Joy of Music School

Music Notes – Newsletter

Monthly Archives: April 2017


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The Joy of Performing

It’s fun and there’s food! The annual Joy of Music School Spring Recital takes place Saturday, May 6, at 2 p.m. All are welcome at the Scottish Rite Temple, located at 612 16th Street in Knoxville. Be charmed by the talent and dedication of our kids, all 65 of whom have earned a spot on the recital lineup via audition.

Enjoy solo and ensemble performances on instruments ranging from piano to voice, from trombone to flute. Plus, we’ll play original song mixes produced and recorded by students.

When the music ends, there’s still more in store. Join us in the dining hall for a picnic style dinner. Bring your ears for listening, your hands for clapping and your appetite for celebrating! Admission is free!

 

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Office Space Available – Fantastic, Convenient Location!

  • 2,870 square feet of Class B office space (Expandable with adjacent 1,500 sf).
  • Easy access to I-40/75, downtown.
  • Tenant signage is visible to 1 million cars per week.
  • Large reception/common area, 5 private offices, boardroom, two large work-rooms/offices, common restrooms, kitchen/break room.
  • Quiet building. Large parking lot. Glass lobby with elevator.
  • Highly responsive landlord on site.
  • Rent supports Joy of Music School programs.

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Keeping the Beat Alive

Fidelis at the drums

“No, it’s not super loud,” says Ruth Felix. “It’s in the garage.”

She’s talking about the drum set her son Fidelis, a sixth grader at Northwest Middle School, is happily pounding away on.

Fidelis is a student at the Joy of Music School and found out late last year that he’d get to bring a drum set home with him. Until then, as a beginner, he’d been using sticks and a practice pad to work on drumming hand exercises.

“He was doing really well in lessons and it was time for him to get a set,” says Mike Allen, his volunteer teacher at the School.

The Joy of Music School makes drum sets and other instruments available to our students much like libraries lend out books. Students promise to take care of them while getting lessons at the School and return them when they’re done.

Fidelis says he was excited about getting to take a set to his home. His favorite types of music are gospel and hip hop.

Fidelis has already made great strides since setting up the drums in his garage, says his teacher. “He’s gone from ‘I don’t know how to do this’ to sitting down and playing some very nice rhythmic patterns and exercises incorporating not just his hands but his feet.”

Mike imagines a happy future for Fidelis in drumming. “Every time I show him something he can’t do,” he says, “he can do it by the end of the lesson.”

 

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Letter from the Executive Director

Francis Graffeo

Usually this spot is a letter to everyone, but this one is different. I hope you understand.

Dear Marilyn,

Your late husband and our founder, James Dick, was and is an inspiration to countless people; you know how special he was. But I’d like to say how grateful we are to you. This organization, and this community, would be a much poorer place without you. Your spirit propels children, families, volunteers, administrators, and board members to create more, mentor more, do more, and be more.

What an example you set! You make time for us when we call seeking advice, you participate in our special events, and, like an angel on earth, you’re there for us when we need help. Remember the School’s badly overdue facelift? The new carpet, paint, repairs? That was mostly you.

Not only do you give generously, you regularly increase your giving. Your influence is greater than you know. All your children and their spouses are donors. We often receive donations from admirers of yours in the Knoxville area and even from out of state. Your grandson is a board member!

Our gratitude for your contributions is a given. But honestly, we are grateful simply to be in your sphere. All of us hope to put your goodwill to work in productive, ennobling, joyful ways. We will do our best. For you, we could not consider anything less.

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Francis Graffeo

Executive Director

 

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Our Star-Spangled Students

Tevan, Michael and their teacher, Myron Percy, on the ice.

It all started when the Knoxville Ice Bears asked the School if we’d like to perform the national anthem at an upcoming hockey game at the Knoxville Coliseum. We turned to Myron Percy, a volunteer trombone teacher, who composed an arrangement of the “Star-Spangled Banner” for three trombones. Michael, a ninth grader at Heritage High School in his first year at JoMS, and Tevan, a Powell High School 11th grader, worked hard with their teacher, knowing they would be appearing before thousands of sports fans. When the day arrived, the trio carefully trod to center ice, took their place in the glaring spotlight and delivered a rousing rendition of the anthem followed by enthusiastic applause. Fortunately, none of our sliphorn soloists slipped on the ice—or on any notes!

