By Jessica Baron | Executive Director
Greettings, Project Supporters!
I am excited to write to you with some definitive news. We are beginning the production process on this wonderful songbook at long last. Our senior faculty trainer and music educator, Dan is working on song charts, our book creation team of Ronny and Charylu are ready to take the material and spin it into a rainbow of music, and we are beginning the work of clearing copyrights for a number of the songs you'll find in between the covers.
Ronny and Charylu are the dynamic duo who brought our SmartStart Ukulele for Beginners book into the world. They've worked together forever and make truly beautiful child-friendly music books. I trust that the faith you placed in GITC with your donation will be rewarded with an outstanding outcome!
With the onset of COVID-19, nation-wide school closures, and families needing to shelter at home, this book could not be more timely. The fact is that children are having a very tough time all the way around. Trying to learn online can lead to feeling lost, detached and frustrated. It's really a medium much more easily managed by teens and adults. Teachers tell us "the only thing that's working is music." So they are writing songs with their students to help them cope with the loneliness and fear. And some of these songs will appear in this songbook!
"Why make a physical book?" you may wonder. In this digital age, is it important? We agree that electronic docs are brilliant. And reading online saves trees. But everyone has screen exhaustion just about now. And a book is tactile. It comes with you to a quiet corner or a spot beneath a tree. You can hold it, feel the pages, color in it, share it with a family member and sit close together. Books have a way of comforting and grounding us. This is why it needs to be made in both formats. Also consider all the children without Internet access and computers. We can help any child with a real book to send them.
I will let you know how things are coming along very soon- we won't wait a whole 3 months to update you again.
In the meantime, please have a look at what GITC is doing to get music into the hands of the children in our participating classrooms by enjoying the video below from CBS yesterday, and visiting our blog page at https://www.guitarsintheclassroom.org/blog/creativity-songwriting-to-express-student-stress-mrs-lowes-second-grade-sings-dont-worry-be-happy. GITC Porch Pick-Ups are pretty special and heartwarming.
If you feel like you want to help GITC do more, we hope you will either contribute again to this campaign, or visit our GlobalGiving campaign to support our ability to keep training and supporting teachers with online training.
We are thankful you empower us to make it possible. You are love in action, and we are pleased to be your messengers.
With love, hope, help and healing,
Jess
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