The Music In Me

HBO, 2006
PEABODY AWARD - WINNER

SYNOPSIS

We asked young musicians from all corners of the U.S. to send in videotapes of the music they play. The joyful result is a documentary special that tells the stories of six deeply committed young musicians from a stirring range of traditions, celebrating the hearts and souls of these dedicated young artists and the power of music to change lives.

“What better way to inspire the study of music than with this irresistible collection of artfully photographed vignettes of young musicians, ages 7 to 11, playing everything from classical cello to zydeco accordion.”

- Horace Newcomb, director of the Peabody Awards

SELECTED CLIPS

REVIEWS

The New York Times
Focusing on six small-but-mighty masters of their musical domain, “The Music in Me” is at once cheerfully hopeful and downright awe-inspiring. Nathan Chan, an 11-year-old cellist, performs Saint-Saëns’s “Swan” so plaintively that it calls to mind the human voice. Ten-year-old Elena Pinderhughes throws her flute, body and soul into Latin jazz. Guyland Leday, a 7-year-old Louisianan, plays zydeco accordion like a boy possessed.  Úna Rose, an 11-year-old rock guitarist, uses her music to wage war against global warming. Tyler Lindsay, at 10, blows his trumpet in his family’s brass band and on street corners, where he hawks his real passion: jazz. And Qaasim creates an urban symphony as he raps his drumsticks on everything from a metal gate to a fire hydrant.
 

The Wall Street Journal
“This compelling film...focuses welcome light on young amateur musicians from around the country who march, as it were, to many different drummers.”  
 

LA Times
“Moving, exciting and hilarious, sometimes by turns and sometimes all at once, it is a deceptively small thing that reminds one how good it can be to be a human livng among humans.  It’s the depth of their understanding, their unsullied apprehension of music not only as art but as language and the way they compound a deep seriousness with a sense of play that leave the strongest impression.