'American Idol' winner Scotty McCreery has shown he's serious about education. The North Carolina State student is not only committed to his academic studies while performing on his first headlining tour --- he's also demonstrated his support of music programs in public schools.

The CMA Awards nominee hosted the annual CMA Keep the Music Playing concert in Nashville this week and presented a whopping $1.2 million check to Nashville area school music programs. He also performed Garth Brooks' 'The River' along with some of the students. McCreery tells WWGP, “It’s great for an event like this to be supplementing that or helping that out... especially those kids growing up that want to play those instruments and are trying to learn, but may not have the resources. This is great for that.”

The 'Suntan' singer, who is currently working on his sophomore album, details the importance of music education in his own life, saying, “I was in school music my entire life.  Started in elementary school, middle school, high school. That was definitely a huge part in my musical background and my foundation and everything."

According to CMIL, the money McCreery presented raises the CMA’s Keep the Music Playing support of music education in Nashville from $5.3 million to more than $6.5 million, and has been used to enhance the music departments of all 144 Metro Nashville Public Schools.

The donation was raised from ticket sales to the 2012 CMA Music Festival, which featured performances from students it benefits, and McCreery will be playing at the 2013 concert this June, shortly after his Weekend Roadtrip Tour finishes up.

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