{"id":760,"date":"2026-05-06T20:05:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T03:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/06\/my-birthday-wish\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T20:05:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T03:05:20","slug":"my-birthday-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/06\/my-birthday-wish\/","title":{"rendered":"my birthday wish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some of you have made music with me over the years. You know what being in the room with me is like. Since my birthday is coming up, I’m hoping you’ll take a moment to hear what I’m asking for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past year, I decided to start something new. I wanted to nurture spaces that are explicitly neurodiversity-affirming. I wanted to make music that reflects the histories and cultures of the communities I\u2019m in\u2014not a fixed repertoire, but a living one. I wanted more instruments, wider age ranges, and a room that doesn\u2019t sort people by developmental milestone or tax bracket. I wanted people to be able to attend as often as they like without paying more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I wanted to charge less than it costs to run the program, on purpose, knowing I\u2019d be fundraising constantly to fill the gap. For years I taught in programs I couldn\u2019t have afforded myself. That felt like a problem worth solving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter imeetswe. We\u2019re in our first year, and this is our Spring fundraising appeal. It would be a bait-and-switch to offer sliding scale classes and then only appeal at fundraising time to folks that are enrolled, so I’m reaching out to you. If any of this resonates\u2014as a donor, a sharer, or just someone who wants to know more\u2014I\u2019d love for you to take a look, and share widely. Thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
donate<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music-making belongs to everyone. Here\u2019s what I built to make this real\u2014and why I need your help this spring.\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"my birthday wish","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,5,6,14,26,15,9,4,39],"tags":[73,65,66,71,63,60,68,67,70,69,72,61,62,64,53],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-music","category-musicology","category-neighborhood","category-neurodiversity","category-personal-narrative","category-politics","category-reflection","category-ukulele","category-work","tag-accessibility","tag-berkeley","tag-caregiver","tag-community-music","tag-early-childhood","tag-east-bay","tag-family-music","tag-fundraising","tag-imeetswe","tag-music-education","tag-music-making","tag-neurodiversity","tag-nonprofit","tag-public-health","tag-sliding-scale"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paor1p-cg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":639,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/17\/neurodiverse-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":760,"position":0},"title":"neurodiverse community","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"September 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Affirming neurodiversity is recognizing that, in a musical space, one person is tuned into the soprano register, even though their voice presents in the bass register; 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