Grand Vision Foundation (GVF) is among a select group to have received a grant from The Les Paul Foundation for the second year in a row to support Meet the Music (MTM) – GVF’s music education program. The Les Paul Foundation inspires innovation and creativity by sharing legendary guitarist Les Paul’s legacy through support for music education. Funding from last year’s Les Paul Grant enabled GVF to launch Sound of STEAM – a science, technology, engineering, art, and math enrichment program. With renewed support, GVF will continue delivering this program to local schools throughout the year.
Sound of STEAM is a project-based in school or after-school experience in which 4th–6th graders build musical instruments while learning core science and math concepts. The program is aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Universal Design Learning (UDL) principles and is accessible for all learners.
Meet the Music Students with handmade guitars
Sound of STEAM keeps Les Paul’s inspirational story of creativity alive. Guided by Grand Vision’s teaching artists, students explore how he used materials, like steel railroad rails, to influence the sound production and pitch of his solid-body electric guitar. They apply these principles of sound and engineering by designing their own shakers or box guitars.
Students and teaching artists collaborate to create musical arrangements, which students perform in a culminating show for peers, families and teachers.
Grand Vision would like to thank The Les Paul Foundation for their support, which helps foster students’ creativity and teamwork while connecting music to other school subjects.
About the Les Paul Foundation
Les Paul, the gold-record recording artist, inventor, songwriter and entertainer, established his foundation to support and encourage young musicians and innovators. The Les Paul Foundation inspires innovative and creative thinking by sharing the legacy of Les Paul through support of music education, recording, innovation, STEM and STEAM programs, music therapy for military veterans struggling with PTSD, and medical research related to curing tinnitus.
