(upbeat music) - [Both] This is "In Tune."

(upbeat music) (logo whooshing) - My name is Jake Kouwe.

Out of all the jobs someone could have, I'm a career polka musician.

- And I'm Esther Fitz.

I'm a singer, songwriter and entertainer.

- Esther and I, we both love music and the excitement and energy it can give to others - And that's exactly the things we wanna pass on.

- And you guys, you are our educators.

You're out there passing on this love of music and creativity to kids every single day.

- And Jake and I have enlisted the help of an amazing music teacher that's gonna give you an example of that right now.

(logo whooshing) - All right.

Mrs. P, why is it so important to get kids interested in music and musical instruments?

Just, why do you think that's important?

You obviously do because you're a music teacher.

- Absolutely.

Music enhances so much for children and beyond for the rest of their life.

And it enhances more than just their academics.

It enhances their personal growth too.

There are so many benefits for their mental health and their well-being, as well as just bringing them happiness.

And it's really important to foster that love early on, give them fantastic experiences, going to shows, going to play instruments and just listening to music.

I think that it really is going to shape them and give them an opportunity to find what they love.

- Now I know we got one example of this.

You mentioned to me earlier a former student of yours who got interested in music in what grade?

- In fifth grade, if not earlier - Okay, what happened in fifth grade?

- Ethan was a fantastic student, and he was there my first year of teaching and he loved singing and he was really showing that he was going to have a future in music.

And so I gave him the opportunity to have a solo at his fifth grade graduation.

And from there he blossomed, he continued to perform, he found opportunities to be in shows and sing, and he took lessons and he is now going to be auditioning to be on Broadway soon.

So, it's been wonderful to watch him grow just from, you know, some small musical experiences as a child.

Well, and that's, you know, fifth grade, you know, that's such an important time in our lives.

That's such a time of turmoil.

And if you can find something you love during that, that's gonna carry you through middle school and high school and be a driving force.

- Exactly.

- That's amazing.

Music can change your life, folks.

And I mean, both you and me, we're doing what we do today because we love music.

Now, I would take that example and the example of us and be like, "Hey, can you also just experience music as a kid playing band and you don't have to do it the rest of your life.

Is it still important if you're not gonna play in a polka band or audition for Broadway or be a music teacher?

Is music still important?

- Of course it's still important and it's important to love a lot of things.

I have many students, their favorite subject is physical education class.

And I say, that's great.

We need to love many things, we need to have joy in lots of areas of our life.

And we can also love music too.

Doesn't have to be the only thing that we are part of.

- Great and you can love something without it being your whole life I love reading, I don't do it as a job.

That's what makes it fun.

- Exactly.

- You know?

- Yep.

- It's all good.

So, you know, any of this stuff we can pass on to kids is going to affect their lives, is going to enhance their lives, right?

- Yes, exactly.

Yep.

And when I was going to write my college essay, my entrance essay, I wrote it about trying before you buy.

It's important to try so many things before you really truly decide what you're gonna do for the rest of your life.

And not just say, "Oh, well maybe I'll try this and this is it."

I wanted to make sure I knew what I was going to do and I tried lots of things.

- And one of those happened to be music.

- It did.

- That's why we gotta keep giving kids the opportunities to try music, sports, writing anything, right?

- Exactly, yes.

There's a whole world out there.

- There is a whole world out there, folks, and y'all are making sure that kiddos experience it.

We appreciate that and we applaud you.

Thank you and thank you.

- Thank you.

- And thank you.

(logo whooshing) Our buddy Mrs. P is awesome.

And so are all of you educators.

And that's why on this program, not only are we trying to cover some basic principles of music, we're also talking about the way that it makes us feel and the impact it's had on lives - We want kids to learn about instruments and how they work and how thrilling they are to hear and how they can make music themselves.

- That's right.

Thank you for sharing this experience with us on "In Tune."

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