Grounded in Music

Funding for music and art has been cut from public education for a long time now, leaving math and English as the main priority, and basic music classes behind. Locals Grounded in Music address this problem and more.

The main objective is to provide children who are not privileged enough to have their own instruments or lessons with such. Recently, the Boys and Girls Club in East Austin was blessed with a recording studio and teachers to give students music lessons. One thing stressed by the charity is that being the lead guitarist isn’t the most important thing.

Singer-songwriter Patty Griffin is one local involved with the cause, and shed some light on her experiences as a struggling musician: “We were poor, but very musical!” When asked the hardest part of being a young musician, she said, “Being the only one to believe in myself. It was difficult figuring out that this [music] was what I wanted to do, as a way of life.”

Grounded in Music provides just that, someone to believe in you. Griffin had this advice for young musicians: “Love to play. Love what you do. Don’t play for a record deal, play because you love it.”

At the Grounded in Music gala last month at the Paramount Theatre, Patty Griffin, Jack Ingram, and Scott Miller, along with a few talented GIM students, raised money and awareness for this beautiful charity. To find more information or to donate, go here.