Focus
Touching orphans' souls with sound of music
By Zhou Wenting (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-26 07:58
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Charity uses tuneful therapy to soothe the hearts of disadvantaged children. Zhou Wenting in Beijing reports.
After hearing the big news, the classroom erupted with screams of excitement as children ran into the halls to tell their friends: Professional musicians were coming to Beijing Angel Training School to teach them how to play the violin.
It did not matter that most of the students had no idea what a violin is.
"When the violinist opened the case and held up the instrument, they all screamed, mouths wide open," said Zhang Mei, 59, who teaches some of the 76 orphans at the school.
On stage was Chen Qian, one of several highly trained musicians with the Wings of Music, a charity project aimed at helping disadvantaged youths gain confidence and lay solid foundations for a better future.
A 2003 nationwide study by the China Center of Adoption Affairs showed that 74 percent of abandoned and orphaned children develop behavioral problems, six times that of children with parents.
"By touching the souls of needy children through classical music, we want to drive away the inferiority and loneliness brought by the mischief of fate," said Chen, 29, who is also the project's executive director.
Since its launch in February last year, Wings of Music has formed two orchestras and a choir made up of students at Beijing Angel Training School and the capital's Dandelion School, a private nonprofit middle school for the children of low-income migrant workers.
The groups have already given several performances at major events, including an award ceremony for One Foundation, a charity set up by Chinese movie star Jet Li.
Although a familiar practice that has yielded results in the West, music therapy is still relatively little used in China.
The people running Wings of Music reject the suggestion they are performing therapy; however, many in the education field say the project is "pioneering" efforts to engage a traditionally troubled group through music.
Education bureaus do promote music in schools "but disadvantaged children, such as orphans and those from migrant families are often forgotten", said Lu Tianlong, vice-chairman of the Beijing Association on Education for Sustainable Development.
"In big cities like Beijing, children of migrant workers account for a high proportion in ordinary public primary schools but the authorities often pay more attention to modern key schools instead," he added. "Wings of Music is filling the gap."
Inspiring voices
Chai Liang, 42, a professor of orchestral instruments at the Central Conservatory of Music and the mastermind behind Wings of Music, said he simply wants to help youngsters from poor families "see a beauty" normally reserved for the rich.
His inspiration came from the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra, who he saw perform at the National Center of Performing Arts in January 2009. The group was formed in Venezuela three decades ago by conductor Jose Antonio Abreu, who began giving free, daily music lessons to 11 children aged 4 to 6, mainly orphans and juvenile deliquents.
It went on to earn critical acclaim and, today, Venezuela has roughly 250 orchestras made up of children, teenagers and adults from impoverished backgrounds.
"The underprivileged who could have been hidden problems in society are instead musicians and celebrities," said Chai, who with his friend Guo Yong, also 42, set out to replicate the success in China by offering not only a sense of music but "a sense of status".
"The most painful thing about poverty is not hunger or the need to migrate, but that feeling of lacking an identity," added executive director Chen. "In an orchestra or choir, a child can develop a noble heart and learn how to become a model for their community and family."
Although still a fledgling project, Wings of Music is already seeing results. This summer, Dandelion School's orchestra also won a performance award at a national violin art festival.
"The children were timid on the stage last year but they were far more comfortable this time," said Guo Shan, chairwoman of China Symphony Development Foundation, which is affiliated with Wings of Music. "Their low self-esteem had made way for self-confidence."