Joy of Music School

Music Notes – Newsletter

Category Archives: Advocacy


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How You Can Help

  • Spread the word!
    We need teachers
    like never before.
  • Sign up for Swing for
    Joy. Even beginners
    can enjoy this
    tourney.
  • Share our social
    media posts. They do
    a lot for our visibility.
  • Volunteer for
    our committees,
    especially special
    events.
  • Be Like Adam!

Adam Woldt, pastor of the Point Church in Knoxville, opened his doors to our Spring Recitals in May, our first in-person recitals in four years. Even more awesome: It’s the same building that had hosted our recital from 2012 to 2015! It was great to be back, Adam!


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Carla’s Passion for Helping Others

We see kids do amazing things every day, and the music they make is only the beginning. This is especially true for one student, Carla, who is a student in our Music Production and Engineering for Teens course and takes saxophone lessons with Caleb Lukkarila, a former JoMS student-turned-instructor.

Carla has always had a passion for helping others. Anywhere she went, she would stop to give pocket change to those in need when their paths crossed. Eventually, she began bringing change along with her, and even some of her favorite snacks, always ready to give to those in need. In 2021, at age 13, she founded Lizzy’s Pocket Change Ministry, a nonprofit that allows her to take her passion for helping others from pocket change to community-wide impact. (“Lizzy” is Carla’s nickname.)

Today, Lizzy’s Pocket Change distributes care packages to unhoused members of the community on a regular basis. These packages are filled with nonperishable food, hygiene items, and notes of encouragement. Carla is an inspiration who is making a powerful impact our community, and we are proud to be a part of her world. The budding saxophonist’s kind heart and selfless acts show that even a little pocket change can create meaningful change for others.


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Doing Our Part to End Opioid Abuse

The School is a founding member of the Knoxville Area Mentoring Initiative (KAMI), a coalition of youth- mentoring organizations. These organizations work to improve the lives of young people in economically hard-hit areas. KAMI organizations benefit from U.S. Department of Justice funding support in areas most affected by America’s opioid crisis, which includes East Tennessee. Along with this financial support comes a mandate to provide information and awareness opportunities for KAMI mentors and staffs.

One such event took place in July in our building, entitled, “The Scope of the Opioid Problem.” Jessica Stanley of the Metro Drug Coalition and Lieutenant Josh Shaffer of the Knoxville Police Department shared the podium and delivered an impactful and informative presentation on the opioid epidemic and its influence on youth in areas served by the Joy of Music School and others.

“We received training and information ranging from what to do in the event of an overdose to a description of the illegal drug trade doing so much damage Tennessee,” says Executive Director Frank Graffeo. JoMS Development and Marketing Manager Hannah Lozano, who has extensive training in social work, adds, “Jessica and Lt. Shaffer showed us just how hard we need to fight back to protect the young people we serve. And music mentoring is our chosen way among many.”


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Lights, Camera, JoMS

Alex Oliver, CEO of Knoxville’s Draft Agency, has earned a lot of cred for his filmmaking. He holds several Addy Awards, and he made a film that hit No. 11 worldwide on the iTunes documentary charts. (It’s called Voyage and it’s about a boat trip from Knoxville to the Gulf of Mexico.) His company boasts clients like Clayton Homes, SeaRay, ORNL and more.

To our delight, Alex got wind of the Joy of Music School and was inspired to create a six-minute movie about what we do and why we do it. Alex and his Draft Agency sound and camera team followed staff, volunteers, and others for months. You’ve got to see it. Taber Gable, an illustrious Joy of Music School grad, is featured, among others. The storytelling, montage, and music from Alex’s imagination are sensational. Alex shared it with us in July. No charge. It’s for the kids of the School. See for yourself why we are so thrilled: https:// youtu.be/Jf54P6zzwv4

 

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Board Member Profile: Michael Combs

Michael Combs never saw it coming. He had attended a few planning sessions for James A. Dick’s proposed Joy of Music School, and as is his nature, Michael asked good, thoughtful questions about how the School would function. But he never expected that at its first official board meeting, back in 1998, Mr. Dick would announce, “Our board president is going to be Michael Combs.”

