Joy of Music School

Music Notes – Newsletter

Monthly Archives: September 2019


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Back to School 2019!

Our headquarters building has been a busy hub of excitement lately as students and volunteer teachers reconvene with staff members to kick off another school year.

The Joy of Music School continues to grow. We took in about 50 new applications this summer, says Director of Music Education Julie Carter. That’s a sharp increase over typical levels.
Happily we have about 10 new instructors, which is unusually high as well. But we’re always eager for more help. Know anyone who’d like to pitch in by volunteering their time? Please let us know!
A big part of Julie Carter’s job at the beginning of each school year is matching students with instructors. Most of our students are looking to learn the piano. Incoming students can increase their chances of starting lessons at our School if they’re willing to try another instrument instead of the piano. Wind and brass instruments, for example. We have spots open for students there. Or how about the harmonica? We’ve got a volunteer ready to teach it but no student has signed up yet.
Whatever instrument our students want to play, we’re here to make it happen! If you haven’t seen for yourself, we encourage you to come take a tour of our School. Call us at 865-525-6806 and arrange a visit today!


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Joe Jordan: Teacher on the Go

The life of a professional musician is full of surprises, as Joe Jordan can attest. Last year the Joy of Music School instructor was minding his own business when, out of the blue, he got asked to sit in on trumpet with a husband and wife duo performing at Knoxville’s Bijou Theatre. Next thing he knew, Joe was traveling with the couple around the U.S., Canada and even Australia!
Joe has played 49 shows and counting with the couple — a terrific Americana duo whose stage name is The War and Treaty. Joe and his friend Chuck Mullican, a fellow Knoxvillian who plays tenor saxophone, make up the band’s horn section. It has been quite a ride. They’ve played the Montreal Jazz Festival and at Radio City Music Hall. They’ve opened for Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile, and Al Green.
The War and Treaty’s songwriter, Michael Trotter, “kind of expects us to be ready for anything,” says Joe. “He might come up with a new song and everybody learns it that day before performing it that night. I might have a solo on it. You never know. It’s exciting and really scary.” Joe and his wife, Claire, have three young children and they’ve been lucky enough to come on many of his trips with The War and Treaty.
Happily, most of the heaviest travel was over the summer, so it hasn’t interfered much with his JoMS teaching. This fall he’s teaching a pair of ukulele classes.
The War and Treaty is recording an album this fall and expects to promote it with a tour next spring. Will Joe get to tag along? “I certainly hope so!” he says. “I think they’ve been pleased with my playing.”


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Letter from the Executive Director

When Joy of Music School volunteer instructors are teaching, it could be said they’re giving our students something they already have in them. Talent is a gift that has to be coaxed out, by instructor and student.

Teaching gives kids access to their talent; it releases potential.
For many young people, finding those skills inside themselves is hard. It takes time, energy and self- motivation. And repetition. Those are the fundamental things we teach. Our instructors are not just saying, “Here’s how to play an instrument.” More than anything else, we’re giving students the tools to release their very own inner pianist, cellist, trumpeter, drummer, and singer.
When you think about it that way, you see that our teachers’ role is bigger and more complex than it might appear. They’re mentors in the truest sense of the word, guiding our students down the miraculous and often arduous path to self-discovery. What a wonderful gift to give another person! And lucky for us, it’s a gift that keeps on giving, as our students share their music with the world by performing and maybe becoming teachers themselves one day. Some of them have even come back here to teach! That surely ranks among the most satisfying outcomes of any mentorship. It’s also a measure of the School’s potential, and just like our students, we rely on the time, energy and self- motivation of everyone involved with the Joy of Music School to draw it out.
Thank you, volunteer teachers. Thank you, sponsors, donors, and board members. We couldn’t do it without you.
Francis Graffeo
Executive Director


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Now On the Tee: You!

Our third annual Swing for Joy golf tournament on October 14 is so close it’s practically a gimme.

So sign up now for a lovely day at the picturesque Gettysvue Polo, Golf & Country Club in Knoxville. It’s a 1 p.m. shotgun start featuring an 18-hole scramble preceded at 11:30 a.m. by a delicious Archers BBQ lunch, beer from Albright Grove Brewing Co., and more. Cart your way back into the clubhouse afterward for prizes and more fun.
Swing for Joy welcomes golfers of all skill levels, from beginning duffers to sand trap ninjas.
Swing for Joy has become a key fundraiser for the School from the day our Board President Cindi Alpert initiated it in 2017. Presenting sponsor for 2019 is Pipe Wrench Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Inc. Other Francis Graffeo Executive Director generous sponsors supporting the event include Knoxville Pediatric Associates, TIS Insurance Services, Duncan Family Automotive, and more. Call 865-525-6806 or visit our website, joyofmusicschool.org, now to sign up!


