Tom Rice: The Music Man’s Legacy
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Tom Rice’s passion for playing and creating music started at the young age of six. His love for music became a healing and therapeutic outlet for him throughout his childhood. The love for music grew stronger as he grew into adolescence and bought his first guitar, and into adulthood when he opened up The Gitfiddler (a music store in downtown Northville, Michigan) in 1973.
It gave Tom inner joy to be around others who shared the same love for music as he had. His other joy was to teach others how to play music. He had many students throughout the years of owning The Gitfiddler. His love for teaching continued on past the music store into teaching out of his home.
In 2011, Tom started teaching Corinne (see 1st video), a sweet 9 year old little girl who had the same musical passion as he. For 9 years Tom taught Corinne everything he knew about picking a guitar, along with teaching life lessons, and growing so close to her that she looked towards him as a father-figure. Corinne comes from a home where it is just her and her mother. As you can imagine, a single parent has to work extra hard to provide.
Over the years Corinne began mastering the guitar. The second video is of Corinne playing Landslide as a tribute to Tom in February 2019. Corinne is heading off to college in the fall of 2019 to study Musical Therapy. There she will learn what it takes to work with the sick and disabled in a way that music can heal and be therapeutic for them, just as it was healing and therapeutic for Tom throughout his life.
The funds we have and continue to raise will be built into an annual scholarship for someone who needs it to study something musical related. This year the fund/scholarship will go to Corinne for college to study Musical Therapy. It would give Tom the greatest joy in life to know that this money will go to her. In fact if he was here on Earth with us all, we all know he probably would give this money to her himself anyways, right out of his pocket.
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Please tell friends and family about raising money to create a scholarship in honor Tom Rice. We also will be selling the Tom Rice Gitfiddler t-shirts that the Rice family was wearing at the luncheon for $22 a piece and $25 a piece if you need it shipped via USPS. The extra proceeds will go towards the fund/scholarship. T-shirts come in all sizes from babies on up. Those women who order, please keep in mind that the women’s sizes are a fitted t-shirt and run a bit small.
The first deadline to order a t-shirt will be Friday March 8th. Please email over which gender shirt you want, a size, and your address. Accepted payments are check by mail made out to Amity Rice (please email for address), Venmo (@Amity-Rice), and PayPal ([email redacted]).
Thank you to all for the abundant amounts of love and support during this time. The hope is to make Tom proud by supporting a child who needs financial support so they can create a future for themselves that is centered around music.
If you would like to order a t-shirt or have any questions or concerns, please email [email redacted].
God Bless
The Rice Family
It gave Tom inner joy to be around others who shared the same love for music as he had. His other joy was to teach others how to play music. He had many students throughout the years of owning The Gitfiddler. His love for teaching continued on past the music store into teaching out of his home.
In 2011, Tom started teaching Corinne (see 1st video), a sweet 9 year old little girl who had the same musical passion as he. For 9 years Tom taught Corinne everything he knew about picking a guitar, along with teaching life lessons, and growing so close to her that she looked towards him as a father-figure. Corinne comes from a home where it is just her and her mother. As you can imagine, a single parent has to work extra hard to provide.
Over the years Corinne began mastering the guitar. The second video is of Corinne playing Landslide as a tribute to Tom in February 2019. Corinne is heading off to college in the fall of 2019 to study Musical Therapy. There she will learn what it takes to work with the sick and disabled in a way that music can heal and be therapeutic for them, just as it was healing and therapeutic for Tom throughout his life.
The funds we have and continue to raise will be built into an annual scholarship for someone who needs it to study something musical related. This year the fund/scholarship will go to Corinne for college to study Musical Therapy. It would give Tom the greatest joy in life to know that this money will go to her. In fact if he was here on Earth with us all, we all know he probably would give this money to her himself anyways, right out of his pocket.
_________________________________
Please tell friends and family about raising money to create a scholarship in honor Tom Rice. We also will be selling the Tom Rice Gitfiddler t-shirts that the Rice family was wearing at the luncheon for $22 a piece and $25 a piece if you need it shipped via USPS. The extra proceeds will go towards the fund/scholarship. T-shirts come in all sizes from babies on up. Those women who order, please keep in mind that the women’s sizes are a fitted t-shirt and run a bit small.
The first deadline to order a t-shirt will be Friday March 8th. Please email over which gender shirt you want, a size, and your address. Accepted payments are check by mail made out to Amity Rice (please email for address), Venmo (@Amity-Rice), and PayPal ([email redacted]).
Thank you to all for the abundant amounts of love and support during this time. The hope is to make Tom proud by supporting a child who needs financial support so they can create a future for themselves that is centered around music.
If you would like to order a t-shirt or have any questions or concerns, please email [email redacted].
God Bless
The Rice Family
Organizer
Amity Rice
Organizer
Lyon Township, MI