From the Fidelity Bank Foundation studio, PBS Kansas Presents One on One with Victor Hogstrom.

This is where Kansans with noteworthy lives come to share the stories we talk about life and lessons learned along the way.

My guest this week is an accomplished flautist who is focused on helping young people succeed in life through the pursuit of music.

Her name is Cathy Grant.

Grant has spent most of her life playing, teaching and sharing the joys and benefits of music.

She has seen how it can transform lives and help shape the future of young people in all sorts of ways.

Grant recently started an organization called Music Youth Partnership.

Its mission is to help middle and high school students thrive as musicians and see music as a lifelong pursuit.

We'll find out more about that.

Some of her students will also perform for us.

Plus, we'll learn more about the road that has led Cathy Grant to this point in her life.

It's very interesting, as you'll discover over the next half hour as we go one on one with Cathy Grant.

Hello and thank you for joining us.

I'm Victor Hogstrom, and I'm happy to welcome Youth Music Partnerships Cathy Grant to the program.

Cathy, it's a pleasure to have you.

My great pleasure.

Thank you.

We talked about some of the wonderful things you're doing in the community with youngsters, and we'll get more into it in a minute or so.

But first, let's talk about your growing up days.

Yours was your growing up days were kind of unusual.

You have no running water in your home.

You had no electricity.

You had an outhouse.

That's right.

Wow.

Sounds like the 18th century.

And I'm not that old.

No.

That's right.

Elaborate on that.

How was life like?

Well, gosh, we didn't think we were growing up any differently than anybody in America.

We lived on the land that my great grandparents homesteaded.

I lived in the house that they built.

They moved to this country and built a dugout like everyone did back then.

And had my grant.

My grandfather Bernard Winning, had a wife and two children and dug a hole and they lived there until they were able to grow a crop or two or three maybe, and finally build a house.

My other set of grandparents lived around the corner and the same lifestyle.

They had a dugout all so we could see the dugouts in the in the back pasture.

And so we grew up playing around that and and were very well aware of how they lived.

And so, yeah, when I was very small, we didn't have we only read the kerosene lamps and the outhouse and, and, and all that.

We got all of that as time went on, we we got all the accouterments of modern life.

So but we did we did grow up with just propane.

And we had a floor furnace, which was pretty common.

I went to a one room country school on the corner, and we had a very modern his and hers.

Outhouses.

Wow.

Yeah.

And.

And a floor furnace.

But no running water.

But did you mingle with other kids who had electricity, running water and.

And all of the benefits of modern society?

And how did they react to you?

Well, we lived nine miles north and west of Belleville, which is not an enormous community.

But there there were city kids, but we didn't really know them.

We went to a one room country school.

We were out in the country.

And that's who we hung out with.

Now, of course, of course, I knew I knew some of the kids in town knew of them, but I'd never been to any of their homes and didn't see how anybody else lived.

So I don't think I was really ever aware that people lived that way.

So what was your childhood like growing up in an environment such as that?

Well, we played outside all the time, just like everybody else did, I guess.

And just we had the run of the land and it was just a magical way to grow up.

I can remember taking my dad's hammer and screwdriver and and there was a pile of rocks.

I would go out in the pasture in this pile of rocks and I would pretend that I was paleontologist.

So in the first grade, I had decided I was going to be a paleontologist because that was my experience finding fossils.

So then music crept into your life.

First, tell us which instrument most interested you.

My dad was a fine musician, played violin and trombone, and so music was always in our home.

Our mother played piano, so growing up, it wasn't, are you going to be in band?

It was, what are you going to play?

Let's.

Let's pause for a sec.

Yeah.

You had piano in your home?

Mm hmm.

Your father played.

Violin and trombone.

Trombone.

And yet you didn't have any electricity?

No.

You didn't have any running water?

That's right.

That doesn't measure up.

They don't seem like they go together, right?

Yeah.

Anyway go ahead, how did you get interested in that first instrument?

I wanted to play French horn.

That was.

That was my first desire.

I'd heard the French horn play and just thought, oh, my gosh, that would be amazing.

But we had a family friend who had a flute.

And so, you know, coming from a farm family, we had a flute.

So I played flute and picking up the flute in the I got it the summer of going into in the fourth grade, the summer going into fifth grade.

And when I picked up the flute, I learned a note and played for the first time.

I got a tone and most kids don't.

I you know, a lot of kids have to work at that a little bit, but it just seemed very natural.

And so it just seemed like a good fit all my life.

And so you began playing the flute.

How proficient are you?

Well, I've I've taught flute almost all my life since I was 16.

And yeah.

And I'm in the the Friends University flute choir right now.

I graduated from Friends University two years ago, and I went back to Friends to get my degree because of music youth partnership.

I had a lot of street cred, but I didn't have a lot of other cred, and I thought, that's very important to do.

So I did that and a month after I graduated, I played my own recital.

Yeah.

And is this the one room school?