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Change Is in the Air

It was a soggy summer in our building. We’re talking serious humidity. And that’s not good for musical instruments. Too much humidity and they lose their ringing quality. (Too little, conversely, and they may crack.)
We took our own steps to reduce the wetness. We ran dehumidifiers, changed the fan speed, left the AC on at night, turned it off at night, made it warmer, made it cooler, closed some doors, opened others. Nothing worked.
That is until our friends at Pipe Wrench Plumbing, Heating & Cooling came to the rescue. After a call from Building Manager Ed Sublett, they diagnosed the problem (ironically, a new AC unit that was “too efficient”) and proposed a solution: an in-line dehumidifier. But it was going to cost $6,500!
Soon afterward, Pipe Wrench General Manager Whitney Mitchell toured JoMS at the invitation of Executive Director Frank Graffeo. He introduced her to staff , teachers, and students. He showed her the at-risk instruments as well.
Finally, Frank sat with her at the end of the tour and asked if her company would be willing to donate the solution to the moisture problem. Whitney’s reply? “I had my mind made up five minutes into the tour.”
The School now has a $6,500 in-line dehumidifier, and the air is Goldilocks all the way: Just right! The instruments are in the zone and sounding great. And, to top it off, Pipe Wrench Plumbing, Heating & Cooling is presenting sponsor of our Swing for Joy benefit golf tournament (see page 3). To all that goodness we say to Whitney and Pipe Wrench, Cool


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A Jazz Legend in Our Midst

Did you know that one of America’s top jazz saxophonists and bandleaders lives and works in Knoxville? That is when he’s not touring with Wynton Marsalis or recording with Ravi Coltrane, Bill Frisell, Ellis Marsalis and others.

He’s Greg Tardy, a name that’s synonymous with excellence in improvisation, inspiration, and instruction.

Now, mark your calendars because Greg Tardy will be performing with JoMS (and Juilliard) graduate TaberGable on March 10 in a Joy of Music School fundraiser. It’s our second annual “Dining for Joy” event. Location, ticket prices and other details to come!

Greg became friends with the Joy of Music School after moving to Knoxville nearly a decade ago, when he toured and expressed interest in supporting our work. While he travels too much to be a board member and is too heavily booked teaching students at the University of Tennessee to volunteer as a teacher at JoMS, he gave an enthusiastic “yes” when our ExecutiveDirector Frank Graffeo recently approached him about “Dining for joy.”
We couldn’t be more excited to hear Greg and Taber (plus other guests) perform together at this intimate, jazzy evening supporting our School!

 


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At the Heart of the Matter

A little over a year ago, one of our students and her family got a terrible scare. Sydney, then 15, suffered a cardiac arrest at her high school and was rushed to the hospital. Sydney was diagnosed with a disease known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and immediately went on the waiting list for a heart transplant. She got a new heart in February2019.

She’s doing “very, very well,” says her mother, Xochil. “She has come a long way.”

One thing that has helped Sydney a lot on her journey to wellness: music. She had been taking guitar lessons from our volunteer teacher Zebadiah Evans starting in2017 and, around the time of her cardiac arrest, had begun learning the ukulele too. It turns out her cardiologist, Dr. Frank Fish, is also a ukulele enthusiast. He began bringing his bass uke to their appointments and they would play together. These music sessions made her much less anxious about visiting the doctor, her mom says.

Sydney practiced the ukulele at home a lot in those days. “It was her way of dealing with allthe stress this caused,” says her mom. “Things would have been very, very different without it. That’s really the joy of music, to me. And I don’t think the ukulele ever would havehappened without the Joy of Music School. I’m just so grateful.”

Her guitar teacher, Zebadiah, was touched by her story and wanted to do something to honor her courage. The result was a concert featuring his band, Omar the Rocker, and others — with all the proceeds goingto the Joy of Music School. We are grateful to Zeb for his thoughtful gesture and most grateful to know that our student Sydney is on the mend.


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An Opportunity Too Good to ‘Miss’

 A pair of our students got to perform at the area’s biggest indoor venue in June: The University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena. The students were Jacob and Autumn and the occasion was The Miss Tennessee ScholarshipCompetition on June 25. The main event that evening was a performance by the current Miss America, Nia Franklin of NorthCarolina, an opera singer. Jacob and Autumn were part of the opening festivities. The Joy of Music School Executive Director Frank Graffeo was there to introduce them and also to show a promotional video about the Joy of Music School on the arena’s giant screens. Jacob played “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd on guitar and Autumn performed “Gavotte No. 2” by David Popper on the cello, accompanied by her sister Kristin (a JoMS alumna) on the piano.“They did so well,” says Colene Trent, the Miss Tennessee board member who organized the event.“The kids were great, and their families who came with them were so kind. It was wonderful.”The feeling is mutual. We were very glad to get our message—and our students—in front of such an appreciative audience. Thanks to Colene and the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Competition for making it happen.


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A Recital to Remember

Each Joy of Music School recital is unique, but this spring’s was extra-special. It was the first since the passing of Marilyn M. Dick, widow of our founder James A. Dick and a passionate supporter of everything we do here. To honor their memory, we named the event the Marilyn and James Dick Memorial Spring Recital.

