AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) is known for bringing some major artists to the city, but that doesn't just mean adults.
The festival also has an "Austin Kiddie Limits" stage, where a number of talented young musicians get to showcase their talents as well.
Claire Warr, 14, has been doing music for the past seven years and performed this year.
"I started out with like, piano and then I was just like always singing And my piano teacher was like, ‘Do you want to sing?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, that's what I want to do,’” Warr said.
This year, Warr auditioned and made it into the house band at School of Rock in Austin. The house band practices almost every day and puts on a number of local performances.
"They're the hardest working kids,” said Travis Foster, the music director at School of Rock.
For the past 10 years, the School of Rock has been bringing that group of young musicians to perform at ACL.
“It's not just the music there. They're doing stagecraft, they're handling talking points during transitions. Like, everything that you need to know to be in a real working band of your own,” Foster said.
The 16 musicians in the house band practice daily for months before taking the Austin Kiddie Limits stage. And for many like Warr, it's a dream come true to perform there.
"I've been going to ACL for like pretty much my whole life,” Warr said. “Like, going there every couple of years and seeing the music, and I've always thought, ‘Oh, someday I will be on that stage.’”
Foster said it's a special feeling watching his students find confidence on the big stage.
"Seeing a kid go from never having played to taking the stage at ACL and watching them find their own power, it's just incredibly rewarding,” Foster said. "It's the most one of the most rewarding things I've ever had the pleasure to be a part of in my life."
Warr shares those same feelings, saying that music is everything to her.
"It's like, it's an art, and I feel like it's a big part of my nature to ... just perform and be seen and like, put my emotions out into the world,” Warr said.
The School of Rock band performed on Friday but will again take the Austin Kiddie Limits stage at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday.