(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Two local music teachers have each received a $10,000 prize courtesy of the Barry Manilow Music Project.
During the 82-year-old pop star’s “Last Concerts” tour, which included stops in Boston and Providence in May, Manilow bestowed the awards to Jake Gabriszeski, assistant band director and percussion specialist for Somerville Public Schools, and Emerson Brown, Classical High School’s music teacher and band director.
Voters in Manilow’s online My Favorite Music Teacher determined the award winners in the contest.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Gabriszeski said he was “never expecting to win” but was overwhelmed by the experience of shaking Manilow’s hand on stage at TD Garden on May 28.
“I had numerous people either congratulate me or give their own story,” he said to the Globe. “Saying, you know, ‘I had a music teacher who was the reason I came to school. … I never got a chance to thank him, so I’m going to thank you.’ I mean, it had nothing to do with my own teaching — it was just about the power of music and of keeping it in schools.”
Brown also had a similar experience at Manilow’s May 27 concert in Rhode Island. Brown said he was stopped “every five steps on my way out of the venue, to the parking lot, and into my car” as audience members asked him to pose for photos and shared stories of their school music experiences with him.
Gabriszeski and Brown said they each plan to spend their cash awards on instruments for their students.
“For some kids, [music class] is the reason that they show up to school,” Gabriszeski said. “And a lot of these kids can’t afford private lessons, so we’re their sole access to music.”
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