Keys 2 Success loves collaborating with other organizations to connect communities through music. One of our favorite collaborators is The Discovery Orchestra (TDO), where Virginia “Ginny” Johnston is Executive Director. She joined the listening sessions that Artistic Director George Maull led with the “Keys Kids” over the past few months. What moved her was not only what happened when the students listened, but also when they were listened to.
“Seeing how wonderful it was that the kids were being heard,” she observed, “and they were being told that what they say is important: If they can learn at this age that what they say is meaningful, that can be life-changing, and world-changing.”
In those Zoom sessions, several Keys students played short pieces on the piano for “Mr. George” and Ginny, and invited them to guess what each piece was about. “They were so proud to play, to be acknowledged” Ginny recounted. Then, all the students listened to movements from Carnival of The Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns, and guessed which animal the composer meant to evoke. Even on a Zoom screen, their reactions to the music and their joy in expressing their interpretations were evident.
“We try to create a dialogue with an audience where there’s no right or wrong answers, no judgment, and where creative thought is welcomed,” Ginny said. “We’re teaching music listening skills and active listening in general. Children this age are ripe for the experience.”
Ginny appreciates active listening and the power of being heard based on her own experience. A female composer, musician and choral conductor, she has often found herself in a world, “where I felt invisible.” And she--like so many people--has a natural tendency toward being more introverted than extroverted. “As I came to learn more about how I interact with the world, it occurred to me that there must be so many people who are naturally introverted, and they think there’s something wrong with them. And that’s heartbreaking.”
Music is a natural medium through which people connect. Ginny has worked to create even greater impact through musical connection. In 1992, she co-founded Triad Arts Ensemble, a non-profit organization specializing in the performing arts disciplines that creates unique programs featuring original and contemporary works. Triad Arts Ensemble held the first Canticles for Life AIDS Benefit Concert in the spring of 1997, an evening of music to benefit those in New Jersey affected by HIV/AIDS. Ginny composed a piece for the concert, inspired by her experience of seeing sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt: “threads of red, black and gold” for singers and orchestra. Since then, “almost-annual” concerts have raised over $150,000 for three organizations in NJ. The director of one of the non-profits told Ginny that without the financial help generated by the concerts, it would have been very hard for them to continue with their mission. “Doing these concerts has shown me the impact that one little piece can have, affecting people you don’t even know. And we can all play that one little part,” she said.
The philosophy is very much aligned with the vision of Keys 2 Success, according to Founder and Executive Director Jee-Hoon Krska. “We’re teaching classical piano to children, but our mission is to connect communities in a way that benefits all parties. One of the benefits that Keys offers our many volunteers and supporters is a place to, not only share our individual gifts, but also to learn from their experience with the students.”
Ginny’s description of TDO’s goals are similar. “We are interested in creating meaningful interactions with people through music, who can then take that impact and share it with others in ten or twenty years. That’s more important to us than counting how many participants at an event or how many headlines our PR generated.”
It sounds like the Keys kids are in the perfect place to participate in both goals: learning to listen, gaining the empowering experience of being heard, and taking their significant individual gifts and sharing them. “The world does so much to disempower people, we need to empower everyone to use their gifts -- to discover them, share them, and enjoy them.”
