Learning to play an instrument requires practicing for thousands of hours and can cost tens of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
While practice still makes perfect, musicians at UpBeat NYC do not have to spend a dime. \u00a0<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The nonprofit provides free music education to 210 students of all levels in the South Bronx
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Husband and wife Liza Austria and Richard Miller co-founded UpBeat NYC in 2009
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UpBeat NYC says it raises most of its money through private donations. They also receive some government grants
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The nonprofit provides free music education to 210 students of all levels in the South Bronx.<\/p>\n
Charlie Lopez, 17, can often be heard polishing his pieces for his college auditions ahead of his rehearsals at UpBeat NYC.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying music is a huge privilege, largely because I\u2019ve been in several financial situations where I couldn\u2019t even dream of pursuing the cello in the future,\u201d he told NY1.<\/p>\n
Husband and wife Liza Austria and Richard Miller co-founded UpBeat NYC in 2009.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both felt really passionately about there being about having access [to] music education for young people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As musicians themselves, they know the power of music education and want to eliminate the barrier to entry.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing in this incredible city \u2014 and I grew up here. There\u2019s so much going on, but there is so much inequality of who has access to it and how it can be done as a community,\u201d Austria said. \u201cSo we really felt pushed to do something, create something that would just do some music with kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
They started by gathering up donated instruments and had a handful of kids playing music one day a week.<\/p>\n
Sixteen years later, there is a more than 150-person waitlist and classes six days a week.<\/p>\n
They chose to build their program in Mott Haven to make sure kids, who might not have access to music education otherwise, are able to get it nearby.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many places across the city that have concentrated resources like Manhattan. And the typical idea would be like, if you\u2019re in an orchestra program, you\u2019re probably traveling outside of this borough to go to it,\u201d Miller told NY1. \u201cWe don\u2019t see it that way at all. We see that the actual strength is here. And we just need to make space for it and get people organized about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Association of Music Merchants estimates that nine out of ten high school students at schools with music programs graduate, where a little more than seven out of 10 students graduate from schools without music.<\/p>\n
There are moments when UpBeat becomes more than just a music school and rather a safe haven for its students from violence on the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe might hear some of those gunshots from in here. And also, people are walking by and hearing music come out of the building here. And I think that goes to the point, too,\u201d she said. \u201cKids are changing what\u2019s happening here and what it\u2019s known for,\u201d Austria said.<\/p>\n
Carlos Sanchez, the program director, says the school is changing the tempo of the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many bad things happening outside. And I think through music, we can change their [lives] and their [paths] for their [futures],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lives are already being changed one note at a time.<\/p>\n
Six-year-old twins Cornelia and Addie Epting are learning to play the violin at UpBeat NYC. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learned how to play songs,\u201d Cornelia said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd a lot of stuff that\u2019s like really important for kids. It makes you feel confident on stage,\u201d Addie added.<\/p>\n
UpBeat NYC says it raises most of its money through private donations. They also receive some government grants.<\/p>\n
Many of the instruments are donated to the organization, and they even make some in the building’s basement where Sanchez started a luthier shop.<\/p>\n
The founders are looking at getting more space to expand their program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Learning to play an instrument requires practicing for thousands of hours and can cost tens of thousands of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[2296,25,128,3691,231,9,24,12,63,129,131,130,27,200],"class_list":["post-68010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-top-stories","tag-bronx","tag-emma-barnett","tag-human-interest","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}