A Bow in Every Hand

Taipei American School continues to impress with its commitment to the arts. The sheer number of kids enrolled in its extraordinary depth of arts offering— Orff Schulwerk, strings, band, choir, dance, drama, visual arts— is education as it should be, but so rarely is. 

 

Yesterday I attended the first of three strings concerts, today I will lead folk dancing with 120 kids who volunteered to dance with their parents (!). On Thursday, they’re holding a book signing for my Jazz, Joy & Justice book and then show my movie The Secret Song. On Friday, the nine 5^th grade groups and high school jazz band I’ve worked with (over 200 kids!) will mount the stage to perform four jazz pieces I’ve arranged. All of this from a school that is not an arts school, but has simply folded it in alongside the usual math and language and history and athletics because they recognize its central role in cultivating whole human beings.

 

It was watching the 40 or so cello players on stage when it struck me that a child—or adult— with a bow in their hand can’t harm other people or other living things. Oh, I suppose they could use the bow to poke someone or swat an annoying dog or hold hateful thoughts about others while playing Bach, but really, why would they? The act of drawing the bow across the strings to evoke beautiful sounds in company with others, that delicious sense of being one part of a larger glorious sound, of organizing the chaos of the world with a structured composition, of sharing it with a listening audience refreshed by their disciplined efforts, is a profound act of healing. 

 

Now I’m not naïve enough to claim the music solves the world’s maddening injustices and deep suffering, but at least while that bow is in their hands, it mostly does. So the thought struck that if the NRA wants to do better and still make money, they could stop manufacturing guns and go into the cello bow business. That every time a person feels anger that overtakes them and wants to hurt others, that they immediately be equipped with a cello and a bow. That if schools are to continue foisting so much stress and anxiety on innocent children with the same old tired grading and shaming and blaming, they could at least alleviate some of it with mandatory cello bows in hand for at least an hour or so each day. 

 

Of course, it could be a violin bow or a drumstick or a paintbrush or a pen that writes poetry or a scarf to dance with or, of course, two xylophone mallets. A basketball would be fifty times better than a weapon or a keyboard that leads to Tik-tok and social media flaming (and indeed. that basketball seems to be a powerful tool for my 12-year-old granddaughter reclaiming her sense of power and contribution), but I still believe that the arts carry that something extra that evokes beauty and nuanced emotion and a teamwork not trying to beat another team. 

 

Schools, are you listening?