F2F Music Foundation forms partnership with Gilbreath Communications to promote opportunities to aspiring young musicians

Can improvisation be taught? According to F2F Music Foundation, the answer is a definite yes. F2F Music Foundation, a Houston area-based non-profit performing arts organization, is teaming up with Gilbreath Communications, Inc., to encourage young people to pursue their full potential musically and academically.

Gilbreath will act as F2F’s public relations arm to inform young people and their parents about opportunities available through F2F. Founded by renowned contemporary jazz musician Vel Lewis, F2F works with local non-profit organizations and schools to identify and provide instruments to gifted, disadvantaged youth who are unable to afford their own instruments. The organization is currently focused on reaching musically inclined students in the Fort Bend Independent School District — with long-term goals of reaching young people throughout the Greater Houston area and across the United States.

Jazz and classical music are two genres widely recognized for being highly influential in other forms of music. F2F seeks to inspire students who are interested in music by providing them with the advantage of having their own instrument to perform on stage with professional musicians while simultaneously learning about jazz music in the United States and its influences worldwide. F2F’s other key goals include:

Reducing the academic performance gap between low-income and affluent students

Inspiring music students through jazz and its influence worldwide

Building bridges between cultures, regardless of ethnicity, religion or age

Enabling students to learn music techniques and key elements of the music industry

Equipping students with an industry business acumen and financial management strategies

F2F hosts clinics and workshops throughout the year to give its young music students the opportunity to learn directly from guest speakers and guest recording artists in informal sessions.

“Teaching musical improvisation is an art. It takes a combination of talent, confidence, flow, ingenuity and intuitiveness to successfully and gracefully pull off a freestyle,” says F2F Founder Vel

Lewis. “Many of the greats are able to improvise almost effortlessly. This ability requires practice and dedication. This is what F2F does.”

Gilbreath President and CEO Audrey Gilbreath is excited about her agency’s new partnership with F2F and embraces the chance to help aspiring young performers reach their full potential. “Music is a universal language and every child with the desire and the potential to excel in this pure art form deserves the opportunity.”