Well done, gentlemen!

 

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School’s In for the Summer

Alex and his Violin

We’ve always known JoMS student Alex had a special talent for violin—and now the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts is confirming it.

Alex recently found out he’d passed the Governor’s School’s super-competitive audition and will attend the four-week residency program this June at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. Alex, 16, is a junior at Karns High School and has been a student at JoMS since 2011. He studies with volunteer teacher Stan Smith. He performs with the Karns High School Orchestra and in the Chamber Orchestra of the Knoxville Youth Orchestra Program.

Gov. Lamar Alexander founded the School for the Arts in 1984, creating a program for gifted high school students that would rival the nation’s best summer arts schools. Students in the instrumental music program participate in orchestra or piano ensemble and take classes in theory, conducting, improvisation, and world music.

He is very much looking forward to his summer. Says Alex: “I heard a lot of good things about Governor’s School from other kids who attended, so I was very excited when I got the acceptance letter with the full scholarship and everything!”

 

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Lights, Camera, Joy!

Scott Minor, Frank Graffeo, Dave Huntley and Geoff Proud

You never get a second chance at a first impression, as the saying goes. That’s why, with former Board President Geoff Proud’s help, we enlisted a top director, sound engineer and cameraman to create the newest videos that will be up on our web site soon.

Geoff, an experienced writer and television producer, directed. He enlisted the volunteer help of Dave Huntley, a camera operator from Philadelphia, and Knoxville’s own Scott Minor, audio engineer. This dream team met with JoMS Executive Director Frank Graffeo and a string of kids, parents, teachers and donors one day recently to capture their testimonials on video.

We are grateful to everyone who gave their time on this super-important project. Keep an eye on our website, http://www.joyofmusicschool.org, for these revealing, heartfelt and very high-quality interviews.

 

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Ashley Capps Q&A

Ashley Capps

A portion of every ticket sold to Knoxville’s annual Big Ears music festival goes to the Joy of Music School. And the connection doesn’t stop there. As part of its “Little Ears” program, festival founder Ashley Capps and his team have encouraged musicians performing at Big Ears to lead demonstrations for our students and even drop by our School for rehearsals. Talk about a learning opportunity!

Q: Was it a happy accident that our School and Big Ears have a connection that goes beyond a financial donation, or was it by design?

A: It’s by design! Obviously raising money is important, but also the exposure is so vital. When I was a kid, my parents took me to see the Duke Ellington Orchestra with Johnny Hodges at the Civic Coliseum. They took me to see the Dave Brubeck Quartet. They also took me to see the Monkees and Paul Revere and the Raiders, and my cousin took me to see James Brown when he was supposed to be babysitting for me. Those experiences just opened up a whole world of possibility to me.

Q: And now with Little Ears, you’re paying it forward?

A: It’s a no-brainer. Big Ears offers an opportunity for young people to become exposed to some of the greatest artists in the world. You’re bringing these world-class artists to Knoxville, Tenn., that people are normally seeing in Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall or Disney Hall in L.A. or the Barbican in London. That’s an opportunity we can’t let pass by. To me it’s a natural question to ask, how can this benefit the community? How can it be transformational for the community? Young people are a key part of that transformation.

Q: It seems like one of the messages of Big Ears is “music can be whatever you want it to be.” Do you agree?

A: Creativity is about imagining new possibilities and bringing them to fruition. Big Ears is about that. But it’s also about breaking down what I see as very artificial boundaries: the boundaries between the sacred status of classical music, say, and the general practice of music in a small club. There’s so much access to information in our culture now and that has helped to break down these barriers. You have these extraordinarily gifted young musicians who may be playing with the symphony orchestra and two hours later they’re in a rock club playing with their rock band. And they’re equally committed to both projects. And actually bring important qualities to the performance of each. For a long time, things were really compartmentalized. We’re trying to open up those boxes, if you will, and extend some of the connections and explore some of the connections.

Q: We’d love to see a JoMS student perform at Big Ears one day. Could you make that happen?

A: I would love that! I feel like we’re just scratching the surface of this relationship and what its potential is. But it’s something we hope to see evolve over the years.

We do, too. Many thanks Ashley!

 

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Stretching Our Reach

Nathan Smith teaches our first
rural outreach class at Steekee
Elementary School in Loudon.

