Casey

“I wasn’t aware of it when I was going through it, or growing up in that environment, you just think it’s your normal until you get out of it. Narcissistic abuse. Have you heard of it? I was the black sheep. I left home real young, like, 17. I went to the Salvation Army, I […]

Bella

“Unfortunately, sometimes people who love you the most make decisions that you didn’t necessarily want. For me it took two decades not to accept those decisions and take control of what I wanted to do with my life. I started singing when I was six and I knew I wanted to be a performer. I […]

Hunter

“I had childhood trauma when I was younger. Being diagnosed with ADHD at six. I carried that label around like it was printed on my T-Shirt. They even put me in a Woman’s Day magazine with the article titled ‘Taming Hunter’ you know, like some sort of a circus act. At age nine, I had […]

Ryan

“When I was 21 I took a leap of faith and followed a girl to Berlin, I moved there with 400 dollars in my pocket and my guitar. I managed to land a self contained apartment through a friend and started busking. I lived off playing music on the street for like two years, it […]

Yvette

“I wanted to restore something old. I mean, I know that place is not the ritz, but it’s such a cute wee character house. And you know, such a wee tank.I was in it when the earthquakes happened – there was like nothing wrong with it.  Plus, I just don’t like brand new stuff or […]

Hannah

“Dancing has been a part of my life since I was little. That is the story of my life – I was a dancer before I could walk. I sung before I could talk, you know? And singing is just every day.  I loved dancing as a little girl, but there wasn’t a lot of […]

Dylan

“Music’s like one of my big passions. I joined Burnside High because of the specialist music program…. It’s a jazz program specifically. I didn’t really know what jazz was; I knew it was some like, ancient genre from the olden days. I judged it. I’m a rock drummer but I thought eh! I’ll just do […]

Aleksey

“I’m 12 and I’m home schooled. I love the music the accordion makes and it’s easy to carry. It’s an orchestra in a bag!” – Aleksey

Sarah – P2

“Music education is so important because it teaches you another code. It’s like another language that you’re learning and that’s amazing weightlifting for your brain. Then it also teaches you a code for how to be as a human as well! I’ve seen shy people come right out of their shell and be able to […]

Sarah Hickman – P1

“When I first started playing music as a youngster, I was very much a music-reading machine. It was a technical exercise, of knowing the code; what the symbols meant. I remember when I was about 15, we got stuck in a snowstorm, and we had to sleep in a shearing shed. One of my dad’s […]