Oh, no, no, no.

Oh, goodness.

We moved to town when I was in the fourth grade.

Okay.

Yes.

Let me back up and say that.

So, yes.

So I did get to know the city kids.

You had electicity then?

We had it all.

We had it all.

You bet we had it all at that point.

Yeah.

So.

So you learned to play the flute.

You played at your own recital.

What happened next?

Well, I had 25 years ago, and this is how I usually start the story.

I started going I had a full time job.

And I so I started going to as a flute teacher, I started going to the lower income middle schools, giving a group flute lesson one day a week, all year long.

And it was that weekly interaction with the kids.

We got we got to be really close and they what what developed with that group of kids.

Some of those kids lived with their grandparents.

So it was just a real privilege to be to be there and work with them.

We worked on basics, then we worked on their band music, and then I gave them flute trios and we started working on their Christmas concert, holiday concert.

They stood right where they were in band and they played their trios.

And that group of kids got a standing ovation.

I was in the audience and I thought at the time, Gosh, for that group of kids to know what it feels like to do the work, they did the work and then get a standing ovation.

I thought they are going to take that with them the rest of their lives and how powerful that was.

So I came back after Christmas and I started talking to the kids about solo festival and I said, Solo festival really made me a musician.

I was so desperately shy that I you know, it was difficult for me to get up in front of anybody and speak or let alone play.

So I did that and I did that every year, fifth grade, sixth grade through the 12th grade.

And so, you know, that helped guide me along my way.

So every one of those girls that first year played a solo in solo festival and they played an ensemble piece and they all they got a one or a two on everything, which was quite stellar.

But how it changed their lives was, was something that was quite amazing to me.

They were just so many subtle things that you could see changes in them that I thought at that time, if we could do that on a broader scale, we could absolutely change lives.

So come forward.

I raised my kids, you know, in a very busy household, and I, I had a job, you know, we were in real estate, we were in all kinds of things.

And I finally last May, I got COVID, and I thought, well, I can't go anywhere, see anybody, do anything, babysit all those things.

So I might as well get to work on this dream that I've had for 25 years.

So I got on my laptop and my phone and I called all the people one by one that I'd been thinking about for the board.

Each one of them said yes, and we had our first board meeting in June and we've never looked back.

And this was for the organization that, you know, let you organize.

Write music as a shared partnership.

Right.

Wow.

But before we begin to talk about and to see some of the performances of these kids that you've helped.

What were your career aspirations as you were growing up?

What did you hope to to achieve in life?

I dreamed of getting my master's degree and teaching in a college setting.

That was my biggest dream.

Then I married a busy general contractor and we started accumulating real estate.

And I got my real estate license at one point.

And so we were in in real estate and in the building trade.

So I learned an awful lot about that.

But my biggest job back then was, was, was a mom.

My kids were involved in a lot of things.

And instead of going back to school or getting a full time job, I realized that somebody else would be taking my son to all the things he was involved in, and I realized it wouldn't be happening.

So I made the choice to stay home and and be mom.

So I did that.

So let's fast forward to now and this organization that you have started called the Music Youth Partnership.

What is it and what is the goal?

Music Youth Partnership.

Yeah, we want to be a safety net for kids that are falling through the cracks.

We hire and pay a salary for professional teachers to go into the schools and we work primarily on USD 259, fully endorsed by USD 259.

We, we go in under the direction of the band director, the real hero, the band directors.

No one has any idea what they do, what all they do.

So we work under their direction like a silent partner.

Our teachers do ensembles, group lessons, private lessons.

Just.

Just whatever assists the band director in the best way.

We eventually will want to work with orchestra and choir and even have a dream to work in other aspects of the fine arts.

So Music Youth Partnership really is is a reach for the fine arts, a reach for the kids through fine arts and music.

We hand a kid an instrument, a student, an instrument if they can't get one any other way.

We've had many donations.

We get them repaired and give them to students that can't get them any other way.

And then our teachers from the sixth grade on followed them until they graduate from high school.

So, Cathy, why do you believe it's so important for kids to be involved in music?

There's overwhelming scientific research that shows that playing an instrument and reading music at the same time touches every part of the brain.

There's no part of the brain that isn't affected.

And the other part of that is the community that we're bringing kids into.

And to have someone that's like a parent figure, a mentor friend that walks with them through this entire process and encourages them to play music and to play their best and to be part of this rich community.

You know, kids that that are in band orchestra as adults, they often talk about it being life changing.

They're there.

Their experience having been in a flute ensemble or with the flute group or the the percussionists, it's it's life changing.

And with the advent of COVID and what all that's brought on the kids need that more than ever.

So really, we want to be like that safety net that keeps kids in music.

What have been some of the results of your work with these kids that you've seen that made you say wow or made you maybe cry or brought joy to you?

We've not had a lot of stories coming from Music Youth Partnership because we've only been in existence since June.

Really?

Yeah.

That's right.

