PORTLAND, Maine — How much more attention would you have paid in English class is Stephen King taught it? What if a Nobel laureate taught you physics?
Students at one Portland school this week got music lessons from a woman at the top of her game.
The artist Falu spent two days hosting music lessons with middle schoolers at the Saint Brigid school. Falu won a 2022 Grammy Award for best children’s music album, and formed a friendship with the school’s music director, Matt Fogg, in years past.
The students and their substitute teacher were grateful for the time together.
"I really want to be just like her one day," Abbie, a fifth-grader, said.
"It's good to switch through cultures to kind of get the idea of there are so many different types of music," fellow fifth-grader Liam said of Falu's lesson.
Falu has lived in the U.S. since 2000 but is originally from Bombay, India, where she was classically trained in music.
"The kids are so curious," Falu smiled. "They are like sponges. And, at this age, whatever you give them they absorb with totality."
The two-day residency featured concerts as well, where Falu’s full band helped bring the lessons to another level.