I often find myself amazed and slightly disheartened by the vast number of people sitting in silent resentment, looking miserable at being stuck in the ‘rat race’: commuting at 6:30am to a job they hate to earn a paycheck that’s going to just barely cover their bills so they can, hopefully, break even each month.

As I stared at the man across from me this morning (ok, ‘stared’ is the wrong word…every New Yorker knows the unwritten Do Not Make Eye Contact  rule!), I wondered:

‘What’s stopping him from dropping everything and moving to a remote island?’

Now, clearly it is not the dream of every single human being on the face of the earth to leave it all behind and lie on a hammock on a deserted island while drinking tropical drinks out of a coconut. This is, however, my go-to place whenever I feel overworked or stressed. (Go-to mentally at least. Which leads me to my next point…)

So, what’s stopping us?

I believe there are two things: Money and Belief

Money’s the obvious one. Who among those reading this is in a place where you can financially live the physical life you dream about? If you’re one of the select few, that’s absolutely wonderful and I have a fantastic nonprofit organization I’d like to introduce you to…

For most of us, however, the thought of draining our savings accounts to live a life of luxury seems unrealistic and, to put it simply, irresponsible.

This leads to my second point…

Belief.

I remember as a kid always coming up with ‘reasons’ why other people could do things and I couldn’t. I’d hear a great musician and think: ‘Oh, that’s because his parents were musicians’. I’d see someone who was ‘successful’ at a young age and think: ‘Well, that’s because his uncle is famous’.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older is the truth of the cliché we’re told as children:

You can accomplish anything you can dream of.

As a child/teenager, that thought is piled into the category of things your parents tell you to make you feel good, right along with your mom constantly telling you how special you are and how you’re the smartest, best looking kid in the world.

When adulthood hits, however, at some point you stop and think:

What’s the differentiating factor between the people living their dream life and those stuck in the ‘rat race’?

Yes, hard work, commitment and tenacity are all part of it, but those come after. They’re secondary to the one factor that I believe serves as the definitive line between those who do and those who don’t:

A belief that you can absolutely live this life you dream of

Now, I’m not in a position to preach about financial security and living the dream physical life day in and day out. I’m still working toward that. However, I have no question that, in time, this will come.

And, no. I don’t have a famous uncle, a rich family member or a personal sponsor.

What I do have is a firm vision in my mind of the life I will be living, a passion that helps me work toward it every day and, most importantly…

The belief that it is happening.

So, what’s holding you back?

If it’s money, great. That’s the easy part. But, if it’s because you think that that life or those rewards are ‘for other people’ or ‘don’t happen to people like me’, there’s your starting point.

At MCB, we use music to motivate underprivileged children who often have been ignored or shown that the bar of what they can achieve is already set–and set pretty low at that. But music is our tool, it’s our means to get through to these children.

As adults, we hold our future not in our hands, but in our minds.

We live in a world where anyone can be or do anything, cliché or not. We’re all connected and we’re all living this life together. So, let’s lift each other up, believe that we can live the life we want, and help humanity while we’re doing it.

                                        6.8 Billion People * One Language * One World

‘Don’t prostitute your mission’

and

‘I don’t care about the labor pains…I only care about the baby’

(If you haven’t read the past ‘For Mr. L’ blog, now’s a good time to pause and go back, if only to give credit to the source of both of the above…)

So, here’s MCB’s baby…our newly revised mission statement:

Now, about those labor pains…

There are multiple challenges that we deal with daily at MCB: funding, school partnerships, gala planning…

My vote, however, for the most detail-grueling, nitty-gritty task we’ve dealt with to date came this past week: clarifying our mission statement.

A mission statement is a lot like a lingerie ad (please don’t quote me on that): you need something that’s going to catch the public’s eye, sell to those with the money and still hold true to what it is that makes your company (organization) unique.

Most importantly, as in advertising, you can’t pretend you’re something you’re not.

You can have the world’s most attractive super models in your ads, but if they’re wearing sweatpants, they probably won’t sell. Likewise, putting the the world’s sexiest women’s  lingerie on a 600lb hairy man probably won’t attract the clientele you’re looking for.

The mission and selling points must match what you do and, by default, who you are.

Now, to that prostitution thing…

Funders don’t give money to an idea.

Bringing children together for a greater good and using music to do it is a wonderful and important concept, but it’s an idea, not a tangible, measurable goal.

Teaching children about music from different cultures around the world and relating it to social studies, history and geography and seeing how their grades improve overall is a tangible and measurable goal, and a good one at that.

The challenge lies in that Music Crossing Borders’ mission is not one or the other–it’s both.

