Singing from the Heart

Today my son’s 5th grade class sang to the elders at a local nursing home. Later, I saw their music teacher who said the concert was fantastic and that several audience members were so touched that they cried. I know those tears. I call that kind of crying “truth crying,” when you are hear something so pure, that you are reminded of the truth of who you really are, and of the love in your own heart.

I knew their concert would be great even before I heard about it at pick-up today. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to accompany this same class on the pig heart dissection field trip, where the lab instructions read to cut the pig heart in half like a bagel (a bagel??? not quite). I don’t know what it was about this lab that got the kids singing. Maybe it was being told that the pig heart is most similar in size and type to the human heart. Maybe it was just touching and holding an actual heart in their hands. Whatever it was, on the way home, they gave the six adults on that school bus a spontaneous dress rehearsal of their concert.

Though they sang loudly, they were not shouting the lyrics like many children their age do. And they were actually in tune with each other, which was very pleasing to the ear. The pure love and joy emanating from their voices completely lifted my spirits and I found myself unable to stop smiling, even while trying to sing along with them. That is the power of music; music is the messenger from the abode of the Heart.

So, I know what those elders felt like today. They were responding to these children giving so freely of themselves, singing directly from the Heart.

Thank you Park Forest Elementary for giving our children the opportunity to help other people in this way!