Joy of Music School

Music Notes – Newsletter

Category Archives: Music Programs

Music education, training, lessons, recitals, concerts, activities of all kinds.


by Leave a comment

Back to School, Back to JoMS

Sure, summer has its share of students and activity around our School, but things really swirl up in September. Julie Carter, our director of music education, is ready. “Enrolling returning kids, meeting new families, connecting mentors and mentees—I love helping build the energy this time of year,” she says. It’s also a time when a lot of new teachers join the scene.

Ed Sublett, our manager of volunteer resources, has his sights set on a new record. “We are shooting to engage the highest number of volunteer teachers in our history,” Ed says. “That’s because we have so many kids wanting and needing lessons.”

Organizing the building for upwards of 200 kids a week is no small task. But the staff and volunteers can hardly wait. So, bring it, autumn! This music won’t play itself!

 

Click here to go to the top post.


by Leave a comment

Hey, Let’s Put On A Show!

Jessie Anne Compton

Jessie Anne with Tellico kids

Our fast-expanding outreach program reached a new stage this summer. Actually, it reached a few new stages.

Outreach teacher Jessie Compton directed productions of Disney: The Movies, the Music at Lenoir City Boys & Girls Club, Loudon Elementary School and here at the Joy of Music School.

She had kids singing, dancing and playing instruments in “The Mickey Mouse March,” “You Can Fly” (from Peter Pan), “The Bear Necessities” (from Jungle Book) and many more. For the big finale: “Circle of Life” from The Lion King.

The shows were a blast, and not just for the kids. The Loudon Elementary show had around 200 attendees, including an enthusiastic bunch from the Tellico Village Baptist Church, who had been volunteering in rehearsals.

Jessie first came to the School while an undergrad at UT. She got her Master’s in music education last December. This fall, she began a new job as music teacher at Knox County’s Northshore Elementary. She’ll also continue to help with our outreach programs.

Bravo, Jessie! You’re … “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”!

 

Click here to go to the top post.


by Leave a comment

The Joy of Performing

It’s fun and there’s food! The annual Joy of Music School Spring Recital takes place Saturday, May 6, at 2 p.m. All are welcome at the Scottish Rite Temple, located at 612 16th Street in Knoxville. Be charmed by the talent and dedication of our kids, all 65 of whom have earned a spot on the recital lineup via audition.

Enjoy solo and ensemble performances on instruments ranging from piano to voice, from trombone to flute. Plus, we’ll play original song mixes produced and recorded by students.

When the music ends, there’s still more in store. Join us in the dining hall for a picnic style dinner. Bring your ears for listening, your hands for clapping and your appetite for celebrating! Admission is free!

 

Click here to go to the top post.


by Leave a comment

School’s In for the Summer

Alex and his Violin

We’ve always known JoMS student Alex had a special talent for violin—and now the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts is confirming it.

Alex recently found out he’d passed the Governor’s School’s super-competitive audition and will attend the four-week residency program this June at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. Alex, 16, is a junior at Karns High School and has been a student at JoMS since 2011. He studies with volunteer teacher Stan Smith. He performs with the Karns High School Orchestra and in the Chamber Orchestra of the Knoxville Youth Orchestra Program.

Gov. Lamar Alexander founded the School for the Arts in 1984, creating a program for gifted high school students that would rival the nation’s best summer arts schools. Students in the instrumental music program participate in orchestra or piano ensemble and take classes in theory, conducting, improvisation, and world music.

He is very much looking forward to his summer. Says Alex: “I heard a lot of good things about Governor’s School from other kids who attended, so I was very excited when I got the acceptance letter with the full scholarship and everything!”

 

Click here to go to the top post.


by Leave a comment

Stretching Our Reach

Nathan Smith teaches our first
rural outreach class at Steekee
Elementary School in Loudon.

We’d like to thank the Clayton Family Foundation for its support of our new Rural Outreach Program, which we expect will deliver hundreds of music classes to never-before-served underprivileged communities throughout East Tennessee.

We aim to add 125 classes in five new locations this year, starting in Loudon County. Plans for year two include an increase to 225 classes. They’ll be taught by contracted teacher/artists as well as volunteers. The Clayton Foundation funding pays for teacher contracts, travel, musical instruments, and storage for the instruments.

We believe strongly in the power of the art and discipline of music—even in hard-to-reach places—to change lives and communities.

 

Click here to go to the top post.


by Leave a comment

Why We’re Fond of Ronda

Ronda Mostella: Learning music makes children “see the world differently.”

Ronda Mostella had a son, then just 8, who was showing a real talent for music. So she sought out a piano teacher for him. Happily for us, she found the Joy of Music School in the Knoxville phone book and gave us a ring. (This was 16 years ago, when people still used phone books!)

