For legions of disadvantaged children in Newark, New Jersey, the effects of poverty are not confined to material want. They lack access to the broader cultural inheritance and effective network enjoyed by children in more privileged communities. In particular, they lack exposure to classical music training, which serves as a effective vehicle to develop critical social skills and effective network required to thrive in the wider professional world. This program seeks to enrich the lives of such children - to enable them to "possess everything" -- through music education. The means to that end will be intense, individualized training in the piano, coupled with percussion work to strengthen rhythmic skills and ensemble work to enhance collaborative ability and peer learning skills. The goal of the program is not necessarily to produce world-class musicians, though that may well happen. Rather, the goal is to use music education as a means to personal betterment for children who might otherwise lead lives of not only material but also cultural deprivation.
