Musical Youth Foundation

About

Dublin City Soul Festival is all about making a positive impact on the local community. As part of our desire to effect positive change we have established the Musical Youth Foundation (MYF) – an organization that seeks to provide free musical instruments and tuition for underprivileged children from Dublin. In due course it is hoped that the Musical Youth Foundation can set up satellite groups in major cities across Ireland.

Aside from independent fund raising initiatives the MYF will benefit from the future financial success of the Dublin City Soul Festival with a percentage of ticket sales revenue going directly to the MYF in due course. Furthermore it is hoped that the MYF can encourage Irish concert promoters to follow suit.

Long term we aim to establish a Music Academy in Dublin City, where children can practice their instruments, establish bands with  friends and receive mentoring from industry experts, in a safe and secure environment.

Benefits of Musical Education

Apart from being a very satisfying hobby, the benefits of learning a musical instrument include:

• Concentration
  Learning a musical instrument will help a child develop concentration, as they must focus on a particular activity over extended periods of time. Developing concentration in this way will also help them focus their attention on other subjects at school.

• Coordination
  Practicing musical instruments improves hand-eye coordination. Children develop important motor skills when playing music just as they do when playing different sports.

• Relaxation
  Increasingly music therapy is being used to complement more traditional forms of medicine. Researchers acknowledge that certain types of music can aid relaxation by lowering heart rates and blood pressure.

• Patience and Perseverance                                                                                                                                                                               In order to learn a musical instrument, children must develop patience and perseverance, skills which will help them later in life when they must tackle other more difficult challenges.

• Self-Confidence
  The act of learning and playing an instrument, the encouragement of a teacher and the enthusiasm of a proud parent, will build in a child a sense of pride and confidence. Moreover, children who practice self-expression and creativity often become better communicators later in life.

Researchers also have found a significant relationship between music instruction and positive performances in such areas as: reading comprehension, spelling, mathematics, listening skills, primary mental abilities (verbal, perceptual, numeric, spatial) and motor skills.