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Healing through Music

November 4, 2021
By sthuthidas BRONZE, Chandler, Arizona
sthuthidas BRONZE, Chandler, Arizona
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

           Throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic, there was a staggering decrease in hopes and spirits all around - prompting the need for a few different, serious interventions. One of these interventions that brought music and calmness together in a creative blend of unity was known as the Spoorthi Music Workshop. The word “spoorthi'', in Sanskrit, stands for “inspiration”, which was no doubt a key factor in the making, process, and outcomes of the workshop. The team behind this Spoorthi Workshop consisted of several adult and youth teachers from around the (Phoenix, AZ) Valley as well as internationally - each of whom came up with  songs in different languages that they would teach participants during the workshop. Team Spoorthi also included youth members serving on both the audio-visual and the accompaniment(instrumentals) sub-teams. These youth members were recruited through a google form posted on social media by the youth coordinator of the non-profit organization, ChandanShamalaLibrary (an entity focused on STE(A)M association for children in grades K-12). The event was advertised heavily on several social media platforms, and via another google form that allowed participants to sign up for learning predetermined, devotional songs that they would then perform on Facebook at the conclusion of the workshop. Furthermore, one additional goal of the workshop was to raise funds that would go towards helping the COVID crisis in India. The youth lead coordinator worked with all the other instructors, taught one of the songs, and conducted the workshop over four to six weeks, including the review of the learned songs by the instructors. The youth leader worked with all the youth instrumentalists as well to prepare them for a specific recording day or time where they would provide the accompaniments for the participants to sing along with and then record. 26 individuals participated in this workshop, and about 75% of them went on to participate in separate video recordings of the six songs. These videos were stitched together into one final video by the youth audio-visual (A/V) team member who also added introduction of all the teams, suitable background music where needed, and created a single video file that was published on Facebook and also on the ChandanShamalaLibrary website. Approximately $700 that were collected through this workshop were forwarded to Sewa International to utilize in their efforts. 


The author's comments:

       My name is Sthuthi, the youth lead coordinator for both the ChandanShamala Library and the Spoorthi workshop. I am a junior at Hamilton High School, and as well as participating in any and all arts classes and taking all honors/AP classes, I am always on the search for new and invigorating ways to give back to my community. After coming up with the Spoorthi music workshop, I learned a lot about myself and the world. I learned what it takes to be a part of a community that works together for the greater good of the public. Originally, I had thought it would be easy to organize and put everyone together in their classes so that they could properly learn without disturbances, but I hadn’t taken into account the amount of time that it would take to fully set up classes, make sure everyone learned the songs, and set up review sessions soon after. It was also a challenge to get everyone to come to a specific location at the same time so we could record each song for the students’ virtual performances. However, once we got the hang of setting up and organizing the workshop’s separate classes, everything started to go smoothly. All of the feedback we received was filled with compliments, with both students and teachers saying they would love to go through this Spoorthi workshop again in the future and that they wouldn’t change a thing. The Spoorthi workshop helped the community around us by helping to rase many individuals’ spirits after coming out of such a long year in lockdown and isolation; it brought people a continuation of music, of devotion, and also let people become inspired and motivated to proceed to live their lives to the best they could. Those who watched these students’ virtual performance were also incredibly amazed at how well it turned out, and were highly appreciative of all of their and our hard work. 


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