It would be easy for us to sell out–to ‘prostitute our mission’–and tell funders what they want to hear: ‘MCB teaches children about music from different cultures around the world to improve their academic achievement’. A worthy cause indeed…but only half our story.

WHY do we do what we do? Because children–and adults!–need to understand that we’re all connected despite our different languages, looks and dress, and what better way to learn that than through music?! Learning about music from different cultures around the world and seeing/hearing how it relates to the music and culture we know, is the best way I can think of to not only increase the academic achievement of children but to also teach this concept of One World.

So…

It’s tangible, it’s fundable and-most importantly-it’s honest.

It’s who we are.

It’s what we do.

It’s how we’re changing the world.

So, please excuse the labor pains, but we thought you’d appreciate the new baby more if you knew from where it was conceived:

For me, three things stick out in my mind in particular:

1) Fighting with my dad constantly as a teenager over practicing my trumpet. I was told repeatedly that one day I’d thank him for it…and I do.

2) Nonstop complaining at the health food my mom used to force us to eat. I was told repeatedly that one day I would appreciate it…and I do.

3) Finding a mentor in my 8th grade band director. This one I did appreciate back then…but didn’t fully understand the extent to which it would influence the person I would become until…here I am…older.

So what’s bringing on this trip down memory lane? Perhaps it’s the rapidly approaching big 3-0. I’m about to embark on the last year of my 20′s (yowza that feels weird to say!) and I’m sure it’s bringing up some soul-searching. More than that, however, is a lot of time spent recently thinking about the power of music, the power of what we’re doing with Music Crossing Borders and the power of influence we as individuals, and adults, hold over the next generation.

If you read the past What Made You Get Started in Music blog, you know that in eighth grade I was ready to quit music. It was the arrival of Mr. L, our new band teacher, which would not only convince me to stay in band but would change the course of my life.

To read Mr. L’s bio is…confusing. With careers ranging from owning a bagel shop and  real estate company to being President of the International Make-A-Wish Foundation to his current job as Vice President of the Performing Arts at a very prestigious chain of private schools, Mr. L has-quite literally-done it all.

But what is a bagel-making-real-estate-dealing-nonprofit-running businessman doing in education?

The answer is simple: Changing Lives

Mr. L knew-and still knows-that the same skills it takes to get a room full of millionaires to open their checkbooks to a worthy cause are the same ones that will motivate a bratty 8th grader (I’m allowed to describe them as bratty, as that was me during this hot/cold/love/hate time) to think bigger than the classroom they are in for 45 minutes a day.

Let me give you an example…

While most middle school band students are thrilled at the idea of a class trip to Hershey Park, our trip entailed taking a group of 40-50 middle school students (seriously, picture this) to Europe for a ten-day tour of performances ranging from outdoor parks to castles to children’s cancer hospitals.

Talk about life changing.

While I’m sure there were mundane days in band class, I don’t remember them. I don’t remember ever being told that if I don’t practice my grade will be lowered. I do, however, remember being handed the Holst Eb Suite (a piece most often performed by college and professional orchestras) in eighth grade and told if we wanted to challenge ourselves and blow everyone away, let’s do it. If we didn’t want to take it seriously, we’d play out of our method books like every other middle school band. The thought of ever being like ‘every other middle school band’ became our motivation to work harder than any of us had ever worked up until then.

I don’t remember being lectured for not practicing enough. I do, however, remember making a $50 bet with Mr. L over a very difficult measure in a piece of music. $50 to an eighth grader?! Talk about motivation to practice!

And I don’t remember getting lectured day in and day out about the need to act responsibly with high school rapidly approaching, as is so often the case in middle school classrooms. Instead, I remember being pulled aside by a tearful Mr. L staring at me in astonishment and asking me, ‘You just spent the last hour of your life performing for children with terminal diseases and you still don’t get it? You’re acting like this <insert stupid middle school behavior>…you don’t get it, do you?’ Ouch. There’s a life lesson.

As I get older, I find myself thinking about Mr. L’s methods more and more. Unconventional is an understatement…but powerful is even more so.

Mr. L has a slogan that’s stuck with me and has become an underlying force behind MCB:

It’s Not Just About the Music

When you’re thirteen and performing for a group of terminally ill children half your age in front of a band director with tears streaming down his face, you learn very quickly what is truly meant by the power of music. That’s a lesson I’ve always kept with me and is a founding principle of MCB.

I was very fortunate to learn at a very young age that there’s a very definitive power to music. It can heal, it can change lives, it can bring people together.

