Photo: Jean_Nelson/Depositphotos
The Grammys celebrate the best in music; but, behind every songwriter, performer, and producer that makes it to that stage are music teachers and educators who inspired their craft and showed them the ropes, sometimes from a very young age. That’s why the Grammy Awards also hands out a Music Educator Award, which recognizes those who have made a “significant contribution and demonstrate a commitment to music education.”
This year, the award went to Annie Ray, the performing arts department chair and orchestra director at Annandale High School in Fairfax County, Virginia—a community with many refugees and immigrants. With the creation of the Crescendo Orchestra, she works to make music accessible to all students, particularly those with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. Additionally, she created a parent orchestra, in which 200 caregivers learn to play the same instrument as their child every year.
Ray took home both a $10,000 prize and a matching grant for her school’s music program. In an interview with NPR following the Merit Award ceremony, Ray credited her pupils for this recognition. “This is the students’ award,” she said. “I’m just lucky enough to have been a part of their journey and their process and to have been taught by them.”
The educator also got to attend the main Grammy ceremony, where musicians and other celebrities approached Ray to commend her efforts. “I got to speak with Meryl Streep for a moment, and she told me that a music educator changed her life,” Ray said. “And that was really touching, because if I could change and just touch one student’s life, I’ve done what I wanted to do.” Singer SZA even crashed her backstage interview to address Ray’s students, pleading, “Stay in school and listen to everything she says.”
Now, Ray will use the prize money to buy instruments—something the school had struggled to do. “We’ve been trying to raise money all year for new cellos. And I was like, ‘Well, problem solved.’” After all, the orchestra not only introduces them to an instrument, but also helps students develop their collaboration skills. She also plans to create an ongoing scholarship for students who want to become musicians and music educators when they graduate.
For Ray, the moment appears to be full circle, since it was a music teacher who first changed her life at age 5, when she learned to play the harp. “That’s why I am where I am, is because a teacher changed my life and made me want to be a music educator,” she said. “It is a hard profession, but it’s one that is truly, deeply personal and gratifying, and there’s nothing else like it.”
This year, the Grammy’s Music Educator Award went to Virginia-based educator Annie Ray, who works to make music accessible to all students, particularly those with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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The award recognizes those who have made a “significant contribution and demonstrate a commitment to music education.”
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
The music teacher also got to attend the main Grammy ceremony, where musicians and other celebrities approached Ray to commend her efforts.
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
h/t: [NPR]
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