$10,000 used to travel to France

Freshman Leif Tilton is a skilled guitarist who has exceeded his guitar teachers’ expectations with his distinguished skills on the guitar.

Recently Tilton received an award from the Texas Commission on the Arts and Texas Culture that has given him the incredible opportunity to work on his guitar skills.

“It’s called the Young Master’s Award and it is given out every two years to eighth to eleventh grade students who all have disciplines all throughout the literature and visual arts; music, dance, and theatre,” guitar teacher Jody Moseley said. “The award was for $10,000 and it’ been spread over for two years through two different summers and during those summers, he is going to use that money to go study with an instructor in France.”

Tilton was shocked when he received the award and felt there could have been improvement but was happy overall.

“I was shocked because we put together a last minute video that was about twenty minutes long and it was done that night,” Tilton said. “I had to make a shortened version of a fourteen minute and eight minute song and I felt like I could have done better on the presentation.”

Not only did this award help Tilton,but he also, in a weird way, helped the guitar community establish their presence in the music education system.

“Some colleges still don’t give scholarship money out to guitars but now we have a kid who is a freshman and won $10,000 dollars as scholarship money,” Moseley said. “It’s definitely progress that guitars are growing into being a more authentic real instrument in the music education system.”