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CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and iHeartMedia have joined forces with the non-profit Save The Music to start a music education initiative that will fund 25 new music programs in public schools across the country. The initiative will bring state-of-the-art technology into schools, including Wilbur Wright Pre-K-8 School in Cleveland. The program includes Hall of Fame inductees coming to classrooms to mentor students in the hope of keeping music instruction and study a central part of a complete education. The initiative is part of a seven-figure grant to be rolled out across three years and is the largest partnership in the Save the Music Foundation’s history. According to Henry Donahue, executive director of Save The Music, the initiative was jump-started when Save the Music lost the bulk of funding it received from Paramount, along with a National Endowment for the Arts-funded teacher training initiative and the rising cost of instruments affected by tariffs. “John Sykes, the founder of Save the Music and a good friend and mentor, said ‘Listen, why don’t I pull together the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, iHeart, Bloomberg Philanthropies, reach out to different Rock and Roll Hall of Famers that I know, and see if we can pull together the funding to replace what Paramount had been contributing.’” Donahue said. Cleveland is among the 25 cities selected, continuing the relationship between Save The Music, The Rock Hall and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Wilbur Wright will join Cleveland School of the Arts, JFK High School and John Marshall High School, which in the past three years have all received theJ Dilla Music Tech program, teaching students about beat-making, songwriting, music production, podcasting, live audio and sound design. Wilbur Wright is the first middle school in Cleveland to receive the foundation’s music technology grant. Music teacher Benjamin Hall has already begun introducing students in grades four to eight to the technology. “Mr. Hall is the most dynamic, just so full of life and so excited about this grant,” said Jacklyn Rudderow, head of school programs for Save the Music. “Right now, he’s exposing all students to the music tech. Every kid in the school is getting a week of immersive experience on the technology to spark interest in the class.” The foundation provides approximately $50,000 to $75,000 worth of equipment per school, including iPads, MIDI keyboards, and headphones. Rudderow said that though some established curricula is available, program flexibility is important to allow the teacher to “lean into what they know and are comfortable with.” Students can elect to take the class in the spring, and “when we introduce this to the music program in a middle school or high school, we see participation explode,” Donahue said. Rudderow praised Wilbur Wright principal Cody Beach for being “phenomenally supportive” in building out the program. The foundation also partners with local organizations to provide mentorship for teachers, including Cuyahoga Community College’s audio production department. The program aims to reach students who might not be interested in traditional music education paths such as band, choir, or orchestra. “Once we can put an iPad, MIDI keyboard and headphones in their hand and on their head, they explode. The talent and the excitement and engagement are just unbelievable,” Rudderow added. Ohio is one of five priority regions for Save the Music, with a focus on the “Ohio Eight,” the state’s eight largest school districts. Across the past several years, the foundation has made approximately grants to nearly 3000 schools nationwide, including upwards of 60 throughout Ohio. Donahue said with many school systems focusing on STEM and standardized test scores, art and music education are put on the funding and focus backburner. But years of research show that music education demonstrably helps students be and do better in school and in life. “Our goal is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to make music and take music as part of their education,” Donahue said. “When schools have music, the students do better academically, socially, emotionally, and the schools do better in terms of attendance, graduation rates, and parental engagement.”
