Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Gift of Music


Sunday 9th December 2012

Maybe it’s after being at Andre Rieu’s concert last night or maybe it’s because I am presently listening to Beethoven’s fifth symphony, the Emperor that I am brought back to my first significant memory of how music impacted on my own life.


  I can remember as a child being sent from the classroom to the school hall to audition for the choir which was called ‘The Young Dublin Singers’.  I was of course delighted to be deemed worthy and  considered to have a good enough voice to be admitted to the ranks where we were trained in rhythm, harmony and canon.


Years later as I was collecting one of my children from a music lesson at their music school,  I happened to notice an article on the school’s notice board about how teachers had found a huge change for the better in the behaviour of the children who were hitherto deemed unmanageable in a tough school in the east end of London.  This free, child centered and fun based musical training had totally transformed the lives of the children.


I also reflected on an inspirational nun by the name of Sr. Bernadette Sweeney who had a vision of how she could bring music to her own school and in her own words, “ To give to all what the rich can buy for money."


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