TAUNTON — Word comes from a local music store. A young student has been forced to give up his weekly drum lessons due to financial hardship. The student is heartbroken, but there seems to be no workable solution.
Well, not so fast.
Rawkstars, Inc., based in East Taunton and founded by musician and part-time/full-time philanthropist Jonathan Jacobs, exists precisely and exactly for times like these.
In fact, just such a scenario played out recently. A retired grandmother who had adopted her five grandchildren after the deaths of her son and the children’s father and her own husband could not afford to pay for her 11-year-old grandson’s drum lessons. The owner of the shop alerted Rawkstars. Jacobs says the young drummer did not miss a lesson.
“I told her, ‘We’ll be paying for his lessons from now on. We got it.’ She, and her grandson, is why I founded Rawkstars. This is what we do,” Jacobs said.
Currently, Rawkstars Inc. funds music lessons for 17 financially-disadvantaged young people in various communities in Massachusetts, and Jacobs says since founding the organization in November of 2003, Rawkstars has assisted over 400 young musicians at various stages of their development, most beginners.
In most cases, Rawkstars comes to the aid of young musicians in need of an instrument and teacher to get started. But Rawkstars is there to help existing talents find their way, too, and has helped musicians with recording and music video projects.
“Anything really that involves kids and music, there’s a good change we’ve done it or are interested in doing it,” said Jacobs.
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“I founded Rawkstars as a way to help kids get rid of the obstacles in the way of them getting involved with music and for them to then learn the life skills that I learned through music. If they go on to become great players, awesome. If they go on to become hobbyists and have fun with it, that’s awesome too.”
Jacobs, who plays bass for a local band and is a lifelong music lover, made a career in music as a sound engineer with several national and world touring rock and hard rock acts, found his way to IT for a while, and then, fittingly, landed with his current employer, Pawtucket, RI-based Hasbro, where he works in Global Philanthropy.
In 2003, he got the itch to get back into music, somehow. He thought about a business venture, but quickly opted to start a non-profit with the power to help young musicians learn to play and pursue their talents.
“Our thing is really scalable,” he said. “We don’t have a set location where you have to come to our facility, and we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We just act as a conductor. We connect people and we give them the resources to make it happen.”
“We want the kid to fall in love with the instrument,” Jacobs said.
Sometimes, he says, that first instrument is the first stop in a lifelong love of playing music.
“So we do care about the color, we care about the style and we do try to match the child’s personality with the right instrument.”
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Jacobs says Rawkstars does take in a lot of donated instruments, and he tries to make use of them, but quality and playability — which does not have to mean expensive — are as important to new players as the professionals. And in some cases the color and style of the instrument — think of a guitar or drum set — can go a long way towards hooking in a new student. A funny-looking, hard-to-play instrument is not a good place to start for a lot of kids.
When possible, Jacobs says, a new instrument is the way to go.
“We do purchase brand new instruments for a lot of kids. And the reason we do that is, we could save a few bucks by giving them something second hand, but I think it’s really important for them to have a treasured instrument that they can fall in love with. Especially early on, because music is an expression of your personality, so we want it to fit you and want you to feel like it’s an extension of yourself.”
On occasion, Jacobs has taken new students instrument shopping, while setting a budget and presenting a few options.
“It’s like, ‘Which one speaks to you?’… I think it’s important, for the kids to have a personal connection to their instrument.”
Once the instrument is in hand, lessons are the gift that keep on giving, and a month-to-month expense that does not end.
“The expenses are pretty significant,” Jacobs says. “To get into it, just to start with an instrument can be a couple hundred bucks, which for a lot of people is a hurdle. But the lessons really are a deal-breaker for a lot of people, even if they can get a second-hand guitar or scrape up enough for a cheap instrument.
“The lessons are an ongoing expense, month over month over month.”
In general, weekly half-hour lesson plans can run in the $125-150 a month range.
“That’s for a month. And say you have two kids, that’s per month, per kid.”
“It’s not something you can do for a couple weeks or a couple months and then you’re all set, right. Often times we have students in our program for years and years. It really is a pretty big expense for them to be expected to cover.”
It’s a daunting expense even for those who can cover it. For some families it is just not feasible.
In many cases, students in the Rawkstar program benefit from having some point of consistency in an otherwise inconsistent home setting. A good teacher and a rewarding music curriculum can boost confidence, instill study skills and focus in other areas of education and provide a role-model.
“It goes way beyond the music lessons. Of course, that’s at the core of it but that music teacher often becomes a real mentor for the kid, not only teaching them piano or guitar or whatever the instrument is… but becomes a friend and a mentor in a lot of ways. Because the kid, they look up to the teacher as being proficient at something they want to learn.
“I’m a 12-year-old kid and I want to play guitar. I see my music teacher once a week and he’s an amazing guitar player… I don’t have a dad around, or life at home is tough, and this guy can kind of play a little bit of that role. It’s consistent, they go every week. A lot of kids don’t have that kind of consistency in their world.”
As part of the program, and part of the fundraising operation, Rawkstars puts on music shows and concerts that encourage kids in the program to take to the stage and perform in front of an audience. Past events have been held at The Narrows in Fall River and Rick’s Music World in Raynham, which has a performance area and stage.
“We like to showcase the kids, give them a chance to perform some music for a crowd,” Jacobs said.
“If you’ve played music and gotten up and performed in front of people it’s prepared you for those moments even if you haven’t realized it. It’s given you self confidence, shown you that it’s okay to make a few mistakes and you’ll be okay. Imagine the boost of confidence that you get from the performance aspect. We think that’s really important, too. It’s not all about practicing and learning scales or learning songs.”
Taunton Daily Gazette staff writer Jon Haglof can be reached at [email protected]. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Taunton Daily Gazette today.
