Jess Baron understands the power of music. “Music saved my life,” said Baron, a North Park resident. Born in 1959 and raised in Illinois, her parents were highly educated but emotionally abusive. “My mother rejected me, shamed me, yelled at me beginning at age 3 and it never stopped,” she recalled. “My father started yelling when I entered first grade. He was a Harvard-educated attorney and expected me to attend an Ivy League school. Every dinner was an interrogation. He went into rages when I didn’t answer his questions the way he wanted. It was terrifying. I had a Harvard litigator staring me down and turning me into dust. “It continued into adulthood. My father offered to pay my fiancée to not marry me.” Baron found refuge in music. “I was drawn to playing, singing and writing music at an early age,” she said.  “Music calmed me down and gave me a way to express my feelings. My music was a safe harbor from what I was experiencing at home, which was not safe.” “Without music I would not have made it.” At 3 she would press piano keys. By 7 she was playing guitar and singing. At 16 she was singing professionally on most weekends as a member of two bands and a duet. They often played music Baron wrote. After graduating high school in 1977, she played for clubs in the Chicago area before moving to California in 1985, where she earned a bachelor’s in child development and masters in clinical psychology. In 2000 she was teaching music in Santa Cruz when she was asked for help. “Teachers saw that students loved music classes and asked for my help motivating their students to learn other subjects,” she said. “I agreed and wrote songs using well-known music with words that relate to their academic subjects. I showed them how to use the music in teaching their students.” That was the beginning of a program now known as Guitars in the Classroom (www.guitarsintheclassroom.org). In 2006, Baron moved to San Diego, incorporated the program as a nonprofit and became executive director. The program has since virtually trained about 19,000 educators to teach subjects through music. It employs 46 mostly part-time faculty members who help educators use music in teaching. Baron estimates the program has benefited about a million students. Training is free to all public and private school teachers. Some school districts have direct contracts with the program, including San Diego and L.A. unified districts. The program is offered to students in preschool through high school, although the content and music changes with the age group. Students might be given a song, for example, that requires them to fill in the blanks, whether it be using math or another subject. They might be asked to write songs focused on academic subjects and play guitar or ukulele, which they learn through the program. Baron, who has authored six books and co-authored two others, explains that music helps reduce anxieties that are barriers to learning. Children experience high anxiety from social pressures, academic pressures and sometimes extraordinary pressures at home, as she did. “If you did really bad with subtraction in second grade,” she explained, “every time you try subtraction you may panic. Anxiety is going to stop you from thinking it through. “Teachers always want to lower anxiety levels because we can’t learn if we’re highly anxious. We reduce anxiety so kids can be open, learn and think clearly.” “Human bodies and minds are wired to respond to musical vibrations. It makes us feel better and reduces anxiety.” As Baron experienced growing up, music is a tool for healing. “We see children who can’t speak learn to speak, children who are scared and shy in the classroom write songs and bring their incredible creativity to their teachers with pride. We see confidence and ability emerge from children where you might not expect it,” Baron said. “I know we are helping children use music the way I did [growing up] and they’re going to carry that with them through life.” About this series Goldsmith is a Union-Tribune contributing columnist. We welcome reader suggestions of people who have done something extraordinary or otherwise educational, inspiring or interesting and who have not received much previous media. Please send suggestions to Jan Goldsmith at [email protected]