The event was, as usual, a wonderful celebration of our students and the joy that music brings them and everyone around them. Sixty-seven JoMS kids took the stage on Sunday, May 5, at Knoxville’s Scottish Rite Temple. They played just about every instrument you can imagine, from pianos to trumpets to violins.
One of the highlights was Senior Caleb and his band rocking the audience with the instrumental “Rat Salad” by BlackSabbath. Also, siblings, Tess, Knox, Lily and Freeman dazzled the audience with their performance of “A Million Dreams” from the film “The Greatest Showman.”Afterward, everyone proceeded downstairs, where a delicious dinner was served. Special thanks to the generosity of many Joy of Music School board members, who covered the food expense this year. We also set up an “instrument petting zoo,” so attendees could pick up and try out various instruments right there. It drew a big, happy crowd that filled the air with joyful sounds. “It was really loud!” says Julie Carter, our director of music education. She adds with a laugh, “I guess that’s kind of the point.”If you’ve never attended a Joy of Music School recital, you should know you’re missing out on something remarkable. Its always an invigorating and inspiring afternoon. We hope you’ll able to join us next spring for the second annual Marilyn and James Dick Memorial Spring Recital.


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A Song is Born

Most of the music performed at our spring recital was familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of the classics. But there was one piece nobody in the audience had heard before. Called “Spring Sunrise,” it was written by JoMS volunteer teacher KristopherRucinski and played by his piano student Jamal. Kristopher has written a handful of pieces for his students over the years. “It’s been my experience as a performer that there’s a special feeling of achievement at being the first person to play a work,” he says. “Also, I like to involve them in the compositional process. Writing a piece that plays to their skills gives them something they can’t get in a book.”Kristopher describes Jamal as “a very expressive player.”Together they’ve had some improvisation sessions where Jamal has shown “a very adventurous sense of choosing chords and rhythm. I wanted to incorporate that in my piece. It wasn’t all in 4/4 time. There was 7/8and 6/8 and all kinds of things.”“Spring Sunrise” is a beautiful piece that unfolds slowly with some repeating elements and pauses. It’s meant to sound like emerging from the cold of winter into a beautiful landscape, Kristopher explains. Jamal is one of three piano students Kristopher is teaching at the Joy of Music School. The others, Elsie and Gianna, will “absolutely” get to debut original compositions by him in the near future. “In fact, Giannahas already asked me for one!” he says. We can’t wait to hear it.


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A Rocking New Scholarship Program

The owner of Knoxville’s School of Rock, Greg Franklin, had a unique challenge and opportunity when he was approached by Jackie Woods, the mother of one of his employees. She wanted to honor the memory of her recently departed husband, Sean, by underwriting School of Rock tuition for kids who need it most. Greg was happy to oblige, but realized he might have a tricky time determining which families would be eligible for scholarships. He would need a fair, equitable system to meet families’ needs. That’scomplicated and expensive to pull off. In a moment of inspiration, Greg approached Joy of Music SchoolExecutive Director Frank Graffeo and explained the situation. He called the right place. Greg and Frank held meetings to sort out details according to Jackie’s wishes. Soon thereafter, Jackie generously set up the Sean Woods Memorial Scholarship with the Joy of Music School, which allowed four of our students—Nick, Sam, Auzlo, and Carpenter—to attend the School ofRock this summer. They had unforgettable experiences they would never have enjoyed without Jackie. We are happy to report that the scholarship will be in place for years to come. We look forward to more rocking and rolling thanks to Greg, the School of Rock, and our new friend Jackie.


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Save the Date: Dec 11th

Want to be sure your holidays are filled with joy? Come to Holiday Sparkles & Spirits, a spectacular evening of food and drink, live and silent auctions, and awe-inspiring performances by JoMS students. It’s Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Cherokee Country Club. Tickets are $130 each. The event features live and silent auctions with items generally focused on jewelry (“Sparkles”) and fine wines (“Spirits”). But there will be plenty of other offerings, including excursions, sports tickets, autographed memorabilia, and more. Our most important fundraiser of the year, Holiday Sparkles & Spirits is a delightful evening and a great way to get some holiday shopping done while supporting an undeniably worthy cause. So come and add joy to your shopping list, and save some for yourself as well.


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How You Can Help!

•Get your golfing friends signed up for Swing for Joy!
•Let us know if you’d like to serve on a committee like special events, finance, or PR/marketing. You don’t have to be a board member to serve.
•The School needs two window awnings and an exterior stair awning replaced. Can you help?
•We currently have an extra need for piano and violin teachers. Sign up to volunteer now!
•Know how to replace drop ceiling tile? We need four pieces replaced. All need custom cuts and/or holes. Help!

•Be like Judy Smith! Judy Smith is a volunteer who comes to the School regularly to help maintain our Star Prize system for the students. She helps organize bulky files, and gets our large mailings out the door efficiently. Thank you, Judy!