Sprouts: Making Music To Inspire Others

By Eliza

Before we reached the school where the Youth Summit was being held, we came upon the site of what was then Occupy Wall Street, so we wandered through it. The next week the police arrived and forced the protesters to leave.

During our Northeast Youth Summit, the Sprouts of Hope took part in the Making Music to Inspire Others Workshop.

Two of the Sprouts helped to run this workshop. We talked about different kinds of music and how artists make a difference by helping to change the world. We listened to Bob Marley and other inspiring music and made a mural of things that the music reminded us of.

Then, at the end of the workshop, we all had a jam session with instruments we’d brought. Two of the Sprouts even had their ukuleles with them!

Music at the summit also existed outside the doors of the Making Music workshop. The Sprouts all played and sang songs about peace at the apple cider social following the day’s summit events, and we tried to get others to sing with us. This was a fun way to keep up the positive Roots & Shoots vibes going. Another good thing that came out of having our instruments with us in New York was that while we were waiting for the bus, we started a sing along – and some random strangers joined in!!

And at the subway in Grand Central Station we were greeted by music that these people were playing.

These are great examples of how music can bring people together. Overall, music added so much to the summit. We learned about many cool musicians at the workshop and were also able to share our love of music with the world.