Welcome to Beyond the Grade, a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
Our vision is to provide music educational opportunities to at risk students, providing students valuable opportunities to learn from local music professionals.
Beyond the Grade is currently providing music education for Austin Independent School District and other Austin area private schools.
About the Founder, Mark Turk:
Born and raised in Alice TX, Mark Turk had spent his early years studying and performing music. Mark left Alice in 1995 to attend Texas State University in San Marcos TX. He studied business at the University however, he could not escape the allure of music. He began performing with local bands. Upon graduating, Mark moved to Austin Texas to be in the middle of the live music capital of the world.
For the next 10 years, Mark performed, recorded, and toured with local musicians. In 2007 Mark enrolled at MediaTech where he was certified in audio engineering and began music engineering. Since then, Mark has been teaching music classes for public and private schools, as well as private music lessons on bass, guitar, piano, and voice.
BEYOND THE GRADE IS BORN!
After working with at-risk students in AISD, and discovering the needs of music education in public schools, Mark saw how beneficial music was to these children. The students gained new friendships, attended classes more regularly and showed more interests in academics.
Beyond the Grade was started by Mark in 2014, to support the needs of his at-risk students in the Austin area school districts.