The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has continued support for the MusicLink Foundation beyond the original three year grant by providing support for a fourth year with a $50,000 grant. This brings the total grant support to $283,000 over a four year period. Grant funding provides training for MusicLink coordinators, supports MusicLink staff, develops long-term planning and expands operations to new areas of the country.

"We are thrilled to be able to expand our program through this grant, and reach hundreds more promising students who crave music lessons but cannot afford them. This funding will allow our networking system to link with more volunteer teachers to provide ongoing instruction to these students for as long as they wish to learn," said Dr. Joanne Haroutounian.

The MusicLink Foundation is one of a handful of pipeline organizations assisting the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation seek out eligible students for several of their scholarship programs. Through its nationwide network of teachers, students and business partners, MusicLink will help “From the Top,” a weekly radio program featuring the country’s top student musicians, identify talented young musicians whose financial background qualify them for one of the program’s 25 scholarships worth $10,000. MusicLink will also encourage qualified 7th grade students to apply for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation's Young Scholars Program, which offers thousands of dollars of scholarship support over many years of secondary school study.

For information about these applications CONTACT US or read about details at www.jackkentcookefoundation.org.

"Too often I have heard stories about children who display a musical gift at an early age, but because of lack of funds in their family they were unable to pursue that gift. So it is a wonderful thing to know that MusicLink is an organization that comes to the rescue of these talented kids."

We are pleased to announce an exciting new connection with the Verdine White Foundation, created by the bass guitarist of Earth Wind and Fire and his wife, Mashelle. The Whites share our mission to bring quality training and the comprehensive development of music to underprivileged youth. Executive Director Joanne Haroutounian and Development Coordinator Carroll Hauptle met with the Whites to discuss ways we can work together to develop programs in Los Angeles and Washington DC, specifically targeting inner city youth through lessons with a jazz, pop, rock focus.

MusicLink students enjoyed free tickets and back stage passes to Earth Wind and Fire concerts in several cities. Comments from a New York student:

My name is Stephen Minor and on Monday, the 24th of July, I joined Mrs. Dolamore and a few Flying Fiddler Friends to go to an Earth Wind & Fire concert. I was very excited to go. Their music was phenomenal. I loved and enjoyed it a lot. Most of us were in the front row seats, so it was like you could feel the music that they were playing. Their playing really inspired me. Not only me, but also the other people watching them. At the end we had backstage passes to talk to each one of the members personally. We met B. David Whitworth, Bobby Burns, Vadim Zibershtein, and Verdine White. All of them encouraged us to keep moving forward in our music. I got autographs from most of them. It was very fun and I enjoyed it. We all thank MusicLink and Verdine White for making this experience possible for the Flying Fiddlers. -- Stephen Minor, Grade 9, Poughkeepsie City Schools, New York

Websites: verdinewhite.com, earthwindandfire.com

"Bringing music into the lives of our children means bringing imagination, enthusiasm, discipline and the joy of creation into their world. Expanding personal vistas for the youth of today makes for a better world of tomorrow. Music transcends fear and hate, and it is the most pleasurable duty imaginable to bring this to our young people."

The MusicLink Foundation held its second national summit June 29- July 1, 2007 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Thanks to a grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, MusicLink regional coordinators, teachers and students from across the country convened to hear panel discussions, to receive training, develop strategic planning and share pointers on linking with schools, students and businesses to build the program in new states. The summit also featured Tim Page, music critic for the Washington Post as guest speaker.

MusicLink students gave a recital in the university’s Center for the Arts spotlighting the full range of student potential, from beginning to advanced levels. The program included piano solos and duets, plus violin and vocal performance. Performers included many local Virginia students as well as students traveling from Colorado, Minnesota, and Utah.

The Music Link Foundation raised $6,000 through an on-line auction of a series of four guitars personally signed by Verdine White, Ralph Johnson and Philip Bailey of the legendary R&B band, Earth, Wind and Fire. The guitars, along with 40 guitars for MusicLink students, were donated by the Gibson Foundation, and signed by EWF at a concert in Richmond on November 14, 2006. Pictured is Verdine White with the four guitars in Washington, DC and the first guitar sold at auction.

Click http://www.missionfish.org/NPMMF/nphomepage.jsp?NP_ID=17189 for the guitars being auctioned.

