Scholarship award winner
2024 Scholarship Recipient Legendary musician B.B. King once said, “The Blues? It’s the mother of American music. That’s what it is—the source.” Blues music, to me, is about raw, honest emotion. As a drummer, playing the blues is not about being perfect. It’s not about complex meters for the sake of being difficult or showy. […]
2023 Scholarship Recipient Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been shy. Now, however, I feel more confident. The main reason for this is that I found my voice in a different way. Singing. I was born to parents that came to the U.S from the former Soviet Union as Jewish refugees. Since birth […]
2023 Scholarship Recipient Blues doesn’t mean music that is played in bars and at clubs in the background; Blues isn’t just a playlist that gets turned on in small town coffee shops. To me, Blues is a whole chunk of time that generations of African Americans poured themselves into. It has influenced so many genres […]
2023 Scholarship Recipient As someone who has been playing the clarinet for eight years and has participated in marching and concert band for my school, jazz and blues music has been very important in my life. Throughout marching and concert band, our school has featured numerous jazz and blues pieces that have been some of […]
2022 Scholarship Recipient Ethan Banning is a graduating Senior from Strongsville High School. When it was time to choose an instrument to play in 5th grade, he followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and played the trumpet. Ethan has played in his high school’s bands and symphony orchestra which both received perfect scores at […]
2022 Scholarship Recipient Cece Bettinger is a graduate of Solon High School in Solon, Ohio and currently attends Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio as an Early Childhood Education major with a Music minor. At Solon High School she was a four year member of the award winning Music in Motion show choir performing and competing […]
2022 Scholarship Recipient Having grown up in a music-loving family, Paul Taylor developed an appreciation for the blues at a young age. One grandfather played boogie woogie/blues piano and the other harmonica. His father and sister both played guitar and his uncle played bass and guitar. Family gatherings often revolved around listening to good music […]
Kelton D. Hale is one of this year’s Cleveland Blues Society scholarship recipients. After picking up the trumpet at age 6, Kelton’s passion for music grew steadily along with his age. He is a multi instrumentalist who played in concert band, orchestra, marching band, show choir band, and jazz band. He received the Exemplary Music […]
Joshua Wang is a graduate from Solon High School in Solon, Ohio. He was the lead drummer for his school’s top jazz band and for his school’s show choir, “Music in Motion.” He was also the principal clarinetist for his school’s wind ensemble, and section leader of the alto saxophones in marching band. He was […]
Giovanni “Gio” Castiglione is a 2020 graduate of Solon High School (Solon, Ohio). He is a 4-year member of Solon’s nationally-acclaimed “Music In Motion” Show Choir and served as dance captain for the group in 2020. He is also a 4-year member of the school’s elite 16 member a cappella Madrigals ensemble, a soloist with […]