Pasadena Students Shine as Blair Recognized With Grammy Grant

Blair students performing at the Grammy Museum. – Courtesy photo / Blair

Blair’s instrumental music program was recently recognized at the Grammy Museum in L.A. Blair students presented an original piece of music composed by Sarah Addison, and the Blair musicians also performed together with students from the three other Los Angeles area high schools who also received Grammy Signature Schools grants.

The Grammy Museum Signature Schools grants in Los Angeles are made possible through the generous support of The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. Created in 1998, the Grammy Museum Signature Schools program is a Grammy In The Schools initiative that recognizes U.S. public schools that make an outstanding commitment to music education during an academic school year.

With the help of the Grammy Museum Signature Schools grant, Blair’s instrumental music instructor Mr. Birnbryer-Lao is creating a Music Technology Lab at Blair. The ensemble that performed at the Grammy Museum showcased skills and tools already being used by Blair students. Sarah Addison wrote the lyrics, music and arrangement for her ballad, titled “Stay.” She performed on violin, with Gwyneth Cole on vocals, Richard Derrick and Kylan Dennis on MIDI keyboards connected to a laptop for string and piano accompaniment, and Adrian Padron on drum synthesizer. For the joint schools performance, Blair’s versatile musicians included Sarah Addison on violin, Kylan Dennis on saxophone, and Adrian Padron with a trumpet solo, joined by Sebastian Hernandez on trumpet.

The Grammy grant provides Blair with up to $7,500 each year for three years. This year Blair has used these grant funds to purchase MIDI keyboards and two MacBooks, as well as licenses for Soundtrap music composition software. Music class students have used their accounts to create original music, record themselves playing their instruments, collaborate on projects and create “remixes.”

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