunities to perform.”
“It is just really great to be able to partner with our artists, go back to their home towns, with their schools or places where they first learned about music and were inspired to become musicians,” Kirakosian said.
Indigo hopes her appearance at the school provides students with inspiration to continue being themselves or even start their career in music.
“I think I just hope that I am being myself and expressing myself, showing something that I am passionate about, celebrating that in the room with them will hopefully just encourage them to express themselves and feel comfortable with being different, vibrant or standing out,” De Souza said. “Music will light you up.”