The Gretsch Family Foundation is working with the MusicLink Foundation on fundraising events that feature Gretsch guitars to be transformed into "Guitar Art" by local professional artists. These guitars, as well as an autographed vintage Gretsch guitar, will be auctioned at a fundraising event later this year. Log onto www.guitarart.org to view these amazing guitars.

Khand Sukhee, a graduate of Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, VA, received the $1,000 Marilyn Costello Award of Excellence. This award was established by Daniel Dannenbaum, assisted by Serena Lowe, in honor of Marilyn Costello who was a principal harpist for the Philadelphia Orchestra for many years. Khand, who was born in Ulaan Bataar, has studied piano through MusicLink with Rene Johnson for four years and plans on attending Brigham Young University.

Diana Fang, a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, received the $5,000 Henry D. Kirkpatrick Award for excellence in MusicLink study. This award was established by Martha Smith in honor of her brother and his love of music. Diana has studied piano through MusicLink with Martha Smith for the past nine years and will be attending the University of Virginia.

The MusicLink Foundation awarded 8 students with camp scholarships this summer totaling over $1,900.00. These scholarships allowed the students to study in camps all across the country. The recipients were:

• MN: Abigail Gaetano, Hannah Gaetano, Imala Witherspoon, Alastair Witherspoon
• WA: MacKenzie Krell
• PA: Kyle Karlavage
• IL: Araxi Sayadian
• VA: Hanbo Liu

The 2008 Grass Roots Grants of $300 each were awarded to the following MusicLink Programs:

• IL: Fox Hills Music Teachers Association, towards purchasing keyboards for MusicLink Students.
• SC: Columbia Music Teachers Association, for books and materials for MusicLink students.

Teacher Reimbursement Grants of up to $150 assisted the following teachers with reimbursement for materials and music for their MusicLink students:

• Carol Ferney (UT), Karen Becker (MN), Karen Stiles (MN), Beatriz Levi(IL).

Andrea Johnson, a 16 year old pianist from Milwaukie Oregon, was one of 25 students chosen nationwide to receive the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award in the amount of $10,000 to further her musical talents. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation paired with the radio program, From the Top to to identify and nurture talented young musicians whose lack of financial resources might otherwise impede their progress. Recipients have the opportunity to perform on a live taping of From the Top and participate in Cultural Leadership Training to become community advocates for the arts through outreach activities. Andrea recently performed live at a taping in Dallas, Texas which was well received by the audience as well as the staff of From the Top. Personality plus!

Andrea has studied with Elizabeth Stern since the age of 10, and has been a consistent winner of competitions connected with the Oregon Music Teachers Association as well as first alternate at the national level Baldwin and Yamaha MTNA competitions. She has performed concertos with the Vancouver Symphony, Oregon Sinfonietta, and as a Young Artist at the Schnitz Concerto Concert. In 2005, Andrea took part in the Nordstrom Young Talent Program, performing in Nordstrom stores across the state of Oregon.

Andrea has been a MusicLink student for the past two years and received a camp scholarship to assist in attendance at the International Institute for Young Musicians at the University of Kansas in the summer of 2005. She also attended the Texas Music Festival High School Piano Instute for several summers.

Andrea is a twelfth grade home-schooled student and attends classes at New Covenant Christian Academy and Clackamas Community College. She is deeply involved in drama performances of Shakespeare plays when she is not busy teaching her 13 private piano students.

As a sixth grader, Mike Brown, of Lake Oswego, Oregon, believed he would never learn to read music. Now 15 years old and a sophomore in high school, Mike is a Leonard Method Books Level 4 pianist who not only sightreads music but also sight sings as an “A” music student. Under the piano tutelage of Carole Lindell-Ross for four years, Mike has benefited from a dedicated partnership forged by his high school choral teacher, Liz Sera, and his junior high choir director, DeeAnn Sands.

Mike recently earned his first Gold Cup Trophy in piano theory at Festival, successfully auditioned as a tenor for the Lake Oswego High School a cappella choir for the fall and performed piano solos at Festival, retirement centers and 15 student recitals. He will solo with the LO Choir at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, during Memorial Day weekend in May for a choral workshop.

Mike said that the Leonard note speller series through MusicLink, along with the one-on-one attention of his piano teacher, helped him make such progress. He recalled that he was almost two years into piano lessons when he realized his capability to read basic piano notation independently had turned into reality. The joy of such achievement was reflected in Mike’s school work and his self-esteem, according to his mother, Becky Lukens.

