Chili Peppers' Drummer Chad Smith Lobbies for Music Education: Tours Washington, Teams up with NAAM, Fights for Funding in Public Schools

If it weren't for music classes in public schools, we may never have been exposed to the phenomenal drumming sounds in 'Chili Peppers' songs like "Californication" and "Under the Bridge."

'Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer Chad Smith notes the importance of music education in schools and is part of a group lobbying Congress this week. While touring the city of Washington, the musician fights for music funding in public schools, according to Rolling Stone, which helped get Smith to where he is today.

The 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, has joined forces with National Association of Music Merchants president and CEO Joe Lamond to promote music education in Washington, D.C. on behalf of comprehensive music education in U.S. public schools, reports San Diego Union Tribune.

The 51-year-old will spend the next couple of days, along with nearly 30 NAMM representatives, in our nation's capital & will meet with various politicians to make impassioned pleas on behalf of music education in the classroom. Smith attributes his current success in the music industry to the music classes that he took in school, notes CBS.

"NAMM asked me and I'm very honored to be part of this," Peppers drummer Smith said Tuesday from the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

"When they asked me to do it, I thought: 'You know what? This is a really important thing to go do and to advocate that young people be given the opportunity to be exposed to music in public schools as part of a core curriculum on the federal level.' I'm a prime example of that; I learned to play the drums in school, from fourth grade through high school. I never had private lessons and I'd never be doing what I am today, and be a professional musician, if it wasn't for my exposure to music through the public school system" he stated.

His visit to Washingron comes one week after Senate Democrats and House Republicans released opposing budgets, and at a time when the National Education Association union expects the sequester to slice more than $4 billion in spending from the Department of Education and Head Start, Stone reports.

"Right now, [music education] is in jeopardy, and they have the power to change it and do something good here for everybody and every kid," Smith tells the magazine. "If I didn't have music education in school, I probably would have ended up in jail or dead. And instead I ended up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

Further, the drummer said that music classes should be mandatory, not just an elective, because of the many benefits of music education including keeping kids off the streets and out of trouble, and giving children the building blocks to grow into successful confident adults. He even claimed that taking music classes can also help your love life.

Smith explained this point further by revealing that he met his first girlfriend in music class."This is crazy, I swear to you this is her real name, Julie Clamshell, fifth grade," he said. "She played the french horn."

On a more serious note, the musician continues on the importance of music education:

"Being able to play music with other people, there are so many dynamics that go into it. It gives you self-esteem and it's a really important part of growing up," he said. "Kids who are exposed to music in school show up to class more, they graduate more and they do better in their studies in other areas."

According to CBS, the 'Chili Peppers' drummer said fighting for music education is something he'll never stop doing.

"With the Peppers, we pretty much stay out of the political thing. But this is kind of a no-brainer," he said. "I just want to promote music and get young people playing music."

Smith will release an album with the indie-rockers Outernational later this year and expects to start work on the next Red Hot Chili Peppers record as soon as September. However his focus right now is on lobbying for music education funding in public schools while in Washington.