Infuse U.S. Classrooms with Music for Learning!

Hello, Friend of GITC,

Thank you for putting your encouragement and power into our work this school year! Your gift made a magnificent difference for over 70,000 children in public schools around the nation this year! Your kindness has been particularly life changing for those students in disadvantaged a.k.a. "Title I" schools where musical opportunities have grown scarce.    

Thanks to your good will, we were able to train almost 800 school teachers this year to lead and integrate music into daily lessons in Pre-K through 8th grade classrooms from San Diego to Boston, from Oakland to Biloxi, MS.

With your assistance, children played guitars and ukuleles to accompany the songs they wrote about multiplication, division and fractions. With their teachers' guidance, they wrote new lyrics to memorize spelling words. They created story songs about scientific discoveries. They performed for their classmates and parents. We even have heard stories of children teaching their younger siblings at home to play because you provided them with a chance to learn. The students learned lessons through music, yes, and they felt passionate about learning because of the music. There is no question that these musical experiences will stay with them throughout life. A child who strummed a ukulele for this first time this year because of YOU may get music lessons next year because your generosity has sparked a keen interest. One who showed another child how to play a chord may decide one day to become a teacher. These formative experiences are essential to the success our our kids.

We also got some very special visits from artists this school year. Teachers at Pacheco Elementary in San Luis Obispo, California and EARTHS magnet school in Ventura County and CAPE Elementary in Camarillo, California got to perform with Laurence Juber or Drew Taubenfeld and his band, all visiting GITC artists.This is something we want to see lots more of next year and we hope you will stay committed to GITC and will keep making musical dreams come true!

With your help, this has been a time of growth, creativity and hope for many people who had not made music before, and also for teachers who had started training with us but wanted the chance to continue. You made it possible. Let's keep going together! Let's make the 2013-14 school year a time when even more children discover their potential, thrill to the sound of learning through music, and experience the joys of having a guitar in their classroom.

With you in service and with gratitude,

Jess

Links:

• GITC Artist Visits School