Red Barn Music School

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A high school teacher in New York City once told her class to write a letter to a famous author they admired and invite them to visit. Kurt Vonnegut was the only one to reply.

November 5, 2006:

Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:

I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don't make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.

What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow.

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you're Count Dracula.

Here's an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don't do it: Write a six-line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don't tell anybody what you're doing. Don't show it or recite it to anybody, not even your best friend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?

Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what's inside you, and you have made your soul grow.

God bless you all!

Kurt Vonnegut

Music is the swimming of brain exercise

Few adults play musical instruments, and even fewer do so in a group, Caroline Mimbs Nyce writes. What health benefits might they be giving up? https://theatln.tc/oglkQfzJ

“Kids receive plenty of music education, but as people get older, they fall out of practice. Many stop picking up their instrument,” Nyce writes. “This is unfortunate, in part because plenty of research shows that adults could benefit from playing music.”

Playing music helps build larger brain networks and new pathways. “Musicians tend to have better attention than nonmusicians,” Nyce continues. “Banging on a drum or tooting a horn can also relieve stress, reduce burnout, and help with anxiety and depression. For older people specifically, research has shown potential cognitive benefits along with a possible decrease in dementia risk.”

Adults may be skipping out in part because music education is associated with childhood and coursework. And after people grow out of music education in their childhood, they tend to think that music is a special talent, Nyce writes, not something that just anybody can learn.

“Of course, people are busy; they simply may not have the luxury of sitting down to study Bach once a week, much less the money to pay for an instrument or private lessons,” Nyce writes.

Playing music in groups has additional benefits, such as allowing adults to feel more trusting of and connected to one another, and to the world in general. But while it’s easy to go to a park or gym and pull together a game of pickup basketball, “piecing together people at the same skill level to play a concerto or even just jam in a garage is another matter.”

Nyce herself recently began to play the recorder. “I plan to keep learning,” she writes, “not because it strengthens my neuropathways per se (though I certainly don’t mind that), but because making music, even when it’s silly—perhaps especially when it’s silly—is just a whole lot of fun.” https://theatln.tc/oglkQfzJ

📸: Photo Media / ClassicStock / Getty

She's great

Today's Teacher Feature is Kira Jewett!

Violinist and fiddler Kira Jewett began studying Suzuki violin at the age of 3. As a teen she was a section leader for the Saratoga Performing Arts School of Orchestral Studies with the Philadelphia Orchestra and performed solo and in chamber groups. She played for four years with the Yale Symphony Orchestra and as an adult has been a member of several semi-professional orchestras, including the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Musica Dolce chamber orchestra, Windham Philharmonic, and several orchestras in Montana.

Most recently, Kira's traditional Irish band, New Leaf, has been busy this fall performing in a number of local and regional venues including a delightful house concert in Northampton. They are tentatively planning another visit to Ireland in June 2025!

From now until December 2nd, we're offering trial lessons with Kira for only $5! Check out the details at the link in our bio!

Spring Open House at the Red Barn - Sunday, Jan 28 noon - 4PM, try the instruments, free cookies and drinks, let’s play!
Directions - http://bit.ly/Red_Barn_map

Great recital on Sunday, photos by Rachel Bellenoit

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Welcome Christina Choi to the Red Barn family, DMA from UT Austin, her studio was part of a happy daycare, now in Amherst. Welcome, Christina!

Red Barn Music School Music lessons, classes, groups -- come play with us!

Join is for a music fair on Sunday, Sept 12 from noom to 4, outdoors fun and anyone can come

This is what happens at the Red Barn, I love this job