Joy of Music School

Music Notes – Newsletter

Category Archives: Advocacy


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A Wonderful Way to Greet the Season

Wouldn’t you love to get all your holiday shopping out of the way in one night? Though it may sound like a Christmas miracle, that’s easily accomplished at the Joy of Music School’s annual Holiday Sparkles & Spirits fundraiser!

The fun starts at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 5, in the elegant ballroom at Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville. Tickets are $125.

Children from the Joy of Music School will melt your heart with their beautiful holiday music performance. Delicious wine and hors d’oeuvres will lift your mood.

And the shopping! Among the live and silent auction items you’ll find: Signed sports memorabilia, including items autographed by football legend Peyton Manning; overnight stays in deluxe area lodging; sumptuous dinners; collectible wines and limited edition bourbon; Knoxville Symphony tickets and more.

Best of all, it benefits our School. When you attend Holiday Sparkles & Spirits and purchase items, you’re helping more than 215 children attend free music lessons with free instruments right here in East Tennessee, with our outreach efforts instructing almost 1,000 more.

For reservations please call the School at 865-525-6806.

Special thanks to our top Holiday Sparkles & Spirits sponsors— Pilot Flying J, the Haslam Family Foundation, Dr. Sharon Lord, and Marsha Hollingsworth.

 

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Letter from the Executive Director

Francis Graffeo, Executive Director

One of the pillars of our existence is a practical matter—and it matters a lot: the destructive decline in public school music budgets. Schools all over are quietly dropping choirs, bands, or orchestras. In some schools they still exist but have been hobbled. Consider the time it takes a conductor and two assistants to simply tune a middle school orchestra’s instruments at the start of a 40-minute rehearsal. Then try it the following year with only one assistant. Then with no assistant. Sure, the orchestra still exists, but the conductor can’t keep up, and the kids lose.

Talent is withering as budgets wane. Want proof? Since the 1999-2000 school year, Knox County Schools has cut music budgets by 50.4 percent (adjusted to today’s dollars) while it has added around 9,000 students. Knox County residents below the poverty line—the families we serve—increased from 12.6 percent to 15.6 percent during the same period. Kids who have talent, work ethic and the need to develop themselves through the art and discipline of music are being left behind.

While beloved family philanthropists the Haslams made a remarkable gift this year in support of Knox County high school marching bands (thank you!!), they would surely agree there’s more to be done.

All of this motivates us to engage our community to serve our community. These are our kids. If we can’t convince the politicians, then let’s roll up our sleeves and make it happen here at the School, and in our outreach in the community. Give. Volunteer. Advocate. We’re an ensemble. Let’s play our parts!

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Francis Graffeo

Executive Director

 

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Permission Granted

Southern culture has a lot going for it, including a heaping helping of music, and more than a skosh of generosity. We recently got grants from a trio of foundations with a distinctly Southern tone: the Country Music Association Foundation ($20,000), the Youth Endowment Fund of East Tennessee Foundation ($15,000) and the Bonnaroo Works Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee ($10,000).

This is our first gift from the CMA Foundation. Guided by the generosity of the country music community, the foundation’s focuses include improving and sustaining music education programs. The Youth Endowment Fund grant represents the largest gift from that fund in our history, although its parent, the East Tennessee Foundation, has supported our work over many years. Bonnaroo has generously enhanced our service to children and teens since 2012. Though our proper Southern manners might not allow for it, we just want to jump up and hug their necks. All of ‘em. Thank you!

 

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C-N Students Pitching In

We’re getting some extra volunteer help this year from a foursome of Carson-Newman University students, Liz Rogan, Sarah Akres, Peyton Bennett and Beth Ann Noble.

They’re working on maintaining and servicing our instruments, organizing our music library and assisting Executive Director Frank Graffeo. They’ll also be helping out at Holiday Sparkles & Spirits, our big fundraiser on Dec. 5.

The students are pitching in as part of a service-learning program called “C-Nvolved.” They’re all students in Prof. Jayme Taylor’s Music Teaching Methods class, the next-to-last course they take before graduating with degrees in Music Education. All intend to become music teachers.

