Brushes ready! Our fifth annual Painting for Joy fundraiser is Tuesday, May 21, from 6-8 p.m. Held at Painting with a Twist in Farragut, this event is a wonderful way to express yourself while also expressing support for our School. You’ll be turning a blank canvas into a masterpiece you can take home! Anyone can do it — regardless of skill level or experience. Tickets cost $35 (of which $25 goes to JoMS) and that covers ample appetizers, drinks, paints, supplies, instruction, and cleanup. Call the School now at 865-525-6806 or visit paintingwithatwist.com/knoxville for more info. Act fast because this event sells out!

Marilyn Mandle Dick’s life was celebrated in a beautiful and moving service at Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church on March 9, 2019. Her 95-year life inspired countless people, including her late husband, James Dick, founder of the Joy of Music School. She put a lot of her personal joy into the Joy of Music School in our 21 years. Her support for the work of our kids and their teachers never wavered. The service was dominated by loving musical performances of all kinds. A string quartet featured Samantha Hearn, Rebecca Hearn, Zachary Miller and Christy Graffeo (wife of JoMS Executive Director Frank Graffeo). Andrew Skoog and Eunsook Jung—both former JoMS teachers—played a piano/organ duet. They are both musicians in the employ of the Church. A UT student brass ensemble in the balcony played antiphonal refrains with Ms. Jung on organ. Fittingly, the gathered mourners, many musicians among them, sang hymns with more vocal heft and musicality than an average congregation. Bill Barron delivered a heartfelt eulogy and farewell to a beloved soul.

A couple of moments at Mrs. Dick’s service stood out as glowing testimonies to the legacy she and her late husband, James, will leave behind. JoMS volunteer teacher Ashlee Booth and her student, Autumn, delivered a particularly appealing cello duet. One of our graduates, Breyon Ewing, delivered a soaring vocal solo. While he was still a JoMS student, Breyon also sang in the 2011 memorial service celebrating Mr. Dick’s life in that same building.

A life well lived is full of love, community, devotion, service, children, music, and joy. When my friend Marilyn Dick passed away in February, the community mourned her loss, but a celebration of her life was immediately on everyone’s mind. When a person dies it’s a shock. Any death is. But in their 10th decade of life it’s not a surprise. In her case, the momentary blow of hearing the sad news was gently washed away by the vast appreciation felt by anyone and everyone who knew Marilyn. Her husband, James, died in 2011. He founded this School in 1998. His passing, after a long decline, also prompted a celebration of a life well lived. Marilyn, who cared for James in her home in his last years, embraced the Joy of Music School as devotedly as James had, extending and adding to their legacy in service of children.

I served the School first as a board member, and now its Executive Director, and have always felt a special connection to them both, but I knew Marilyn better. We had many meals and events together, celebrating achievements of the School’s students, wrestling with the challenges nonprofits face, talking about our families, and just becoming friends. I miss her as much as I celebrate and appreciate her. I will forever fondly reflect on the memory of two of the most generous and delightful people I have had the good fortune to befriend.

It’s our 20th anniversary, and we want to connect with alumni. If you’re a former student of JoMS, please get in touch with us! We’d like to know your story. How did your time at the Joy of Music School change you? Are you in a music- related career? How did your teacher/mentor make a difference? At the very least we’d like to just keep in touch! You can message us through our Facebook page, Twitter (@JoyofMusicSch) or Instagram (JoyofMusicSchool). Or you can email us at info@joyofmusicschool.org.

Her favorite song is the jazz standard “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” which is fitting because JoMS volunteer teacher Anna Helms brings a burst of sunshine with her every time she enters our doorway. Anna is a senior at the University of Tennessee majoring in jazz saxophone, with a minor in Spanish. She’s been volunteering at the School since her sophomore year and we couldn’t be happier about that. Her current students are Calin and Danyil. Anna, who’s from Morristown, began her music career in the fifth grade, playing the clarinet. She switched to the  saxophone as a freshman in high school, so she could join a community jazz band. You can catch her gigging all over Knoxville these days. The Anna Helms Jazz Quartet plays once a month at Bistro at the Bijou. She’s in the swing band Old City Buskers and also plays in a funk band called the Get Down. Their next show is May 31 at Scruffy City Hall.

Anna’s graduating from UT in August. She thinks her next step might involve teaching music professionally, a move we fully support! She describes her experience as a volunteer JoMS teacher as “really nice.” It’s satisfying “to do something where I’m just focusing on helping the community,” she explains. “A lot of being a college student is focusing on yourself and trying to do things for yourself and improve your own marketability or whatever. That’s not my favorite. I really like teaching and building relationships with other people and doing something that helps the community.

“The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar.” –Jimi Hendrix, the most inventive electric guitarist of his generation.

Jimi Hendrix died young in 1970 but left a legacy that resonates in today’s music. The national tour of “Hendrix, the Experience,” a talent-packed tribute tour, played to a sold-out Tennessee Theatre in March. Hendrix’s sister, Jamie, is on the tour, but she’s not playing guitars; she’s giving them away. It’s part of the Guitar Center Music Foundation’s campaign in support of music education. Jamie sits on their board of directors. Guitars are given to deserving youth in each city of the tour. In Knoxville the recipient was our very own student Jacob, whose love for his new Mitchell MS400 Modern Single-Cutaway electric guitar— presented to him on stage during the concert — is ardent. (We hope it will not extend to a flaming sacrifice.) We are proud of Jacob and grateful to the Guitar Center Music Foundation, and Jamie, for tapping the Joy of Music School to select a deserving recipient. Kiss the sky, Jacob.”

