LOS ANGELES, CA – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated two (2) acoustic guitars and a brand new saxophone to the music program at Hilda L. Solis Learning Academy in Los Angeles, CA! “The majority of my students have mild to moderate disabilities and attend a school in an underserved community,” Mr. Alvarez, the music teacher, explains.  “This group of students make a strong effort to persevere in whatever they do! They are brilliant and are not afraid of any challenges. These students are also dedicated and determined to continue to master their skills with playing instruments.” This is a student-led program in which they teach and learn amongst themselves. Nevertheless, their progression continues to show through their performances. “The music program at our high school has become popular among students,” he adds. “As it continues to grow, it would be nice if we could provide students with the opportunity to explore a variety of instruments.” These instruments would be a great addition to the group as most choose to play the guitar in their first exposure to the program. “The saxophone would be a nice way to also introduce a different type of sound,” Mr. Alvarez explains. “Nevertheless, students enjoy the opportunity of exploring their musical curiosity.  As a program continues to evolve, the plan is to encourage this group of students to perform amongst their classmates and community.” It is his goal to invite these musically-inclined students to perform at their graduation ceremony this coming year! Thanks to Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you, these instruments will arrive within a week. We look forward to future updates from Mr. Alvarez and his wonderful students! Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity.  To date, KTBA has reached over 63,000 students by sponsoring over 400 various music projects! The journey has been incredible! If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible. Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

whittier, ca – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive donated iMac hardware to Richard Graves Middle School! Students are learning their instruments, learning to read music, and working with Mr. Shiffermiller and each other to understand the beginnings of playing music. “My Students are very smart and tend to love coming in and participating in my class. The students are in a low socio-economic area but as all students tend to be excited about learning new and different things. My class is one of a short list of elective classes at my school. Students often have a freedom to express themselves (musically) that they don’t have in most of the other classes they take.” The computer and desk will mainly be used with an application called Smart Music. This application helps students practice by recording their performance and analyzing it to help students understand possible mistakes. It also has a large collection of music that the students can play in addition to the required materials. This software also allows Mr. Shiffermiller to assign exams to students that they can accomplish on their own so class time is dedicated to instruction. The largest advantage of having this computer is for students who either don’t have a computer at home and/or are unable to afford the yearly subscription. Students will be able to use the software before school and during lunch to accomplish tasks. All students should have access to computers and software to help them progress. This should not be limited to students who can afford the materials.

compton, ca – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive donated new alto saxophone reeds to their band program! Compton, CA, one of the oldest cities in Los Angeles County, is largely known for its consistent crime rates and social unrest.  In fact, it has become so frequent, that LA Times has their own crime-ticker so to speak.  Just in the past week, Compton is responsible for almost 50 different cases of robbery, assault and more. For many children, school is a safe-haven, a place of learning, sure – but an environment where the receive other mental stimulation besides the every day pressures of their community.  “Most of my students come from a low socioeconomic background in an area infected with gangs and drugs. Many of my students, most poor, tell me that band is the reason they stay in school,” Mr. Lizarde adds. As the benefits of quality music education continue to pry at the financial budgets and the suits guarding them, Roosevelt Middle School puts forth the effort to keep a good thing going. “We are requesting reeds for my students. These resources will allow me to keep kids equipped with fresh, quality reeds that are necessary for them to perform their best. If we do not supply the reeds, students end up playing with chipped, broken, or overly-worn reeds that fail to make a quality tone and discourage students in their practice.  Without a music store in their neighborhood, students that could afford the reeds would not have the ability to travel to purchase them. Your donation would make sure that every student that needs a reed would have one.” After we successfully funded the project along with Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation, Mr. Lizarde left us a few words: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, I can’t fully express my joy, excitement, and thanks for your donation to my project. It is great to see that you share my vision for reaching children. The saxophone reeds that you have funded will enable more students to participate in parades and show case their hidden talents.Your donation is most definitely helpful and will go to extremely good use, there’s no doubt about that. Please know we won’t forget your kind gesture. Thank you from the bottom of our heart.With gratitude, Mr. Lizarde Schools like roosevelt Middle School are everywhere in our country.  Students need to be challenged, encouraged and motivated, but their teachers are the ones who need it as well.  Teachers spend more time with our children than we do, and they help shape the learning environment which kids grow and learn from. To help us fund another music project next week click here! Together we can take a stand for music education!

