Lifestyle
The music teacher who just won a Grammy says it belongs to her students
Virginia music educator Annie Ray poses in the press room during the 66th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Richard Shotwell/Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Richard Shotwell/Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Virginia music educator Annie Ray poses in the press room during the 66th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Richard Shotwell/Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Grammy Awards don’t only go to the people who produce and perform songs. For just over a decade, they’ve also been given out to those who teach others how to make music.
The Music Educator Award, presented by the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum, recognizes those who have made a “significant contribution and demonstrate a commitment to music education.”
This year it went to Annie Ray, the performing arts department chair and orchestra director at Annandale High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. She was honored for her efforts to make music accessible to all students, particularly those with disabilities.
Ray got to attend the awards ceremony in Los Angeles, take selfies with pop stars and bring home both a $10,000 prize and matching grant for her school’s music program. But speaking with NPR’s Morning Edition, she said she doesn’t consider the award to be hers at all.
“This is the students’ award,” she said. “I’m just lucky enough to have been a part of their journey and their process and to have been taught by them.”
Her orchestra teaches students more than just music
Ray created the Crescendo Orchestra for students with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as a parent orchestra that teaches nearly 200 caregivers a year to play the same instrument as their child.
She was inspired in large part by the diversity of the Annandale community, which she says represents over 60 countries, including many refugees and immigrants.
“There’s a lot of cultures that might typically clash, and they come together in this very beautiful harmony, for lack of a better word,” Ray explained. “And that’s really uniquely expressed in the orchestra classroom, where we’re just all music-ing together.”
Ray says the Crescendo Orchestra, which was born out of the pandemic, doesn’t necessarily share the social goals of a program like Best Buddies or the Special Olympics. The focus is on teaching students how to play an instrument, through one-on-one instruction tailored to their needs.
That involves tools like music scarves, egg shakers, rhythm sticks and cardboard instruments, according to a 2022 Washington Post profile of the orchestra. Ray also works with a local charity to give damaged instruments a second life in her classroom.
The orchestra is about much more than just making music, however. Ray says the program gives students a chance to develop their collaboration skills, make mistakes and learn the art of refining something.
“I really push my students to be bold, go outside their comfort zone and realize … we have to learn how to make bad sounds before we learn how to make good sounds,” she said.
And they teach her a lot in return — more in a day, she says, than she could ever teach them.
“They completely changed my educational philosophy and approach of what it truly means to meet a student where they’re at and apply that elsewhere,” she added. “I believe they have a truly powerful message to share with everyone, and especially with how we look at approaching music education and what that looks like.”
Music teachers change lives, says Meryl Streep (among many others)
Ray, who comes from a family of musicians and has played harp since the age of five, knows firsthand the impact that a great teacher can make on their students.
“That’s why I am where I am, is because a teacher changed my life and made me want to be a music educator,” she said.
And she learned at the Grammys — where she met the likes of Taylor Swift and Oprah — that many of the most famous performers in the world feel the same.
“I got to speak with Meryl Streep for a moment, and she told me that a music educator changed her life,” Ray said. “And that was really touching, because if I could change and just touch one student’s life, I’ve done what I wanted to do.”
Ray was honored at the Recording Academy’s merit award ceremony on Saturday and attended the Grammys on Sunday. She says many of the musicians she met at the Grammys were excited to offer congratulations — and potentially even collaborate.
Eilish offered to make a video for her students, while SZA crashed her backstage interview to pass a message to them directly: “Stay in school and listen to everything she says.”
For now, Ray adds, her kids are loving all the selfies she’s sent them.
Ray says her warm reception was especially meaningful because not many people understand what exactly music educators do in the classroom or how much their work matters. She says while her administration is supportive, that lack of understanding is one of the biggest challenges facing the profession in general.
Another challenge, of course, is resources. She says her school “desperately” needs new instruments, especially low string instruments like the bass and cello. Ray says she will use some of her grant money to buy more.
“So when I found out that was a part of the equation, which I did not know, it was just overwhelming,” she added. “We’ve been trying to raise money all year for new cellos. And I was like, ‘Well, problem solved.’”
Ray also plans to put some of the money towards an ongoing scholarship for students who want to pursue music when they graduate, in any capacity. She knows of several who want to go into music education themselves, which she finds especially rewarding.
“It is a hard profession, but it’s one that is truly, deeply personal and gratifying,” Ray said. “And there’s nothing else like it.”
The broadcast interview was produced by Milton Guevara and Paige Waterhouse, and edited by Alice Woelfle.
Jessie Buckley has been nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her portrayal of William Shakespeare’s wife in Hamnet.
Kate Green/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Kate Green/Getty Images
Actor Jessie Buckley says she’s always been drawn to the “shadowy bits” of her characters — aspects that are disobedient, or “too much.” Perhaps that’s what led her to play Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare, in Hamnet.
Buckley says the film, which is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, offered a chance to counter a common narrative about the playwright’s wife: that she “had kept him back from his genius,” Buckley says.
But, she adds, “What Maggie O’Farrell so brilliantly did, not just with Agnes and Shakespeare’s wife, but also with Hamnet, their son, was to bring these people … and give them status beside this great man. … [And] give the full landscape of what it is to be a woman.”
The film is nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best actress for Buckley. In it, she plays a woman deeply connected to nature, who faces conflicts in her marriage, as well as the death of their son Hamnet.
Buckley found out she was pregnant a week after the film wrapped. She’s since given birth to her first child, a daughter.
“The thing that this story offered me, that brought me into this next chapter of my life as a mother was tenderness,” she says. “A mother’s tenderness is ferocious. To love, to birth is no joke. To be born is no joke. And the minute something’s born into the world, you’re always in the precipice of life and death. That’s our path. … I wanted to be a mother so much that that overrode the thought of being afraid of it.”
Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes and Joe Alwyn plays her brother Bartholomew in Hamnet.
Courtesy of Focus Features/Courtesy of Focus Features
hide caption
toggle caption
Courtesy of Focus Features/Courtesy of Focus Features
Interview highlights
On filming the scene where she howls in grief when her son dies
I didn’t know that that was going to happen or come out, it wasn’t in the script. I think really [director] Chloé [Zhao] asked all of us to dare to be as present as possible. Of course, leading up to it, you’re aware this scene is coming, but that scene doesn’t stand on its own. By the time I’d met that scene, I had developed such a deep bond with Jacobi Jupe, who plays Hamnet, and [co-stars] Paul [Mescal] and Emily Watson, and all the children and we really were a family. And Jacobi Jupe who plays Hamnet is such an incredible little actor and an incredible soul, and we really were a team. …
The death of a child is unfathomable. I don’t know where it begins and ends. Out of utter respect, I tried to touch an imaginary truth of it in our story as best I could, but there’s no way to define that kind of grief. I’m sure it’s different for so many people. And in that moment, all I had was my imagination but also this relationship that was right in front of me with this little boy and that’s what came out of that.
On what inspired her to pursue singing growing up
I grew up around a lot of music. My mom is a harpist and a singer and my dad has always been passionate about music, so it was always something in our house and always something that was encouraged. … Early on, I have very strong memories of seeing and hearing my mom sing in church and this quite intense mercurial conversation that would happen between her, the story and the people that would listen to her. And at the end of it, something had been cracked between them and these strangers would come up with tears in their eyes. And I guess I saw the power of storytelling through my mom’s singing at a very young age, and that was definitely something that made me think I want to do that.
On her first big break performing as a teen on the BBC singing competition I’d Do Anything — and being criticized by judges about her physical appearance
I was raw. I hadn’t trained. I had a lot to learn and to grow in. I was only 17. I think there was part of their criticism which I think was destructive and unfair when it became about my awkwardness, or they would say I was masculine and send me to kind of a femininity school. … They sent me to [the musical production of] Chicago to put heels on and a leotard and learn how to walk in high heels, which was pretty humiliating, to be honest, and I’m sad about that because I think I was discovering myself as a young woman in the world and wasn’t fully formed. … I was different. I was wild, I had a lot of feeling inside me. I could hardly keep my hands beside myself and I think to kind of criticize a body of a young woman at that time and to make her feel conscious of that was lazy and, I think, boring.
