Children gain wide-ranging cognitive, physical, and psychological benefits from learning to play a musical instrument and performing with their peers.
Learning to play an instrument can help improve memory, enhance language, literacy and math skills, enhance fine moto skills and improve hand-eye coordination. It can increase self-confidence, foster patience and perseverance, and build teamwork and collaboration skills.
Learning to play a musical instrument exposes kids to different genres and musical traditions, fostering greater cultural awareness and broader appreciation for art and culture.
Unfortunately, not all kids, especially those coming from low-income households, don’t always get these opportunities. In Fort Myers, that’s where the Heights Center’s MOSAIC program comes in.
The mission of the Heights Center and Heights Foundation is to build strong, self-sufficient families in Harlem Heights, which is one of Lee County’s most economically challenged neighborhoods. The poverty rate for children in Harlem Heights is more than twice the county average.
The Heights Center works to support these kids with comprehensive support through early learning, after-school programs, summer camps and more, and the MOSAIC program is one particularly unique aspect of that support.
MOSAIC stands for Musical Opportunities Supporting the Arts in our Community and strives to reach kids at every stage of their musical journey from young kids picking up an instrument for the first time to an audition-based full orchestra experience for more advanced young musicians through the MOSAIC Youth Philharmonic.
We learn more about the program in a conversation with the musician and educator who created it, Heights Center Director of Arts and Community Programs, Melissa Barlow.
