The coronavirus pandemic was devastating to many arts organizations that had to cancel in-person events, workshops and classes. But Central Coast nonprofit Infinite Music found that pivoting to online instruction had a silver lining.
Infinite Music offers music lessons, educates kids on music appreciation and gives them opportunities to perform. Before the pandemic, they frequently held events where students could hear live music.
Founder Sarah Mason told KCBX News that having classes go online has been a benefit for many students.
“We're actually still in an online situation this summer,” Mason said. “We actually had the interest of a lot of our students to continue online learning after this past year, and but we're very excited in the fall to resume in-person classes and also possibly hybrid as well. We've actually come out of this past year realizing that there are some great benefits to an online learning format for some students.”
Mason said online and hybrid classes allow for greater accessibility for kids across the Central Coast region.
“We had students from Cambria down to Goleta that were able to learn in the same class, and from that standpoint we had much more accessibility to a wider range of students. We found the older students are geared toward learning online — they've had, unfortunately, a whole year of doing so — so they were tuning in every week. The fact that these students continued to do this over the course of the academic year just showed us that they're thirsty and yearning for music,” Mason said.
Mason said Infinite Music has also brought guest musicians to the Central Coast — like singer/songwriter Chris Pierce.
“And he gave the students an amazing experience writing their first song, talking about expressing themselves, and what came out of that were some very powerful lyrics from some of the students themselves on what they — the challenges that they felt during COVID,” Mason said. “All the students collaborated with Mr. Pierce by writing lyrics and put it together, and they wrote their first song — and it's amazing. Chris sang it beautifully, and the students — it ignited them wanting to express themselves further and write songs.”
According to Mason, having guest artists like Pierce allows the kids to see how music can be universal.
“And I think our feeling is that when young people are introduced to music, it's a great equalizer. It's a force for good and it's just the best outlet for creative expression. And it's a springboard to learning for all of these students, regardless of their academic level, their language — we have a lot of Hispanic students in many of our classes — and certainly it doesn't matter where they are in life, music is that unifier,” Mason said.
Mason said support from the Central Coast community has been important in helping Infinite Music continue to provide music to local kids. For instance, she said businesses have donated buckets to serve as drums for the kids.
“We've had over 40 third to fifth grade students from Morro Bay to Santa Maria involved in world drumming, where they not only learn different rhythms but culture from around the world, and talk about getting creative. We have a rhythm lid attached to a five-gallon bucket,” Mason said.
This fall, Infinite Music will likely have a hybrid model of in-person and online classes.
“We're looking forward to more performance opportunities, and we just have to go with the flow with COVID and the pandemic as it has been. It hasn't stopped us from making music. We've just had to be creative at ways to keep it going, and it's been a — despite all of that — it's been a great year.,” Mason said.
You can learn more at infinitemusic.org.
The KCBX Arts Beat is made possible by a grant from the Shanbrom Family Foundation.
