meta-scriptNeil Portnow, John Legend, Ryan Seacrest Bestow First-Ever Music Educator Award | GRAMMY.com

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Neil Portnow, John Legend, Ryan Seacrest Bestow First-Ever Music Educator Award

Academy President/CEO and guests honor teacher Kent Knappenberger

GRAMMYs/Dec 3, 2014 - 05:06 am

(The following is a transcript of Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow's remarks on the 56th GRAMMY Awards telecast. Portnow was joined by GRAMMY Foundation Honorary Board Chair Ryan Seacrest and nine-time GRAMMY winner John Legend.)

Neil Portnow: Clifford Ormsby, Joe Monk and Stanley Solow, who I mentioned here last year. Probably not names you've ever heard of, but they were some of the music teachers in my life who gave me encouragement, knowledge and inspiration. And those of you who were watching last year may remember that I asked a few friends to join me to announce a special new award to be given this year. So please welcome back the Honorary Chair of the GRAMMY Foundation and an extraordinarily talented artist who you saw perform earlier tonight, Ryan Seacrest and John Legend.

Ryan Seacrest: Last year, The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation announced the first-ever Music Educator Award, a brand-new honor to recognize outstanding classroom music teachers from kindergarten through college. And here's what happened: over 32,000 nominations,10 finalists ... and one winner.

John Legend: So yesterday, as part of The Academy's prestigious Special Merit Awards Ceremony, we announced the recipient of the first-ever Music Educator Award.

Portnow: And he's here with us tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a well-deserved round of applause to Kent Knappenberger. Congratulations, Kent!

Legend: Seeing and hearing some of his many music students shows why such an extraordinary and inspiring teacher deserved our first award this year. He teaches general music for Westfield Academy and Central School's sixth through 12th grades in rural New York.

Portnow: But in addition, Kent oversees a sixth grade choir, a seventh and eighth grade boys' chorus, a high school mixed chorus, a select chamber chorus, a men's choir, a woman's choir, four hand bell ensembles, four steel pan ensembles, and a Celtic/American string band. You know, it's so impressive!

Seacrest: And we're so pleased with the spotlight this award places on the thousands of great music educators working to provide the inspiration, the passion, and the skills our young musicians need that we're going to do it all over again! So to nominate your favorite music teacher for next year's award, just go to GRAMMYMusicTeacher.com and tell us about them.

Portnow: Let's continue to say "thank you" for everything these teachers do for our young musicians, and for all of us who truly love music. 

Virginia's Annie Ray To Be Honored With 2024 Music Educator Award
Annie Ray

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Virginia's Annie Ray To Be Honored With 2024 Music Educator Award

Presented by the Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Museum, 2024 Music Educator Award recognizes educators who have made a significant contribution and demonstrate a commitment to music education.

GRAMMYs/Feb 1, 2024 - 02:32 pm

Ahead of the 2024 GRAMMYs, Virginia educator Annie Ray will receive the 2024 Music Educator Award during the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards Ceremony on Sat, Feb. 3.  

Ray is both the Orchestra Director and Performing Arts Department Chair at Annandale High School in Virginia's Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) system. She advocates for universal access to quality music education, and has developed creative opportunities to make music accessible to students of all demographics. 

For example, her FCPS Parent Orchestra enables just under 200 caregivers to learn to play their child’s instrument each year. Ray also created the Crescendo Orchestra program to bring the joy of orchestra to high school students with severe developmental or intellectual disabilities. In January 2022,  the program was featured in The Washington Post. 

Based on this work, TEDx reached out and asked Ray to give a talk in April 2022. She has presented at numerous colleges and conferences on the topic and was named the 2023 FCPS Outstanding Secondary Teacher of the Year for her work on equity in education. Ray is also a member of the StringRise professional development team and was a 2023 Wolf Trap Educator Guarantee for the AHS partnership with GRAMMY-nominated artist Christylez Bacon

She currently resides in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband Irving and their girls Eloise and Millie. She is an adventurer at heart, and her biggest bucket list item is to one day win "The Amazing Race."

