Little Kids Rock - Transforming children's lives

"Thank you for giving me the "oppor-tune-ity" to play the guitar and, of course, I took it! (the opportunity, not the guitar)"
    – Rachel (5th grade, New York City)

Because of your support, Little Kids Rock has forever enriched the lives of more than 200,000 needy school children over the past ten years by providing them with free instruments and music lessons.

But our work has just begun! (DONATE TODAY at www.littlekidsrock.org)

You have the opportunity to DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT! Bohemian Foundation has offered up a challenge grant, and will match your donations up to $50,000 for the next six weeks. This means that your $1,000 gift, which puts 20 guitars into a classroom, will now enable Little Kids Rock to donate 40 guitars!

"I always played Guitar Hero... Now I am one!"
     – Ryan (4th grade, Dallas)

We all know music has a powerful impact on a child’s emotional and educational development. Unfortunately, the children from impoverished communities across America who need it the most are being deprived of music’s many gifts due to school budget cuts.

Please give the gift of music this holiday season so that our children have the “oppor-tune-ity” to experience the sensation of an instrument in their hands, to add some sound to their silent schools, and to feel like they are a real Guitar Hero.

"Before Little Kids Rock came into our school, it was silent. Now we ROCK OUT!"
     – Levi (5th grade, Jersey City)

For every child you support, we’ll support another.

Your Friends in music,

Little Kids Rock

How do you express your emotions? Do you go for a run? Paint? How about writing a song?

At the age of eight, Aaliyah Baez experienced a life-changing event - she lost her father. Songwriting has since become a creative outlet for her to express her feelings.

 “Writing a song about my father and sharing it made me feel better,” said Aaliyah, now 14. She wrote “Daddy’s Little Girl” as a way to cope with the hardship of becoming a teenager without a father.

          To me, you’re the greatest dad in the whole wide world. 

          Daddy, it’s just not fair, 

          That you have to watch my life go by up there.

          I’m always going to be Daddy’s little girl. 

          Don’t worry, one day I’ll be next to you, 

          Looking down on the world.

“I remember I wrote half of a song and sang it to [my Little Kids Rock teacher] Mr. Flora. He said I have a gift and that I should never give up,” she said. “It was a poem before, but it started to get boring when I said it with no emotion. I wanted to put more feeling in it. I wanted a melody to make it even more special.”

Aaliyah built up her confidence and asked her classmates to help turn her poem into a song. “Songwriting makes me feel powerful,” she said. “I couldn’t wait to touch everyone’s hearts.”

 “I felt touched because I’ve also been separated from my father,” Ellesia, 13, said. “It has impacted me emotionally. I wanted to help out because I believe a lot of daughters without their fathers feel the same way as Aaliyah.”

 Her classmates, many of whom she plays with in a band, helped her channel her emotions into a melody, rhythm and structure, effectively turning her poem into a full-fledged song.

“Little Kids Rock influenced my life by telling me not to give up, to keep going and to live my life doing what I love to do.”

 Students like Aaliyah are evidence why music education matters in a child’s life – because it gives them something at which to excel. It gives them the tools to create an artistic expression of their inner most feelings, and the confidence to collaborate with others.

 Little Kids Rock is the only national music program in the U.S. public schools that encourages song composition. Your gift helps students like Aaliyah express their emotions in a safe, creative way that will strengthen their character, and give them a reason to feel proud.

Links:

• "Daddy's Little Girl"