KTBA Donates Music Software to High School Hayward, CA. – It’s another great week for the foundation as we plow through our donations and really feel a sense of urgency and accomplishment! This week, with our emotions running high, we reached out to Mt. Eden High School who were in need of new music software for their music technology program. The teacher’s motto:  “To develop and nurture the universal language of music.” Well, we can’t say no to that! Mr. Cato explains, “I want to continue to develop my students musical understanding and bridge musical connections.”  My students are high school aged musicians who put hard work, sweat and tears into our musical group. Our school has a great arts programs and is continuing to improve academically. We have a great staff and administration. I have watched our musical program grow year by year and we are really excited to continue our service to the students and community.” The only thing missing for the school year was a new set of tools and inspiration for the technology program. “We need Auralia and Musition software to help students to develop their musical ear and recognition of musical relationships. Our students will use these programs to gain a deeper understanding of the musical pieces, musical relationships and musical problem solving. They will begin to recognize and evaluate musical intervals, harmonies progressions, and rhythmic patterns. This will help to prepare them for reading their musical scores, future musical ventures and college music classes.” Music software is helpful in the classroom because it adds that little bit of interactive play that any human being lusts for when learning new material.  You also have the technical consistency of teaching – which when combined with a professional moderator or music teacher, can push the students to excel in the material. As the school year begins, we are excited to help out this classroom and provide them with the tools they need to recognize musical patterns and relationships between the notes.  Mr. Cato, and his students, are also grateful! Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Your support with this project is like music to our ears! We are soooo excited to begin our school year and incorporated these software programs into our classes. Our students really have so much to be thankful for and we are so fortunate that you all decided to support us!I have many ideas as to how we can work this into our classes. Offering this option in our classes will have such a huge impact for our music students and their development overall. Once again thank you this is a great gift to start our year off with, I can’t wait to begin!With gratitude, Mr. Cato Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this foundation in one way or another!  It is an honor to be a part of this musical revolution! To make a donation to next week’s story, click here!  

 los angeles, ca – “The guitar is a miniature orchestra in itself” – Ludwig van Beethoven.  This was the idea behind Ms. Roth’s music project at Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles, CA.  Thanks to your donations this week, this middle school classroom will receive new guitars to facilitate their music studies! Marina Del Rey is another Title I public school and most of the students qualify for free lunch through government assistance.  However, these optimistic and hard working young arts students love music and look forward to learning more every day. “With guitars in hand, our students will be able to learn new chords, songs, and perform for our community. Every child at our school will have the opportunity to learn this friendly instrument, and we need to add to our current paltry collection of old guitars.” “Dear Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation… no one had nibbled at our project – not a peep, not a penny.  Then, who but Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation fully funded us!  What sweethearts and fellow music lovers.  I promise you we will learn some blues songs (as you know – the blues are the basis of rock and roll and so much more!) along with rock, pop and folk.  We will be learning tons of songs for a school-wide sing-along in May.  I am now singin’ da blues, but with a happy heart. You honor the great Pete Seeger along with deserving public middle school kids. Thank you so much!”After reviewing the project, we knew this had our name on it.  Apparently, Ms. Roth did too! These teachers and students are the reason why we commit to these projects every week!  If we invest in our children, and provide the tools for teachers to succeed, we will add so many more beautiful, sharing, and selfless people into our society. But we must start while they’re young!  Pass the torch by encouraging children (not just your own) to work hard, and follow their passions! To make a donation to next week’s project, click here!

