Hello again! You may have missed our newsletter since the last one in October. It’s back. Oh, and I’m back too—since December. I am so happy and energized to be here again, and with a renewed energy to make this amazing School the best it can be. The Joy of Music School is quickly building momentum (see the rest of this newsletter), and keeping the focus on the main thing: our students. While my 10 months in Chicago were a mixture of challenge, uplift, and education, the personal effect of my time away from home solidified my connection—once seemingly lost—to this amazing place. Fortune smiled on Christy, Enzo and me, and we are back in our beloved Knoxville. Christy is diving back into the music scene, playing viola in her quartet, and in orchestras across the state. Enzo, now 18, is headed to Tennessee Tech to major in engineering and minor in cello this fall. I reminisce about workdays at JoMS in 2005, my first year, with baby Enzo snoozing in his car carrier next to my desk! But now we’ve all grown up a bit, and the workdays are focused on recruiting volunteer teachers, and informing families about the life-changing opportunity that tuition-free music training offers their children.

Francis Graffeo

Executive Director