I’m changing things up a bit today. I learned about Little Kids Rock from a documentary called “Hired Guns.” It was about the sessions musicians that make so much of the music we listen to great. Liberty Devitto, once with Billy Joel’s band, spoke about this organization in the documentary and I just loved it. Music was my first love. It cries with me when I’m down, screams with me when I’m angry, shares the butterflies when I fall in love and celebrates with me when I’m happy. It’s everything and I think it’s amazing organizations like this help kids who are underprivileged learn how to make the music that will inspire their generation. Who knows maybe they will be the next Liberty or Billy Joel.
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OUR HISTORY
In 1996, an elementary school teacher, David Wish, grew frustrated with the lack of funding for music education at his school. Realizing that he would have to take it upon himself to make sure his kids got a chance to explore music, David began offering an after-school guitar class to interested students. The classes became wildly popular, and as more kids sought to enroll, he decided to take the program national.
In 2002, with initial support from musical luminaries like Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt and John Lee Hooker, Little Kids Rock was born. What began as an informal project led by a single school teacher and a handful of volunteers has since evolved into a nationally recognized not-for-profit organization that has served tens of thousands of students across the country.
With the support of Board Members and a host of celebrated luminaries in the music industry, Little Kids Rock is poised to significantly extend its service to school children across the United States.
WHAT WE DO
Little Kids Rock transforms lives by restoring, expanding, and innovating music education in our schools. That is Little Kids Rock’s mission, and since 2002, we have given more than 650,000 under-served schoolchildren across the U.S. access to fun, engaging, Modern Band music classes and brand new instruments at no cost to the students, teachers, or school districts.
Little Kids Rock trains public school teachers and donates all of the instruments, curricular resources and support they need to ensure that their kids receive the right to rock! What makes Little Kids Rock different is that we do more than just donate instruments like guitars, drums and keyboards; we build lasting music programs that focus on teaching kids to perform, improvise and compose the popular music genres that they already know and love, like rock, pop, blues, hip-hop, country, reggae and R&B.
See how it works!
WE ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL BY:
- Restoring weekly music education classes to K-12 students in public schools that have been stripped of their music programs.
- Expanding music programs delivered to students by training teachers to offer classes utilizing our Modern Band methods and materials.
- Innovating teaching methods that are rooted in children’s knowledge of popular music forms such as rock, pop, blues, hip-hop, country, reggae and R&B
WANT TO RAISE FUNDS FOR LITTLE KIDS ROCK?
Little Kids Rock is able to serve more kids with the lifelong gift of music when the community helps raise funds through benefit events, cause-based marketing initiatives, or online fundraisers. Initiatives and events like these are conducted by an individual, group or organization. The host is responsible for promoting, financing and conducting the event.
STEP 1: Check out our Host Your Own Fundraiser Kit for ideas on how to get started.
STEP 2: Fill out the Fundraiser Application online.
STEP 3: We contact you!
Questions? Review our Guidelines and FAQs or contact Ames at ames@littlekidsrock.org
MORE WAYS TO SUPPORT LITTLE KIDS ROCK!
- Shop at Amazon Smile and 0.5% goes to the charity of your choice (ahem… Little Kids Rock!)
- Spread the word with social media!
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Little Kids Rock Benefit
GET INVOLVED
We simply couldn’t do what we do without the help of our community of sponsors, volunteers, teachers and donors. Their commitment to putting music education back in public schools is truly inspirational to all of us at Little Kids Rock.
JOIN THE BAND
Little Kids Rock believes in educators and the power of teaching. Our mission is to restore, expand, and innovate music programs from across the country.
To do so, Little Kids Rock will provide you with tools and resources to bring student-centered, culturally responsive, and inclusive music education to your students. Modern Band workshops are designed to provide you with the skills, curriculum, and network to successfully run a Modern Band program. Modern Band is a new, school-based music program that utilizes popular music as its central repertoire. Styles that are studied include Rock, Pop, Reggae, Hip-Hop, Rhythm & Blues, Electronic Production, and other contemporary styles as they emerge. Learn more about Modern Band
What Do You Get?
- A reserved seat in our Introduction to Modern Band Workshop
- Unlimited access to our Modern Band curricular materials and online resources
- Participation in a community of more than 3,000 Modern Band practitioners from across the country
- Professional Development Points / Continuing Education Units are provided free-of-charge by WorldStrides OnStage
- Access to future professional development workshops at no cost
- Discounted registration fee to our Modern Band Summit conference
Next Steps
Please tell us more about yourself on this brief registration form!
Don’t see your city listed in the scheduled workshops list below? Apply for a future workshop and you will be notified as soon as we have a workshop scheduled in your city!