–Cameron, age 10
“I want to learn the trumpet at the Joy of Music so I can play in high school and TSU band.”
Category Archives: Joy of Music School Kids
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.
To Infinity and Beyond!
She first walked into the Joy of Music School as a shy 6-year-old who wanted to learn piano. Now,12 years later, Eriana is heading to the University of Virginia, where she earned a full-ride scholarship and will major in astrophysics. We couldn’t be prouder!
“Eriana has a multitude of talents, but is never boastful about it,” says Executive Director Frank Graffeo, who taught Eriana piano lessons for years. “She works hard, and develops her skills from the inside out. Then, when she performs, it all comes out at once and it’s fully developed. I’ve always been astounded by her exemplary focus on developing herself and sharing her talents.”
That’s not lost on her proud grandparents, Norma and John Mele. “Frank has been such a mentor,” says Norma. “She learned the language of music from him, and he prodded her to perform and sing in front of others, which really brought Eriana out of her shell.”
Eriana draws a direct line between the lessons she learned as a music student and her excellent academic record at Knoxville’s West High School. She even wrote a note to Frank, thanking him for always challenging her to get better at music, for developing a work ethic that spilled over into her other studies.
Once at UVA, Eriana hopes to be part of its musical community, either through a university choir or an a cappella group—or both! She also imagines minoring in visual art, such as painting.
So how did she choose astrophysics as a major? “I’ve always been interested by space,” she says. “I’m fascinated by its limitlessness.”
We feel the same way about your potential, Eriana. Best wishes for a wonderful college career from your JoMS family!
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A-One, And a-Two, And a-Three!
The Joy of Music School celebrated our successful 2022-2023 year of lessons and classes with not one, not two, but three Spring Recitals!
We were very pleased to return to the former First Christian Church, now known as the Point, for our Marilyn and James Dick Memorial Spring Recital on Saturday May 6. Forty-nine students performed, including the Introduction to Music Classes and the Baritone Ukulele Classes, followed by a buffet taco bar dinner in the fellowship hall.
Students and teachers who meet for their lessons online were featured on May 8 on Zoom. Seven students performed their selections on violin, piano and guitar. Joy of Music volunteer teachers who continue to teach on Zoom, some of whom are even out of state, were thrilled to enjoy their students’ performances from a distance.
On May 9 the JoMS Spring Strings Recital featured our violin students taught by the University of Tennessee School of Music String Pedagogy Class. These UT students teach for credit at JoMS and are supervised by Professor Hillary Herndon. Seven violin students performed along with an alto saxophone duet, who played The Second Waltz by Dimitri Shostakovich. It was quite the fun closer to a remarkable recital series!
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Arlo Slides it Up a Notch
Our trombone student Arlo has been on a roll lately. He auditioned for the East Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association Junior Band Clinic in the spring and earned second chair. That qualified him for All-State, which meant he got a five-day trip to Nashville to play with the best young musicians in Tennessee. More recently he participated in the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra’s summer program at Bearden High.
Just a year before, Arlo had tried out for the East Tennessee clinic and didn’t make the cut. That’s a pretty big jump to go from not making the orchestra to being in All-State!
“He has matured,” says Julie Carter, our Director of Music Education. “He’s grown a lot this past year. He’s worked really hard, and he’s got a great teacher in Myron Percy.”
So what’s his secret? “There’s not really any secret,” says Myron. “You put in the time and you get the results.” He describes Arlo as an excellent student who “comes in with the right attitude and does the work.” He adds: “Arlo’s parents support him a lot. They give him a good place to practice and they encourage him. His sister, Birdie, is also a Joy of Music School student.”
Arlo, who’s a junior at South Doyle High School, says his other hobbies are beekeeping and working out. But the trombone definitely plays a special part in his daily routine. He strives to practice every day, usually for an hour or so. And it shows!
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Performing With the Legendary Yo-Yo Ma!
Joy of Music School violin student London recently shared the stage with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma as part of an extraordinary experience in Knoxville.
The occasion was Return to Your Roots, a festival in late May that was organized by the remarkable Kim Smith, who has two kids in our School, and presented by Our Common Nature, a weeklong celebration of Appalachian voices. We are so grateful for the Smith family’s kindness in sharing indigenous culture, tradition, and food with the community, and for inviting a fellow Joy of Music School student to perform.
