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On Monday nights, the Phoenix Family Services Emergency Shelter indoor basketball court isn’t filled with the sounds of dribbling, but instead, the strumming of guitars.
The music emanates from a small group of kids whose families are staying at the shelter as they receive specialized musical instruction from The Salvation Army Southwest Divisional Music Director Marlon (Andy) Jones.
The guitar lessons are part of Jones’ division-wide effort to provide kids with musical education. Typically these “music clubs,” as Jones calls them, happen monthly at Salvation Army corps and online.
In this iteration, lessons are weekly to maximize learning, since the kids are only at the shelter for 120 days at the longest. During that time, parents work to gain stability with the support of case management and a vocational coordinator.
“Because we don’t know when the families are going to be leaving, it’s really hard to be consistent,” Jones said. “But my idea is if we can plant the seed, if they are really interested, they can get connected to another corps program.”
Recreational Therapy Coordinator Brittany Scott-Membrila first got the idea for offering lessons after watching a boy who was always interested in the guitars at the activity center, which she oversees. There, guitars are on hand for kids to play, thanks to a donation from country artist Steven Cade, who gave the instruments during his Giving Guitars tour.
“To be able to provide something where it’s fun and they’re learning… It’s just really the chance for them to be able to be a kid and have some sort of normalcy.”
Brittany Scott-Membrila
“I kind of got an idea stuck in my head that we should be able to do some sort of music lessons or guitar lessons because they’re here and kids are interested,” she said.
Scott-Membrila aims to provide meaningful enrichment for kids and families. Sometimes, it’s classes provided by community partners like a budgeting class from BMO Financial, or basketball or arts and crafts.
After reaching out to independent guitar instructors with no luck, she responded one day to one of Jones’ regular emails about the divisional music clubs.
Jones told her: “If we’re doing this, we’re doing it all the way, and it’s going to be consistent.”
The plan for lessons was hatched, and they began Feb. 5.
Jones said he follows a program that begins with learning the four strings of the guitar. He said he does it that way because he knows learning the instrument can hurt the fingers at first.
“My program starts with just using one finger to make a chord…so they’ll learn a few chords, just using one finger and playing on four strings,” he said. “A girl who has stuck with it, now she’s playing full chords, using the right finger patterns.”
For kids who can be consistent during their time at the shelter, Jones has seen “huge progress.”
“Some of these kids all come during the week to practice, so they don’t wait until I get there,” he said. “They come in and ask to borrow a guitar from the activity center, because it’s always supervised… so you can see development.”
His goal is to bridge all of what he does with Salvation Army programming, so he uses music from Encore, an annual music and arts competition, in the lessons. That way, if students wish to continue their musical journey at a Salvation Army corps when their family transitions out of the shelter, they could join in the competition next year.
Scott-Membrila said the kids love the guitar lessons, and even though it can be challenging for them to be consistent due to living with trauma, it’s worth it.
“Even if we’re able to just get one kiddo in for one session, they seem to really like it, and it’s something different,” she said. “To be able to provide something where it’s fun and they’re learning… It’s just really the chance for them to be able to be a kid and have some sort of normalcy.”
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