The Afternoon the Room Started Rocking (Before the Music Even Started)

Back in April, my piano studio partnered with the International Institute of New England (IINE) in Lowell for something we called Fun Friday— an afternoon bringing together my piano students and their families with ESOL students at IINE and their families, for music, movement, and a shared meal. No stage, no "audience." Just a crowded classroom, one acoustic upright piano, and 70 people ready to be connected by music.

How we got here

 This wasn't a one-off idea — it was the culmination of a full school year of work, funded by a Piano Inspired Community Impact Grant. The goal was simple to say and harder to do: connect my students with refugees and immigrants building new lives in Lowell and let real relationships replace whatever stereotypes they'd picked up from the news.

 Along the way, we continued to diversify my usual piano curriculum. Instead of sticking to the standard Western classical repertoire, my students spent the year learning music from Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Hispanic Latin America, Gaza, and Ukraine. And because singing is such a powerful tool for language learning, my students got to practice something most piano students never touch: accompanying other people while they sing. Turns out that's a genuinely hard skill — it takes strong sight-reading, real comfort with chords, and enough muscle memory that you can keep your eyes on the page while you and everyone else is busy singing along.

 The moment that caught my breath

 Here's the part I keep coming back to. For Fun Friday, I spoke to William Westney, pianist and teacher extraordinaire who is also an expert in Dalcroze Eurhythmics — basically, the art of feeling music through your whole body, not just your ears — to help me design activities where non-musicians could participate physically: scarves, egg shakers, drawing while listening to the music and swaying together to a beat.

 Honestly? I was terrified. I was working with a room full of non-musicians, and I fully expected to be met with a polite look but no movement. I'd prepped simple things to model — swaying to a beat, mirroring a partner — just in case nobody wanted to join in.

 Instead, the second I demonstrated, the room started rocking side to side. Before the music had even started. I did not expect that, and it genuinely caught my breath. It turns out the biggest risks really can come with the biggest rewards.

 By the end of the afternoon, nobody in that room was a passive listener. Everyone — piano kids, parents, IINE teachers, ESOL students, little siblings — was in it together.

  The people who made it real

 Our accompanist for the day was Anouce Fedna, an IINE ESOL graduate and pianist originally from Haiti — we were thrilled to help cover his Uber to get there. And the feedback afterward said it all better than I can:

  "What a wonderful event... we just somehow have to make this an annual tradition!" — Sherry, IINE Education Manager

 What's next

 This project has legs. It earned  the Peace Prize from the Newburyport Human Rights Commission, and even better, it just won the inaugural Alison S. Barr Innovation Award from the Massachusetts Music Teachers Association — which means we get to bring this model to more piano teachers across Greater Boston next year, with more Dalcroze training and more classrooms like this one.

 And maybe my favorite outcome of all: at least three of my high schoolers were so moved by meeting IINE families that they've started volunteering there themselves.

 If Fun Friday taught me anything, it's this — you don't need a stage or a spotlight to make music matter. Sometimes all you need is a piano, some scarves, a room full of strangers, and the nerve to sway first.

Interested in something like this for your own community, classroom, or studio? I'd love to talk.