“The people there were so gracious and so interested in my son,” Ronda recalls. “They gave him the tools he needed to succeed in music and in life. They were stabilizing.”

Ronda’s son is Taber Gable, who recently graduated from the famed Juilliard School with a master’s degree and now travels the world as a professional jazz pianist.

That first phone call began an affectionate and important relationship that continues today. Not only did Ronda bring Taber and his siblings, Dwayne and Rymelle, to the School as students, she came to work for us as a music education teacher. For several years, Ronda traveled to area Boys & Girls Clubs representing the Joy of Music School, teaching music history, dance, “anything to do with music. ” You could say she pioneered the after-school outreach programs we run today.

Along the way, she also had an idea to use music with other types of learning, because of the way kids retain information when they sing. This became her business, Singing My Homework, an academic tutor service that incorporates music, dance, rap, rhyme and song.

Now she’s working on her undergraduate degree in Music Education at the University of Tennessee, with the goal of completing a master’s degree one day.

Even with all that going on, Ronda still finds time to do outreach work, leading classes on the behalf of Joy of Music School at Knoxville’s Pond Gap Elementary School.

“It really is amazing,” Ronda says about our School. “Even if a child’s gift is not to make music, learning music makes them see the world differently. Music needs to be introduced into the lives of children. We know it helps with academics. But even beyond that, it helps you as a person.”

 

Click here to go to the top post.


by Leave a comment

Letter From The Executive Director

Francis Graffeo

Francis Graffeo

When families apply for admission, we request a statement from every child. “Why do you want to study music at the Joy of Music School?” we ask them. We tell the kids to answer either with words or in a drawing, or both.

When I go through their replies it’s always revealing, often emotional, and, at times, hilarious. The recurring theme is eager anticipation and a child’s vision of themselves with music in their lives. Most of our kids have never had a music lesson. They’ve never had an individual teacher working with them every week. They’ve always held music as something they love, and they want more of it. They are not sure what to expect, but they know they want it.

The range of responses is astounding. One student, age 13, drew an elaborate picture of a band on a stage, labeling it “Playing worship music at Madison Square Garden.” Another, 14, wrote: “I am taking voice to get over my stage fright. I am taking piano to better myself with note names and all of the other musical terms.” An 8-year-old drew a long, sturdy grand piano, with strong legs and wheels, a piano bench and a simple human figure with a smiling face. He drew a prominent curving arrow pointing at the smiling face, with the label “Me.”

There are hundreds of student statements in our files. Each represents potential, anticipation and a vision of one’s future self through music. We, as stewards of these dreams, are inspired to bring reality to those visions, and to expand on them whenever possible. It’s truly a privilege and a joyous responsibility.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Francis Graffeo

Executive Director

 

Click here to go to the top post.


by Leave a comment

Breyon is Back

Breyon Ewing and his student, Michael

Breyon Ewing and his student, Michael

Breyon Ewing’s achievements as a Joy of Music School student were extraordinary by any measure. Starting out as a “lovable, scrawny teen with oodles of potential” (in Executive Director Frank Graffeo’s words), he grew to become an accomplished singer with a robust tenor voice. As a senior in high school, Breyon earned the Grace Moore Memorial Scholarship—a merit-based full ride to the University of Tennessee.

Now, four years later, he’s adding to his JoMS legacy by returning to the School as a teacher.

This fall, Breyon began teaching piano and voice lessons to 15-year-old Michael and piano lessons to Michael’s brother David, 8. “Being back really feels nice,” Breyon says. “It’s cool.”

It was only natural to return to the School, where as a youngster he was taught by volunteer instructor Andrew Skoog, a celebrated tenor and UT associate professor of voice. “It changed my life—it really did,” Breyon says of the School. “Being in that program convinced me that I could get into music as a career.”

“I’m really proud of him,” says Frank. “He knows what it’s like to take an opportunity and make the most of it – and that’s going to mean a lot to his students.”

Breyon expects to wrap up his UT undergraduate degree next year and then will likely pursue a master’s in music pedagogy. This would make him a certified instructor, with a goal of setting up his own studio for teaching and performing.

We’re confident Breyon can achieve whatever he wants. In the meantime, we’re glad to have him back among our dedicated team of volunteer instructors.

 

Click here to go to the top post.


by Leave a comment

Back to School, Joyfully

backtoschoolcollage

School is in session at the Joy of Music School, which means our halls and lesson rooms are humming with activity and melodies fill the air. The fall semester enrollment is on track to exceed last year, when we had 200 students and 85 volunteer teachers, says Julie Carter, Director of Music Education.

A few exciting new developments: We’ve added a second, more advanced baritone ukulele class. Ed Sublett, our Manager of Volunteer Resources, has expanded his Multimedia Production and Engineering course to include a second year. It focuses on shooting and editing videos to accompany music. And for the first time, we’re teaching the fiddle (in addition to the classical violin).


by Leave a comment

It’s Recital Time in Tennessee!

