School of Rock has partnered with Music Will, formerly known as Little Kids Rock, a 20-year-old national non-profit organization that transforms lives by transforming music education in K-12 schools. The partnership aims to advance the familiarity and awareness of Music Will in communities, while simultaneously providing their students with opportunities to participate in School of Rock events and receive discounted enrollment to School of Rock music programs. School of Rock will provide Music Will with multi-year funding to support their efforts including an upfront donation to amplify their current rebranding initiative.
Like School of Rock, Music Will focuses on contemporary music - or what educators call “Modern Band.” They also emphasize performance.
"School of Rock is in an ideal position to share best practices in music education with Music Will and our collaboration will help further support our shared mission to develop, advance, and proliferate the power of Modern Band in school districts," said Rob Price, CEO of School of Rock. "Together, we provide an excellent solution to keep music education in public schools, and provide a more equal opportunity for kids from all communities and backgrounds to participate in music education programs."
Since 2002, Music Will has brought free music lessons and instruments to 1.2 million students across the country and trained a national network of teachers to bring highly-inclusive, culturally-responsive, student-centered music education to students, using genres including hip hop, rock, pop, Latin rap, and country. What started as one elementary school in a single city has expanded to 6000+ schools, in 928 cities and towns across 50 states.
"For two decades, Music Will has been leading the charge to innovate the way K-12 students learn and make music through our modern band curriculum," said Music Will Founder and CEO, Dave Wish, a former elementary school music teacher. "This collaboration with School of Rock will extend our reach, take our teachings outside of the classroom and help even more kids discover their inner music maker."
About Music Will
Music Will (formerly Little Kids Rock) runs the largest nonprofit music education program for K-12 schools in the U.S. today. Founded in 2002 as a free music program at a single school, over the past two decades it has expanded to over 6000 schools in 928 cities and towns across 50 states. To date, Music Will has brought free music lessons and instruments to 1.2 million students across the country with a goal of reaching a million more by 2026. For more information, visit musicwill.org.