Lindsay Ell is spreading the teachings of music even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday (March 1), PEOPLE shared video of Ell, 31, leading a songwriting workshop via Zoom with the fourth-grade music students of Mt. View Elementary in Nashville. Ell's participation was in association with the CMA Foundation, who helped kick off March as the Music in Our Schools Month. "When I was able to throw a lesson plan together for the children of Mt. View Elementary, I was 100 percent down to do it. I asked the teachers, 'Would you think they'd be engaged? Should I give them assignments and let them write their own songs? Or should we write a song together?'" Ell recalled of the moment. "And they were like, 'I think it'd be great if we all wrote a song together.'"
In the footage, Ell is seen talking with the pupils about the first step in writing a song: choosing a topic. "The kids had such beautiful ideas and we wrote a song together. And some of the lyric ideas were like, 'Wow, you're in grade four and this is what you guys are thinking?' You guys are brilliant,'" she continued. As for their cut, the students performed a track inspired by the 2020 pandemic. "2020 got deep/ Millions of people were crying/ But we won't give up/ We'll keep on trying/ We will all get through this," Ell and the students performed together.
Ell went on to admit that she has a newfound respect for what teachers have been through in the last year. "I just thank you for doing such a great, great job because it is a difficult one," she concluded. The singer serves as an Artist Ambassador of Unified Voices for Music Education (UVfME) initiative, alongside fellow ambassadors Ashley McBryde and Jimmie Allen.
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