“I gulped a little bit!” Michael says with a laugh, remembering that evening 20 years ago. “I mean, I was really supportive of Mr. Dick’s idea for the School, and I felt I couldn’t say no. But I was a Professor of Music at the University of Tennessee. I didn’t know anything about being a board president!”

Luckily he was surrounded by many people who did. Martha Weaver, director of development for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, encouraged him to set up board committees, he recalls. Bill Davis Sr., Mr. Dick’s lawyer, helped write the by-laws. CPA Jenny Hines handled most of the financial matters. “One of James Dick’s friends helped us get established as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization,” Michael recalls.

Michael served two three-terms and rotated off the board. He came back a few years later as a board member (not the president) and served another six-year term. At the moment he’s in the third year of another six-year run.

Michael is our only current board member who was there at the beginning.

His biggest surprise over the years? “James Dick and the rest of us thought we would just be giving clarinets or violins to kids and showing them how to play,” Michael says. “We didn’t realize what important friends and role models the volunteer teachers would be.”

He notes that Executive Director Frank Graffeo—who joined soon after Michael stepped down as board president—has emphasized character growth as well as musical accomplishment. “He’s created a system where they earn prizes for being on time, bringing their materials and instruments, practicing, and showing kindness and respect to their teacher. All that is built into program now, but it really took us by surprise.”

And Michael’s greatest pleasure? “It’s always been the children,” he says. “I remember when the first one finished at the School and went to UT. He is Preston Sangster. He is a bassoon player, and he got a scholarship. We all turned around and said, ‘Look at what we’ve done!’ Those moments were very, very special for us.”


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A Donor That Really Gets It

CMA Grants Associate Falon Keith
and Frank Graffeo.

“I have never had a more in-depth conversation with a foundation representative,” says Executive Director Frank Graffeo, referring to a fruitful meeting in his office with Tiffany Kerns, Director of Community Outreach for the Country Music Association (CMA) Foundation last fall. “They don’t simply write checks. They direct their funding, time, and energy into specific areas of the School and focus on how, and how much, their support helps.”

The grant we got from the CMA Foundation—a generous $20,000—is designed to help us do a handful of important things, like getting better at measuring the positive effects of our program on the lives of the kids we serve. These include the relationship between kids’ study here and their attendance rates in Knox County Schools. The Foundation money is also helping us get a program for our alumni off the ground. It’s clear the CMA Foundation wants to help us set goals, meet them, and provide the extra resources required to achieve them. That’s a foundation providing foundational support.

 

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Letter from the Executive Director

Francis Graffeo

I’m teaching a convivial, very talented, 17-yearold singer. Before we met, I was “warned” that he is engaging, has a beautiful voice, but that he also had one frustrating aspect: He does not want to sing in public. If you heard him, you would likely react the way others have. They say, “He’s so wonderful but he’s wasting his talent” and “How can he have so much to offer but not share it?” I’ll admit I had a similar thought before meeting him. I imagined that getting him into the spotlight might be a “project” for me.

But when we finally met, and as our conversation turned to his reluctance, I had a weird experience. Instead of telling him we could find a way to take the first steps out of the wings, the words that came out of my mouth almost shocked me. I told him, “I play the piano almost every day and I shudder at the idea of playing in public.” I definitely did not plan on saying that! What was I thinking? But it’s true. As a conductor, I’ve led hundreds of public performances, no problem. But sitting alone at a keyboard with an audience is a scary thought. I love playing the piano, just at home with my wife and son. I make big fat errors. I play too loudly. Do that in public? No thanks. The fact is, I didn’t realize my student and I shared a genuine basic trait until he gave me the chance to say it out loud.

Music schools have to give recitals, right? We encourage our charges to step up and face the challenge. It’s important. Mostly. Yet there’s something to be said for those who prefer playing or singing for themselves, or their loved ones. The teacher/performer/mentor in me hopes my student will get the courage to step forward and bring all of us to tears with his beautiful voice. But music is also an authentic personal experience. Having a finely honed skill inside oneself is affirming and foundational. The rewards are both public and private.

