On Squash and Music

A few weekends ago, The T celebrated our second Squash & Symphony event. Why would we do such a thing? What’s the connection between Squash and Music?

After observing children learn and grow for many years, it is my view that the discipline of learning music, among other things, has a way of developing grit in the diligent student. As you know, grit is one of our core values, noteworthy because studies show that the concept of grit is a more accurate predictor of student GPA than IQ. Grit encapsulates toughness, hard work, perseverance and diligence. It is digging one’s teeth into a task or concept and not letting go until it has been accomplished; it is overcoming setbacks; it is tenacity in the learning process. This is a hard virtue for children to learn but it is an important one for every serious student of squash and helpful to any student of life. In my view, learning music can be one of the ways where children develop grit, a commitment to learning a thing for its own sake, just to get it right. So we want to encourage it!

But as you know, music is not easy and children often complain that it is boring. So to help them in their musical learning, we occasionally gather a community of peers to encourage and celebrate their effort. Hence our Squash & Symphony events. We hope these recitals provide social reinforcement and encouragement to our musical athletes. We want to socialize the musical experience and celebrate our children’s progress. This may already happen in other recitals that your children perform, but we want The T Symphonies to be unique musical settings where they can play and laugh and fudge a few notes and make something beautiful in front of their friends and peers. T Symphonies should bring an element of fun and pride and community to the musical process. Because if children persevere and develop grit in music, it will reinforce the grit they are developing in squash. Then both experiences will contribute to their growth as life long learners. That is the goal.

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