“Music is a way of expressing myself, whether it’s playing it or listening to it. No matter what happens in life, a song that I love isn’t going to change or leave. It’s something that is constant. And I need that in my constantly inconstant life.”
My Voice Music student
My Voice Music partners with over 20 youth service groups annually, such as residential treatment centers, alternative schools and other youth engagement groups. We bring all the instruments, recording equipment, and instruction needed to run songwriting and music programs that help over 1,000 youth facing crisis to cope, to heal, and to thrive each year; enhancing the ability of youth organizations to serve the youth they work with more deeply.
HOW IT WORKS
My Voice Music staff and volunteers travel to organizations serving youth, and provide all the instruments and instruction needed in order to run experiential music groups. Drum circles and sing-along groups foster community and celebrate the intrinsic therapeutic aspects of music. More intensive rock band and hip hop camps teach youth to work together as they learn to play an instrument, write their own song, record it and perform it. We offer programs for just about any situation.
Email monica@myvoicemusic.org for more information.
OUR PROCESS:
“My Voice Music’s process works because we focus on writing great songs, learning music through hands-on experience, and recording and performing, rather than “healing” explicitly. We believe the artistic process, in and of itself, is healing. It fosters, reflection, goal setting, hope, critical thinking, community engagement, and more. For youth who have been in therapy and treatment for a long time, simply having something “normal” like music to focus can be a major release.”
– Ian Mouser, MVM Founder
Music has, for millennia, been used by humans to cope and to heal and to celebrate. It has been used to facilitate ceremony, and bring people together. In today’s world, music has also become integrated into our popular culture. For youth experiencing crisis music can be a particularly effective tool in treatment, building coping skills developing pro-social tools. Songwriting and guided music groups help youth to share their voice, and to be heard. Music inspires hope, and fosters new ambitions. It creates a safe place to be calm, funny, excited, or sad. For countless youth (and all people for that matter), music is a refuge from the storm, it is a companion through all of life’s ups and downs.