Jackson, MI (December 2025)-When a child picks up a violin for the first time, something unexpected happens. The restlessness fades. Concentration takes over. Fingers learn precision, ears learn patience and hearts learn harmony.

For years, moments like this were rare in Jackson County. “Jackson County doesn’t really have a culture around string instruments,” said Belle Coty, Director of Fund and Audience Development, Jackson Symphony Orchestra (JSO).  “There’s only one public school here with a strings program, and it starts in high school. For most kids, the chance to play never comes.”

The JSO wanted to change that. Music, they believed, shouldn’t be a privilege. It should be a doorway every child can walk through. Then came the Walters Family Foundation. With their support, JSO reimagined its String Team program, making beginner lessons free and cutting costs for returning students. Suddenly, the door swung open.

Enrollment more than doubled, from 40 to over 100 students in a single season. In classrooms filled with the sound of tuning strings, students now gather after school to learn far more than music. They learn to listen. To focus. To work together until they find harmony, literally and figuratively.

Each student’s progress is marked by colorful ribbons tied to a keychain like a badge of honor. “You can see it in their faces,” Belle said. “That moment when they realize, I did this. It’s pride, confidence and joy all at once.”

When the season ends, those lessons come to life on stage. Dozens of young musicians perform side by side, bows rising and falling in rhythm. Some watch their neighbors for cues, others lead boldly, their sound clear and steady. Together, they create something that feels bigger than themselves, a community in harmony.

“There’s a deep history of inequality in orchestras,” she said. “For so long, string instruments were seen as inaccessible, financially and culturally. We’re trying to change that, starting with early education.”

The Walters Family Foundation’s support gave JSO the momentum to take that leap, to make music education something every child can work towards. The results are visible not just in numbers, but in faces: students who once doubted themselves now carry their violins with quiet confidence.

“It feels different this time,” Belle said. “It feels like there could be a real culture for string instruments in our city.”

And with every lesson, every note, that culture grows. A new sound is taking root in Jackson, one filled with confidence, connection and possibility.