3 Ways Students Can Learn To Give Through Music

It’s the time of year when many people are focused on the holidays and on giving. When this season is at it’s best, there is a big focus on acts of service and spreading joy. It is also a great time to teach our children and students about giving. Music can be a great way to do this!

Sharing music with family, friends and the community can be a great way to learn the power of giving. It’s an important value I want my own children and my students to adopt, this time of year, and all year long.

Here are some ways you can think about helping your students or children give the gift of music this season:

1. Go to a local nursing or retirement home and give a performance

You can put on a performance of review pieces, have each student play their most recent recital piece, or learn some holiday music as a studio. Any combination of these types of music would be wonderful for your audience. The website www.8notes.com has great free music to download. You can also order arrangements of Christmas melodies for strings through Martha Yasuda’s website. If you have a favorite book or source for holiday music please leave it the comments!

My grandma lives in a memory care unit that is always open to small groups coming in to perform music for the residents – it really brightens their day, especially to hear familiar music that they know. You only need to get a couple of musician’s together to make something like this happen!

2. Learn a family member’s favorite holiday tune, and play it for them as a gift

Many of my students enjoy learning Happy Birthday to surprise a family member with on their birthday. Maybe a family member of yours has a favorite holiday song, or any song they love,  that your child can learn and present to them either in person, by skype, or by video as a gift this season.

I have also had students present a small performance at family gatherings (as their gift to everyone). If your child is involved in the process of picking the music to play, and even making programs for everyone as a project, it can be fun a fun experience for everyone.

3. Play music out in the Community

A favorite activity in my studio last year was playing in small groups at our local Fred Meyer (a grocery store) while ringing the Salvation Army bell, in December. We learned holiday tunes and played for shoppers inside the front doors of the store.

It was really rewarding for the students to see all the smiles from shoppers and to get compliments from complete strangers as they walked by.

I have heard comments all year, from students who participated, that this was one of their favorite memories of performing last year.

I recently heard from the volunteer coordinator, as we made arrangements to come back this year, about how much seeing children making music together touched the shoppers and other volunteers as well.

There are many different ways to perform in the community beyond this one example. I recommend looking into opportunities in your area and finding a way to get involved. Activities like these benefit the musicians and the audience members alike.

It can be a busy time of year and without a focus to our practice it is easy to have it take a back seat to other activities going on.

In my experience, having a way to use music in order to give back and brighten another person’s day is a great way to motivate practice, learn fun music, and keep the excitement and energy high for our children and students.

What is your favorite way to use music to give during the holidays?