Sounds of a Better World

Jim Papoulis

Project Notes from the Composer





SOUNDS OF A BETTER WORLD = small voices calling is a series of songs focusing on children.  It examines their world and how small steps can be made to improve it. 


When this journey began for me almost five years ago, I was very disturbed to learn of various incidents around the world where children were subjected to adverse conditions.  I began to wonder how they could possibly develop into caring, responsible adults, with such hardship defining their childhood. 


As I read more and explored our attitudes as a society toward children, I began to feel that we (as Dr. Martin Luther King said) "must ask ourselves how responsible we are for the well-being of others".  Do we have the courage to feel responsible?  What ideals do we strive for?  How can we find innovative ways in which the personal and social problems of childhood can be overcome?  Can music be utilized as a potential bridge to reach out and address these issues?


What I have come to understand is that we must send the best part of ourselves into the future through our children.  If we want society to evolve, we need to understand the importance of childhood, and how vital our role should be in doing whatever we can to nuture every child.  We should all be aware of our powerful influence on their minds.  Through this incredible journey that Sounds of a Better World has taken me on, I hope to have somehow addressed these issues and to have embraced the joy that children can bring into this world.