So, here’s to you Mr. L…you absolutely taught me that It’s Not Just About the Music. I hope you don’t mind that we’ve put this into our own words:

6.8 Billion People * One Language * One World

No, this wasn’t code for trying to blend in or calm down some personality bubbliness (have we met?), it was a suggestion of a change in mindset. See, I tend (hopefully ‘tended’ would be the appropriate term by now) to think very black and white. While sometimes a good quality for TCOBing (Taking Care of Business), black and white thinking can also box one in in the broader scheme of life.

So, for the past three years, I’ve made a conscience effort to broaden my mindset and learn to live in the gray area.

That being said, there are certain areas of life where I cannot (refuse?) to think in the gray. Certain topics, to me, can and should live in the more absolute world of black and white. Some of these topics include:

1. Nutrition in modern society (that’s a whooooole other blog)
2. My hatred of the Yankees
3. The revolution of education that needs to begin, first and foremost, in our public school system

While I’m happy to sit down and have a long drawn out discussion about the first two, let’s focus on the third for the purpose of this blog…

I recently attended a gala at the Waldorf Astoria for Teach for America. It was a beautiful evening with some very wealthy people all gathered to write giant checks to what I consider a fantastic cause. One speech from that night stood out in particular to me. To give a broad overview, the focus was about the 2-4% increases here and there that were popping up in public school standardized test scores and the slightly increased literacy rates that have occurred over the past five years. After a few minutes of patting the public school system on the back for their steady, if miniscule, positive growth, the speech got around to its point: this is not enough.

What we need is a revolution.

We don’t need baby steps that will focus on how well a student takes a test while continuing to focus on the tiny percentage increases each year, we need a system that focuses on what students are actually learning.

We don’t need a system that pushes students through so they can boast about graduation rates though kids are leaving school unprepared, we need a system that focuses individual attention on each and every individual child and ensures they are receiving the help and support they, as an individual, need.

And we certainly don’t need a system where the curriculum is based around making sure students can regurgitate facts they’ve memorized to meet standardized criteria, with little or no focus on bigger life lessons and values. We need a system that truly prepares students for life—a revolution that is helping to mold wonderful human beings, not just book smart graduates.

This revolution is not going to happen through 2-4% increases here and there. It’s going to happen by individuals and groups of leaders standing together and declaring what they consider to be acceptable and unacceptable standards of education. It’s starting to happen at some wonderful charter schools around the country and can continue as more and more people get on board.

These are the people who refuse to think in the gray about how our education system should be run. It’s their way and their way only: individualized attention and a nurturing environment.

This is the mindset, this is the black and white way of thinking, which will cause the education revolution we need.

This is the mindset, this is the revolution, on which MCB was founded. We’re not a school responsible for the graduation rates of our students. We are, however, doing our part to positively influence each and every student with whom we come in contact. We’re not taking baby steps to slowly introduce these kids with little to no musical experience to other cultures, we’re preaching our message of the Universal Language of Music loud and proud. We’re not tiptoeing our first five years in existence to slowly build our organization from the ground up. We’re jumping in head first, bringing our programs to every school and orphanage all over the world that will have us. And we’re just getting started: our goal is to double our schools in the coming year. We plan to grow exponentially as the years progress for no other reason than that of our belief in the importance of our mission.

Call it black and white thinking. Call it stubborn. Call it impractical.

We say forget baby steps…

Call it a revolution.

If you’ve ever tried playing a brass instrument, you’ll find this to be a difficult pill to swallow.

When you first start playing a brass instrument it’s…well…weird. You’re putting metal against flesh and pushing air through fast enough to make your lips vibrate, all for the purpose of making a beautiful sound come out. Almost sounds like an oxymoron.

But, you practice, you learn the techniques and-slowly but surely-the nuts and bolts become somewhat second nature.

After years of practice, once the basic technique of making the instrument do what you want it to do has become second nature, it’s common to find that you often have ‘good days’ and ‘bad days’. Now, barring any physical changes (being sick, dehydrated, etc.), things shouldn’t be so drastic on a day-to-day basis. So, what’s causing this change of a ‘man I’m on fire!’ day to ‘why won’t anything work?’ day?

The answer is simple: our brains.

I spent every Wednesday for two years of grad school in my trumpet teacher’s office being told the same thing for an hour straight: ‘What you’re playing sounds good, but your tone isn’t projecting like it could. You need to relax’.

Relax…relax…relaxrelax…relaxrelaxrelaxrelaxrelaxrelaxrelaxrelaxrelax…

Well, try not to think of a pink hippopotamus right now.

The more we tell the mind to do or not do something, the more it wants to rebel. Instead, we need to replace old destructive habits with new ones.

For me, it wasn’t until MCB was founded and my life revolved around running a nonprofit organization, rather than practicing material for my next private lesson, that I was able to pick up my trumpet and purely think about the music, not the method behind it. It was this mental mind switch that enabled me to finally…dare I say it?…relax.

