Musicambia

Some of my friends are involved with an organization called Musicambia.  It connects some of New York's top musicians with prisoners so that they can benefit from the power of learning an instrument, playing with others, and composing their own music.  Tonight we went to their gala where we heard some professional musicians play their works, heard some of the alums of the program play, and also got to hear their words about the power of music.

Watching them speak, it was hard to imagine that they had ever committed any crime.  How often do we interact with a person that we know spent time in jail?  It's not information that gets openly shared.  Nor do our society circles overlap that often.  One of the men speaking said he had spent 20 years in prison.  Through Musicambia he had gotten involved in other programs, had gone to college, and is now enrolled to go to Columbia in the fall for Social Work.

It's not often enough that music is such an agent for connecting communities in such a positive way.  Nor is it's potency so keenly felt.  Musicians are aware of its transformative ability, but do we really believe that it can bring about this kind of change?

It's wonderful to see and experience this kind of good.  People growing beyond what they had been labeled, or remembering other possibilities for themselves.  In what other ways can we help transform our world?