Latest news with #YuviAgarwal
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
12-Year-Old Plays Music at Animal Shelters to Comfort Pets Waiting for Adoption
It's not a typical concert audience, but this young musician says he's found purpose in playing for shelter animals. According to his mom, Yuvi Agarwal, 12, has always had a soft spot for animals who are waiting for someone to come take them home. So they started Wild Tunes, an organization that recruits volunteers to spend their time and talent comforting shelter animals with music. Inside Edition Digital's Mara Montalbano has more.
South China Morning Post
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
From Bach to The Beatles, 12-year-old's music therapy for homeless dogs is a hit in the US
It is often said that music is the universal language of humanity. Now, a 12-year-old boy in Houston, in the US state of Texas, is putting that to the test for an unlikely audience: man's best friend. Advertisement Yuvi Agarwal started playing keyboard when he was four years old. Several years ago, he noticed his playing soothed his family's restless golden doodle, Bozo. He wondered if it could also help stressed homeless animals. With help from his parents, who both have backgrounds in marketing, he founded the non-profit organisation Wild Tunes in 2023 to recruit musicians to play in animal shelters. So far he has enlisted about 100 volunteer musicians and singers of all ages and abilities to perform at nine shelters in Houston, New Jersey and Denver, Colorado. Sarah McDonner, a volunteer for Wild Tunes, plays the flute at the Denver Animal Shelter. Photo: AP 'You don't have to understand the lyrics to enjoy the music,' Agarwal says after playing hits such as The Beatles ' 'Hey Jude' and Ed Sheeran 's 'Perfect' on his portable keyboard at the Denver Animal Shelter.
The Independent
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
The non-profit charity where musicians play songs to shelter pets
Yuvi Agarwal, a 12-year-old from Houston, founded the non-profit Wild Tunes in 2023 to use music to soothe shelter pets. Wild Tunes recruits volunteer musicians to perform in animal shelters, currently operating in Houston, New Jersey, and Denver with around 100 participants. Agarwal and other musicians have observed calming effects on animals, with some becoming more receptive to human interaction and potentially more adoptable. While the calming effect of music on humans is well-documented, its precise role in animal behavior is still under research, with some studies showing positive effects but also mixed results depending on various factors. Agarwal aims to expand Wild Tunes nationwide, highlighting the reciprocal benefits for volunteers who gain confidence performing for a nonjudgmental audience.
The Independent
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
The 12-year-old boy who set up a charity for musicians to play songs to animals stuck in shelters
Music, often hailed as humanity's universal language, is now being put to an extraordinary test by a 12-year-old Houston boy, who is using its power to soothe some of the most vulnerable members of the animal kingdom: shelter pets. Yuvi Agarwal, who began playing keyboard at the age of four, first noticed the calming effect of his music on his family's restless golden doodle, Bozo. This observation sparked a curiosity: could music similarly alleviate stress in homeless animals? With the support of his parents, both with marketing backgrounds, Yuvi founded the non-profit Wild Tunes in 2023. The organisation recruits volunteer musicians to perform in animal shelters, and has already enlisted around 100 singers and instrumentalists of all ages and abilities, playing at nine shelters across Houston, New Jersey, and Denver. "You don't have to understand the lyrics to enjoy the music. Just enjoy the melody, the harmony and the rhythms. So it transcends linguistic barriers, and even it can just transcend species," Agarwal said recently after playing hits like The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" at the Denver Animal Shelter. Agarwal recounts how many of his four-legged listeners, including cats, initially become excited upon his arrival, only to settle into a state of calm within minutes, some even falling asleep. He vividly recalls a rescue dog named Penelope in Houston who refused to leave her enclosure to eat. "Within a short period of me playing, she went from not even coming out of her kennel to licking me all over my face and nibbling my ears," Agarwal said. The initiative extends beyond Yuvi's personal performances. In Denver, professional musician Sarah McDonner, who met Agarwal in Houston and helped bring the programme to Colorado, played Mozart and Bach on her flute for Max, a one-year-old stray boxer. McDonner believes the programme offers vital positive human interaction. "The animals having that human interaction in a positive way, I think, gives them something to look forward to, something that is different throughout their day," she said, adding that it "makes them more adoptable in the long run." While the calming effect of music on humans is well-documented, its precise role in animal behaviour remains a subject of ongoing research. Several studies suggest classical music can have a soothing influence on dogs in stressful environments like shelters. However, some researchers caution that more data is needed to definitively support these claims. Lori Kogan, chair of the human-animal interaction section of the American Psychological Association and a professor at Colorado State University, has studied human-animal bonds for over two decades. She notes that research on music's effect on dogs often yields mixed results due to numerous variables, including setting, volume, music type, tempo, breed, and prior exposure. "We always want these really simplistic answers. So we want to say that music calms animals, for example, and I think that it's much more nuanced than that," Kogan explained. She advocates for a case-by-case approach, suggesting that if a pet appears calmer and enjoys the music, it provides positive enrichment. Despite the scientific nuances, Yuvi Agarwal views his firsthand experiences in shelters as undeniable proof of music's comforting power for stressed animals. He aims to expand Wild Tunes into a nationwide programme, noting the reciprocal benefits for volunteers. "You get a really great way to practice your instrument or sing in front of a nonjudgmental audience, which can boost your confidence," he said.
