Harmony Project Hudson Brings More Than Music To Public Schools
The organization proves that music education leads to academic and social success.
A friend of mine introduced me to Josh Aronson, a documentary filmmaker, because we both have a connection to film. My friend mentioned that Josh was involved in an organization called Harmony Project Hudson. Once I took a look at their website, I got on the phone with Executive Director Zoe Auerbach, and then a Zoom to also include Josh Aronson, and asked them if I could do an interview to share the work they are doing with Harmony Project Hudson.
JC: Zoe, thank you for taking the time to chat. Can you share how you got involved in Harmony Project Hudson?
ZA: I’m from the Poughkeepsie area originally, and after I finished my dual undergraduate degrees in music and philosophy, I moved home to explore next steps. The first job I wound up getting out of school was at Bard College Conservatory of Music. Later, in the fall of 2015, I got an email from Josh Aronson out of the blue. In two sentences, it said: "I’m working on a music program for kids in Hudson, and I want to talk to you about running it.” Josh had been talking to Leon Botstein, the president at Bard, about partnering with Bard on Harmony Project Hudson, and Robert Martin, at that time the director of the Conservatory of Music, recommended me to Josh. (The first few years, the Harmony Project Hudson was a Bard program.)
After I accepted the job, I traveled to LA, home of the original Harmony Project (there are now affiliate programs all over the county, of which we are one). Margaret Martin, the founder of Harmony Project LA, opened her home and programs to me, and I stayed with her for four days, attending a variety of lessons, classes and rehearsals at various HP LA sites. We started our program shortly after I returned, in late February 2016. We began with 23 first and second grade student at John L. Edwards Elementary, and the next year we expanded into Montgomery C. Smith Intermediate School (now MC Smith Elementary). Five years later, we have nearly 100 students enrolled between the elementary and junior high schools in Hudson..
Zoe Auerbach; Josh Aronson
JC: What is Harmony Project Hudson, and what is it that Harmony Project Hudson offers to young people?
ZA: At its heart, it is really a literacy program with social goals that we achieve through music and the arts. What that means is that our methods and classes focus largely on strengthening academic and emotional skills through music and other expressive art forms, especially at younger and earlier stages. We do acting, improv, creative writing, dancing and movement, and mindfulness. As the kids get older, class content focuses more on the artistic content, but we never lose our commitment to helping these kids nurture the person and artist that is inherently inside them. Our priority is to help each student develop into the fullest expression of themselves — and to be active, passionate, and empathetic citizens in their communities. We think the first step to achieving those really big goals is to work with the kids on skills that apply to their literacy and academic achievements, and show them the opportunities that might be open to their lives.
JC: It seems that you have a strong percentage of children of color. Was that deliberate? And has that made an impact on the community of kids in Columbia County?
ZA: That’s a really good question. Yes, it is deliberate. My masters degree is in philosophy and the focus was ethics in society. I‘ve always viewed this program as an effort in distributive justice to imagine the ways we can approach equity in communities of untapped potential. For me, it has always been about bringing the arts, music in particular, to students who don’t have as much access. Whether it’s due to racial inequality or social inequality, anywhere where the systems are breaking down, this has been a priority. I think it’s a strength of our program, and I spend most of my time about how can expand access to our program — how to make our reach greater and more equitable, to really make our program accessible to every child in Hudson.
JC: What are some of the challenges you’ve faced since COVID-19?
ZA: The biggest challenge is maintaining the real strength in our program: the interpersonal interaction between teachers and students, and the students themselves. The relationships we build with the students is where the real magic happens, and we haven’t been able to meet in person since March, so that’s definitely been a challenge. But some really special things that we never anticipated have been happening in our online lessons.
JC: There may be people who would like to support Harmony Project Hudson. How would anyone go about connecting with you?
ZA: Before the pandemic, we had open classes in the Hudson city schools four days a week, with performances and events in the community several times a year. We are so eager to return to being able to do those things! For now, we are running lessons online, which are not open to the public, and have provided a lot of content via our website, which is available to all in the "Current Students" section. Donations are accepted through our website and we are working now on a website membership program, with periodic email newsletters, to keep our greater HPH community regularly in the loop about everything going on with our program. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful community partners in Hudson, like Hudson Hall and the Greater Hudson Area Library, with whom we have partnered on many programs and events for our students in the past.
JC: Do you have any upcoming plans or events that you’d like to share? Especially where people can see some of the work, or listen to the students?
ZA: We are working on some student projects, as well as an exciting program for bringing our program directly into the elementary classrooms in the Hudson City School District. We have our “Thriving Through the Storm” virtual gala coming up on December 11. More information is on our website.
JC: I noticed on your website you have a headline that says Black Lives Matter. How connected is Harmony Project Hudson to the message of equality?
ZA: The Black Lives Matter movement is something I have followed very closely, and supported, for many years. Some years ago I stumbled upon the anti-racist movement through a social media post by an anti-racism educator. As I started reading a lot of what was being shared in that forum, I really began the process of questioning, and ultimately unlearning, the history of American collective consciousness about our society, culture, and history. I quickly developed a deep connection to this work. I’m Jewish, raised with an innate sense of that ethnicity and all the historical baggage that it entails, so while I certainly do not have the experience of a Black person in American society, I do have some sense of this Other-ism. As I began to explore the work of anti-racism more deeply, particularly through the many Black and Brown women providing this information and education, I realized that I didn’t know the true experience of many groups in this country - that our national narrative, both historical and current, does not include accurate portrayals of these communities’ lived experiences, or our complicity in them. As I learned more (or, I should say, unlearned more), so much of what I was reading and hearing rang true to me, even though I have no personal experiences as a person of color. With this growing awareness (we are all still learning and improving daily), centering the narratives and lived experiences of our students and their communities has always been a priority of ours at HPH.
JC: If you could have one wish for Harmony Project Hudson, what would that be?
ZA: I think my wish for our program would be to reach every child who could benefit, and help them to reach their fullest potential.
Harmony Project Hudson’s virtual gala, “Thriving Through the Storm," Dec. 11 at 6:30 will feature a virtual student performance, appearances by Mayor Kamal Johnson, Ngounga Badila and Tony Kieraldo, and a special performance by an Alvin Ailey student in choreography by Glenn Allen Sims of Sims Dance Project. To reserve your spot, click here.