We’d like to thank the Clayton Family Foundation for its support of our new Rural Outreach Program, which we expect will deliver hundreds of music classes to never-before-served underprivileged communities throughout East Tennessee.

We aim to add 125 classes in five new locations this year, starting in Loudon County. Plans for year two include an increase to 225 classes. They’ll be taught by contracted teacher/artists as well as volunteers. The Clayton Foundation funding pays for teacher contracts, travel, musical instruments, and storage for the instruments.

We believe strongly in the power of the art and discipline of music—even in hard-to-reach places—to change lives and communities.

 

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Why We’re Fond of Ronda

Ronda Mostella: Learning music makes children “see the world differently.”

Ronda Mostella had a son, then just 8, who was showing a real talent for music. So she sought out a piano teacher for him. Happily for us, she found the Joy of Music School in the Knoxville phone book and gave us a ring. (This was 16 years ago, when people still used phone books!)

“The people there were so gracious and so interested in my son,” Ronda recalls. “They gave him the tools he needed to succeed in music and in life. They were stabilizing.”

Ronda’s son is Taber Gable, who recently graduated from the famed Juilliard School with a master’s degree and now travels the world as a professional jazz pianist.

That first phone call began an affectionate and important relationship that continues today. Not only did Ronda bring Taber and his siblings, Dwayne and Rymelle, to the School as students, she came to work for us as a music education teacher. For several years, Ronda traveled to area Boys & Girls Clubs representing the Joy of Music School, teaching music history, dance, “anything to do with music. ” You could say she pioneered the after-school outreach programs we run today.

Along the way, she also had an idea to use music with other types of learning, because of the way kids retain information when they sing. This became her business, Singing My Homework, an academic tutor service that incorporates music, dance, rap, rhyme and song.

Now she’s working on her undergraduate degree in Music Education at the University of Tennessee, with the goal of completing a master’s degree one day.

Even with all that going on, Ronda still finds time to do outreach work, leading classes on the behalf of Joy of Music School at Knoxville’s Pond Gap Elementary School.

“It really is amazing,” Ronda says about our School. “Even if a child’s gift is not to make music, learning music makes them see the world differently. Music needs to be introduced into the lives of children. We know it helps with academics. But even beyond that, it helps you as a person.”

 

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The Greatness of Grants

We might never hear him call out “Omaha! Omaha!” under center again, but Peyton Manning, the legendary and recently retired quarterback, still has a big voice in this community. His PeyBack Foundation has supported the Joy of Music School for several years, and in 2017 he granted $15,000 to support our outreach efforts. That’s more than ever. Those funds help us take music to deserving children and teens at sites across Knoxville and the surrounding area. We are grateful to Peyton and everyone connected with PeyBack for their ongoing, significant support. Many thanks, Peyton, from your young musical friends in “Knoxville! Knoxville!”

Let’s hear it, too, for the Arts Fund for East Tennessee. This fund, established by the East Tennessee Foundation in 1986, supports excellence and access to the arts. It also connects artists with each other and with East Tennessee communities. We applied for funding in 2015 and were delighted to win a three-year, $10,000 grant. “The East Tennessee Foundation is a major player in the quality of life in this region,” says JoMS Executive Director Frank Graffeo. “We are honored to receive their support. It gives us energy, focus and inspiration.”

 

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The Fantastic Five

“The Voice” finalist Emily Ann Roberts addresses the media.

We’re joining four other Knoxville nonprofits to promote mentoring, attract more volunteers and hit a goal of serving an additional 1,250 kids in the next year. The program, called the Knoxville Area Mentoring Initiative (KAMI), includes Amachi Knoxville, Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, the Joy of Music School, Girls on the Run of Greater Knoxville, and the YMCA of East Tennessee.

KAMI launched in January with an event that featured local leaders and celebrities. They included Bob Kesling, lead announcer on the Vol Radio Network, WATE-TV anchor Kristin Farley, WOKY-FM host Hallerin Hill, “The Voice“ finalist Emily Ann Roberts and UT baseball coach Dave Serrano. All urged others to be mentors through one of the KAMI groups.

KAMI is spearheaded by the Knoxville Leadership Foundation and serves 11 counties in East Tennessee. A U.S. Department of Justice grant provides funding. For more information, visit knoxmentoring.org.

 

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