The Children’s Center at Bowdoin this winter sent out a request to college students, asking whether any musicians would volunteer to play music for an hour a week in its classrooms. Martha Eshoo, the center’s director, said she wanted to bring in musicians rather than simply play CDs or the radio. This way children could listen to and ask questions of the musicians. “They’re right in front of you, showing how music is made,” Eshoo said.

Three Bowdoin students who saw the ad reached out to Eshoo—one ukelele player and two guitarists. Kai’olu DeFries ’19, Eleanora Neifeld ’19, and Marina Henke ’19 now visit the center weekly on different days to quietly play songs in a corner. Sometimes the children dance and pay attention to the performance, other times they play and do their own thing. Eshoo said the teachers report that the environment is calmer and the children more relaxed when the Bowdoin musicians are there.