Tori Amos meets inner-city school choir, tears and laughter ensue

I don't have to tell you guys that music saves people, that singing a song can make you feel comforted, can make you feel stronger, can lift you up. We know the music programs in public schools are dying and dead, and music in particular does not typically reach kids in the way it used to -- especially the kids who may need it the most. Gregg Breinberg, who teaches at New York's PS22, teaches music to fifth graders. In one session he teaches a chorus, and because he's such a huge Tori Amos fan, the chorus learns a couple of her songs each year. They are hauntingly beautiful versions of her songs, and when I wrote about Gregg and the chorus last year, I found out just how much singing (and singing her songs especially) means to those kids:In “Twinkle,” “‘Boy so hard, but I know a girl twice as hard,’ became, ‘Life is hard, but I know that I am twice as hard,’” he said. “Most of [the kids’] lives ARE very hard, and all too many come from rough situations.”Once in a while, a student blossoms after performing Tori’s songs with the PS22 chorus. David and Deon, the boys who soloed on “Not the Red Baron” and “Flying Dutchman,” respectively, barely spoke to anyone when they first came to PS22, but rocketed into popularity and confidence after their classmates heard them sing.Parents, too, love what happens as Breinberg helps children discover their voices.“It’s so wonderful to see a parent overwhelmed by a talent they didn’t even know their child had,” he said. “Many of my best soloists didn’t even know that they could sing.”Long story short, my good friend Violet, who runs Undented, where I volunteer, helped orchestrate a meeting between Tori and Gregg and the PS22 choir yesterday. I've just finished watching the vids from YouTube and it's such a good feeling watching them sing together and interact. Tori is so good with the kids, and she was so obviously moved by their presence and performance. And they were moved by her; in the later videos, you hear so many of them say, "This was the best day of my life." There is such strength in them. This is an event they will carry with them forever. Watch for yourself:Part 1 (The choir sings for Tori):Part 2 (Tori sings with them): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob9cAWly0gIPart 3 and 4: The kids' reactions on the bus ride home:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEtOLuGYF2whttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czaNzwazAj4