Dear All:
As I am off to the recording Academy in Los Angeles for a week, there is something I wanted to share with you. Among the many wonderful efforts undertaken by the Grammy Foundation, with whom I have been working for 20 years or so (and just termed out after six years as a trustee), is the creation of a Grammy Award for the Music Educator of the year.
The Music Educator Award was established to recognize current educators (kindergarten through college, public and private schools) who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools. A total of nine music teachers from nine cities across seven states are finalists for the award. In total, more than 30,000 initial nominations were submitted from all 50 states.
The nine finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium, and the schools of all 10 finalists also will receive matching grants. Each year, one recipient will be selected from 10 finalists, and will be recognized for his/her remarkable impact on students’ lives, flown to Los Angeles to accept the award, attend the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards ceremony, and receive a $10,000 honorarium.
It was my honor to chair the Blue Ribbon Committee to choose this year’s first winner, Kent Knappenberger of Westfield Academy and Central School in Westfield, N.Y. CBS Morning News did a superb report on his work:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/grammy-foundation-awards-prize-for-top-music-teacher/
Without the spark that is given to young people by music teachers, all this work, indeed all my own life’s work, is in vain. As I have told conventions of music educators when I have addressed conferences, “You are my heroes”—and they are.
It has always been a happy side effect of this program that sometimes young people find love of all music from music of the distant past. Thanks to you who support this work, and remember to share it with the generations to come.
The show streaming for the next few days takes us again into the archives as we are “Building back” to more past programs; it is one of our most popular and asked-for shows, using music to evoke the life and times of an extraordinary woman.
RAD