Once a week, about a dozen incarcerated women unpack their string instruments for a group music lesson at the Northeast Reintegration Center in Cleveland.
“I am someone that was always like into heavy metal, rock ‘n’ roll,” said Pamela Marion, who now plays the viola. “Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be playing an instrument like this.”
Marion has been playing for two years with the help of Renovare, a small music ensemble and nonprofit that provides instruments, instruction and fellowship.
“They treat you like you’re a human,” Marion said, with a heavy laugh. “It helps. I don’t feel so lost.”
Renovare also teaches music classes at the Grafton Correctional Institute in Lorain County. The regular lessons in prisons are part of the organization’s mission to share music with communities that might not typically have access.
“It's just a joy to be part of the musical communities that are formed as we are there for more years and develop more of a community and a routine together,” said Rebecca Shasberger, the founder and director of Renovare.
Participants in the prison programs have coped better with mental health issues, regained a “voice” and bonded with family members who visit for performances, Shasberger said.
The benefits extend to the professional musicians too.
“We're not aiming to fix anybody. We would be foolish to think that we could,” Shasberger said. “Much more than that, we're looking to learn from people. We're looking to walk with people.”
While a graduate student at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Shasberger realized she didn’t want to stay on a traditional performance path with her cello.
“I started to feel this tension inside of myself as I continued on my musical journey, because I was spending so much time in fancy concert halls and in places that felt very removed from most people's everyday lives,” she said.
Now she spends more of her time performing and teaching in shelters, prisons and rehab centers with her fellow Renovare musician Lalia Mangione.
“I didn't often go to homeless shelters. I'd never been inside a prison,” said Mangione. “Being a part of Renovare, I think, really opened my eyes to how siloed we are.”
In addition to teaching and performing music with communities who don’t necessarily have access to music, Renovare musicians collaborate with people to help them write songs and share their stories.
“It's a really powerful way to communicate a lot of different things in just a four-minute song,” she said. “And because it's music based more people tend to listen, because most people like music.”
At the women’s prison, Mangione said they play mostly classical music together but sometimes there are requests for popular tunes and songs from movies, such as “Tale as Old as Time” from “Beauty and the Beast.”
Playing music is “very therapeutic,” said Danielle Walker, who has been learning the cello for about four months through the program.
“It helps build my day with energy,” she said. “It helps build my day with positivity.”
The program has also helped the women grow confidence and relationships with one another.
“It’s a strong sisterhood that we build on music,” Walker said.