Prof. Taylor describes their volunteering as “the perfect platform for this class and hopefully a great service for the School itself.”

It absolutely is, says Frank. “I hope this new program will continue to grow in the years to come. It benefits the students, serves the organization, and ultimately helps our Joy of Music School kids. That’s what we’re all here for.”

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Letter from the Executive Director

Francis Graffeo, Executive Director

We recently welcomed a roomful of guests from area mentoring nonprofits, brought here by the Knoxville Area Mentoring Initiative (KAMI). We enjoyed a brilliant presentation by JoMS board members Dr. Malcolm Spica, a neuropsychologist/ musician, and Ben Smith, a record label owner, music promoter, and employee of AC Entertainment. They teamed up to present “What are your mentees listening to?” Their goal was to help mentors improve their connection with their young mentees through music. In the audience were mentors from our School, as well as mentors from Girls on the Run, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and KAMI’s supporting organization, the Knoxville Leadership Foundation.

We learned a lot about how to understand and talk about music that young people like. One key is to learn the right questions to ask. Why is your favorite artist your favorite? What do you like about this particular song? Is it the message or the overall sound you like? Does this song remind you of anything?

Dr. Spica and Mr. Smith helped us understand that our brains inherently “categorize” things, such as music, cultural movements, and more. As teens are “becoming who they are,” starting at around sixth grade, they categorize and identify with various music and musicians for reasons that often go far beyond the sounds they hear. It’s a time of change, and an opportunity for a mentor to connect if the kid will let them in. Often music is the entry point.

You can imagine that the Q & A that followed was lively and informative! The underlying message was that music is strong. It makes people strong. It can make important relationships stronger. I like the sound of that.

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Francis Graffeo

Executive Director

 

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Cello, I Must Be Going

Autumn performs at the spring recital

The past two summers, our student Autumn has packed up her cello and headed to Ohio, where she’s been part of the Cincinnati Young Artists Summer Workshop.

The Joy of Music School was pleased to pay her tuition.

The program is basically all cello, all the time for six days straight. Classes run from 9 to 4. Some are master classes and “mini master classes,” where the kids observe other students being critiqued. Others are specific classes on topics such as improving vibrato, or warmup exercises and being better prepared to play physically.

Sounds like hard work. But if you love the cello, as Autumn does, it’s also a lot of fun.

This summer, the program was organized so that she traveled from class to class with a small group of fellow students. They all got to know each other well, and Autumn feels like she made some new friends.

“I really enjoyed it,” the homeschooling 10th grader says of the workshop experience, adding: “I think I did grow as cellist quite a bit.”

 

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A Gift to Die For

Care to guess the most unusual donation we’ve received so far in 2017? A hint: Music includes rests, right? Well, we got a gift related to resting. Permanent resting.

Yes, two beautiful cemetery plots at Sherwood Gardens, in Alcoa, Tenn., are ours.

Our thoughtful donors find many ways to support the School’s work with deserving kids. In addition to every kind of musical instrument imaginable, we’ve gotten furniture, rugs, lighting fixtures, CD collections, dishes, a vacuum, even a minivan.

But cemetery plots are a first! A kind donor found herself owning adjacent plots, but since she has plans for her own eternal repose elsewhere, she gave them to the Joy of Music School. If you are in the market for some nice “forever” property for you and that special someone, might we interest you? Please contact Frank Graffeo at 865-525-6806 for more information.

 

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Presenting Our Next President

Cindi Alpert

Cindi Alpert was producing an album of Christmas music and wanted a suitable local charity to share in the proceeds. That 2013 quest led her to our door – and are we ever grateful it did!

She’ll become our next Board President starting in 2018.

Cindi and her husband, Jeff, own and operate a pair of Knoxville radio stations, 106.1 The River and the 104.9 Good Time Oldies. She’s also an accomplished singer whose band, Cindi Alpert and the Groove, performs jazz standards, funk and soul at venues all around East Tennessee.

Cindi learned about our School on “The Secret Millionaire” TV show that aired on ABC a few years ago. Intrigued, she came to take a tour and was dazzled by what she saw. “The look on the faces of those kids made it clear they really appreciated being there and this was a truly worthy cause,” she says.

