Testimonials

For the past two years Music by Heart has worked closely with our administrative team to help us build our music program from the ground up. Lior has done beautiful work with us to set meaningful goals based on deep intentions for our students. From our very first meeting, Lior helped us understand the ways in which music could be a source of connection and community-building for our students and faculty. Over our many months of working together, Lior has continually brought us back to our original goals so that, as we build our program, we do not lose sight of what first inspired us.

As our music program has grown, Lior has supported our music teacher, meeting regularly as a thought-partner and helping us understand how to best support our music teacher’s success. Lior has made important practical recommendations as well, sharing Music by Heart’s curricular ideas, helping us develop a school repertoire tailored to our unique character as a school, and sharing logistical recommendations as needed. We are so grateful for Lior’s inspired and passionate support in service of music and community at our school.

We turned to Music by Heart’s artist in residence program to help us form our first-ever Hillel band. Drawing on Lior’s depth of experience, he guided our staff and students through the logistics of attracting members, setting a rehearsal and performance schedule, picking and
arranging repertoire, instilling a collaborative and open “vibe,” and performing outstanding Jewish music for our entire campus.

Over this past pilot year, Music by Heart and Hillel together created a Jewish student community of talented musicians who loved to learn and perform Jewish music for their peers. Whether it was pre-shabbat musical gatherings, playing at community food festivals, or culminating in beautifying our unique musical High Holiday services at Stanford’s Frost Amphitheater, our whole community experienced great music together. Our students expressed a new, dynamic, creative, and musical side of their Jewish selves, shining as performers, growing as Jews, and having lots of fun. I am grateful to Music by Heart for making this dream a reality.

The capacity of music to help build community is widely understood and well documented. Reaching back into collective memory as far as the Temple period, Psalm 150 describes the ability of different musical instruments to help us praise God and use everything available to us, including our own breath, to do so. The psalm emphasizes the joy of music for both individual and communal praise. It stands out amongst the psalms for its inclusive power and purpose. 

I have had the unique pleasure and privilege of co-leading a number of musical ventures shaped by the Music by Heart curriculum and its creator, Lior Ben Hur. I have also had the opportunity to see its gains and efficacy as a parent. I can say both professionally and personally that this program gives students the confidence to explore music with an authentic curiosity and appreciation for its power and their own. From Kindergarten onwards, students are encouraged to explore pedagogically appropriate musical forms – rhythmic drumming, singing, to xylophones and more complex percussion, basic strings, chord progressions, working as a band, right through to music theory, composition, and songwriting. Each of these emerging skills are applied every year to a class performance and several other community ventures throughout the year. Music becomes a tool for every student to lead and succeed, regardless of singular musical interest. They know that these skills, while strengthening their own skill set, are going to be applied readily in real time, in their world with their hands. 

Music by Heart is a comprehensive K-8 Music Curriculum that brings the authenticity of the community, its members, and their talents to the fore. The approach seamlessly melds together California State Standards with an emphasis on using tools and talents for the purposes of building community, and community leaders. What this curriculum offers above and beyond most is its distinct emphasis on a diversity of different skills, to reach every single student in the classroom, and gear them towards applying those skills not just for musical purposes, but for applications in their Jewish and wider communities as well. 

The Israeli-American community is one of the fast growing communities in US Jewry in recent decades. The IAC summit is held annually, and two of the summit highlights are the moments when hundreds of community members meet to bring in the Shabbat together and spend the Shabbat and the Havdalah ceremony the next day.

For the past two years, we have been designing and leading Kabbalat Shabbat and the Havdalah with Music by Heart under the leadership of Lior Ben-Hur. Lior creates these two peak events for us: planning and connecting the community in every detail during the event, all under a deep and meaningful and rich dialogue with the IAC Gvanim team and the production.

More than 400 community members participated in the Kabbalat Shabbat thanks to Lior. They did not come for a performance but for a community event: their presence at the Shabbat reception and the Havdalah was significant, and they experienced it. It was fascinating to see hundreds of community members experience Israel through Lior. At the same time, American Jews who participated in the event also felt that they had a “home”, had a “voice” and a presence. Lior and Music by Heart use music as a tool to create a community that experiences the fullness of Jewish life while connecting authentically to everyone in the community.

The Cousins Like Us program was piloted in our congregation for our K-2 students and families. Perhaps the greatest success of the program was the integration of new music within our community and during tefillah. While we have always been a singing congregation, I can attest with certainty that our students and families only increased their voices as we prayed. The interactive e-book and story was engaging, interactive, and enhanced learning within the classroom and at home. Students and parents commented how this program was a highlight of the religious school year, a testament to the thought, work, and joy Music by Heart put into its production and development.

I am grateful for the transformative experience that Music by Heart provided initially to our Kulanu School families and ultimately to the entire congregation. While it sounds a bit “bombastic” I will not fall short saying that this program has helped us untap the language of the soul (music), allowing us to connect more deeply with our spiritual essence.

Music has always held a special place within our community, and Music by Heart has amplified its power. Through Lior Ben Hur’s professionalism, dedication, and warmth, our congregants have embarked on a journey that strengthened connection and heightened joy.

We are immensely thankful for this partnership and wish for it to continue for many years. It is with immense gratitude that we recognize the impact of this program on our community.

As a Hebrew and Jewish Studies Kindergarten teacher at Yavneh Day School, I can surely say that the “Cousins Like Us” program was a huge success in my classroom. The children and I were able to follow the beautiful music and creative videos, have deep discussions and conversations that led us as individuals and as a group to deeper understanding of each aspect taught in class.
As a class, we were focusing on the Shabbat unit, we explored and extended our learning, following the teacher guide to create a meaningful Shabbat Celebration to the families and eventually to our school community.
The words and meaning of each song, and the beautiful illustrations that come with it together with the teacher’s learning units, was naturally matched to our Jewish Studies curriculum.The children experienced active learning and out-of-the-box thinking that complemented and expanded their understanding about Shabbat. It perfectly fitted their level of knowledge and enriched it at the same time in a very fun way, which made it even more meaningful to each one of them and to myself as well. I will definitely continue to integrate the “Cuisines Like Us” program in the future curriculum at Yavneh, it made a huge contribution to the children and our community.

My children had the privilege of participating in the Cousins Like Us pilot at Congregation Shir Hadash. It was an incredible experience. They loved learning the songs and comparing their favorite songs with their friends in class. The program coincided with our religious school open house and I was able to witness firsthand the children learning, singing and dancing together in class. As a parent, I loved learning the songs with my children in tefillah and singing them at home. The completion of the program included an opportunity for all of the children to join their voices together on a Saturday morning to guide the Congregation. The children were filled with pride and joy as they shared this wonderful music with the Congregation. It was a truly beautiful and impactful experience for all of us.

The Cousins Like Us program was piloted in our congregation for our K-2 students and families. Perhaps the greatest success of the program was the integration of new music within our community and during tefillah. While we have always been a singing congregation, I can attest with certainty that our students and families only increased their voices as we prayed. The interactive e-book and story was engaging, interactive, and enhanced learning within the classroom and at home. Students and parents commented how this program was a highlight of the religious school year, a testament to the thought, work, and joy Music by Heart put into its production and development.