Daziel Perez Pagan speaks in a gently authoritative tenor 鈥� yet his guitar playing is the exact opposite: Complex and propulsive. The 20-year-old moved to Cleveland from Puerto Rico in the 7th grade.
鈥淚 didn't even really enjoy music as much when I was younger,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was mostly doing 鈥� a bit of sports. I liked dirt bikes, ATVs, that's what I was doing before.鈥�
Then, he discovered the , which works with students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Every student in the program is loaned a classical guitar, which they can own after completing a certain level of proficiency. It鈥檚 one of several programs in Northeast Ohio connecting people with free instruments.
Pagan said getting a free guitar was transformational.
鈥淚t was amazing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 didn't really have the money to buy a nice classical guitar.鈥�
Erik Mann, executive director of the society, remembers the first time he heard Pagan play.
鈥淚 was completely blown away,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t turned out that this was after two lessons.鈥�
Through playing music, Pagan developed other skills too. He said he overcame his shyness once he . Over the past several years, he鈥檚 written music for student films and begun teaching others. He鈥檚 even exploring luthier schools with an eye toward building electric guitars.
The benefits of music
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame holds instrument drives each year for area nonprofits. Kathryn Clusman, director of education at the Rock Hall, said access to instruments is 鈥渉uge鈥� for students.
鈥淚t's everything from that sense of ownership of that instrument to that confidence that they can play it,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen they have that instrument that they own, they can use it during the summer. They don't turn it in at the end of the school year.鈥�
One of the Rock Hall鈥檚 partners is the . CEO Emma Parker said learning to play an instrument does more than just teaching creativity and reading music.
"We're also working on some of those social emotional skill sets, like confidence building, social awareness, self-awareness and also potentially things like math and reading," she said. "We know that the arts are so aligned with that development for cognitive and social-emotional areas for youth."
The center offers free, 10-week music courses for Cleveland residents. They collect instruments throughout the year and make them available for students to borrow. Once they鈥檙e proficient, they have a chance to keep the instrument. That鈥檚 what happened to another Cleveland 7th grader, Kacey Compton.
鈥淲hen I first heard the sound of guitars, I just really liked it, because I went to many concerts and thought, 鈥榊eah, I wanna do that someday,鈥欌�� he said.
He鈥檚 been playing for four years and recalled being speechless when he got a guitar to keep.
鈥淚t was a big package of emotion,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was very surprising. Once I got it, I didn't even know what to say.鈥�
Kacey鈥檚 mother, Trudy, said that coming out of the pandemic, she and her husband were laid off and couldn鈥檛 afford a guitar. The fact that he earned it with his talent makes it even more special.
Although her son鈥檚 academics haven鈥檛 changed much, she said she noticed that he鈥檚 become more responsible. And he always makes sure to finish his homework before heading to guitar class.