The Yo-Yo Ma performance took place at the UT Mound, a sacred Cherokee site revered for nearly 2,000 years. In addition to our student London and Yo-Yo Ma, the Raven Rock Dancers performed. “I was so excited to get this amazing opportunity to hear Yo-Yo Ma perform and actually play my violin at the same event,” says London. Adds her mother, Melanie: “We are so thankful that London has been able to have consistent instruction in violin over the past seven years.”
Opportunities like these are the result of the hard work and dedication of many people and could not be possible without our volunteers who provide access to high-quality music education and mentoring. London’s violin teacher, Dr. Miro Hristov, is a tenured professor at the University of Tennessee who volunteers his time to teach students at the Joy of Music School.
Our Artful Students
When kids sign up to take lessons at the Joy of Music School, we ask them to fill out a brief form explaining why they want to learn an instrument. They can either write their answer — or draw it! Here are some of our favorites.
Don’t Stop the Music!
When life gives you lemons, you … go online! Like everyone else, the Joy of Music School has adapted to the new reality this spring. Our teachers halted all face-to-face lessons in March but the music continues! We are teaching most of our students “virtually,” using the online video program Zoom. At the moment 122 students are learning online, with help from 54 volunteer instructors and three paid part-time teachers (the latter are leading group classes). We feel good about those numbers. That’s 62 percent of students and 67 percent of teachers, and we’re continually adding to those numbers. Even our group classes—choir, baritone ukulele, and general music—have gone online. “Several of the parents told me it went really well and they thought it was a great thing,” says Julie Carter, our Director of Music Education. “The teachers are enthusiastic too, even though it’s a bit like herding cats virtually!”In late April, the University of Tennessee’s string pedagogy class—whose students teach our kids as part of their coursework—hosted an online recital featuring three Joy of Music performers. There have been some technical challenges, for sure. Not all of our students and volunteer teachers have the equipment they need to make it work. But we are helping. Ed Sublett, our Volunteer and Facilities Manager, has been “investigating workarounds,” notes Julie. We lent a laptop to one volunteer teacher and a keyboard to another, for example. We have helped families with limited internet access set up wifi hotspots. (See this issue’s Letter from the Executive Director on page 3 for more on this topic.)It’s springtime and that means our annual spring recital, the high point for many JoMS families and kids. We know a live recital is not possible, but we’re assembling the next best thing. This year it’s a YouTube “Premiere” presentation of performances edited together and appearing on a date to be announced. The kids are submitting home performances—with many dressing for the occasion—on video. Some are even taking bows in their own living rooms! Andy Jeffers, friend of the School and owner of Sports & Entertainment Media, has edited the videos together, along with some special features. The event will be promoted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and, of course, YouTube. Tune in and enjoy the show! After the live premiere, it will be available for future viewing indefinitely.
Feeling Upbeat About OneBeat
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.
Meet the Multitalented Mary Jane
JoMS student Mary Jane is just a kid, but she already has a lot of arts experience!
She performs as a Hawaiian and Tahitian dancer with her mother, Tilini, and her two brothers.
She’s an actor, too. Mary Jane has taken classes at Knoxville Children’s Theatre, and this year you can see her as Belinda Cratchit in “A Christmas Carol” at the Clarence Brown Theatre. (She did a monologue and sang “Climb Every Mountain” for her audition.)
Mary Jane also shoots short digital videos with her older brothers. Her dad, Ben, says they specialize in “jump scares” — that is, moments that make viewers jump out of their seats with fright.
She’s taking the general music class at our School, plays violin, and wants to learn piano.
Did we mention that Mary Jane is only 6? Amazing! She’s got a wonderful set of talents and an excellent attitude, and we can’t wait to see where they lead her.
Back to School 2019!
Our headquarters building has been a busy hub of excitement lately as students and volunteer teachers reconvene with staff members to kick off another school year.
The Joy of Music School continues to grow. We took in about 50 new applications this summer, says Director of Music Education Julie Carter. That’s a sharp increase over typical levels.
Happily we have about 10 new instructors, which is unusually high as well. But we’re always eager for more help. Know anyone who’d like to pitch in by volunteering their time? Please let us know!