The same holds true for running long distances.

(*Side note: I am not a physician. Nothing I say here should be taken as a fact (the same is true for anything I say about life in general!) and, of course, you should consult a doctor and not a trumpet player when changing your exercise patterns.)

Barring any physical deficiencies, if you can run one mile, you can run three. If you can run three miles, you can run six. If you can run six miles—believe it or not—you can run ten. Now, if you’re a person to whom running one mile seems unbearable, this will certainly seem crazy. But, the truth is, running, like brass playing, is 90% mental/10% physical. If you think about how tired you are or how much further you have left, you’re creating resistance. It’s only when you focus on the journey (or even focus on nothing and let your mind…relax) that you can keep going.

So, let’s bring this point home…

I’m around little kids playing music all day. Often, these days include the first time they hold and attempt to play an instrument.

It never ceases to amaze me the vast difference from child to child in terms of their level of commitment and focus.

There’s the child who: picks up the instrument, tries to make a sound, nothing comes out, looks at it, tries again, repeat, until, finally, a sound comes out and he/she breaks into one of the biggest smiles that child has produced to date. Fantastic.

However, there are very often quite a few children who: try to make a sound, nothing comes out, instrument is put down: ‘I can’t do it’. Not fantastic.

Where is this coming from? These children are usually about nine years old. I don’t believe they’ve lived enough life to have given up hope or made huge life decisions about what they are or are not good at.

This comes from a mental dedication they have been taught—whether spoken or by example, and often both—from their parents/guardians.

So why are children being taught to quit when things are new and unfamiliar?

One of my favorite expressions in life is:

Nothing in life is difficult, it’s simply unfamiliar.

This is true in music and every other aspect of life.

Playing in the key of B is just as easy as playing in the key of Bb. The only difference is that most school bands spend 97% of their time in the key of Bb and probably 0% in B.

The first time you run ten miles, your body might not be thrilled, but do it enough and it becomes part of who you are.

A scientific equation might look like gibberish to you the first time you see it, but put a few years of study in and solving it will simply be what you do every day of your life.

The point is, people need to understand that life begins in our minds. If we believe it, if we visualize it, if we know we can do it-or at least have the potential to work at it and eventually do it-we will achieve whatever ‘it’ is.

What better place to start incorporating this belief than with children?

I’ve been reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

That’s not the embarrassing part…here goes:

Embarrassing Fact:

Despite the fact that this book has been recommended to me repeatedly, I put off reading it for the simple reason that I assumed it’s a book on procrastination.

(Side note: nothing wrong with self-help books on procrastination. I, however, inherited a gene that my mother (from whom I inherited the gene) lovingly refers to as ‘a bug up my butt’. Simply put, when I get an idea I’m excited/passionate about, it needs to be completed that instant and I can’t rest until it’s done. So, needless to say, a book on procrastination I do not need. But, I digress…)

Now, my false assumption might not seem so silly to you unless you’ve read the book.

For those who have, I’ll pause while you laugh at my utter naivety…

…shall we continue?

For those who have not read the book, it is highly recommended and, in the meantime, I will do my best to very briefly summarize:

In a nutshell, The Power of Now talks about how we live in a world that’s always focused on what’s coming up, what we have to do, where we have to be, etc. It’s a book focused on turning off that little voice in your mind that’s constantly rambling on in our mind about what we should make for dinner, how we should be going to the gym later, what the boss thinks about our performance at work…and on and on and on. By using The Power of Now, Tolle describes how to focus your attention on the present moment, thereby shutting off this inner voice.

Sound too New Age-y for you? Bear with me and read on…

I’m all about positive thinking and, yes, even yoga from time to time. However, I have no desire to run off to a remote village in the mountains and fast for weeks on end while I discover mental clarity on a higher level. The good news is that this mental clarity-stillness-that Tolle describes is one that can be achieved in normal everyday activities-no fasting retreat necessary.

For me, the clincher/light bulb came when he used the example of a roller coaster:

Anyone who’s ever been on a decent roller coaster knows that something intense happens at the top of that drop. For a brief moment you feel a sensation of utter focus and stillness-pure consciousness-as that feeling of being alive has you 100% absorbed in that present moment. This is what it means to live in the Now.

The goal, says Tolle, is to find that presence in every moment of every day.

Reading this got me thinking…

When MCB is performing our programs at schools throughout NYC, there’s something almost indescribable in the room. For those forty minutes, it’s that six-member band and those 75 students. No one is thinking about homework, messy rooms (except when we sing the messy room blues!), bills or responsibilities. There’s both a stillness and an energy that I’ve never fully been able to describe to anyone who has not experienced a performance.

