On behalf of CMA Foundation’s Unified Voices for Music Education, country music artist Lindsay Ell recently participated in a virtual songwriting session for Music In Our Schools Month helping the Nashville area Mt. View Elementary fourth grade music students write an original song together over Zoom. As one of their Artist Ambassadors, Ell is sharing the importance of music education and the opportunities music provides for healing and growth in difficult times.
On being an ambassador for the CMA Foundation, Ell says, “It was so important for me to be a CMA Foundation Artist Ambassador because music is everything to me.” As part of the program, Ell has also created a tutorial on how to restring and tune a guitar.
“When I got to be able to throw a lesson plan together for the children of Mt. View Elementary, I was one hundred percent down to it,” says Ell. One of the first songwriting tips she shared with the students was, “The first step to writing a song is choosing a topic.”
It was so heartwarming because the teachers later shared with the CMA Foundation that the students were so inspired by her story that many of them took up learning the piano, an instrument they weren’t previously playing. The teachers sent in several videos from students who continued working on the song the class wrote with Lindsay, playing it on their pianos. Their teachers also shared a few videos of the students talking about why they love music and why music makes them feel good.
After the experience, Ell said, “I have such a newfound respect for what teachers have been through this past year. I just thank you for doing such a great, great job, because it’s a difficult one.”
If you would like to donate to the CMA Foundation to give the gift of music, visit their site at https://cmafoundation.org/donate/.