anaheim, ca – Keeping The Blues Alive is no stranger to the fight for music advocacy. As arts and music programs cripple under looming budget cuts and fiscal trimming, we look for ways to refuel teachers and students with the resources they need to keep their programs growing.  We are in a position where we can offer financial support to these schools, which is a tremendous help to teachers who have to come out of pocket sometimes to fund their classroom projects. We get emails every day from schools who need help saving their music programs, and one day we will be able to assist all of them! However, one thing that every teacher, community leader, parent, or child should always remember is that we can ALL pass the torch to the next generation by doing very simple things such as encouraging a young musician to go on stage to perform.  If you don’t have access to a stage, recommend the child to a local musician who does! You can talk to kids about your favorite bands growing up – telling them how awesome it was to see the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Tom Jones!  You can show them all those funkadelic outfits that Bootsy Collins wore on stage.  You can also expose them to the great composers who laid the groundwork for classical music. Thanks to your donations, elementary students at Paul Revere Elementary School will learn about some of the greatest composers in history through a series by Mike Venezia* called Getting To Know The World’s Greatest Composers. Mrs. Dulgarian, one of the school’s elementary teachers explains, “I have a class of 4th grade gifted students who are inquisitive and active. Our school has over a thousand students with 96% receiving free or reduced lunch.. This year I started to teach them about some of the world’s greatest composers with the material I had already purchased. They became very excited about learning more. Each day these students are begging for more. I really hope to make classical music a small part of their education and maybe this will spark a musical talent in some of these children that would otherwise remain dormant.” Students will receive their books next week, and we are grateful to everyone that helped us make this donation possible! “Words cannot express my gratitude to each of you for your support with our music project. I am thrilled to start planning our music appreciation class. Each week my class will be exposed to some of the finest music in history. They would not have this without your donations. With these items I will have access to a large variety of music. Not only will I have choices from one composer, but I will also get music from hundreds of composers. In addition, the books will offer great support in explaining how these composers lived. Again, thank you so very much. I am going to start my planning right now!” With gratitude, Mrs. Dulgarian To fund next week’s donation project in support of music education, click here to make a small donation! It is our hope that music history will repeats itself through these kids.  They are our future! Pass the torch… *Mike Venezia, a New Yorker who was raised in Chicago, became inspired by one of his high school art teachers to make art a priority and he has become a tremendous resource for teachers and children all over the world.   We strongly encourage you to check out the different series and make sure to let him know we sent you!

Gridley, CA – Guitarists riffing, drummers rocking, kids learning; This is what you will hear when you walk past this classroom at Gridley High School in California, thanks to an English teacher with a passion for music! In California, and in many other states around the country, music teachers are a rare commodity.  Often times, a certified music teacher cannot just teach at one school, have their own classroom, and work full-time.  They must teach one or two classes at one school, andthen commute to another school to make up for the other classes they do not get to teach at the first.  Some people would call this “double-dipping” but for these teachers, it’s the only way to pay the bills.  Unfortunately, this means that less students at either school are eligible to receive music instruction, as the teacher’s time is limited.  However, for students at Gridley High School, the students get an alternative  – and it’s called Rock Camp. Mr. McCabe, a high school English teacher has a full day when he goes to work.  He teaches three (3) English I courses, and two upper-level English courses – English 4, and AP Literature.   However, his passion for music and his touring experience moved him to take the initiative to start an after-school program called Rock Camp which allows students from the high school to enjoy music even though the school would not be able to keep up with the demand! “Since school music programs have been cut deeply, especially in California, I started Rock Camp as an after-school program. Rock Camp takes place right in my room, and involves students from my school. It is free for the kids, of course, and only involves me donating my time. Our music teacher is only here for one or two periods, then travels to another school. I’m just trying to pick up the slack from the state budget cuts,” Mr. McCabe explains. When we received this letter from our friends at Donors Choose, we knew we wanted to step in and help get Mr. McCabe the tools he needed to make a difference for his school and ultimately, his community, by getting involved.  His request? 1/4” cables.  that’s it.  Oh and sorry, he needed a drum throne for his drummer.  (Come on, no drummer deserves to rock faces by sitting in an office chair.  It’s called a throne for a reason!). We donated almost $400 to help them supply the Rock Camp and they were able to purchase plenty of speaker cables, patch cables, and of course, a drum throne! Without your support, we would not be able to help these music programs.  Thank you for donating and helping us be a gateway for people to keep music music in our schools!  Every donation helps us achieve our goals, so you should never feel like an amount is too little!  To give, and help us fund the next music project donate to Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation today!