River Gladwin (RaptorCry), is a student in high school, living in the western part of Montana. River was born in Missoula, Montana on April 21, 2002. River grew up in Iowa, where his brother Athen was born. At around 6 years old River and his family moved back to Montana, where they have lived ever since.
In a small town named Stevensville, River picked up his first interest in music. In first grade, River as a confused young boy, had no idea what he was going to do with his life. Although, one day River had music class. A class where you would play a small instrument with many holes in it (recorder). River fell deeply in love with this class and the music. 
By fifth grade River was able to join band class in which you could play many different types of music and instruments as a class. River wanted to play all of the instruments so he had a hard time deciding which one to play.
The first instrument River picked up in band class was the trombone. It was hard for him to play this instrument since he was such a small kid and he couldn’t reach all of the hand positions. Therefore River switched to percussion because a few of his friends had enjoyed that instrument and he thought he would to. River enjoyed percussion and he stills plays percussion instruments today. About a year of percussion River decided to play the clarinet. He fell in love with the clarinet and today it is his main instrument.
In the seventh grade River transferred schools to find a more comfortable place to learn. River now goes to Corvallis Schools, about 15 minutes away from Stevensville. After transferring schools River started taking piano lessons and going to an after school program by the name of MAPS Media Institute.
River says, “ MAPS is where I started writing music. The people there are very welcoming, and they embraced my gift in music. If it wasn’t for MAPS, I would not be as far as I am today.”.
As of today River is still attending MAPS, still taking piano lessons, and is still finding his way through high school. River wants to be a musician and he is on his way to becoming one.

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