Never Underestimate the Power of Music

by Ida Mercer

I’m a retired cello faculty member at The Music Settlement, and I’m also a Music Settlement parent of four children who took numerous lessons here over many, many years.

Music means so much to me because it is my profession. I started the cello when I was eight years old and the piano when I was six. Music has been with me forever, and I just marvel at all the opportunities and the people I’ve met in my lifetime through music. It’s deeply, deeply enriched my life.

I grew up in a rural community in southern Illinois that had been settled by German immigrants, and music was a really important part of the community, so I was so happy when I arrived in Cleveland to find The Music Settlement. Cleveland was such a big city compared to where I grew up, but I was very happy to find The Music Settlement because it had the same kind of principles and values that I had experienced as a child. I was very happy to join the cello faculty here and for my children to have their lessons and their music experiences happen under this roof.

The Music Settlement serves as a connective tissue in our family life and in my professional life here in town, and it connected my children to lots of other kids. It was a social platform and the magic carpet for our family here in Cleveland.

One thing I like to say to my students often and usually at the end of music lessons is: “Never underestimate the power of music.” That’s because music is a universal language. It connects us. It connects people of all different sorts and beliefs and outlooks on life in a way that just nothing else can. You never know where your music is going to take you, and it may connect you to some people that you might never otherwise encounter.