Gulf Today
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Volunteers use the universal language of music to soothe stressed shelter animals
It's often said music is the universal language of humanity. Now a 12-year-old Houston boy is putting that to the test among an unlikely audience - man's best friend. Yuvi Agarwal started playing keyboard when he was 4 and several years ago noticed his playing soothed his family's restless golden doodle, Bozo. He grew curious if it also could help stressed homeless animals. With help from his parents, who both have backgrounds in marketing, he founded the nonprofit Wild Tunes in 2023 to recruit musicians to play in animal shelters. So far he has enlisted about 100 volunteer musicians and singers of all ages and abilities to perform at nine shelters in Houston, New Jersey and Denver."You don't have to understand the lyrics to enjoy the music. Just enjoy the melody, the harmony and the rhythms. So it transcends linguistic barriers, and even it can just transcend species," Agarwal said recently after playing hits like The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" on his portable keyboard at the Denver Animal Shelter. Yuvi Agarwal, the founder of Wild Tunes, plays the keyboard at the Denver Animal Shelter. AP Agarwal, who was playing for an elderly miniature poodle named Pituca - Spanish slang sometimes used to describe a snob - said many of his four-legged listeners, which include cats, become excited when he enters their kennel. But after a few minutes of playing, they calm down. Some even go to sleep. He remembers a rescue dog named Penelope that refused to come out of her enclosure in Houston to be fed."Within a short period of me playing, she went from not even coming out of her kennel to licking me all over my face and nibbling my ears," Agarwal said. A few stalls down from where he was jamming on his keyboard at the Denver shelter, volunteer Sarah McDonner played Mozart and Bach on her flute for Max, a 1-year-old stray boxer that tilted his head when she hit the high notes. "The animals having that human interaction in a positive way, I think, gives them something to look forward to, something that is different throughout their day," said McDonner, a professional musician who met Argawal in Houston. She helped bring the program to Colorado after moving to Denver a few months ago. "I think it's very important to give them something different from what they're used to in their little tiny cages ... and makes them more adoptable in the long run," McDonner said. Sarah McDonner, a volunteer for Wild Tunes, which aims to soothe stressed shelter animals with live music, plays the flute. AP While the effect of music on humans has been studied extensively, its role in animal behavior remains studies suggest that classical music generally has a calming influence on dogs in stressful environments like kennels, shelters and veterinary clinics. But some researchers warn there is not enough data to support the claim."We always want these really simplistic answers. So we want to say that music calms animals, for example, and I think that it's much more nuanced than that," said Lori Kogan, a self-described "dog-person" who chairs the human-animal interaction section of the American Psychological Association. "There's a lot more research that needs to happen before I think that we can unequivocally say that music is a great thing for animals."Kogan, a professor and researcher at Colorado State University, has studied for more than two decades how animals and humans get along. Research involving the effect of music on dogs often produces mixed results, she said, because there are so many variables: the setting; the volume, type and tempo of the music and the breed of the dog and its previous exposure to music. She suggests a case-by-case approach to introducing music to animals. "If you play music for your pet, and they seem to like it and they appear calmer, then I think we can say that that's a positive thing, that you're providing some level of enrichment for that pet. ... I would encourage people to give it a try and to see how their pets respond," she Agarwal, his firsthand experience at shelters is undeniable evidence that music helps comfort stressed animals, and he plans to grow Wild Tunes into a nationwide program. The volunteers get something out of it, too, he said."You get a really great way to practice your instrument or sing in front of a nonjudgmental audience, which can boost your confidence," he said. Associated Press
