Emotions. We love them. We hate them. Feelings of warmth and affection connect us to others and build a sense of security and trust. Anger, resentment and sadness do the opposite and drive us to lash out and isolate. Emotions color so much of our lives, yet we aren’t born knowing what they are or how they drive our reactions. An essential part of growing up is learning to recognize and manage our emotions. These socioemotional skills form the basis for healthy relationships, learning and personal development.
Music is an effective way to teach about emotions. Just think about how as children we listened to a major and minor chord and were told one is “happy” and one is “sad.” Think how powerful it would be if children could express what they are feeling by creating their own music!
This has been one of our mantras, and so we were thrilled to meet Tammy Vallieres, a kindergarten teacher and co-founder of Raising Empowered Kids. Tammy came up with the concept of “Hero Intelligence” based on children learning to listen and talk to their inner voices – the “victim” voice, the “villain” voice and the “hero” voice that inspires a person to grow into their best selves.
Tammy just published a children’s picture book, Harmony Hare and Her Three Voices, which introduces these ideas to young readers (and the adults who read to them) through the character of Harmony Hare. Harmony Hare’s three voices are represented by blue, pink and golden butterflies. On a recent Second Sunday, we invited Tammy to join us and play with the idea of turning the three butterflies/voices and their interactions into music.
The session turned out to be the perfect combo of story, art and music. You can see how we used Hyperscore to reinforce a story with emotional resonance, complexity and a sense of play.
Check out “The Hero in You”:
And here is our workshop conversation, in which we discuss the composing challenge before us, brainstorm various approaches and ultimately decide which ones to use.