Mike lives with his mother and grandmother, Georgianna Lukens, who contacted Carole for weekly lessons. She believed that Mike’s innate musicality could be reached through individual lessons. Mike’s untrained tenor voice reminded her of her own brothers’ voices, both of whom had excelled in vocal music. One was even a scholarship student as the lead tenor in the Yale Glee Choir in the 1960s.

Before he could read music, Mike used his voice to learn the music pitches during private piano lessons. He started with simple linear selections from Hal Leonard Publications as well as from the Federated Music lists. At the time, two fingers on his left hand suffered from nerve damage, but gradually, during four years of repeated pentascales and single-handed playing, Mike developed use of all his fingers. While playing chords with both hands still causes difficulty, Mike is able to play Diabelli & Turk.

I had never before taught autistic children nor had any special training in working with autism, but I learned how to instruct Mike during the course of two years when his mother would attend lessons with him. I believed in Mike’s ability to use his voice to unlock the music inside him. We both enjoy Mike’s good-humored personality and his can-do attitude, which kept us both motivated during the long process to read and write music. His ability to laugh at his mistakes and then to try again are lessons for all of us.

We are pleased to announce a new partnership with Yamaha Clavinova Festivals that will provide ways to promote the program to many new teachers as well as raise funds for MusicLink programs nationwide.

Students of teachers who have signed up for the festivals “promise to practice” a certain number of hours for one week in the month prior to the festival. They collect pledges from friends and family of so many dollars per hour of practice. As a reward for achieving their practice goal, MusicLink sends a “success” pin to each student. Students who collect $25 or more in donations receive tote bags. Students who raise $200 in donations receive an IPOD Shuffle! Each teacher that takes part in Promise to Practice also gets a tote bag.

Any music teacher or group can choose to take part in our Promise to Practice fund raising event, regardless of participation in Yamaha festivals. If you are interested in helping our kids with music, instruments, and camp scholarships, email us and we will send a Promise to Practice packet free of charge.

We look forward to sending pins, tote bags and shuffles to students across the country!

The following new businesses have joined the MusicLink Business Partner program offering discounted or donated materials, performance opportunities, services, and other discounts to support teachers, students, and local MusicLink programs in their communities.

• Adams Music
• Barry's Tickets Service
• Kapok Press LLC
• Laursen Piano Service
• Legacy Productions
• Noteable
• NoteLogic
• Jon Schmidt
• The Old Piano Shop
• Utah Symphony & Opera Co.
• Whole Octave

A number of donors have chosen MusicLink Foundation as a way to create a lasting tribute for a loved one through memorial funds that provide scholarships for camp, music and materials for students, or specific requests for use of funds. We acknowledge our appreciation for the following memorial funds for MusicLink:

• Julia Haynes Memorial Fund in memory of a young five year old tragically killed in a car accident
• Judith Ferencz Scholarship Fund in memory of a devoted MusicLink teacher
• Russell and Arline Bridge Endowment Fund in memory of parents who loved music and education
• Sarah Guerrant Memorial Fund in memory of a dedicated piano teacher and loving parent

Steinway and Sons has formed an exciting partnership with the MusicLink Foundation, encouraging dealers to sponsor MusicLink programs in a number of major cities by providing used trade in pianos for use by MusicLink scholarship students. Steinert and Sons of Boston and Jordan Kitts of the metropolitan Washington DC area are leading the way in this program by providing pianos for our MusicLink students.

Eastman Strings has joined our list of corporate sponsors, agreeing to donate string, wind, and brass instruments to MusicLink students who have been nominated by their teachers to receive instruments because of their commitment to MusicLink lessons. Joanne and William Haroutounian enjoyed a tour of the Eastman factory to discuss details of this exciting new partnership.

William Weaver, owner of the Violin House of Weaver in Bethesda, MD has generously contributed over $25,000 worth of string instruments to the MusicLink program. These donations include numerous violins provided for a migrant worker program in AZ, and individual string instruments provided to many students who have grown musically in the program. A note from a student's mother in Missouri who recently received a new violin from Weaver: I would like to express my most heartfelt "thanks!" Marie is very excited and happy to receive such a wonderful gift. Our thanks to this generous and caring violin dealer.