Building Bridges By Making Beats: System-Involved Youth in the Studio

There is something very special in the way music affects people: It moves us individually and it brings us close when we listen together. But more than anything, music creates pure magic when people make it with others. Over the past 15 years, my professional life has been devoted to creating spaces and opportunities for young people to make the music they love, both collectively and on their own. Time and again, I have found that music — writing it, recording it, performing it, and playing it for others — has not only lifted my students to great heights of pride and satisfaction, it has bridged cultural, racial, and other differences in profound and lasting ways.