February 12, 2014

Adrian Paul and Ethan Dettenmaier welcome film/television producer and philanthropist Cindy Cowan of Cindy Cowan Entertainment to talk about how music instills cooperation, collaboration, confidence, and creativity in our children. Cindy then joins our hosts in welcoming David Wish of Little Kids Rock to discuss the work they do every day to "transform children's lives by restoring and revitalizing music education."

Weekly correspondent John Bierly remembers previous Heroes of the Week who use music to help other children, including Teagan Stedman and Lucy Blossom, before crowning Ethan Cruikshank of Mechanicsville, Virginia, as our new Hero. Ethan began learning guitar at age 7 and mastered it by 9. But just as he began expanding his musical knowledge by learning viola, his school's music department was terminated right out from under him. Undaunted by logistics and unfettered by budgets or bureaucracy, 10-year-old Ethan recruited other musicians to help him teach music to every child who wanted to learn. Ethan is 14 now, and Music To My Ears has taught more than 70 children to play piano, guitar, violin, viola, saxophone, and flute.