But looking back on my years of experience.

That almost a year ago.

Almost a year ago, right.

And right now we are at West High School and Marshall Middle School.

We have a the name's Dana Hamant is at West High School.

And many people know that name.

He's famous fine, fine musician.

And his his his bio is is so long, it'd take a week to read it.

And Randy Crow from Maize High School, retired from Maize High School.

So then Randy Crow is at Marshall Middle School.

And these are some of your instructors.

Yeah.

All right.

So tell us.

We're about to see some of your kids perform.

And they're from Wilbur Middle School, right?

What are we going to hear now?

It's the Wilbur Middle School Jazz Band under the direction of Bret Goter.

Let's take a look.

Alright.

So, Cathy, what kind of reaction do you get from parents?

We just heard the kids from Wilbur Middle School play.

Reaction from the parents when they see the children.

Are they surprised?

They're very surprised.

They're very surprised to see to see their kids improving, playing instruments and playing them well, improving and being part of an ensemble where the rest of the group is depending on them and playing so well.

It's yes, it's it's stunning.

So, Cathy, what is the long term goal of Music Youth Partnership?

Well, we want to see kids do better academically.

We want to see increased graduation rates.

One thing, the effect that music has on the brain, on every part of the brain, it doesn't just make them a better musician.

It makes them better at math.

The history of every-- in everything.

And so we we expect that it's that it's going to show up in their grades and their overall grades and their self-esteem.

Right.

We have another clip of the kids performing.

And this is a trombone a trombone quartet, I should say, from Marshall Middle School, right under the direction of Randy Crow.

Correct.

Let's take a look.

Again.

Nice performance by these kids.

You must be proud.

I'm very proud.

Is it tough getting kids to sign up?

Well, there is.

Many kids have come from a long line of clarinet players.

Trumpet players, you know that they have that coming from home.

We look forward to, by this fall, reaching out to families, more ourselves, having a table at registration at school that parents, as they come through, that they realize that there's going to be extra help that we're going to be there to do, to assist the band director and to assist with an instrument if they need one.

So we anticipate an addition of kids in band.

So Cathy, what are the lessons learned along the way through this whole process?

Well, Music Partnership, we don't want to so much create musicians.

That's not what we're there for.

That will happen.

That's a byproduct.

But we want kids to experience the beauty and disciplines of music education.

And we've heard so many stories from so many famous, legendary people throughout time that credit music education for their brilliance.

There's been many, many.

So we look forward to introducing new kids to music education and to assist them along the way.

We also have we have had contact from other cities.

We were moving into Kansas City already.

Now Wichita is the prototype.

So what we do here is of utmost importance how we build this thing.

But we've had interest in Kansas City.

Two of our board members are Kansas City kids, and they will be moving back there relatively soon and plan to take Music Youth Partnership with them.

So we're getting ready to do a meeting there.

A few other cities around the nation I've had calls from already, so and we've been told that there isn't anybody in the nation that we know of that's doing anything like we are doing.

You are a flutist or flautist?

I am.

Do you still perform?

I do.

I'm with the Friends University Flute Choir have been for four years.

We have a lot of fun and we perform a lot.

So I do that.

Well, what are some of your favorite pieces?

Oh, gosh, that probably.

Well, we just performed The Prayer.

So everybody knows that piece or most people know that piece.

But for the most part, the the pieces are sort of unknown.

They're usually written for flute choir.

We performed last night with the Friends University Band, a piece called Black and Gold, and it was written by a Friends University student, and it was written for flute, choir and tuba.

And it was a delight.

We had great fun.

So what would you describe as your guiding principles?

Guiding principles, character?

Building character.

You see, I've seen kids come into band and you could see in their eyes.

Sixth grade, seventh grade that they're looking for a place to belong.

They're looking and at that point, they don't know what they're looking for.

They don't know if they're looking for a gang or if they're looking what they're looking for.

But a lot of times, kids will find that in band or in music classes, a place to belong.

So, you know, we encourage character building excellence.

Just sticking true to principle.

So do you go about.

How do you go about selecting the kids that are interested in learning how to play an instrument?

Well, they come to band.

We just we just we just come to the band director and we just assist the band director.

So the kids are already in band?

Yeah.

So why?

Why then do you want to teach them something else when they already learning in band?

Well, we don't want to teach them something else.

We just want to augment what they're learning and make them the-- our teachers will make them better musicians by taking them aside.

So while the band director is working with the rest of the band, our teacher might take out the trumpets and work on different pieces in the parts that they're playing.

Work with them on solos or on ensemble pieces for for the assessment contest or for a concert that's coming up.

So just to augment what the what the teacher is teaching them.

Cathy Grant, Music Youth Partnership.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

My pleasure.

One on one.

Thank you.

And I'd like to thank you for watching this edition of One on One.

oneonone@kpts.org is our email address.

If you have any questions or comments, I'm Victor Hogstrom.

Be safe and I'll see you again soon.