A big part of Julie Carter’s job at the beginning of each school year is matching students with instructors. Most of our students are looking to learn the piano. Incoming students can increase their chances of starting lessons at our School if they’re willing to try another instrument instead of the piano. Wind and brass instruments, for example. We have spots open for students there. Or how about the harmonica? We’ve got a volunteer ready to teach it but no student has signed up yet.
Whatever instrument our students want to play, we’re here to make it happen! If you haven’t seen for yourself, we encourage you to come take a tour of our School. Call us at 865-525-6806 and arrange a visit today!
Joe Jordan: Teacher on the Go
The life of a professional musician is full of surprises, as Joe Jordan can attest. Last year the Joy of Music School instructor was minding his own business when, out of the blue, he got asked to sit in on trumpet with a husband and wife duo performing at Knoxville’s Bijou Theatre. Next thing he knew, Joe was traveling with the couple around the U.S., Canada and even Australia!
Joe has played 49 shows and counting with the couple — a terrific Americana duo whose stage name is The War and Treaty. Joe and his friend Chuck Mullican, a fellow Knoxvillian who plays tenor saxophone, make up the band’s horn section. It has been quite a ride. They’ve played the Montreal Jazz Festival and at Radio City Music Hall. They’ve opened for Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile, and Al Green.
The War and Treaty’s songwriter, Michael Trotter, “kind of expects us to be ready for anything,” says Joe. “He might come up with a new song and everybody learns it that day before performing it that night. I might have a solo on it. You never know. It’s exciting and really scary.” Joe and his wife, Claire, have three young children and they’ve been lucky enough to come on many of his trips with The War and Treaty.
Happily, most of the heaviest travel was over the summer, so it hasn’t interfered much with his JoMS teaching. This fall he’s teaching a pair of ukulele classes.
The War and Treaty is recording an album this fall and expects to promote it with a tour next spring. Will Joe get to tag along? “I certainly hope so!” he says. “I think they’ve been pleased with my playing.”
At the Heart of the Matter
A little over a year ago, one of our students and her family got a terrible scare. Sydney, then 15, suffered a cardiac arrest at her high school and was rushed to the hospital. Sydney was diagnosed with a disease known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and immediately went on the waiting list for a heart transplant. She got a new heart in February2019.
She’s doing “very, very well,” says her mother, Xochil. “She has come a long way.”
One thing that has helped Sydney a lot on her journey to wellness: music. She had been taking guitar lessons from our volunteer teacher Zebadiah Evans starting in2017 and, around the time of her cardiac arrest, had begun learning the ukulele too. It turns out her cardiologist, Dr. Frank Fish, is also a ukulele enthusiast. He began bringing his bass uke to their appointments and they would play together. These music sessions made her much less anxious about visiting the doctor, her mom says.
Sydney practiced the ukulele at home a lot in those days. “It was her way of dealing with allthe stress this caused,” says her mom. “Things would have been very, very different without it. That’s really the joy of music, to me. And I don’t think the ukulele ever would havehappened without the Joy of Music School. I’m just so grateful.”
Her guitar teacher, Zebadiah, was touched by her story and wanted to do something to honor her courage. The result was a concert featuring his band, Omar the Rocker, and others — with all the proceeds goingto the Joy of Music School. We are grateful to Zeb for his thoughtful gesture and most grateful to know that our student Sydney is on the mend.
An Opportunity Too Good to ‘Miss’
A pair of our students got to perform at the area’s biggest indoor venue in June: The University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena. The students were Jacob and Autumn and the occasion was The Miss Tennessee ScholarshipCompetition on June 25. The main event that evening was a performance by the current Miss America, Nia Franklin of NorthCarolina, an opera singer. Jacob and Autumn were part of the opening festivities. The Joy of Music School Executive Director Frank Graffeo was there to introduce them and also to show a promotional video about the Joy of Music School on the arena’s giant screens. Jacob played “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd on guitar and Autumn performed “Gavotte No. 2” by David Popper on the cello, accompanied by her sister Kristin (a JoMS alumna) on the piano.“They did so well,” says Colene Trent, the Miss Tennessee board member who organized the event.“The kids were great, and their families who came with them were so kind. It was wonderful.”The feeling is mutual. We were very glad to get our message—and our students—in front of such an appreciative audience. Thanks to Colene and the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Competition for making it happen.
Joy of Music School 