"What do you make?" "I make musicians."

I recently re-watched a video of Taylor Mali performing his poem, "What Teachers Make". If you haven't seen it, and are not opposed to 2 well-placed objectionable words, you should totally watch it! I would recommend it to most teachers.

After watching it, I've been pondering the question, "What do I make?" and I've come up with my answer. 

I make musicians.

I make kids listen and listen again to classical music and describe what they heard, and then they bring the music inside them and let it out again in a dance.

I make kids bi-lingual, tri-lingual and more as they learn solfege, rhythm language, the language of the music staff, and even a bit of sign language to effectively sightread, dictate, and communicate about music.

I make them listen instead of hear the sounds that are constantly around them and sort out what is worth listening to and what is not.

I make children into good singers and when they sing it out of tune we sing it again. When they sing it without their hearts, we sing it again. When they talk it instead of sing it, we sing it again. When they forget the words and sing the wrong rhythm, we sing it again.

I turn kids into lovers of music.

I make a difference. How about you?