alk to flutist Chaz Salazar, and you’ll be forgiven for thinking he’s older than his 16 years. His impeccable manners put his peers to shame, and he enthuses about flutists Jeffrey Khaner and Jeanne Baxtresser like other teenagers might over Timbaland. “He just has this passion for music that is pretty amazing for someone his age,” observes Dr. Karin Thomas, executive director at Rosie’s House: A Music Academy for Children. And while music education has been linked with everything from higher test scores to just plain happiness, its effects on Salazar are both diverse and profound. Take, for example, Salazar’s riff on philanthropy. Coming from a low-income family, he’s known the benefits of programs like those at Rosie’s House, an organization that provides free music lessons to underserved youth. But this year, when his mother handed him her tax refund to use as he pleased, Salazar neither squandered nor saved it. Instead, after purchasing some music, he donated the remainder to KBAQ. “It was the last day of the pledge drive,” he says, “so I said, ‘I’ve been on the opposite side, not having the money, and now that they’re asking for it, and I do have it and I can donate, then I’m going to, because they really do a lot for me.’” O.K., so maybe musical instruction won’t turn every kid into a generous flute prodigy who happily devotes five hours a day to practicing. But Salazar’s actions are in keeping with the observations of Dr. Sandra Stauffer, a music education professor in the ASU Herberger College School of Music who researches creativity and
In addition to Rosie’s House, Chaz Salazar credits his mom (pictured below) for much of his musical success. “My mom is very supportive of me and everything I do, whether it be the flute or not,” he says. “She’s always there to back me up, and she’s going to always be there.”
Fall 2008
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