Let there be rock

Strumming some sweet music for school music programs, Sassarini teacher Curtiss Duff and district-wide music instructor Bob Gossett are surrounded by a delivery of 40 new Fender guitars for Sonoma elementary schools, compliments of the Little Kids Rock program. The national non-profit, dedicated to putting music back in budget-strapped schools, provides students with free musical instruments and instruction that focuses on their favorite popular music styles, such as rock, blues, rap and hip-hop. The program invites classroom teachers who already know how to play the guitar, like Duff, who teaches third-grade, and invites them to a two-day training. Gossett coordinates the program locally and teaches it at no charge to fourth-and-fifth graders at Flowery, El Verano and Dunbar. The new guitars will allow Prestwood to join the program. He said the innovative instruction gets kids playing chords quickly. “It’s basic stuff, but it gets the kids interested,” he said. Kids who get hooked can learn as they advance grade levels. “They’ll have the opportunity to continue whether that have the money or not.” For more information about the program or to donate a musical instrument, call Gossett at 364-3140.