Eckhart Tolle wrote 229 pages describing this exact feeling.

Music Crossing Borders teaches children, inspires children and passes on a message larger than music and culture. In the time we spend with each student body, a bond is formed. We create a world-a safe place-of learning, creativity, involvement and excitement. It’s a world that’s exclusive to that group, in that moment.

It is our goal, our passion and our mission to share this experience with children in schools and orphanages all over the world.

We live in a world with 6.8 Billion People but we all speak One Language, which brings us closer to One World.

This World exists when we come together in the Now.

(I can’t believe I’m about to make this public knowledge…)

There was a time in my undergrad when I would get to school to practice the second the doors would unlock (that’s just a music nerd fact, not the embarrassing part yet. Though-interesting fact-I almost had this down to a science where I would walk up and hear the click of the automatic lock as I reached for the handle).

This isn’t anything new, as most musicians spend hours a day practicing, often first thing in the morning. The twist to this was that I lived an hour and a half away from my school in Detroit. This meant that to get to the school by 7am when it opened, I was up at 5am, in my car by 5:30am and practicing in a deserted practice room by 7am to get some time in before my 9am theory class.

Overall, I enjoyed this schedule. However, if you’ve ever spent a good deal of time in Detroit (and if you have, I’m sorry—ZING!), you know what the atmosphere is like. To say it’s literally gray is not an exaggeration. Never have I lived in a city where the sun is out so rarely and the winter consists of a gray skyline for months on end (yes, non-New Yorkers, NYC is not gray, we actually see the sun quite a bit!).

As you can imagine from that description, there were mornings where getting out of bed to grab those extra two hours of practice were…less than ideal.

Now for the embarrassing part…

When I woke up longing for my down comforter on those brutal winter Detroit mornings, there was one thing repeating in my head…

(…wait for it…)

The Rocky Theme Song

Yup…like a bad movie cliché or a super cheesy episode of Glee, I awoke at 5am each morning hearing Rocky’s signature workout music kicking my butt into gear to get going.

Beyond the motivation of the actual Rocky movies themselves (I am not embarrassed to admit that I love these movies—especially the first one), the story behind them is nothing short of extraordinary.

To summarize what could be a two-hour lesson in motivation, the story goes that Sylvester Stallone was down to his last $160 in the bank when he wrote the Rocky screenplay (to the point of selling his beloved dog who later had a role in the film as well). He had offers starting at $30,000, which he turned down, insisting that he play the lead role. The offers continued up to $300,000 for the rights to the play, all of which he turned down-despite his financial situation-all because he insisted that he play the lead.

He is quoted as saying that he couldn’t stand to think ‘what if’, if he gave up the role to someone else.

After turning down $300,000, he finally settled on a deal which gave him the lead role, $30,000 and the minimum wage for actors at the time. When all was said and done, he initially grossed approximately $6,000 for both the screenplay and lead role.

Fast forward to modern day, and we all know how the story ends: The Rocky industry has grossed around $1 billion dollars to date and propelled Sylvester Stallone’s career to the movie star he is now.

This story moves me. Not only because of my (not-so) secret motivational music that pumped me up nearly ten years ago, but because of Stallone’s belief in his dream.

Let me share another, more personal, story with you:

Some years ago, at my grandfather’s 70^th birthday party, an extended elderly relative came up to the person with whom I was attending the party (also a musician) and had the following conversation:

‘And what do you do?’

‘I’m a musician’

‘Oh! A musician! That’s wonderful!…And what do you do for a living?”

…true story.

Needless to say, that’s not an uncommon reaction and, honestly, one that’s not completely unwarranted. It is entirely possible to make a good living off of being a musician, but it’s not easy.

That being said, after years of working as a freelance musician, many people in my life were thrilled to hear that I came up with a wonderful business idea with the potential to make me very rich.

Success!

But, wait…this successful business will be a nonprofit organization.

Cue deflating balloon.

While it’s no coincidence that those that are closest and most important in my life were the same ones to be the most supportive of taking this route, I heard everything from:

‘Nonprofit? So you don’t make any money?’ (not true about nonprofits)

‘Why would you choose to make a business nonprofit? That seems contradictory to running a business’

My favorite comes from an ex-boyfriend in response to his father’s reaction:

‘When he hears the word ‘nonprofit’ in business, he stops listening.’

(…did I mention ‘ex’?)

The point is, going with what you believe in and going with what ‘makes sense’ are two paths we must always choose in life.

It’s turned into a cliché statement: ‘Take the road less traveled’

But, the truth is that many people know this phrase but don’t truly understand what it means in their own life.

