There are many ways that flute lovers, and music lovers in general, can use music to help make the world a better place. Using your gifts to help others is an important thing to do: it is inspiring to be a part of something bigger than yourself, exciting to give others enjoyment through music listening, and humbling to help people who are less fortunate in your own community and throughout the world.

The first and most obvious way to share your music is by playing as a soloist or in a group at local malls, bookstores, libraries and coffee shops. It can be especially important to bring music to places where live music might not often be heard, for example at nursing homes, retirement communities, and at religious services. It is important to pick a venue that is appropriate and an audience that will appreciate your performance. I’ve had lots of enjoyable experiences performing at Assisted Living facilities, where the residents are retired and need entertainment, but are not in need of round-the-clock medical care. These facilities often have an activities or outreach coordinator who can help you set up a time and place for your event, and advertise it to the community. Hospitals sometimes employ music therapists, who work with patients through music, and can help prepare performers (especially young students) for what they might encounter performing music in a medical facility. It is profoundly touching to see how positive the effect of your music-making can be on an audience of homebound people.

Another way to use your music is to raise awareness or money for an important issue or organization. Playing outside the local shopping district to raise money for various charities is a favorite summer activity of students in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Recently, students in Colorado used their annual term recital to raise funds for the Pennies for Peace program, which supports childhood education in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (http://www.longmontsuzukistrings. org/), (http://www.penniesforpeace.org) My personal favorite is a project called Practice for Pets, a fundraiser similar to a walk-a-thon. Each student promises to practise a certain number of hours over a month, and collects pledges from family and the community at a certain rate, for example twenty-five cents per hour. At the end of the month, the students tally their practice (which is recorded on a special sheet) and collect their pledges. My students gave a group performance at a local mall, with the local media and a mobile pet adoption unit in attendance. The students then presented their funds to the local Humane Society. In one especially productive year, students in the Boulder area raised over $10,000 for the local animal shelter!

Using your music-making to be a part of something bigger could also mean getting involved in a mass performance like World Busk Day on June 14, where funds are raised for music programs in the third world. See the Musequality website (a UK charity) for more ideas and helpful hints about organizing performances: http://www.worldbusk. org/buskers.html. Other recent worldwide performances have raised funds for tsunami, earthquake and hurricane victims. It is also worth remembering that victims of natural disasters often include musicians who have lost their instruments, equipment and all of their music. In the U.S. after hurricane Katrina, many local groups worked to give instruments and sheet music to teachers in Louisiana and Mississippi.

You could also provide instruments and music to a school or group of students in another country. My students teamed up with a program in Patagonia, which needed help paying for a bus trip to a music camp several hours away. We also learned that they didn’t have enough flutes for all of the students: several students had to share one instrument. Many flute teachers in my community were moved by this and we were able to send some new and used flutes and sheet music to the program the following year. Need for musical supplies might not be as far away as another continent, and you don’t have to wait for the next natural disaster to donate. There may be music programs in your own community that need instruments or music for disadvantaged students. By sharing the gift of music, you can make your community, and the world, a more harmonious place.

Dr. Sasha Garver has just returned to the U.S. from two years as second flute/solo piccolo of the Macau Orchestra, SAR China. Dr. Garver holds her Doctorate in Flute Performance, has a degree in voice performance and is active as an opera and choral singer, and is on the music faculty at Northern New Mexico College and teaches Suzuki flute at Santa Fe Talent Education.