Based on the results of a study at the University of California at Irvine, Florida Senator William Turner of Miami has proposed a bill that would add classical music to the preschool curriculum in his state. The study showed music lessons improve the spatial reasoning skills of preschool children. Similar skills were enhanced in college students who listened to just 10 minutes of Mozart's Piano Sonata K 448. No other types of music produced the same results.

"With the generous

support of our sponsors,

the Toledo Symphony's

private music lessons

program has grown into a

valuable community asset

that touches many young

lives."

Lorraine Schoenfield, community music lesson coordinator with the Toledo Symphony, works with a violin student.

TOLEDO SYMPHONY HELPS
AT-RISK CHILDREN 

It has been called one of Toledo's best kept secrets. For 10 years the Toledo Symphony's community music lesson program has been demonstrating that music can turn lives around.

More than 50 central-city Toledo youth, ages 9 to 17, have participated in the program that provides free private music lessons to poor or at-risk children. Many come by way of a juvenile court referral; others simply can't afford the one-on-one attention of a music teacher. John Hancock, director of concert production, said: "There's a social service aspect of this program. Teachers work with the students in ways that are different from simply teaching the mechanics of an instrument."

Success stories include a 15-year-old found guilty of attempted murder who made progress as a violin student at the same time he put his life together with a part-time job and new foster parents. An 8th grade student who could not pay for regular private lessons earned a chair in the Toledo Youth Orchestra with help from the TSO program.

The program is made possible by financial support from the General Mills Foundation, Owens-Illinois, Lucas County Juvenile Court, City of Toledo Youth Commission, Old Newsboys Goodfellow Association, Toledo Symphony League and Hayes Family Foundation. Symphony president and CEO Bob Bell said: "With the generous support of our sponsors, the Toledo Symphony's private music lessons program has grown into a valuable community asset that touches many young lives."