Page 56 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2016

Fueling the Passion for Music

Bonamassa promotes music education first-hand at his
in-school clinic Photo by Marco van Rooijen

By Brian Reiser
Joe Bonamassa’s Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation fuels Guitar Center, Ernie Ball and the J&R Adventures record label.
the passion for music by funding programs and scholarships for For example, KTBA has created a scholarship for Musicians
students and teachers who possess the desire for quality music Institute (MI) – the College of Contemporary Music in Hollywood
education but lack the resources. – called the Joe Bonamassa Torch Bearer Scholarship, offering
Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation was founded by blues- $35,000 in tuition credit to support the educational growth of a
rock guitar star Joe Bonamassa in order to foster and cultivate a newly enrolling MI Guitar Program student.
love of music in future generations and to help them acquire the In the public education sector, KTBA instills the message that
musical skills that will benefit them in all areas of life. As blues music is a critical asset to any public education curriculum by
and blues-rock have been inspirational forms of music for Joe spreading awareness about the benefits of adding arts to the
since he was a small child, the blues genre is the vehicle through core fields of studies – science, technology, engineering and
which he most often expresses himself musically and, in terms of mathematics (STEM) – that are integrated in the classroom. The
this organization, inspired its name. positive return of investing in the arts can be measured both
Why is music education so important? For one, research quantitatively and qualitatively.
shows that music education enhances students’ abilities to Just recently, KTBA announced its third annual music festival
comprehend and excel in other subjects, increases their skills in with Sixthman and Norwegian Cruise Lines, called Keeping The
other areas of life and helps to develop language skills in young Blues Alive at Sea. The last cruise was able to raise over $52,000
students. Evidence supports the notion that music education can to help fund KTBA weekly programming and scholarships!
increase I.Q. It enhances general cognitive development by Approximately $20,000 of this money was donated by Joe
forming unique neural pathways in the brain, improves spatial- Bonamassa, $5,000 was donated by Norwegian Cruise Lines,
temporal skills and leads to higher scores on standardized and over $25,000 was raised through the generosity of the
testing. Being musical and learning about music also taps into cruise guests from their direct donations and participation in
the creativity of the human mind, one of the cornerstones of all various foundation activities aboard the ship. All in all, a great
cultures. The cliché that music is a universal language is very success!
much true – it speaks to all of our hearts and enhances all of our Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation often receives letters of
lives in one way or another. gratitude from teachers and students alike. For example, Mrs.
As an organization, Keeping The Blues Alive (KTBA) Arellano from Chicago, IL, wrote, “In my name, my teacher’s
makes a difference by helping to finance musical resources in assistant’s and my future students for next school year’s name,
disadvantaged schools and by offering scholarships to students we would love to thank you for your kindness in giving us new
who would not otherwise be able to finance a music education. musical instruments. I am pretty sure that they will love to play
To further this mission, KTBA partners with such enterprises as these new instruments during our music time next school year.

54 Blues Festival Guide 2016