I read a great quote the other day that stuck with me, as it sums up what, I believe, it means to truly follow your dreams:

‘There are only two doors in life: the door marked ‘Security’ and the door marked ‘Freedom’. If you choose the door marked ‘Security’, you lose both.’

My gut told me when we started MCB that running it as a nonprofit organization would open doors that a for-profit business never would. We would be able to take the program overseas to children around the world, we would be able to provide our service free of charge for under-funded schools and-perhaps most importantly-we would always be working from a place of the Greater Good, not from a place of greed and/or ‘looking out for number one’.

…and it’s been true.

They say when you’re aligned with what you’re supposed to be doing in life, the right people and resources come to you. We have experienced ‘coincidences’ beyond our wildest dreams when it comes to meeting people, organizations and resources to further MCB’s mission, which I now clearly understand are not coincidences. (True story: We were at a workshop on ‘How to Build your Nonprofit’s Board of Directors’ while we were making initial plans for our Tour of Africa. As we went around the room to introduce ourselves, the two gentlemen sitting next to us introduced themselves the following way: ‘Hi! We’re from Positive Planet, a nonprofit organization that brings resources to schools throughout Uganda’. We are now teamed up with Positive Planet for our 2011 Tour of Africa. This is merely one in hundreds of stories like this).

All of this might mean less immediate cash in my personal pocket, but like Sylvester Stallone and so many others who are living their dream, I believe in the bigger picture.

If Stallone had settled for $300,000, his life would have been changed for the next two or three years. By following his gut and sticking to his dream, his life-and the world-have been changed for an indefinite amount of time.

My goal isn’t to turn MCB into a billion dollar business, but it is to change the lives of children and, therefore, change the world through our mission. Some days it takes the Rocky theme song to make a cameo and push through the roadblocks. Nine times out of ten, however, I have a new theme running through my head each day:

6.8 Billion People * One Language * One World

I’ve written a series of children’s books tentatively called ‘Motivation Through Music’.

(I say tentatively because the publisher I’ve been speaking with has told me quite plainly that he hates this title.)

The purpose of the books is to teach children in grades 3-5 motivational techniques such as the power of positive thinking and using perspective to find the good in situations,  using music as the vehicle.

Why am I sharing this?

No, it’s not a shameless self-plug (though, in full disclosure, I’d consider it if the books were currently in print/for sale). I’m sharing this because the motivation behind writing these books came from my life experiences-both in the topics themselves and in the lessons to be learned in each book.

Allow me to explain…

When we decided to go the nonprofit route with MCB, I knew I had to make some personal changes. I don’t have a MBA, I’ve never taken a single academic business class and every degree I hold is in music. I knew that entering such a new world-one with so many rules and regulations-could very easily become overwhelming and, if I wasn’t careful, I ran the risk of crashing and burning on a mental level.

So, I started reading.

I read any and every book that was recommended to me or I found interesting, from business books to financial planning to nonprofit management. What I found is that the ones that made the biggest difference in my life were the ones focused on the self-help side of business.

Now, let me stop here and tell you (ok, admit) that I used to have a bad habit of assuming I knew facts before I checked them out for myself (There, mom, I said it out loud. Teenage Rachel apologizes). As a more recent example, I made a massive amount of fun of any friend who read the Harry Potter books-assuming they were little kids’ books-until someone bought me one, therefore guilting me into reading it and becoming hooked on the series (ok, still slightly embarrassing to admit but, come on, they’re awesome).

Needless to say, I would be the first to consider any book by Napoleon Hill, Jack Canfield or Anthony Robbins to be ‘fluff’.

But, desperate times call for desperate measures.

People I greatly respect recommended these books and, if I wanted this organization to reach its full potential, I needed to be in the mindset to handle all that was about to be thrown my way.

Putting my ego aside and attempting to turn off that little voice in my head that felt the need to make fun of the opening ‘cheesy’ paragraph of each new book, I read…

…and I learned.

I learned how to talk to myself like a kindergartner, telling myself that if I didn’t know the answer to something yet, that’s ok and I’d learn it in time. I learned to stop ‘shoulding all over myself’ (my favorite ‘cheesy’ expression of which I would have once made oh so much fun), creating negative self-talk of all the things I ‘should’ be doing or ‘should have’ done (something I find musicians, for some reason, are exceptionally prone to…guilt of never being able to practice ‘enough’…?).

Slowly, but surely, my mind-and my life-changed drastically. I no longer had to consciously talk to myself like a four-year-old because I knew the moment something seemingly overwhelming happened that I could deal with it and move on. I no longer had to remind myself not to ‘should on myself’ because I thought about what I would like to do and what would be beneficial to do, rather than what I ought to do.

