Can A Song Save The World?

-Zak Baskin-Sam Nelson-Max Harris-Breya Parris-Wes Minton

How Has Music Helped You, Personally, With Your Own Problems?

My driving question was, “How has music helped you, personally, with your own problems in life.”

The answers to this question varied but the average seemed to say that music was everything to them and that without music they would solve no problems.

-Wes Minton

Can Music Effect Change In the Community Around Us?

My driving question was “Can music effect change in the community around us?”

The answer to this question is yes.

Music has brought such joy to many communities in the world who have nothing and these musicians have gone over the top to make a difference.

-Zak Baskin

Can A Song Influence You To Make Better Decisions?

My driving question was “ Can a song influence you to make better decisions?”.

The answer to this question is yes it is a known fact that if you surround yourself with positive energy it impacts you to make be positive and make positive decisions

-Sam Nelson

Can Gospel Music Influence A Society?

My driving question was “Can gospel music influence a society?”

The answer is yes. It may not influence everybody, but it will reach some people and in that way they are influenced.

-Breya Parris

How Does Music Give Hope on a Personal Level?

Music gave hope to many people in music therapy. Instead of just a nursing home, we visited a place where senior citizens loved getting involved in several activities. My question was answered when I heard about the effect of music therapy on a woman who had Alzheimer's and used to be in the Boston Orchestra. She didn’t even know it anymore but when handed a violin, she was able to play beautifully again.

- Max Harris

The Street Musicians

Although the performers we met were very poor, they seemed to be content and happy because of their music.

They seemed to know that they would always be street musicians and that seemed ok with them.

The Russian

The first street musician we met was a Russian immigrant who said that God had told him to play music.

We found him in the subway playing his own compositions, when we asked what music meant to him he said that music was his soul.

The Guatemalan

Our second street musician only spoke Spanish and was very good at classical guitar.

He told us that he could not imagine doing anything besides playing music.

Longy Music Conservatory

One of our first stops in Boston was Longy Music Conservatory. Longy focuses on educated their students in the Classical realm of music and music theory.

We were fortunate to talk to two very well educated administrators at Longy.

Both of these individuals talked about how music not just something to enjoy personally. They both expressed that it is our responsibility as musicians to bring the music that we love to the community and use it to bring people together.

The Berklee Tour

After dealing with front we went on a tour with a Berklee student that played classical harp.

She showed us everything to technology to the other students taking their finals.

Everybody (especially Zak) was in awe of what was going on around us.

This was truly an amazing experience going to Berklee and learning about the amazing program they have to offer.

The Frustration of Berklee

The group had a strong desire to go and visit the legendary musical college Berklee but the admissions office never returned Ms. Otool’s calls.

We decided to actually go to the college and head to the admissions office.

We explained the situation to the front desk and they arranged a tour.

Sherrill House

At Sherrill House we learned about music therapy.

We saw patients who had Parkinson's disease stay on beat with a drum even though she could barely hold the sticks.

We heard about patients who couldn’t walk that could get up and dance because music triggers their brain a certain way.

We also heard about a boy who had not laughed in 5 years but when people came to play for him, he immediately started laughing.

Conclusion

Our group came to the conclusion that a song can save the world but it can only save a person one by one in order for the whole world to come together as one.