On filming parts of the 2026 film The Bride! while pregnant
I really loved working when I was pregnant. I thought it was a pretty wild experience, especially because I was playing Mary Shelley and I was talking about [this] monstrosity, and here I was with two heartbeats inside me. Becoming a mom and being pregnant did something, I think, for me. My experience of it, it’s so real that it really focuses [me to be] allergic to fake or to disconnection.
Since my daughter has come and I know what that connection is and the real feeling of being in a relationship with somebody … as an actress, it’s very exciting to recognize that in yourself and really take ownership of yourself.
I’m excited to go back and work on this other side of becoming a mother in so many ways, because I’ve shed 10 layers of skin by loving more and experiencing life in such a new way with my daughter. I’m also scared to work again because it’s hard to be a mother and to work. That’s like a constant tug because I love what I do and I’m passionate and I want to continue to grow and learn and fill those spaces that are yet to be filled — and also be a mother. And I think every mother can recognize that tug.
On the possibility of bringing her daughter to travel with her as she works
I haven’t filmed for nearly a year and I cannot wait. I’m hungry to create again. And my daughter will come with me. She’s seven months, so at the moment she can travel with us and it’s a beautiful life. And she meets all these amazing people and I have a feeling that she loves life and that’s a great thing to see in a child. And I hope that’s something that I’ve imparted to her in the short time that she’s been on this earth is that life is beautiful and great and complex and alive and there’s no part of you that needs to be less in your life. You might have to work it out, but it’s worth it.
Lauren Krenzel and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
Bruce Campbell
I’m Battling Cancer
Published
Bruce Campbell has revealed he has cancer, but says it’s a type that’s treatable, though not curable.
“The Evil Dead” actor shared the news Monday in a message to fans, writing, “Hi folks, these days, when someone is having a health issue, it’s referred to as an ‘opportunity,’ so let’s go with that — I’m having one of those.” He continued, “It’s also called a type of cancer that’s ‘treatable’ not ‘curable.’ I apologize if that’s a shock — it was to me too.”
Campbell said he wouldn’t go into further detail about his diagnosis, but explained his work schedule will be changing. “Appearances and cons and work in general need to take back seat to treatment,” he wrote, adding he plans to focus on getting “as well as I possibly can over the summer.”
As a result, Campbell says he has to cancel several convention appearances this summer, noting, “Treatment needs and professional obligations don’t always go hand-in-hand.”
He says his plan is to tour this fall in support of his new film, “Ernie & Emma,” which he stars in and directs.
Ending on a determined note, Campbell told fans, “I am a tough old son-of-a-bitch … and I expect to be around a while.”
Neve Campbell in Scream 7.
Paramount Pictures
hide caption
toggle caption
Paramount Pictures
The OG Scream Queen Neve Campbell returns. Scream 7 re-centers the franchise back on Sidney Prescott. She has a new life, a family, and lots of baggage. You know the drill: Someone dressing up as the masked slasher Ghostface comes for her, her family and friends. There’s lots of stabbing and murder and so many red herrings it’s practically a smorgasbord.
Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture
War in the Middle East: Iran’s broad retaliation in the Gulf • FRANCE 24 English
Bruce Campbell announces cancer diagnosis; ‘Fear not,’ he tells fans
Vigil held for 2-year-old girl killed in SF Mission Bay crash
Dallas Fed says ‘older, experienced workers’ likely have less cause for concern about AI job displacement
Miami Heat-Brooklyn Nets Injury Report, Betting Lines, How to Watch, Lineups & More
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
War in the Middle East: Iran’s broad retaliation in the Gulf • FRANCE 24 English
Trump sends official notification to Congress on strikes against Iran
Unexpected birth brings hope to near-extinct Amazon tribe
Supreme Court blocks redrawing of New York congressional map, dealing a win for GOP
Map: Earthquake Shakes Central California
-
World5 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts6 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Denver, CO6 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Louisiana1 week agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Politics1 week agoOpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT
-
Technology1 week agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making
-
Oregon4 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling
-
Technology1 week agoArturia’s FX Collection 6 adds two new effects and a $99 intro version