Christmas Comes Early to Kids in Music City: Free Music Education Program, Lands in Nashville

Rockin’ non-profit and local philanthropists Join to Bring Music Education, Instruments and Fun to Public School Students

November 1st, 2005 – Nashville, TN - Little Kids Rock (LKR) an innovative non-profit program that provides free instruments and music curriculum to children, announced today that it will begin offering services to children at more than twenty Nashville schools this year. The launch begins with a free, teacher workshop that will take place from at 10:00am-4:30 pm on Saturday, November 5th and Sunday November 6th at Overton High School on 4820 Franklin Road in Nashville. (Media is invited to attend the workshop.) In the coming months, hundreds of students will receive free guitars and lessons as a result of the workshop.

At the workshop teachers will be trained to offer Little Kids Rock classes at their schools. Children who participate in the Little Kids Rock classes learn to play popular music and also how to compose their own, original music. "We are excited to be partnering with Metro Nashville Public Schools to bring this program to kids locally," said David Wish, founder and Executive Director of Little Kids Rock. “Nashville is a city known for its music. We are really proud to be serving kids in the public schools and to help out the next generation of Nashville musicians.”

The Nashville program was made possible in part by a generous grant from the Hot Topic Foundation. The Hot Topic Foundation supports programs and organizations that specifically focus on encouraging and educating youth in arts. “We are excited about the launch of Little Kids Rock in Nashville and are happy that we could help support the effort to bring music into the schools.” said Amy Malone from the Hot Topic Foundation. Little Kids Rock is also partnering with the Nashville Alliance for Public Education, a local nonprofit that aims to place one million dollars worth of musical instruments into the Nashville public schools. The instruments that Little Kids Rock brings to Nashville will be matched by the Nashville Alliance for Public Education.

Further support of the Nashville program comes from Copley Guitars. The company has donated hundreds of guitars to the chapter. ““We at Copley are thrilled to help bring Little Kids Rock to Nashville," said Babbette Simmons, President of Copley Instruments. "This is a program that we have believed in for a long time, and we’re proud to see that it has made its way to Nashville. We’re so happy to be a part of changing children’s lives for the better.”

Participating Nashville schools include Croft , Stratton, Eakin , Cole, Rosebank, Wright, Pennington, Jere Baxter, Carter Lawrence, Tom Joy, Mountain View, Harpeth Valley, Paragon Mills, Donelson, Sylvan Park, Lakeview Design Center, Norman Binkley, Martin Luther King, Warner Enhanced Option, McGavock High, Dan Mills, Hillwood, East Literature Magnet and JF Kennedy.

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 a single elementary school teacher in 1996, Little Kids Rock is now serving thousands of students in CA, NY, NJ and TN. Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, B.B. King, Jason Newsted, Steve Vai, Brad Delson, Dave Mason, James Burton and Les Paul sit on our Honorary Board of Directors and we are supported by friends Tom Waits, Carlos Santana, Phish, Bob Weir and others. More information can be found at: www.littlekidsrock.org

Note to Media: Interviews with spokespeople and b-roll available upon request.

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