We hosted five very special visitors this fall. They’re members of OneBeat, a group of super-accomplished international musicians, and they stopped by our School to perform for our students and families.

OneBeat is part of a U.S. State Department project, created in collaboration with Sound Nation and Bang On a Can — a pair of new-music organizations in New York City. Every year they field applications from all over the world. They pick 25 musicians to create a show combining traditional music and their own compositions.

Earlier this year the OneBeat ensemble performed at Big Ears, the Knoxville music festival. It was there they heard about our School and began hatching a visit to see for themselves.

The five who visited the Joy of Music School in October were from Colombia, Brazil, Tunisia, and two from India.

“It was really cool,” says Julie Carter, our director of music education. “It was like a show-and-tell. They said where they were from and explained what instrument they were playing.”

The OneBeat musicians were a delight. They were engaging and charismatic, and the audience loved them.

It seemed like the OneBeat musicians were having a blast traveling around the U.S. and performing, Julie says. And she could tell the visit to our School was a highlight. “They all had their cell phones out and were taking videos of the School. They were really impressed.”

So were we! We’re so glad OneBeat came to visit us and hope they’ll come back again soon.