My student knows he can sing. He wants to get better at it. That’s why he’s here. But he might not take it to the world. If he declines a recital, that’s his business. I will give him all the encouragement I can, and it’s up to him to do with his talent what he wants. While some might think that’s a shame, it’s no reason for shame. It’s legitimate.

 

 

 

Francis Graffeo

Executive Director

 

 

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Introducing Our New Board Members

Every year we welcome new members onto our board of directors. In 2018 they include Fay Adams, Harold Duckett, Marsha Hollingsworth, Dametraus Jaggers, and Joyce Thames. Welcome!

We also are happy to greet board members returning to their roles after sitting out a year or more. They are Trey Coleman and Harold Black. Welcome back!

 

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A Grand Use for One of Our Pianos

“Excuse me, what did you say?” asked a wide-eyed Jane Tolhurst. She had approached our executive director to begin what she assumed would be a long and potentially expensive hunt for a piano to place in the lobby of Maryville’s non-profit Blount Memorial Hospital.

“I said, ‘Would you like a piano?’ ” responded Frank Graffeo. “I have one I need to store for an indefinite length of time.”

The answer was a resounding “Yes!” and now a piano belonging to the Joy of Music School has a happy home at Blount Memorial, where volunteer pianists regularly play to lighten the mood of patients and visitors.

The idea for the piano at the hospital dates to last summer, when Blount Memorial board member Carolyn Forster thought it up. She and Connie Huffman, assistant administrator and director of the Blount Memorial Hospital Foundation, approached Jane Tolhurst, who has been involved for many years with musical programming, planning and fundraising in the community. When Jane later found herself talking with Frank, the idea got legs.

Donors often give us pianos, some of which we lend to families of our students when it’s practical. But this one, previously on loan to the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, was a grand piano. School policy dictates we can only use grand pianos in our building or in a public setting.

A generous donor from the Blount community stepped forward to start a fund to pay for the piano’s needs during its stay, so just like that, there was money to pay for the moving expenses, a lock for the keyboard, a cover to keep the piano dust-free, and stanchions with black velvet roping to keep the piano even safer. There was even enough money left over to have the piano tuned twice a year.

Everyone who walks by now sees a sign explaining that the lovely piano was lent by the Joy of Music School to help further community appreciation and enjoyment of music.

It’s our great pleasure to help out!

 

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Get the Message: We Need New Strings!

Everyone’s obsession with their smartphones, the proverbial “black mirror,” is a bit much at times, but lately the devices have been music to our ears.

With a lot of help from U.S. Cellular and the Mobile Giving Foundation, we recently raised money for string replacement by asking folks to text “JOM” to a certain phone number. A lot of you did, and we’re grateful for that.

On all of the instruments we have out on loan to our kids there are 278 individual strings. That’s violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, ukulele, electric guitar, electric bass. They get plucked, bowed, strummed, and whammied (yes, that’s a thing). Under that abuse, strings wear out and need replacing. Our goal was to raise $2,780, enough to buy fresh new strings for all our kids by their Spring Recital on May 5.

Despite the great public response, we didn’t quite hit our goal (we aim high). But imagine our surprise and delight when a group of students from a UT English class taught by Beth Meredith swooped in to make up the difference. How? They wrote a call to action, a media release, and scripted and shot a promo video aimed at raising the remaining funds needed for our “Strings for Spring” program. They posted everything on Indiegogo.com, a crowdfunding site. It’s in progress now, and it’s off to a good start. Find it at goo.gl/qtNx1a.

And, yes, you can view it on that shiny black screen in your pocket.

 

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Our Special Advisors

The Joy of Music School has a wonderful and supportive board of directors, and we couldn’t be more thankful for them. But there are many other highly accomplished and influential people with special connections to our School, and we’ve decided to recognize a number of them as members of our Advisory Council.

These are leaders who, as Executive Director Frank Graffeo puts it, “have a heart for what we do but might not be able to serve on our board. Their prominence and accomplishments, whether publicly or solely within our sphere, make them candidates for nomination to our Advisory Council. We are fortunate to have a strong group of leaders whose advice and perspective will serve the organization well.”

In Memoriam

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