Music gives more than just sounds to our ears.  Musical instruments are vital materials in many cultures.  They bring in people together to festivities and rituals.  They create profound impact on people.  Many children gain greater confidence in themselves when they learn to play music and sometimes their behavioral issues do change too.  Even children with disabilities learn to accept who they are through playing music.  Two films portray how musical instruments play an important role in the lives of people:

Roberta Guaspari played by Meryl Streep in a film based on a true story, Music of the Heart, lightens up the hearts of children in the heart of Harlem in New York when she brings in her own set of 50 violins and teach underprivileged to play the violin.   Children’s personalities were changed, as they become more motivated to learn, gain greater confidence in themselves and learn that they can succeed regardless of their class status. One girl in the film who had a physical deformity who once thought she could never do anything realized she had so many potentials in her life thanks to a music teacher who gave her a violin and taught her how to play it.

Rhianon Gutierrez, a filmmaker from Los Angeles, California, traveled to the slums of Sao Paulo in Brazil and created a documentary film, Ritmo Do Morumbi, about a group of children learning to play drums and dance.  An organization known as Meninos Do Morumbi recruit children from the streets and bring them together to learn the enjoyments of music utilizing drums and what potential opportunities it could bring to them.  Click here to view the film, and the film is one of the nominees for the Explore/Hatch Film Festival.  If you like the film, vote for it!

Musical instruments are indeed essential objects that play a critical role in people’s lives…

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