Long Beach-based nonprofit Musique Sur La Mer aims to bring music into the lives of children.
“Music education in general helps in every aspect of their academic careers as well as in growing their humanity and their heart,” said Marcy Sudock, founder of Musique Sur La Mer.
Musique Sur La Mer teaches private and group music lessons for children from elementary to high school as well as adults, and its youth orchestra travels the world using music for philanthropy.
Sudock has first-hand experience with the ways music education can change a child’s life.
According to Sudock, she was only able to learn music as a child because her Long Beach elementary school offered free violin lessons when she was in the fourth grade and her neighbor just so happened to have a violin she could borrow.
“I remember being in the fifth grade and practicing in my room, one of my least favorite things to do, and I yelled, ‘I quit. I hate this.’ And my mom said, ‘You can quit anytime you like’—oh my mom was so smart. Outside of my room in the hallway, very quietly but just enough for me to hear she said ‘I just didn’t know I raised a quitter.’ She knew me well.”
This eventually led to a career as a music teacher.
Sudock launched Musique Sur La Mer when she was asked if she had a youth orchestra that could perform in Pairs.
She jumped at the chance, there was only one problem: she didn’t have a youth orchestra.
But after convincing the parents of her students, she was able to put one together in time.
The reactions of her students on this first trip motivated her to continue with Musique Sur La Mer.
“We went and none of these kids had played for more than 10, 11 months so they were more cute than good,” Sudock said. “But something happened while we were on tour, I watched these kids develop into something more and their perseverance and their passion and their love of creating something beautiful. I said, ‘Okay, this is something really special and it’s needed.’”
According to Sudock, there were no similar music nonprofits in the greater Los Angeles area when Musique Sur La Mer was founded in 2000.
Since that first trip, Musique Sur La Mer students have played in Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Costa Rica.
Sudock said that Musique Sur La Mer never turns away children because their families can’t pay and will give scholarships to those that need it.
“It’s never about the money, it’s always about the child,” Sudock said.
Besides performing, Musique Sur La Mer’s students use their musical skills for humanitarian work on their trips, including playing at senior centers and playing songs to deaf children who could feel the vibrations of the music through the players’ instruments.
“There are many youth orchestras out there,” Sudock said. “But what makes us unique is that our focus is great music to serve other people, to create a community and make it accessible for people who don’t normally have access.”
When the pandemic arrived, Musique Sur La Mer had to cancel student trips planned for 2020 to Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.
The nonprofit also had to close its office in Shoreline Village for two years, pivoting to free online classes on music theory, bow stringing technique, music history and more.
“We got creative,” Sudock said. “I am not a technology person. That’s not my forte. I love human contact. And it was one of those moments where you said, ‘Okay, this is your choice. You either embrace it and make it into something wonderful or you become a dinosaur and this is over.'”
Musique Sur La Mer is now welcoming students back to its studio and will be holding a free youth orchestra camp over the summer for up to 50 kids.
“I tell the kids that every time they play something wonderful, every time they play, they’ve changed the planet because they’ve changed the molecules in the air,” Sudock said.
Musique Sur La Mer is located at 423 C Shoreline Village Drive in Long Beach.
