Down in Miami-Dade County, educators are seeing how school doesn’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
Showing up, taking an interest in school and the community therein, comes that much easier for the some 21,000 students benefiting from free music classes offered at 131 schools by Young Musicians Unite (YMU).
Together, YMU collaborates with schools and community partners to provide free music education that inspires personal growth, strengthens communities, and prepares the next generation of leaders.
Leading a trumpet sections takes guts, but it’s also fun, means making friends and learning the lifelong skill of wielding an instrument. That’s where 9-year-old Jayden Morisseau at Little River K-8 wants to be. The young man spoke with CBS News Miami.
“You get a lot of opportunities to go places, and you get better at playing your horns, and also, you got a good teacher that knows a lot of music,” he said, describing the class.
That “cool teacher” is Reinaldo Velez, a YMU student himself who now leads classes like the one at Little River.
“It brings some unity to everybody here as well,” Velez said. “Personality skills, there’s a lot of traits that can be learned along the way. How to fix an instrument, how to be able to help somebody when they’re in need.”
MUSIC IS NOT OPTIONAL:
The CEO and Founder of YMU was himself a musician growing up in Miami, and credits music class with helping him find his voice and his beat, developing mastery over his instrument, and the suite of additional skills that have landed him as leader of one of the Southeast’s leading music education nonprofits.
“Kids need a reason to show up to school, and kids need an opportunity to be seen,” Gonzalez Zeira, CEO, told CBS. “And when they’re part of a music classroom, they’re part of something bigger than themselves.”
“Young Musicians Unite is an incredible program and their leaders are incredible advocates in our community for connecting our children with the world of arts and what it can do for them and their futures,” said Danielle Cohen Higgens, Commissioner for Miami-Dade County District 8,
WATCH the story below from CBS, or WATCH the original YMU song “No Moon At All”…
SHARE This Fantastic In-School Offering For Children In South Florida…
