Most professional musicians I know come from a family of musicians. Me? I’m the black sheep that was supposed to go to law or medical school (yeah, that didn’t pan out).
However, ever since I can remember, I always knew I wanted to teach. In high school I had narrowed it down to two subjects: math or music. Needless to say, I am beyond grateful that I chose the latter. All through college, I thought that sharing and teaching music was my purpose for being here on Earth…
After having taught the past 2.5 years though, I now know that my calling is in connecting with young people; song is merely the bridge to help me forge those relationships. Through song, I personally have learned self-confidence, self-respect, and most importantly, self-love. What a blessing it is to help my students learn those same lessons through not only the music we sing, but how we rehearse and how we treat each other.
Song has given me all of those ‘selfs’ (self-confidence, self-respect, self-love) and led me to discover how beautiful it is to be vulnerable with those around you. And for anyone out there who doubts the emotional intelligence of middle school and high school students… They connect with music and text even more fiercely than adults. Shout out to song for shaping the youth of today to be the adult for tomorrow.
- Randi Simons, Alto Heartland Vocal Artist