Josh Grier of Tapes ‘n Tapes on Music and Arts Education

How did you get into making music, and how did arts education (or lack thereof) affect you and your music?

I first got into playing music when I was a kid. I started playing the flute when I was seven. My brother had just started playing the piano, and I was jealous. We had some neighbors up the street whose kids played flute, so I decided that I wanted to play the flute. Luckily my parents were kind enough to indulge me. When I was 15 I started getting bored with just the flute, and I decided I wanted to learn to play guitar. One of my friend’s dad’s gave me some lessons and I just started playing guitar all of the time. It was pretty much the best thing ever.

I was lucky because my middle school and high school had good band and art programs. I really didn’t think much of it at the time. I just figured every school encouraged the kids to do what they wanted to do. A career in music was definitely something that my high school teachers presented as a viable option (which seemed totally normal, but I’ve since discovered was not necessarily typical of other people’s high school experience). So I think my educational experience definitely encouraged me to pursue music.

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