MILWAUKEE — On most days after school, Milwaukee-area high school student AJ heads to a recording studio. The space is adorned with a wallpaper collage of music posters and guitars hanging on the wall, and neon lights glowing from recording rooms equipped with professional-grade equipment and instruments.
“They taught me how to play guitar, piano, drums, how to read notes — stuff that I never thought I would be able to learn, I know it now,” AJ told WTMJ.
AJ is one of the first kids to take lessons at an after-school and summer program that’s filling a void in music education, thanks to an organization founded by the drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chad Smith. He chose Milwaukee to start the Chad Smith Foundation, and be the launch city for its After-School Music Program (AMP)…