05 Berklee Lollapalooza Scholarships Awarded

Since 2011, a partnership between Lollapalooza and Berklee has resulted in scholarship awards for 12 outstanding musicians. Max Grazier is the 2015 recipient of the Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship, a four-year, full-tuition award that brings him to Berklee in the fall. Clarence McBounds has been awarded the Berklee Lollapalooza Five-Week Scholarship to attend the program this summer.

The relationship is a win for everyone: high school students receive scholarships, Berklee artists get to perform on the same stage as the biggest artists in the world, and Berklee students produce a silent concert at Kidzapalooza, said Jeff Dorenfeld, the Berklee music business/management professor who developed the partnership with Lollapalooza producers C3 Presents. The first Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship recipient, David Stewart, will become the first in his family to graduate from college next year.

The partnership also gives Berklee student band Kyle Thornton and the Company the opportunity to perform at Lollapalooza 2015. Read more about students performing at summer festivals.

Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship After a process that included auditions in cities across the U.S., Berklee chose guitarist Max Grazier to receive the full-tuition Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship. In the spirit of Lollapalooza, the college aimed to find not only an outstanding musical talent, but also a musician with charisma, energy, and a strong interest in rock music who aspires to a performance career.

Grazier is an 18-year-old guitarist from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Grazier began studying piano at Portsmouth Music and Arts Center, founded by his parents. He picked up guitar at the age of 8 and soon started writing songs. In 2007, Grazier began participating in The RPM Challenge, where the goal is to write and record an album in one month. In his first RPM, his band was featured on NPR's All Things Considered and NECN. The challenge sparked Grazier's interest in recording engineering, and he has since recorded, mixed, and mastered more than 25 albums many released on his own label, Fortune Cookie Records.

Grazier attended Berklee's Five-Week Summer Performance Program in 2014. Berklee was always my top choice because I can literally do anything I want in music there, and being someone who plays lots of instruments in many styles, this was always the place for me, said Grazier. I love every aspect of music and I believe in order to be the best at what you do, you should know everything about what you plan on doing. Education is key for success. Grazier plans to study recording engineering and take songwriting classes.

The Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship is endowed by Goldman Sachs Gives, a donor-advised fund. The scholarship was established at the recommendation of Berklee trustee Fran Bermanzohn, managing director and deputy general counsel of Goldman Sachs.

Berklee Lollapalooza Five-Week Scholarship Clarence McBounds, a drummer from Chicago, Illinois, is the recipient of the Berklee Lollapalooza Five-Week Scholarship, awarded annually to a Chicago-area musician. At this year s Five-Week Summer Performance Program (July 11-August 14), he joins more than 1,000 teens from all over the world who are sharpening their skills in private lessons, ensembles, and concerts.

At 17, McBounds has already performed with Grammy Award-winner Sugar Blue at various clubs in Chicago. He also played with the Platinum Band the band of legendary singer Tyrone Davis who had three No. 1 hits on the Billboard R&B charts at the 2014 Chicago Blues Fest. In 2014, McBounds attended a blues camp at Chicago's Columbia College led by Fernando Jones. He attends a high school magnet arts program at Chicago's Gallery 37 Center for the Arts and has played at many events and parades as part of his school's marching band.

I have known about Lollapalooza for years and dream of having the opportunity to play on one of its stages someday, said McBounds. Musical education is the foundation of excellence. I want to master my instrument so I can take the stage with the knowledge that I am prepared for any music put before me. These five weeks will be an introduction to greater possibilities and I look forward to the challenge eagerly.

Students Host Silent Concert at Kidzapalooza Students from Berklee's student-run Heavy Rotation Records will host a silent concert at Kidzapalooza, Lollapalooza s family-friendly fest within the fest. The silent concert is a popular attraction where the students are paired with kids on instruments including bass, guitar, keyboard, and drums that they play while wearing headphones. The instruments are connected to a laptop with Pro Tools and outboard gear through which a student mixes and engineers the concert. The engineer then sends the performance out to mixer/amps for the players and audience to listen to through headphones.

Margot Edwards is a manager in the Office of Media Relations. Media inquiries: medwards@berklee.edu.

LINK:	https://www.berklee.edu/news/2015-berklee-lollapalooza-scholarships-aw...
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