As a composer, performer, and speech therapist, Tzirel performs before all sorts of audiences — from groups of women and teens, to young children. Yet when Tzirel was asked to perform in concert for a group of teenagers, she was a bit apprehensive. The teenagers that she was asked to sing before were young ladies with very difficult lives; they were going through a lot at the time. So Tzirel wondered how the concert would work out. How would they respond to her music?
“I walked up with my guitar and began singing a song that I had carefully selected. The song was about frum girls growing up in today’s world. Immediately after I had finished singing that song they asked for an encore! I had to sing it three or four times and then stop the concert to teach them the words of the song. It was a truly amazing experience! I was so happy to have made a difference in the lives of these girls and that my music went over so well with them.”
But really Tzirel was not surprised. In her years of performing she has found that everyone — and specifically teens — connect well to music.
What is so powerful about music?
Tzirel explains that the brain is split into two hemispheres: the right side and the left. The left side is where traditional learning and language take place. Music however affects the right side of the brain. It therefore has the power to impact us and affect us in ways that language and traditional learning cannot.
“That’s why anything that you learn with a melody sticks” explains Tzirel. “You never forget it. Think about it — we learn some of the most important things in life through music. The ABCs the Alef-Beis are all taught through songs.”
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