A musician, student, and volunteer, Jack Valentino has taken his music and teaching skills to Love Learning Music, a nonprofit organization that provides music education and therapy to children in need.
As a rising junior at Belmont University, Jack decided to spend the first part of his summer studying abroad in Austria. This meant that Jack had to sacrifice any prospects of a summer internship, given the timeline. After returning to Nashville, Jack needed something to do for the remainder of the summer, so, as a skilled piano and guitar player, he turned to teaching and found Love Learning Music.
It is evident that Jack has a phenomenal passion for music, with his pursuit of a career in this field, and remarkable that he has chosen to share his passion to enrich others. He first began teaching lessons in high school, honing his skills, and has been teaching piano lessons to a ten-year-old Ukrainian refugee, Timur, while serving with Love Learning Music.
“It’s really cool to see his reaction to things I would show him…that I would guess he’d be interested in,” Jack explains about a particular moment when he witnessed the impact of his volunteer work. Jack shared a few Bach pieces with Timur, and while he was not familiar with them, he loved the music because, as Jack describes, it sounded “huge or intimidating.”
“His face would light up, and he’d be like, ‘Teach me that!,’” Jack says, describing the reaction Timur had to the Bach pieces. Not only did he love the sound of the music, he was so excited to learn and practice these pieces. Even when his mom sat in on his lessons, Jack could see the joy in her face when Timur showed what he had practiced. Bach is not easy to play, so it is impressive for a ten-year-old to be working on these pieces, really demonstrating the effectiveness and impact of Jack’s teaching.
At his young age, there is so much room for Jack to continue to bring joy through his passion for music. Whether it is through his volunteering, new band Trek, teaching, or the massive music community at Belmont and in Nashville, he is bound to make an impact.
To learn more about Jack and Love Learning Music, listen to the interview on the Doing Good Podcast.