Every week, our students perform under the watchful eye of their JoMS volunteer teachers. But it never hurts to get an independent perspective. That’s why we happily participate in the Knoxville Music Teachers Association Festival, which gives some of our more accomplished students a chance to play for a rating before a judge. This year we sponsored six piano students, who played in early March at 2nd Presbyterian Church. Each performed two pieces — one a required piece from an American composer and the other a piece of their choice. Our students receiving “excellent” ratings: Carpenter, Brittany and Grace. Those whose performances were judged “superior”: Vitaliy, Julianna and Michael. Their JoMS teachers are Patricia Carter, Frank Graffeo and Karen Ladd.

“We try to encourage our kids to perform as much as possible,” says Julie Carter, the School’s Director of Music Education. “It’s an important aspect of learning music, and the skills they develop while performing will help them in many facets of their life. ”The judges in the KMTA Festival are local piano teachers. “The kids get wonderful feedback from them,” Julie adds. “They’re very supportive while making suggestions: ‘I really like this; you could improve on that…’ The kids enjoy having feedback like that, from someone they don’t know. It’s a very constructive experience. ”Congrats to our six performers and special thanks to volunteer teacher Patricia Carter’s Glissando Club, which let our students perform at the festival as part of their club this year.

We’re so lucky to have such a wide and supportive network of friends. We think about this a lot, especially after successful fundraising efforts like our Dining for Joy event in May and Holiday Sparkles & Spirits in December. The inaugural Dining for Joy was set into motion by UT instructor Vance Thompson. It was a super-fun evening of music and food at Holly’s Gourmet Market, with exciting door prizes and an electrifying performance by Will Carter & Friends.

Thanks to all who came, and to presenting sponsor, HomeTrust Bank. Holiday Sparkles & Spirits continues to be our biggest fundraiser of the year. The 2018 event generated $60,000 for the School. Overseen by board member Susan Brackney and held at the Cherokee Country Club, it’s a spectacular evening of music, good cheer, and holiday shopping. We hope to see you at the 2019 HS&S (see box at right for more details).

Our School’s connection to the neighboring University of Tennessee has never been stronger. A sampling of the ways we’re working with the Volunteers to help improve our students’ lives:

• A team of Haslam College of Business students collaborated with JoMS staff and board to create a new fundraiser, Dining for Joy (see article on page 5). Their instructor, Vance Thompson, gave them the challenge. The event raised thousands of dollars.
• Another Haslam College of Business student team (pictured above) works year after year with Executive Director Frank Graffeo on Google Analytics and AdWords to help market our events on the internet and recruit volunteer teachers.
• UT Lecturer Beth Meredith’s writing class in the English Department annually adopts JoMS, writing (and shooting) a video script, a call to action, and an IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds for our programs.
• The University of Tennessee Phi Iota Theta fraternity pitched in on our spring cleanup day in April.
• Frank Graffeo connected the UT School of Music with JoMS board member and AC Entertainment producer Ben Smith to help locate some hard-to-get instruments for the recent Big Ears music festival. These included a harmonium, a portativ organ, a contrabassoon, a celesta, and more

We’re expecting another big turnout for our third annual Swing for Joy golf fundraiser on October 14—and we hope it includes you! This is a fun and spirited day at scenic Gettysvue Polo, Golf & Country Club in Knoxville. The main event is an 18-hole scramble tournament followed by a delicious lunch and tons of prizes. Want to support the event but worry that you’re not a good enough golfer? Never fear! Swing for Joy welcomes golfers of all skill levels. Last year we had a first-time golfer who had an absolute blast!

Swing for Joy has become an important fundraiser for the School. It is the brainchild of our Board President Cindi Alpert. We’re so grateful for all her hard work on it, and also to the many local sponsors who have made Swing for Joy a success. See you at the course!

Marilyn and James Dick lived full, purposeful lives, so it’s not surprising that they left behind some interesting and important personal effects. Their grandson, Frank Hundley, recently took on the bittersweet duty of delivering some of these items to us—items that the Dick family felt belonged at Joy of Music School.  Among the items: original paintings on musical themes, Mr. Dick’s posthumous Legacy Inductee award from the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame, and a commemorative plate with special significance. “I call it the Plymouth Rock of the Joy of Music School,” says Executive Director Frank Graffeo. It’s a hand-painted plate depicting smiling children entering the door of a school. A plaque below the plate reads, “In appreciation, James A. Dick, for establishing the Joy of Music School. Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Knoxville. Founded June 1998. ”Another exquisite gesture from the Dick family came just before the memorial service for Mrs. Dick in March (see page 2). Arthur Dick, their son, approached Frank Graffeo in the church as service preparations were underway, saying with a mixture of solemnity and benevolence, “Would the School like to have my father’s Steinway piano?” It was yet another “personal effect” that will resonate in the School forever. Frank’s response was momentarily delayed. “I envisioned our students playing such a magnificent instrument and I had such a lump in my throat I could hardly get out the word ‘yes’.

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• Our parking lot needs a new sealcoat and striping. Can you help?
• Volunteer to teach! Sign up now for the fall! We need you!
• Alumni and parents of alumni: Let us hear from you!
• Be Like Jaye Rochell! The former UT Vol football player volunteers at the School, but he’s not a musician. He shares his skills in administration, statistics, analytics, and online marketing with the JoMS team.