VERONA -- When Warren Gramm started out as the music teacher at Academy I Middle School in Jersey City, he had to overcome a pretty sizable obstacle - the school didn't have any instruments.

"We were doing more traditional things, like music history and theory," Gramm said. But, he said, it was tough to get the kids engaged. So, nine years ago, when the school partnered with Verona-based non-profit "Little Kids Rock," he jumped at the opportunity to take part in a weekend-long training the organization was offering Jersey City teachers.

LKR founder, David Wish, said Gramm's story is not unlike the one that prompted him to form the music charity.

Wish was a first grade teacher in East Palo Alto, Calif. in the early 1990s when he started thinking of ways to incorporate music education into his students' school days. Without many resources, he started teaching his kids music basics through songs that were popular at the time, namely Backstreet Boys and Ricky Martin.

The class became so popular, that he was soon holding fundraisers to buy instruments, offering before and after school classes to other grades in the building, and having the kids write and perform their own songs that they recorded on CDs.

By 2002, the idea had become so popular that Wish left teaching to found Little Kids Rock, which partners with school districts across the country to bring popular music education to children who otherwise would not have the opportunity to learn music.

"We believe that every human is profoundly musical, it just has to be drawn out of you," Wish said in an interview about the program.

"We teach the music that inspires kids... (and) the impact of it is immediately visible to teachers."

The program operates by training teachers of all subjects how to teach music, and providing free instruments to the schools. Through teachers volunteering their time to learn and teach the curriculum, and an annual budget of about $6 million raised through grants and donations, Little Kids Rock has brought pop music education to about 500,000 students at 30 school districts across the country.

From its Verona office, LKR has sent trainers to more than 100 schools in New Jersey - including in districts like Newark, East Orange, Trenton, Elizabeth, and Montclair - and to hundreds of others across the nation.

It also brings its "Modern Band" curriculum to the schools, where kids can play in a group band that uses instruments like guitars and drums, and plays rock and rap music. The curriculum is sometimes used in addition to more traditional music programs in districts, and other times it becomes the music program, Wish said.

In an effort to continue to grow, the program has launched the online "Jam Zone," which contains video tutorials teaching kids about music and how to play popular instruments. It has also started a "Half a Million Music Makers fundraising campaign" to help support its spread to the next 500,000 kids.

Gramm said he has seen the difference the program has made in his students.

"In districts like Jersey City, it's tough. Money is tight. You don't always get the music (education) you'd hope for," he said. Thanks to LKR, he said, his students have not only had the opportunity to learn, but have played shows at venues like Carnegie Hall, and have had jam sessions alongside famous musicians, like Liberty DeVitto, the drummer for Billy Joel.

Wish said his goal is to provide those types of opportunities to more kids.

"We are trying to create a national movement," he said. "We want to introduce music into kids' lives in a way that will stick."

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.