The Best He Can Be
For Lucas Stephenson, the Board Director and Founder of the local non-profit Kid Rocker, teaching music through study and public performances, including for free for at-risk youths, music is an underrated tool that can help bring hope, peace and confidence.
Stephenson believes music is within everyone. “Music is in every human being. . . . I believe every human being has a hit song inside of them,” he said.
Growing up, Stephenson, himself, did not always have the resources to attend music lessons or own a musical instrument. Music became an outlet and a resource for Stephenson to change his perspective on life. The determined Stephenson knew he felt a sense of belonging when it came to music, so he learned guitar from his friends and began to play in different bands.
After working numerous jobs, Stephenson discovered teaching music was where he thrived. Stephenson has persevered through many obstacles so he is undaunted when it comes to new challenges, including musicians having to deal with the COVID-19 landscape and teaching via Zoom.
Stephenson was only born with one hand; therefore, learning to play instruments meant climbing over more walls than most others had to. Stephenson experienced periods of self-doubt, not knowing if he would be the best teacher, but he decided he would be the best teacher he could be.
“I just know that I have been the type of person who has never let anyone tell me I can't do something,” he said.
Many people told Stephenson that his story of learning to play with one hand could motivate others. Stephenson discovered that he is a skilled music teacher because “I can honestly tell people that they can accomplish this (playing an instrument). I can look at them and honestly say, dude, you can do this. Believe me, you can do this.”
Motivating Others Through his Own Accomplishments
Stephenson describes hallmark moments when people realize that he is playing with one hand. People “will be like, wow, that was really inspiring. I can't believe you have one hand, and you did that. And I often thought to myself, you know, I wish there was a way for me to communicate to people with two hands that that's really nice of them to say to me, but what I would much rather see is them inspire me.”
From their spiffy Instagram page, you can tell Kid Rocker is not just another music program, with plenty of colorful and full of passion posts, calling for volunteer help, to be able to teach at low rates, and offering scholarships and instruments, for those who are growing up with financial hurdles.
“Kid Rocker is a real grass-root driven thing. . . . We're literally here working hard to try to make our community better as a whole,” he said. “ My main focus was so kids that didn’t have, that were in certain financial situations, I could get them music instructions, plus the benefits of music and learning an instrument for your brain.”
The scholarships are all community donated.
“People who can pay for kids to get lessons to support the rest of their community in a beautiful way. Through families and local businesses, we can get 200 at-risk youth in our community, one-on-one music instruction for a year,” he said. “That's giving them a human being who can mentor them and support them in more than just music because you're not just a music teacher. I mean, my students tell me about their life. They want to share things with me. I think music has an interesting power that if you are feeling stressed if you are feeling overwhelmed with life, I mean, we all know this, flip on a song and all of a sudden you're like, Oh, okay, I can breathe again.”
Relying on Community’s Help for his Worthwhile Endeavor
Stephenson recalls various times where he witnessed the impact his program can have.
“It's the confidence that's built over learning to play that instrument,” he said. “The first rule of Kid Rockers is that we cannot teach you anything. We can only show you. That's a very important lesson because that's learning. That's how all learning occurs. I am just the professor; I can't force information into a child's head. I can only show them what I know. And then they go and do their homework, they study their instrument, and they learn. They essentially teach themselves. I try to help them understand that they really got there on their own.”
Part of the program also includes putting on a group concert every eight weeks. “When you're in a band, you have to listen to the other players,” he explained of the importance of this method. “You have to be considerate of them. You can't walk on their part or all over what they're doing. You have to stay in your lane and listen, be courteous. You’re working together to make one big beautiful sound, and after (the performance), you feel this empowerment or this sense of accomplishment or this rush of energy that you just got up and did something that a lot of people are afraid to do.”
Stephenson hopes Kid Rocker “will elevate kids' perspectives in such a way that they will be able to see those greater heights and dream a little bit bigger. I believe that by reaching out to these kids and affecting their life in such a way, they can help bring about a better future, a better community.” But for that he says he does need the community to keep supporting his program, and he invites anyone with generosity and time to help him build this musical panacea.