How we have seen people changed through music
What We Believe
At Martucci Music located in East Sacramento, we believe that music lessons are an exceptional tool for developing one’s self-awareness of mind, body, and soul which also leads to the awareness of the intersections where these aspects come together to make up an individual’s unique person hood.
About Our School
I, Gabriella Martucci, founder of Martucci Music, started this business as the only teacher. Just me. Now we have expanded to several teachers and more instruments; but back then, I taught private voice and piano lessons because I had a passion for sharing the music experience with others. And just like we hear so many other people in the world say that music was there for them in tough times, to get them through life’s craziness, I too had experienced that musical phenomenon in my own growing-up years and had an unsatisfied curiosity as to why music helped so many people….why did all of these people depend so much on music? What were they experiencing that made them come back for more of it?
I have since been able to grasp the bigger picture of this why phenomenon and have tailored what we do at Martucci Music to serve our community with this why.
We Celebrate the Power of Music
Music is a powerful thing. People are drawn to it. They want to enter, know and experience that world. We all agree that music helps to develop the parts of the brain responsible for reasoning, math and language and of course, we all know, that learning music develops one’s auditory skills and memorization skills. We also know that it can help develop discipline in one’s life and increase one’s IQ…but that is not what people are talking about when they say things like, “I went through hard times, but music was there for me.”
Music Lessons
People can use music to run away from themselves or they can use it to connect with themselves. They can use it to sit in their current thoughts and feelings or to help them mentally and emotionally move in another direction. Listening to music can make someone feel validated in their thoughts and emotions because music dares to say things that people in the real world hesitate to mention. And music can speak without words. Emotions and thoughts can be expressed in sounds; and therefore, express things at a depth and thoroughness that words and spoken language can’t reach. Teaching someone to speak this language and walking them into this world of music, has been the absolute most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life.
It has been through teaching music that we have most clearly seen the connection and expression of the “self” play out among the individuals who come through for lessons. I have so many many stories of students who come into our music school and walk out a changed person because they were able to see a part of themselves that they sometimes knew was there and sometimes didn’t; but they had been introduced or reintroduced to themselves and there was an effect on them because of it. And sometimes they were initially more intimidated by themselves and sometimes they were inspired.
Developing “Self” Through Music Lessons
Wherever they landed on the spectrum of reactions, we work with them to become aware of their own thoughts and reactions towards themselves and to figure out how to work forward into a place of a little more courage and a little more self-trust. Worked out in the long run, these people have shown themselves to become people of more self-confidence, self-worth, not simply when they began to choose to participate in our music recitals, but also in recognizing and owning that these skills, this development, goes beyond the walls of our program and into their everyday lives and they will carry it into their communities.
There is a certain level of vulnerability required to look at one’s self in the mirror. It requires you to analyze yourself, and many people don’t like what they see; and therefore, don’t want to see it. A huge part of what music teachers accomplish is introducing or reintroducing, someone to themselves. This helps usher the transformation of self-confidence, self-worth, self-value, etc. that our students encounter. The value of the quality of life that is gained, is not something anyone can ever put a price tag on!
The Musical Process
Let me give you an example. We have many students come in who cannot look at themselves in the mirror. In the music world, as in a lot of other fields, the mirror can be your best friend, reflecting back at you, what you are physically doing on the outside to help the improvement and development of the technic needed to accomplish a musical task. This is the part where people become aware of body tension that may have been subconscious or unknown.
Holding body tension has become a regular part of daily existence. This is something people can “see” in a mirror when someone points it out to them; however, it is not something they initially “feel” since it has been a huge part of them. We use the mirror a lot. About 25% of students who begin lessons can’t look at themselves in a mirror at all. Why? Because so many people, not just those who can’t look in the mirror, are intimidated by their own person.
Our Passion
To see people walk away from every lesson more connected to themselves than when they walked in. And what better gift could each of us give ourselves? What better gift could you give to your child? What better gift could we give to the communities we interact with, other than our best selves? We need a world with more people who are better in tune with themselves. Who know themselves because these are the leaders and influencers we need to make this world a better place. By taking music lessons at Martucci Music, you are committing to your self. Just as much, or more, as you are to your instrument.
Sign up for music lessons at Martucci Music