Music Shapes’ Donation of 25 Ukuleles Brings Joy to Kids in Hazel Park

(Terry Lakins, April 15, 2025)

Hazel Park, MI – Music Shapes is a small 501c3 non-profit organization that combines passion for music through teaching. Their goal is to teach musical concepts and music education to elementary school grade kids. They usually run classes or workshops that either teach music, show how musical instruments work or a workshop that incorporates music in some way. They also are known to work to provide some kind of musical instrument to children, on a needed basis, whenever they can.

Music Shapes has just provided over 25 Ukuleles to Webb Elementary for the students to practice and use in class, just in time for their spring concert. This is the biggest project Music Shapes has undertaken. Prior to the gift, kids of Webb Elementary were practicing with Ukuleles but only had a few among all the kids. Having to take turns is inconvenient and the teacher desired to have a way for all the kids to play together. Founder Jeanne Barret, who sees teaching and music as her true passion, wanted to help. Biggest scope or not, she was determined to make it happen.

“They wanted these kids to play together, and we thought, that makes sense to us,” Barret said. “It’s a great cause, we’re going to help these school kids, and why can’t we find a way to do it. So, we did.”

Katherine Fox was delighted to have the instruments for her class. “We are deeply honored to be the very first school selected for this grant, and we’re thrilled to hear that MusicShapes plans to continue this initiative in the years to come. This gift means that every student will now have a ukulele in their hands for the entire class period—no sharing, no waiting for a turn. They get to experience the joy of playing from start to finish. Our older students are already hard at work learning songs for our Spring Concert in May.

“We are so thankful to MusicShapes for believing in the power of music education and helping us make our classroom a place where every child can explore, create, and grow through music.”

Principal Corri Nastasi sees how music impacts the students’ lives. “Ms. Fox has worked to bring music to life for many of our students by working to stock our music room with a range of instruments that the students can use. I have seen the students playing the Ukeleles and they really love it. They are learning to read notes and play music and are having so much fun while they do it. ”

Music Shapes pulled off the big gift by getting the National Association for Music Education involved, an organization that promotes music education in schools. Webb Elementary is a Title One school, meaning at least 40 percent of the student body comes from a low-income background, which made them eligible for federal funding. This also happened to be perfectly timed during March, which is also known as Music in Our Schools Month, which just reached their 40^th anniversary. Barret said despite how big this task was they didn’t want to pass a great opportunity to do good.

Many nonprofits can face challenges, especially when it comes to securing funding. With the uncertainty of government funding, many non-profits could be feeling the squeeze and pressure. However, Music Shapes, for as small as they are, is a definitive strength in this regard. There are only three people (including Barret) who regularly do the work, and they do not have paid salaries. They travel and operate all throughout Southeast Michigan all the way up to Genesse County. They go directly to clients but lack an official building for headquarters.

According to Barret, this was a deliberate choice. Before establishing Music Shapes, she had been involved in other non-profits organizations that were much bigger and had nice official buildings. However, the stress of covering rent and operating costs was always a constant source of worry for these bigger organizations. Barret took this to heart and adjusted her nonprofit model to eliminate the brick-and-mortar aspect. No building, no stress – proving that smaller can be strength in its own way.

Music Shapes is also very grass roots, run by people who love music. They are always looking for more volunteers who enjoy sharing their love of music with young people. Volunteers may do presentations about music or give introductory classes and lessons. And of course there is always the fundraising and delivering of instruments.

“It is a lot of work, but it is very rewarding, especially to see the kids face light up when they figure out a how to place a harmonica or play this little, tiny song on the piano.”

When reflecting on why Barret started Music Shapes back in 2017, it came from a desire to find a way to give back to the kids directly. Just after retirement, but still a couple of years before Music Shapes, Barret had already spent time volunteering and working with other non-profits. She liked the work but wanted to have her own spin on it. Being very passionate about teaching, and incorporating art and science into music, she set out to do just that. This included the concept of teaching how musical instruments work, which is a product of her engineering background. Though she remembers being a bit frightened the first time they did a fundraiser and wondered how they would pull it off. On putting yourself out there to do more, Barret had this to say: “It’s scary in the beginning but you have to try. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Music Shapes is still going strong eight years later and has served nearly 800 kids. To learn more about their work or to find out about volunteering, please visit them at www.musicshapes.org or email them at [email protected]. Learn more about Hazel Park Schools at https://www.hazelparkschools.org/.