Because of these changes-and only because of these changes-I am able to help MCB grow and flourish every day.

Now, why am I telling you all this?

Before I answer that, let me digress with one more story…

I often get in somewhat heated debates with friends over the responsibilities of professional ball players. (Side note: I’m a diehard Mets fan and thereby have a deep-rooted hate of the Yankees. Bring it.) I have a firm belief that-like it or not-with the job description of professional baseball player comes the responsibility of being a role model.

Now, I understand the argument: A-rod (insert horrible comment against the Yankees here) signed up to play ball, not to set an example for children. I understand this argument, but I don’t agree with it. When you become a movie star, you go into it with the understanding that you more or less just gave up your personal privacy. It may not be easy and it may not be ideal, but it comes with the package. It is my belief that when you sign up for the MLB, you sign up with the understanding that millions of little boys and girls are looking to you as an example of who they dream of being when they grow up.

So, back to the books…

I believe we all have a responsibility. Whether your field is law, medicine, science or music, you, as a human being, are responsible for more than the 8-10 hour days you put in at work. You have a responsibility to those around you, those you influence both willingly and unwillingly, knowingly and unknowingly.

With that responsibility comes the power to teach-both by example and by blatant communication.

There are life lessons that, I believe, are more important than memorizing state capitals and what year the president was born.

There is a mental power to life that is almost completely ignored in the public school system.

In most, if not all, public schools, it’s primarily about memorizing facts and taking standardized tests, never about the power ten minutes of focused visualization could have on your next performance or how we can look for the good in every situation to turn a challenge into an accomplishment.

It’s primarily about talking at children-telling them what they ‘should’ be doing (wonder where that adult habit develops…?) rather than encouraging them to find ways to work together for the greater good.

These are the true areas that run our world and they’re blatantly being ignored-by both children and adults!

At MCB, we teach children about music from other cultures. But if that were the end of our mission, we could easily plug in a DVD and show them a concert of music from around the world.

MCB does something far greater and far more important: we interact with these children from all walks of life. We show them that they can be whatever they want to be, that they can do whatever they want to do and that they can be positive and uplifted-and uplift others-all while having fun in the process. We teach them that there are billions of people from all walks of life with cultures and music completely different than those with which they’re familiar, but we can all come together through

One Language and One Love.

It took me until years after graduate school to fully understand (if one can ever fully understand) how to live a peaceful, motivated life through the power of positive thinking and seeing the larger picture in all things. It took me until my adult years to fully grasp the concept of living a life based on One Love.

Children need to be taught these ever-important lessons at a young age.

Whether your vehicle is science, art, math, medicine or music, we can all empower our youth to create a better, more loving world.

6.8 Billion People * One Language * One World

…the title Motivation Through Music may get the thumbs down, but, at MCB, we believe the message is timeless.

Rachel Phillips

Founder and Executive Director

Music Crossing Borders

In this state of bliss, I decided to download Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’ on my iPhone.

As I simultaneously attempted to weave in and out of the crowded building I had by then entered, walk in heels (have we met?), dodge oncoming people and download a song from iTunes (why is this unacceptable when other people do it but not considered a problem when you’re the one attempting?), I somehow managed to download the ringtone version of the song instead of the regular mp3.

As hilarious as I found my current duck quacking ringtone to be (come on iPhone users, you know it’s hilarious), I decided to give it a try and let Mr. Marley have his turn.

I’m fairly confident now that that mishap was more than a simple case of the iPhone buttons being too small…

I wear many hats throughout the day (people who know me are now giggling because, though this was not intended to be yet another bad pun, the fact remains that I am a big hat person. But I digress…). I am a freelance musician, bandleader of two bands, a part time music teacher and I run both the administrative and co-lead the musical side of MCB. None of that is a complaint. I love every aspect and every side of everything I do. But I’ll admit that there are times when it can be…overwhelming.

Many is the day when I’ll be on the computer chasing after partnering schools for a contract we were supposed to have received two weeks ago, when I’ll suddenly get an email that my teaching for the next day needs to be rescheduled, followed by an email that a member of my band can’t make the wedding gig we have in three days.

One thing undoubtedly happens in this moment: my phone rings.

Now, in an effort to keep all accounts on this blog to solid facts, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t have moments when my phone ringing in that instance isn’t treated by a simple turning the phone to silent and putting it in the other room (why both need to occur I can’t say-out of sight, out of mind I suppose). But, nine times out of ten, something…peaceful…occurs.

In the midst of what feels like twenty not-too-life-changingly-important-but-still-managing-to-be-overwhelming-when-they-happen-all-at-once issues, Bob Marley’s voice rings out singing of One Love, One Heart…

…and then…

Peace.

