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Bringing Music to the Community
Choir director encourages self-esteem, healing and support through singing
Excerpt from an article by Nick O’Connor, The Portland Upside,
November 3, 2009.
Crystal Meneses’ childhood love of singing has transformed into a passion for using music to bridge generational gaps.
Crystal went on to study music therapy at Marylhurst University. Although she expects to receive her degree along with a teaching certificate by the end of this year, it will not be in music therapy, but a major she made up herself.
"I decided to switch my degree to ‘Music In The Community,’" she says. "I had a great mentor at Marylhurst named Christine Korb. She inspired me to research intergenerational community projects."
Crystal was directing the choir at Grout Elementary and at the same time, visiting the Odd Fellows’ wise-elder home directly across the street.
"I had been doing research on intergenerational studies, the attitudes of generations towards each other. I realized the dissonance. So I brought the kids over to the wise-elder home. The kids and adults wouldn’t look at each other, or talk. The kids were afraid to sit next to the elders or shake hands.
"Susan (the principal) and I got a grant together to fund my intergenerational project. I researched what to ask to get them talking and writing. What I did was create an intervention called ‘scripted musical dialogue,’ in which they made postcards to talk about music, art and everything. For example, I had students draw pictures of what they would look like when they got older."
Both groups wrote musical postcards for five months, and Crystal hand delivered them to their "musical pals," walking back and forth across the street like a letter carrier.
"Things happened," she says. "Some musical pals passed away. Kids talked about their parents not being together. I was delivering mail and putting together a sing-along program that would engage both groups. At the second sing-along, they were holding each other’s hands and laughing. I couldn’t get them to stop talking."