Fabiola is mom to Adeline, one of the original Sound Minds students who joined the pilot program.
CSO: Your daughter Adeline joined the program back when it started. What has your experience with Sound Minds been like?
FABIOLA: I think it’s a great program. It helps kids gain more confidence. It also helps them with their reading a lot. One of my daughters had a problem with reading and now she loves reading, so it’s helped her a lot with that.
I feel like it also brings us together as a family. Sometimes on a Friday night we’ll have a mini concert! My husband and I are the audience, and the kids are either singing or playing an instrument so that brings us together as a family.
CSO: How do you think Sound Minds has impacted your daughter?
FABIOLA: It’s helped Adeline a lot because she also has music classes in middle school. She also has them at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. [CSO: This is a new partnership championed by the California Symphony, where Sound Minds students can now continue intensive Arts instruction after they leave Downer Elementary.] She was extremely shy, and now she’s not.
At the last concert in the middle school, she didn’t even have to look at the notes any more because she knows the music already and I told her “I’m so proud of you, baby!”
Even in the East Bay Center when she’s in a concert, I can see she’s feeling the music and she’s enjoying the concert, and I like it because she was so super shy in front of people and in front of an audience, and now she’s not. It’s helped her a lot.
UPDATE Fall 2019: Fabiola’s daughter Adeline is continuing her cello studies and recently performed a solo at a recital at the East Bay Center for Performing Arts. Little sister Stephanie has joined the program and she’s learning the cello, just like big sister Adeline.
You can support the Sound Minds program and other music education and community engagement initiatives, making a difference in the lives of thousands of people in the Bay Area, when you give during the Fall Matching Challenge—our largest fundraiser of the 2019/20 season. Your gift is matched and your impact doubled through October 31, 2019. Donate online or call the office at 925.280.2490 for assistance.
