ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive has successfully donated ten, half-size, Yamaha Classical Guitars to the music students at McCollum Elementary School! “When I started playing my guitar in the school hallway before the first bell, several students started gathering around me with a clear interest in music,” Mr. Duran explains. Mr. Duran manages a Guitar Club at McCollum Elementary. “My school is a wonderful school in a small community and the district hub for intensive special programs but it currently lacks opportunities for students to deepen their interest in learning to read music or to play an instrument,” he says. “Some of my students have autism, complex family situations, low economical backgrounds, and one of them is a cancer survivor. They are all full of creativity and an eagerness to learn. I am willing to dedicate my time to teach them by creating a Guitar Club at my school but because of their various needs not all of them can afford to bring their own instrument. Some of my students have older guitars with missing strings.  These guitars will be available during Guitar Club and during my preparation times for students to practice their lessons during the week. Music helps with brain processing, problem solving, communication, mathematical and logical concepts and public speaking. Learning music is fun and is a hobby to keep my at-risk students engaged. It can even become a career for them. Also, it will help my autistic and ADHD students increase attention as has been proven by multiple studies. In the case of my cancer survivor student, it has been shown that when used in conjunction with conventional treatments, music therapy has been found to help reduce pain and discomfort; improve mood and diminish stress; increase quality of life; and allow patients to better communicate their fears, sadness or other feelings.” Thanks to the support of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like YOU, we were able to fund Mr. Duran’s project.  Mr. Duran expresses her gratitude: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Inc., We appreciate the generous donation and will be using these instruments for years to come. Your donation will help encourage these young and eager minds to succeed and to grow. The Guitar club is always growing and now that we have good instruments our success is almost guaranteed! We thank you. With gratitude, Mr. Duran 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 donations help 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! As a result, KTBA has reached over 68,000 students across America by sponsoring over 450 various music projects ranging from purchasing new instruments, field trips, guest clinicians, purchasing supplies, and updating music libraries! If you would like to help us to continue to make an impact on music education in America, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible. Thank you for supporting music education for the next generation!

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Thanks to your donations, KTBA purchased brand new percussion mallets for the music students at John Adams Middle School in Albuquerque, NM! “My students truly want to be pushed as musicians despite the challenges they face in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood and rotating band directors,” MR. Hill explains. Mr. Hill teaches music at John Adams Middle School. “When I arrived at this school, my eighth graders begged me to give them more difficult music this year even if there was a risk that they wouldn’t be able to fully master it. The end result has been that they feel they have learned more and improved more this year than in previous ones. However, much still needs to be done to make the program one that provides to tools necessary for student success.” As a Title I school in New Mexico with recently reduced school funding, it is extremely challenging to replace materials, instruments, and music in a timely fashion. This has proven to be more difficult as many of the percussion mallets were either damaged or stolen under the previous director. “The funds raised from this project will be used to replace broken and missing mallets for bass drum, gong, timpani, and mallet percussion,” Mr. Hill adds. “In doing this, I have the ability to keep my percussion students more engaged through the introduction of more instruments beyond snare, bass, and cymbals.” Thanks to the generosity of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like YOU, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation was able to fund Mr. Hill’s music project; KTBA will supply John Adams Middle School with new percussion mallets. Mr. Hill expresses his gratitude: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Inc., Thank you for supporting our project. With your kind assistance, I am now able to provide my students with much needed mallets. I can’t wait to give my students the good news! Thank you for your support of music education. You’ve made a big difference in the lives of my percussion students. With gratitude, Mr. Hill 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 to 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 60,000 students. 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!

albuquerque, nm – Here it is, folks! What a great week we had at the KTBA office! Do you remember your first play?  For us, we have memories of seeing Annie, The King and I, Rent, Avenue Q… our memories fade away after that! However, in the final week of intense rehearsals, the drama students at South Valley Academy in Albuquerque received some AWESOME equipment for their play. New microphones and lighting equipment should arrive early April, and we couldn’t be more excited for them. This is all because of the donations we received this past week, and to those donors we say THANK YOU! As we all know too well, arts and music programs are constantly on the chopping block when it comes to extracurricular activities.  The problem with that fact, is that music and arts are not “extra-curricular.”  They should be a part of the core curriculum so that students learn how to express their ideas and communicate them in a collaborative and expressive environment!  The end result is a student who not only has the ability to execute their ideas, but can think critically and creatively about ways to do it – how to innovate new products or strategies and think outside the box! The majority of the students at South Valley Academy are from immigrant families who are beginning to learn English and have never been exposed to so much art and music!  This drama class allows these students to be able to grow as individuals as well as a group setting, while performing and doing something they are passionate about. It’s just a straight up socio-educational hat-trick! Now that the chorus will have lapel mics, they can move freely on stage, which dramatically increases the quality of the performance as a whole.  (We’ve all been to concerts and you can’t even hear the lead singer.  The singer is so tired of NOT hearing themselves they figure ‘Why even try?’) This is also where the lighting comes into play.  These kids will be so proud and excited for their show, it will boost their confidence, and continue to bring in new kids who may want to be a part of their program next year. Folks, this is another one of the small ways that we have used our resources, together, to put smiles on kids’ faces; to encourage music and arts teachers to keep working for the best interest of our children; to encourage students to participate in constructive activities besides running the streets, carrying on with peers who don’t share their ambition – hanging around with “nothing to do,” getting “creative” with controlled substances with nothing but a foolish idea and a couple kids to encourage them. We’ve got more and more unique projects to fund this year, so please make a donation and help us keep it going!  We have a benefit concert planned for August 31 (uh oh!), a new website under construction (gotta step it up), new scholarships in the works, and a TON more projects to fund! Be a part of this legacy!  Let’s make it happen – No donation is too small! Click here to donate! Thank you for your continued support!