Talented Local Musician/Singers/Poets Provide Songwriting Clinic to San Francisco Music Education Students in Honor of
” National Music in Our Schools Month”

Songwriters Share Time and Knowledge with
Fourth and Fifth Graders from Little Kids Rock Music Education Program

March 7, 2006 – San Francisco, CA - Little Kids Rock (LKR), a program providing free instruments and instruction for elementary school students, announced today that San Francisco songwriters, pc muñoz and Derek Lassiter will be treating 12 fourth and fifth grade Sherman Elementary School students to a songwriting clinic in honor of “National Music in Our Schools Month.” The 45-minute clinic will take place at 2:00pm on Thursday March 9th. Sherman Elementary School is located on 1651 Union Street in San Francisco.

While Little Kids Rock is known throughout the Bay Area as an organization that provides free instruments and lessons to public schools, a critical part of the program is often overlooked…music composition. Each year, LKR records student original compositions on to a CD. The CD is then packed and sold online to help support program funding. Click here to enjoy some of our students’ original compositions: http://www.littlekidsrock.org/hearkids/

pc muñoz and Derek Lassiter are talented songwriters who both have experience teaching poetry and music to San Francisco’s inner-city youth. muñoz, an award-winning poet and accomplished musician was a 2nd grade teacher in Hunter’s Point while Lassiter taught poetry classes to young Tenderloin students at Glide Memorial Church.

"It's always rewarding to witness students experiencing everything our program has to offer. Not only do we provide an accelerated program with a broad range of musical offerings, but we also have the ability to give our kids direct contact with talented artists," said Dave Wish, Executive Director for Little Kids Rock.

Little Kids Rock teaches kids how to play pop, rock, funk, blues, rap and hip-hop music. LKR students not only perform, but they also compose and record their own music. They have released four full-length CDs as well as music videos featuring student-written originals. To date, the Little Kids Rock program has served more than 7,000 students in California, New York, New Jersey and Tennessee.

Supporters of the program include Paul Simon, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Vai, Les Paul, Tom Waits, Rick Springfield, Dave Mason, James Burton, Brad Delson, Jason Newsted, Carlos Santana, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, The String Cheese Incident, Phish, Jesse McCartney and the late blues legend, John Lee Hooker. The organization hopes that its new supporters' participation will help it expand the program into new musical genres as well as provide the students with a well-rounded appreciation for diverse musical styles.

About Derek Lassiter
Derek Lassiter’s path began in a low-income neighborhood of New York’s South Bronx, traversed through foster-homes in Pennsylvania, and made a stop in Texas before he landed in California in the early 90’s. Once in San Francisco, he was free to tap into his talents as a singer, author, actor, songwriter, photographer, producer and poet. Most notably, Lassiter began teaching poetry to inner-city youth through the legendary Glide Memorial Church, exhibiting groundbreaking photography at various galleries, producing solo cabaret shows, conducting readings and lectures on the Public Library circuit, and writing for a number of local and national publications…all this, while holding down a demanding day gig at Keyboard magazine. More information on Derek Lassiter and Witness can be found at: www.dereklassiter.com

About pc muñoz
pc muñoz, a former elementary school teacher and arts educator, has been releasing innovative, genre-defying music since 1998. In that year, his minimalist art-funk debut, the trouble i’d bring you, was praised by critics worldwide and caught the attention of plenty of music-business mavericks, including composer John Zorn and former Swans member Jarboe. Since then, pc has released 3 CDs with his funk group, the amen corner, including 2002’s spiritually focused a good deed in a weary world, which entered the CMJ hip-hop charts at #35, and 2004’s california, which featured guest turns by rock legend Jackson Browne and Prince and the Revolution keyboardist Dr. Fink. For more information, visit http://www.pcmunoz.com.

About Little Kids Rock
Little Kids Rock believes that music is a critical component of first-rate education. Many elementary schools have been stripped of their music programs. These cuts have had a disproportionately large impact on children from low-income backgrounds. Little Kids Rock restores music to its rightful place in the academic lives of kids in our public schools by providing a rich music education program including instrument instruction, free instruments and trained mentors. Founded by an elementary school teacher in 1996, Little Kids Rock is now serving thousands of students in CA, NY, NJ and TN. More information can be found at: www.littlekidsrock.org

Media Contact:
Allison Neves, PR Director
Little Kids Rock
415-948-1200
allison@littlekidsrock.org