She became a JoMS board member in 2014 and was selected as our next president late last year. Among her big initiatives as a board member is the upcoming “Swing for Joy” fundraiser golf tournament (see page 1 for more details about this event).

“Cindi is a hard-working, dedicated board member and supporter,” says Executive Director Frank Graffeo. “She passionately advocates for the School, the kids, and our volunteers every day. She gives generously of her time, energy and resources. She’s a musician, and a friend to all. There’s no stronger set of qualifications than those for board president. I’m delighted to have her take the helm in 2018.”

Her goals for next year: “My focus is going to be engagement,” she says. “Getting our board involved, getting everyone engaged and excited. And I want to create a buzz for the School in the media. That’s where my skills are.”

 

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Ashley Capps Q&A

Ashley Capps

A portion of every ticket sold to Knoxville’s annual Big Ears music festival goes to the Joy of Music School. And the connection doesn’t stop there. As part of its “Little Ears” program, festival founder Ashley Capps and his team have encouraged musicians performing at Big Ears to lead demonstrations for our students and even drop by our School for rehearsals. Talk about a learning opportunity!

Q: Was it a happy accident that our School and Big Ears have a connection that goes beyond a financial donation, or was it by design?

A: It’s by design! Obviously raising money is important, but also the exposure is so vital. When I was a kid, my parents took me to see the Duke Ellington Orchestra with Johnny Hodges at the Civic Coliseum. They took me to see the Dave Brubeck Quartet. They also took me to see the Monkees and Paul Revere and the Raiders, and my cousin took me to see James Brown when he was supposed to be babysitting for me. Those experiences just opened up a whole world of possibility to me.

Q: And now with Little Ears, you’re paying it forward?

A: It’s a no-brainer. Big Ears offers an opportunity for young people to become exposed to some of the greatest artists in the world. You’re bringing these world-class artists to Knoxville, Tenn., that people are normally seeing in Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall or Disney Hall in L.A. or the Barbican in London. That’s an opportunity we can’t let pass by. To me it’s a natural question to ask, how can this benefit the community? How can it be transformational for the community? Young people are a key part of that transformation.

Q: It seems like one of the messages of Big Ears is “music can be whatever you want it to be.” Do you agree?

A: Creativity is about imagining new possibilities and bringing them to fruition. Big Ears is about that. But it’s also about breaking down what I see as very artificial boundaries: the boundaries between the sacred status of classical music, say, and the general practice of music in a small club. There’s so much access to information in our culture now and that has helped to break down these barriers. You have these extraordinarily gifted young musicians who may be playing with the symphony orchestra and two hours later they’re in a rock club playing with their rock band. And they’re equally committed to both projects. And actually bring important qualities to the performance of each. For a long time, things were really compartmentalized. We’re trying to open up those boxes, if you will, and extend some of the connections and explore some of the connections.

Q: We’d love to see a JoMS student perform at Big Ears one day. Could you make that happen?

A: I would love that! I feel like we’re just scratching the surface of this relationship and what its potential is. But it’s something we hope to see evolve over the years.

We do, too. Many thanks Ashley!

 

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The Fantastic Five

“The Voice” finalist Emily Ann Roberts addresses the media.

We’re joining four other Knoxville nonprofits to promote mentoring, attract more volunteers and hit a goal of serving an additional 1,250 kids in the next year. The program, called the Knoxville Area Mentoring Initiative (KAMI), includes Amachi Knoxville, Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, the Joy of Music School, Girls on the Run of Greater Knoxville, and the YMCA of East Tennessee.

KAMI launched in January with an event that featured local leaders and celebrities. They included Bob Kesling, lead announcer on the Vol Radio Network, WATE-TV anchor Kristin Farley, WOKY-FM host Hallerin Hill, “The Voice“ finalist Emily Ann Roberts and UT baseball coach Dave Serrano. All urged others to be mentors through one of the KAMI groups.

KAMI is spearheaded by the Knoxville Leadership Foundation and serves 11 counties in East Tennessee. A U.S. Department of Justice grant provides funding. For more information, visit knoxmentoring.org.

 

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