As the Music Educator Award recipient, Ray will receive a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for her school's music program. Nine additional finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium and matching grants. The remaining 15 semifinalists will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants.

The nine semifinalists are:

Meg Byrne: Pleasant Valley High School  Bettendorf, Iowa

Ernesta Chicklowski: Roosevelt Elementary   Tampa, Florida

Michael Coelho: Ipswich Middle and High School Ipswich, Massachusetts

Antoine Dolberry: P.S. 103 Hector Fontanez School  Bronx, New York

Jasmine Fripp: KIPP Nashville Collegiate High School   Nashville, Tennessee

J.D. Frizzell: Briarcrest Christian School  Eads, Tennessee

Coty Raven Morris: Portland State University  Portland, Oregon

Kevin Schoenbach: Oswego High School  Oswego, Illinois

Matthew Shephard: Meridian Early College High School  Sanford, Michigan

The award is open to current U.S. music teachers, and anyone can nominate a teacher — students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators. Teachers are also able to nominate themselves, and nominated teachers are notified and invited to fill out an application. Initial nominations were submitted from all 50 states.

Nominations and applications for the 2025 Music Educator Award are now open via grammymusicteacher.com.

The Music Educator Award program, including honorariums, is made possible by the generosity and support of The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. In addition, the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, NAMM Foundation, and National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.

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10 Finalists Announced For The 2024 Music Educator Award
Finalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award, presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum

Images courtesy of the 2024 Music Educator Award finalists; Graphic courtesy of the GRAMMY Museum

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10 Finalists Announced For The 2024 Music Educator Award

The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum have announced 10 music teachers as the finalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award, which recognizes current educators who have made a significant contribution and demonstrate a commitment to music education.

GRAMMYs/Dec 12, 2023 - 03:59 pm

The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum today announced a total of 10 music teachers as finalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award, the annual honor that recognizes current educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the music education field and who also demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools. The 10 finalists, who hail from 10 cities across nine states, were selected from more than 2,000 initial nominations submitted from across all 50 U.S. states. See the full list of the 2024 Music Educator Award finalists below.

Each year, one Music Educator Award recipient is selected from 10 finalists and recognized for their remarkable impact on students' lives. The selected recipient will receive a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for their school's music program. The nine additional finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium and matching grants. The remaining 15 semifinalists will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants.

The ultimate recipient of the 2024 Music Educator Award will be recognized during GRAMMY Week 2024, just days before the 2024 GRAMMYs take place. Quarterfinalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award were announced in May; semifinalists were announced in October.

Nominations for the 2025 Music Educator Award are now open.

Learn More: Meet The 2023 Music Educator Award Recipient: How Pamela Dawson Helps Her Students Achieve Healing And Catharsis

2024 MUSIC EDUCATOR AWARD FINALISTS: 

Name School Name City     State
Meg Byrne Pleasant Valley High School Bettendorf Iowa
Ernesta Chicklowski Roosevelt Elementary Tampa Florida
Michael Coelho Ipswich Middle and High School Ipswich Massachusetts
Antoine Dolberry P.S. 103 Hector Fontanez School Bronx New York
Jasmine Fripp KIPP Nashville Collegiate High School Nashville Tennessee
J.D. Frizzell Briarcrest Christian School Eads Tennessee
Coty Raven Morris Portland State University Portland Oregon
Annie Ray Annandale High School Annandale Virginia
Kevin Schoenbach Oswego High School Oswego Illinois
Matthew Shephard Meridian Early College High School Sanford Michigan

An established partnership between the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum, the Music Educator Award is open to current U.S. music teachers. Anyone can nominate a teacher: students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators. Teachers are also able to nominate themselves. Nominated teachers are notified and invited to fill out an application. 

