Presenter: This is Music Forever. Hello and welcome! In our studio today is Dan Welch, who was a developer of the Pittsburg symphony orchestra MusicKids Program. Welcome, Dan!

Daniel: Thank you!

Presenter: Tell us a little about MusicKids to get us started.

Daniel: Sure. It started in 2007 with the idea of using music as a vehicle for social change. We wanted to make Pittsburg a better city. We wanted kids from the most at-⁠risk neighborhoods in Pittsburg to have a chance in life. So, it is all about a very specific type of poverty, specific kinds of things that they need to overcome. When you go to music competitions and read biographies of the participants, there's not much difference between them. One of our goals is to diversify the world of music and have kids with less easy biographies participate in these competitions, play with good orchestras or something like that.

Presenter: Have you had any success so far?

Daniel: Actually, yes! And surprisingly, not only in music! We have kids in medical schools, in law schools, those majoring in biology, chemistry, art in some of the best universities in the country.

Presenter: So, how exactly does music promote all that?

Daniel: I think there are several aspects of studying music that do that. I think that at its root we are talking about something that has no end. When you play a musical piece, you can study it over and over again with the goal of excellence, but it's an endless process. It teaches you to be patient and strive for the unachievable best. Another thing is that in music seemingly disparate things come together. The violine and the drum have very little in common, but still, the seemingly disparate sounds that they make can come together in an orchestra, and that's a metaphor for life right there. And this is why music is a great place to be. Plus, specifically classical music. In our program we teach all kinds of music. But the rigor and the consistency involved in classical music is simply incomparable. It is exactly what you need to create that change in the society. That daily work, the getting up and going to work, doing a job, doing whatever it is to get better at something. Classical music does that.

Presenter: Can you give us a glimpse into the life at MusicKids?

Daniel: Sure. So, that would start with early immersion. Music is preventative medicine. We want to give it to students before there's something bad in their hand, like a gun or something. And so, you put the clarinet there and that's preventative medicine for anything else they will have to deal with in their lives. We give instruments to our kids in the first grade - all the orchestral instruments. We are doing tuba at first grade. Which is why we now have tuba players at Julliard and all the other big music schools.

Presenter: You are a tuba player yourself, aren't you?

Daniel: Yes, I am. So, I'm always promoting the tuba. Many people think it is too heavy for the little kids, being this huge chunk of metal. Others think it's too boring, just playing one or two notes with the orchestra. Neither is true. There are beautiful pieces written for it. It's just as lovable an instrument as any other. Anyway, with the early immersion, our students start with maybe one day a week music class, but then with time find themselves taking classes with the best musicians all over the country, going to Art summer camps, Art high schools, and then end up with this seven-⁠day immersion we know as classical musicians.

Presenter: It sounds amazing.

Daniel: It's cool stuff!

Presenter: Thank you so much for coming to us today.

Daniel: Thank you!