Now, all cell phone users can agree that once you’ve had a ringtone for too long, you invariably cannot listen to that song anymore. I have made this mistake with many-a-classic: The Mexican Hat Dance, Stevie Wonder’s Superstitious (thank goodness after a break I was able to love the song again) and Brick House (come on, that’s just hilarious).

But there’s something different about this song. Each time my cell phone rings, it’s become a reminder: All these little daily activities, goals, trials, accomplishments, etc. are all important and necessary, but they’re not the big picture.

MCB is about bringing people together through the power of music. It’s about teaching children of all ages and backgrounds-regardless of their upbringing, class or income-about music from cultures they otherwise might not have access to…

It’s about using the Language of Music to create One World.

Each time Bob Marley sings those words, it’s a reminder to look up–we’re working for a bigger purpose and that is the meaning of it all:

6.8 Billion People * One Language * One World

…I’m sure Mr. Marley would agree.

Rachel Phillips

Founder and Executive Director

Music Crossing Borders

People always ask me: ‘What made you get started in music?’

My honest answer: ‘My brother started getting in trouble in school (sorry, Jason!) so my parents made him join the band in an attempt to keep him out of trouble. When they saw it worked, they told me: ‘Pick an instrument-you’re joining too’’.

Such an unromantic story, right? I used to almost feel as though I was letting my questioner down with that answer. People want to hear an inspiring story about how you knew at the age of three that music was your calling. They want you to tell them that before you could even talk you were picking out songs on the piano. They want to be amazed at hearing that you used to conduct Beethoven’s Ninth using only your sippy cup and a silver spoon. But a parental plot to keep a ten-year-old child from getting in with the wrong crowd at an early age? Not quite so romantic.

But wait, it gets worse.

This question is almost undoubtedly followed by:

‘Oh…well, once you started, did you always know you wanted to be a musician?’

(Brace yourself)

‘Nope…I actually wanted to quit music in seventh grade because I hated to practice’

…Still not done…

‘So what made you stick with it?’

‘My parents made me…plus, they forced me to practice’

Oh holy sacrilege of the music world! It’s a miracle I ever held another interview again!

Now, before you entirely write this off as the most pathetic excuse for an inspiring life in music, read on…

I’ve thought about this path quite a bit as I’ve gotten older, more established and-most importantly-come to understand the true power and importance of music.

Music has the power to heal, to express our emotions, to vent out feelings we don’t even know we’re experiencing. But there’s another level to music. There’s a level of discipline that every musician can attest to, and it’s a trait learned in very few other areas of life.

No horn tooting intended (all puns intended, however), I’m what you would consider a ‘go-getter’. I love doing things in life that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable because I know in the end I’ll develop a skill that will make the next task seem like child’s play.

Where did this come from? I attribute it to two areas: parents who wouldn’t let me quit and the tenacity to succeed in music.

In eighth grade, my new band director told my parents that he saw talent hidden beneath that twelve-year-old girl who never practiced. He took them aside and told them that if they got me to practice an hour a day, they would be amazed at what happened. Six months of constant fighting with my parents later, and I was winning county-wide competitions. Fast-forward a year to a freshman year of high school consisting of waking up at 5am to practice for an all-state competition in which I went on to win first place. Not bad for the girl who wanted to quit two years before.

I don’t tell you this to brag by any means-this was my childhood and people my age have gone on to do much bigger and better things in the performance world than I have or aspire to do.

Here’s the point:

We know that music feels good. We know that music expresses our inner feelings. We even know that music drastically increases intelligence and academic performance (well, you should know that if you keep up with our blogs!). But here’s something you may not have considered:

Music serves as a form of discipline and training for children that builds a work ethic that will remain for life.

I can tell you with certainty that any tenacity I have in my life-be it running an organization, working long hours, running long distances, giving my all to people and projects I believe in-stems 100% from those days of practicing an hour a day when I wanted to hang out at the mall, waking up at 5am because the goal of all-state outweighed how tired I was before high school and spending the majority of my college years in a practice room instead of frat parties.

Yes, this story may sound quite unromantic. I have musician friends that cannot relate in the slightest (my best friend actually was playing the piano at three years old and can’t remember a single day in her life when her parents had to ask her to practice). If you find a child with that gene/talent/love, stick an instrument in his/her hand and give him/her every ounce of encouragement in the world. But, if the child is like I was-hasn’t yet found that inner love of music that would only come in later years when the hard work has paid off-don’t give up on their ability to one day do great things and discover that love of music.

I can’t think of a better vehicle to teach our youth about the value of hard work than through the beauty of music.

Rachel Phillips

Founder and Executive Director

Music Crossing Borders