“Music is something people will always remember and be grateful that they had stuck it out learning to play or sing. It is something one carries with them all their life.”

How are the arts re-igniting your community and sparking innovation and creativity in your local schools?

I don’t know truthfully how to answer this question because the problem is here in San Diego and all over the state of California, as far as I know presently, the arts are not re-igniting anything in our community and are not sparking innovation and creativity in our local schools. This is why I retired ten years ago burned-out and stressed. Now I am ready to take a stand for a new possibility of what our community and the way our local schools could be by putting music back into the curriculum as part of the core.

Without music education, I see more students being deprived of a well-balanced education one which enriches and restores a love for learning. Backing up what music does for students and people of all ages are numerous current studies proving how beneficial and necessary it is to have music in everyone’s lives, not just for those special students who are deemed to be the only ones that should be provided a music education because of the born talents. By providing music education it is shown through studies how it develops the brain in all people that sparks that ability to think creatively bringing more creative solutions to any problem we are currently facing in the world today. In fact, it is my theory that we are dealing with so many problems because we need to expose more people to a well balanced education that includes the arts. This is what art does and I do believe most people agree with me already on this as I have yet spoken with someone who did not agree with me on this.

How has your life been indelibly touched by a teacher who utilized the arts for whatever reason and acknowledge how they were instrumental in breaking the mold to allow you to become who you are today?

I have to go way back to my elementary-junior high school days to answer this question. Looking back on my life, I can see how I was in a way somewhat of a split personality if you can call it that, I don’t know. I definitely had become psychosomatic. Whenever I was involved in academic subjects in school that had nothing to do with music, I was very withdrawn, timid and shy, and most fearful particularly of people in authoritarian positions such as teachers. That changed once I started music lessons and I became so naturally outgoing and loving learning in school. There was one particular music teacher in my junior high school that was more inspiring to me in wanting to be a music teacher. He was such a fun teacher that involved all his students every day getting us to come meet in his classroom after school to learn a new instrument or music theory, etc. things that were extracurricular to the program. We were so automatically self-motivated to want to learn more. I blossomed in musical ensemble groups which contributed to why I was so attracted with such ambition to major in music education when I got to college level. Music is something people will always remember and be grateful that they had stuck it out learning to play or sing. It is something one carries with them all their life.

Music Moves Us is a film project to show how important music is, to start up a movement to bring about a change in our schools, our communities, as well as the healing arts. We encourage ordinary people who have a love for music to participate in this project in ways that they feel most comfortable doing. There will be new interviews posted every month of people sharing stories how music has impacted their lives, and people are invited to participate in another way by posting comments and/or testimonials.