About Music Seeds International

The program

I want to take this opportunity to explain that Music Seeds Intl. is not a program about music theory or making musicians out of children. Though there is some basic theory at some levels of the program, it’s not about reading music charts, becoming a concert pianist or rock star. This is about children having fun creating music now. Kids can sing and learn to write lyrics very quickly. The software is fun and easy to use. Music is the sounding board for creativity and self expression. Everyone has a message or a feeling inside that needs to get out. The program works in groups or on a personal level.

Initially this program was designed to be set up and run long term wherever possible. I hope to find suitable people to carry it on after I have set it up at a location so I can spread it around the world. The length of the program with any group of children/teens/adults would vary according to the conditions at each location. A brief introduction to music followed by actual lyric/song writing and music creation is the basic formula. Since running the workshop in Nepal I have realized that each location is going to have its own set of parameters: time, budget, number of students, ages, abilities etc. Because of this the program can be broken down and reshaped to suit the needs of a particular situation. One day workshops, continuous programs and everything in between will be considered. Contact me so we can talk about what we can give you and how.

This program is in its early stages. Will it be a far reaching program that runs on every continent? Will it remain small and personal in one or two locations? The vision is revealing itself day by day. Do you have ideas or talents that you want to share with me? I will consider all avenues and ideas. If you have one contact me and we can talk about working with you, your NGO, foundation, charity, orphanage, school, group etc.

Projects to date

SMD School, Kathmandu, Nepal. June 2007.

‘Bring Back Peace’

This was the initial run of Music Seeds Intl. At the invitation of Stephan Groh (Youth Circus Foundation, South Asia Children’s Fund) and Shirley Blair (SMD School - www.himalayanchildren.org ), I travelled to Boudhanath, a satellite city of Kathmandu, Nepal. I was given a group of kids age 10 – 13 to work with. I had not been able to bring my music creation software or computer and decided that writing one song and recording it was going to be the goal of the workshop. I had one hour a day and one month to work with the kids. As a side project, some of the girls expressed an interest in guitar lessons and I got them started on what I hope is an ongoing pursuit for them.

I was given a student as an assistant (Srijana). She found the students that were keen and the next day we started. None of them had ever written a song before. I asked them what language they wanted to write the song in. “English”, they declared to my relief. All decisions regarding their creation were put to a general consensus or vote throughout the process. They chose a topic-peace, then a title-Bring Back Peace. The meat of the lessons from then on was telling them how to expand on a subject and write about it using rhymes, metaphors and song formats. Some grammar lessons naturally ensued as English is a second language for them. They did amazingly well.

We had over thirty lyrics on the whiteboard that everyone had created when we were ready to start choosing and arranging the ones they liked best. One of the most memorable moments was hearing them sing their song in the classroom when it was complete and seeing the look on everyone’s faces as they gave birth to it. We all left the room on fire that day. It was a vision of mine to have the kid’s record whatever we came up with so they could have that experience and a hard copy of their creation. The people who made that possible appeared with almost no effort of my own. It was amazing to witness.

Musicians, the recording studio, a video camera, funds for pressing the CD, all came forward at the times needed. It was magic that day in the studio watching their faces as they sang away. When we saw the video footage we knew it was precious so I when I returned to Bangkok I edited the music video. People who have seen it are moved by it. If you believe in quantum physics and the idea that we are all connected, this work does what I hoped it would do; help raise the overall level of consciousness on the planet by using children and music. When one person feels good it gets passed along the global chain. This is another by-product of the program that I really connect with. I was invited back to SMD and hope to have the opportunity for round two in the future. Thank you kids, you were amazing to work with.

About Ross Green

My first experience with teaching was with my younger brother on the tiny sheet of ice behind our house in Calgary. Ice skating was something I would teach through my teens as a counselor with Howie Meeker Hockey Schools. Hockey wasn’t my only passion. In my early teens I found the world of music. The stuffy piano lessons I had endured as a child were replaced with a guitar and a teacher that kept me interested in theory by dangling rock n roll tunes in front of me. Every weekend I would sit in with the local musicians down at the park, learning the latest hits and singing along, while at home, countless hours were spent in front of the living room stereo with stacks of LP’s, learning to play music by ear. After completing my education in the Calgary school system with a strong showing in English and the Arts I spent the next five years touring Western Canada as a lead singer and guitarist for numerous bands.

In 1987 I decided to add a trade to my repertoire, studying media arts in the CTSR program at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. The TV business took me to Vancouver for the next 15 years where I worked on productions for MGM, Paramount, Disney and others as a technician. Music was always in the background and during this time I wrote and recorded my first CD – “Biting the Hand”. In 1998 I loaded my backpack and set out on my own personal ‘world tour’ where I discovered another passion; travel. S.E. Asia became a home away from home over the next ten years and returning to my ‘money’ job was becoming increasingly difficult. I wasn’t using any of my real talents in television and film. I was doing the wrong job for the wrong reasons. I could re-write the movie though and change my role. Once this realization came, I sat down to re-evaluate who I was going to be from then on. What was important to me now? What were my passions? What was my gift?