The Music Educator Award program, including honorariums, is made possible by the generosity and support of the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. In addition, the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, NAMM Foundation, and National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.

Learn more about the Music Educator Award program.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016
Kendrick Lamar

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

GRAMMYs/Oct 13, 2023 - 06:01 pm

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

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He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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25 Semifinalists Announced For The 2024 Music Educator Award
Music Educator Award

Photo Courtesy of the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum

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25 Semifinalists Announced For The 2024 Music Educator Award

Twenty-five music teachers, from 25 cities across 17 states, have been announced as semifinalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award, presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum. One ultimate recipient will be honored during GRAMMY Week 2024.

GRAMMYs/Oct 11, 2023 - 01:59 pm

Twenty-five music teachers have today been announced as semifinalists for the Music Educator Award, an annual award, presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum, that supports and celebrates music education and music educators across the U.S. The 25 semifinalists, who hail from 25 cities across 17 states, were selected from a pool of more than 2,000 initial nominations from across all 50 U.S. states. Finalists will be announced in December, and the ultimate recipient of the 2024 Music Educator Award will be recognized during GRAMMY Week 2024, days ahead of the 2024 GRAMMYs.

Nominations for the 2025 Music Educator Award are now open.

Read More: Meet The 2023 Music Educator Award Recipient: How Pamela Dawson Helps Her Students Achieve Healing And Catharsis

Presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum, the Music Educator Award recognizes current educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the music education field and demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools. The Award is open to current U.S. music teachers. Anyone can nominate a teacher — students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators — while teachers are also able to nominate themselves; nominated teachers are notified and invited to fill out an application.

Each year, the recipient of the Music Educator Award, selected from 10 finalists, receives a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for their school's music program. The nine additional finalists receive a $1,000 honorarium and matching grants. The remaining 15 semifinalists, among the group announced today, will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants.

The Music Educator Award program, including honorariums, is made possible by the generosity and support of the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. In addition, the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, NAMM Foundation, and National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.

Read More: 5 Organizations And Scholarships Supporting Music Education

The full list of the 2024 Music Educator Award semifinalists is as follows:

Name School City State
Dawn Amthor Wallkill Senior High School Wallkill New York
Jeremy Bartunek Greenbriar School Northbrook Illinois
William Bennett Cane Bay High School Summerville South Carolina
Meg Byrne Pleasant Valley High School Bettendorf Iowa
Ernesta Chicklowski Roosevelt Elementary Tampa Florida
Michael Coelho Ipswich Middle and High School Ipswich Massachusetts
Drew Cowell Belleville East High School Belleville Illinois
Marci DeAmbrose Lincoln Southwest High School Lincoln Nebraska
Antoine  Dolberry P.S. 103x Hector Fontanez  Bronx New York 
Jasmine Fripp KIPP Nashville Collegiate High School Nashville Tennessee
J.D. Frizzell Briarcrest Christian School Eads Tennessee
Amanda Hanzlik E.O. Smith High School Storrs Connecticut
Michael Lapomardo Shrewsbury High School Shrewsbury Massachusetts
Ashleigh McDaniel Spatz Rising Starr Middle School Fayetteville Georgia
Kevin McDonald Wellesley High School Wellesley Massachusetts
Coty Raven Morris Portland State University Portland Oregon
Trevor Nicholas Senn Arts at Nicholas Senn High School Chicago Illinois
Vicki Nichols Grandview Elementary Grandview Texas
Annie Ray Annandale High School  Annandale Virginia
Bethany Robinson Noblesville High School Noblesville Indiana
Danni Schmitt Roland Park Elementary/Middle School Baltimore Maryland
Kevin Schoenbach Oswego High School Oswego Illinois
Matthew Shephard Meridian Early College High School Sanford Michigan
Alice Tsui New Bridges Elementary Brooklyn New York
Tammy Yi Chapman University Orange California

Learn more about the Music Educator Award and apply to the 2025 Music Educator Award program now.

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