Voices of Healing: Youth Music Empowerment

K-12 STEAM education

Central LA East LA South LA San Gabriel Valley San Fernando Valley South Bay Long Beach

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Harmony Project, with over 24 years of internal data, knows its impact goes far beyond teaching music. In 2008, we created our Community and Relational Engagement department to provide social support, including counseling and mental health referrals. In 2009, we launched CAST (College, Alumni, and Success Team) to help students graduate from high school and navigate the college admissions and financial aid process.

Students remain in our program for an average of 8.4 years, gaining a creative outlet that supports personal growth and long-term success. Partnering with an arts education consultant, we developed a curriculum that integrates Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP), English Language Development (ELD), and College and Career Readiness (CCR) principles. This approach fosters self-awareness, empathy, inclusion, language development, and essential life skills—empowering students to thrive in school and beyond.

The Harmony Project will promote healing-centered learning for underserved students through our Voices of Healing: Youth Music Empowerment program, a music production course for ages 9-18 focused on recording an album. Students will collaborate in independent studio teams, learning production stages while producing songs. Students will also create album artwork, develop a marketing strategy, and set a release timeline. Lessons are provided by teaching artists skilled in songwriting, recording, and contemporary music history. The course connects music production with business, math, politics, science, and social-emotional learning. It includes these program elements:

Introduction to DAW Software.
Learn how to deconstruct a beat.
Learn about music composition and how to create loops.
Explore sound waves and frequency.
Learn about measures and how to create a backbeat.
Learn about chords, chord progressions, and basslines.
Learn how to program MIDI notes and bass tracks.
Learn how to create an original melody.
Learn how to write music lyrics and develop a theme.
Learn how to collaborate using multiple DAWs.
Learn how to record live audio.
Learn how to edit and mix music.

Providing students with the opportunity to create music keeps them engaged and helps them express their emotions. It also enables them to process challenging experiences through art, acquire valuable skills, and feel a sense of achievement by completing a piece of art from start to finish.

The Harmony Project fosters a supportive environment that nurtures students' love for music and develops their skills, as assessed through year-end evaluations by teaching artists. Goals include:

90% of students will demonstrate intonation.
90% will display musicianship.
90% will understand notes and reading.
90% will show proper technique.
90% will exhibit rhythm and tempo.
90% will advance musically.

Measurable Objective #2: Students will develop essential 21st-century and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) skills for post-high school success, evaluated through anonymous feedback surveys. Expected SEL outcomes include:

80% feel more “Confident” or “Sure Of Myself.”
80% enhance their ability to "Focus."
80% improve their perseverance during difficulties.
80% know an adult at Harmony Project who “Believes In Me.”
80% feel a sense of “Belonging" at Harmony Project.
80% enjoy "Helping Others" in the program.
80% have “Friends” at Harmony Project.