Chas Grasamke — 36 Year Veteran Instructor at Musicians Institute Guitar Program (GIT) Announces Retirement

Chas in 1987

Beloved instructor, fingerstylist, Beatles specialist, and essential member of the Musicians Institute family– Chas Grasamke has hung up his teacher’s hat for the last time at MI in order to “pick a few” on his own.

Initially as one of the very first graduates of GIT (class of 1977-78), and then as a faculty member for 36 years;  Chas is known for his extraordinary patience, encouragement, great finger style chops and eternally sunny outlook.  Chas has been an inspiring teacher and mentor to several thousand MI students, and over the years he taught many essential courses including: Guitar Reading, Coffeehouse LPW, Intro to Guitar, Lifemanship, Private and Open Counseling Sessions. Incredibly, over the course of 36 years at MI, Chas missed only one day of teaching and never took time off for vacation.

Accompanied by an ever present smile, cup of coffee and trusty nylon string guitar– Chas is truly “one of a kind” and will be deeply missed by all of us at MI, who just want to say “thanks for coming in today”, and we honor Chas for his many years serving as the soul and conscience of GIT.  It’s been a great ride…thanks Chas!

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The Musicians Foundation & Musicians Institute Co-Sponsor Grammy Museum Class with Linus Lau and Naveen Singh

 

Linus Lau and Naveen Singh with Analog Film Strip

Today, over 200 high school and middle school students were treated to a very informative and highly entertaining class:  Making Your Own Music Video taught by Musicians Institute’s own Linus Lau and Naveen Singh at The Grammy Museum.

200 Students on the 5th Floor of The Grammy Museum

 Now in our fourth year of co-sponsoring classes that span contemporary music styles, sampling, beatmaking, film composing, music technology, music business, songwriting, music video creation and rhythm workshops– we are proud to have shared the expertise, diverse knowledge and incredible talents of MI’s faculty with more than 5,000 high school and middle school students from the greater LA area.

Volunteers for the Original Music Video

Everybody got an Acting Credit

Our 2014 series of classes at The Grammy Museum will resume again in May with a focus on Careers in Music:

Tuesday May 6^th and Tuesday May 27^th: Music Business Careers: Dan Kimpel & Aaron Meza

Tuesday May 13^th: Writing Music for Film and Television:  Mark Cross

 Tuesday May 20^th: Hook, Lines & Sinkers – A Pop Lyric Writing Workshop: Anika Paris

 

We support the power of music education!

Our Executive Director Joins Little Kids Rock Advisory Board!

From our Executive Director (and VP at MI), Beth Marlis  “Let’s make more music and serve it up to more kids!  The Musicians Foundation is gaining a great new partner, and you can help with a small donation directly to Little Kids Rock to keep music in our schools.

I’m honored and excited to join the LA Area Council Advisory Board for Little Kids Rock.  They do amazing work in public schools where music and art has been severely cut, reaching 300,000 K-12 students nationally and 137 schools in LA area alone.”

Official Announcement: http://www.littlekidsrock.org/la-council

The Musicians Foundation & Musicians Institute co-sponsor Grammy Museum Class with DJ Sputnik

Today, over 150 high school and middle school students were treated to a very informative and highly entertaining class:  Introduction to Today’s DJ Techniques taught by Musicians Institute’s own DJ Charlie Sputnik at The Grammy Museum.

Now in our fourth year of co-sponsoring classes that span contemporary music styles, sampling, beatmaking, film composing, music technology, music business, songwriting, music video creation and rhythm workshops– we are proud to have shared the expertise, diverse knowledge and incredible talents of MI’s faculty with more than 5,000 high school and middle school students from the greater LA area.

We’re keeping our fingers on the pulse of the music industry, and continue to open the door of opportunity and creative experience thru the power of music education!

MF Exec. Director to Moderate Post-Screening Q&A with Classical Guitar Great: Sharon Isbin March 31st

We are delighted to announce that our Executive Director (and VP at MI), Beth Marlis will moderate the post-screening Q&A for the inspiring new documentary “SHARON ISBIN: TROUBADOUR” for the LA Chapter of The Recording Academy on March 31st.

Please don’t miss this one and RSVP to the LA Chapter for this PRIVATE, INVITATION only screening (you must be a Recording Academy member)!

Here’s a 4 minute excerpt of the film: 

This documentary portrait of the world’s premier classical guitarist shows us a trailblazing performer and teacher who over the course of her career has broken through numerous barriers to rise to the top of a traditionally male-dominated field. The film explores what it takes to nurture a dream against all odds to become a world class musician.