JoMs_recital_kids

The Joy of Music School’s Spring Recital has a new home. This year, all the fun and excitement take place at the Scottish Rite Temple, right across from the University of Tennessee campus at 612 16th Street.

Save the date: Saturday, May 7, from 2- 4 p.m.  The Scottish Rite Temple is “a great venue,” says Julie Carter, the Joy of Music School’s Director of Music Education. “There’s a really big auditorium with plenty of seating for the audience, and there is lots of space on the floor and the stage for performances.”

Our annual recital is a truly special event. Roughly 65 of our students will climb up on that stage to show their families and friends what they’ve accomplished—musically and personally—this year. There will be singers, pianists, guitarists, drummers, and all manner of brass and string performances. There will be jangly nerves — and great big smiles of satisfaction and pride.

The event is free of charge for all. Be sure to stick around afterward for a warm and celebratory reception in the temple’s fellowship hall.

We are most grateful to the Scottish Rite Temple for letting us use their beautiful performance space, and to Knoxville’s HomeTrust Bank for sponsoring this important and fun event!


by Leave a comment

How You Can Help

  • Ask your musician friends if they’d like to volunteer as a music mentor.
  • Donate a DSLR camera and/ or Final Cut Pro editing suite to our Music Production and Engineering for Teens class. They’re ready to shoot and edit music videos!
  • Sponsor or host a house party to benefit the School.
  • Come to our spring recital May 7. The kids need applause.
  • Volunteer to help serve food at the post-recital meal.
  • Check out our list of sponsors and thank them for their support.


by Leave a comment

Marrying Music & Video: A Pro’s Perspective

Phil Fuson Photography by Bill Foster

Phil Fuson
Photography by Bill Foster

As a composer for Scripps Networks Interactive, Phil Fuson creates music that appears on HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Travel Channel and more. As a volunteer at the Joy of Music School, he shares that understanding of music and video with our students. He’s co-instructor, along with Manager of Volunteer Resources Ed Sublett, in our Music Production and Engineering for Teens class.

Bright, talkative, and absolutely energized by music, Phil is innately a teacher, with a big personality that captures his students’ attention. With the process dominated by technology, he teaches them on software that Phil says he’s worked with “since it was on the Atari, so I really feel ancient.” Today’s version of the software, Logic Pro X, is the industry standard, and Phil sees it as the best teaching tool for kids seeking a future in his line of work.

Phil is a native of Pineville, Ky., and a product of Jerry Coker’s University of Tennessee’s legendary jazz program. His early musical influences include the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five, introduced to him by his cousins; Louis Armstrong, Nat Cole, Basie and Duke Ellington, thanks to his stereophile dad; and Uncle Dave Macon, often played on his mom’s favorite radio station in Jamestown, W. Va.

For Phil today, service is a core value. He cites Herbie Hancock’s recommendation that while we are reaching up as musicians, we should also pull up those less fortunate. And doing good, it turns out, feels good! “The joy of music goes both ways,” Phil explains, describing his JoMS students as “interested, voraciously curious and wicked bright.”


by Leave a comment

Q&A with Our Student, Aaliyah

Aaliyah and her teacher, Charles Parham

Aaliyah, 10, started taking lessons at the Joy of Music School three years ago. She now plays piano and sings in our choir. Her older brother, Nathan, takes drum lessons at the School, too.

How did you hear about the Joy of Music School?

I was really interested in music and wanted to play the piano. My Mom and my Nana signed me up. In second grade, they showed a video in my class about Beethoven and how he used to play the piano, and I loved that. That’s what made me want to learn.

Did you like the Joy of Music School right away?

Yes. Especially the first teacher I got, Mr. Will (Carter). He taught a group of kids, and we did drum lessons to start. The next year I started playing the piano and my teacher is Mr. Charles (Parham).

What is your piano teacher like?

Mr. Charles is my favorite person at the Joy of Music School. He’s super nice and doesn’t get impatient when I don’t get the piano piece right away.

Do you have a favorite piece on the piano?

Yes. Für Elise by Beethoven.

When did you start in the choir? I started in the choir the same year I started piano, in third grade. I like the opportunities they give me in the choir. Last year, we did this thing where we made a mix of our music while we were singing and they put it online for other people to hear. (You can listen at foundsoundnation.org/curations/big-ears-2015-festival.)

If somebody asked you what is the Joy of Music School, what would you say?

It’s a great school for kids to learn music and sing. And it gives kids great opportunities.


by Leave a comment

How We Spread the Joy

The Joy of Music School happily welcomes more than 200 kids to our building for lessons and classes every week, but our influence extends way beyond these four walls. Every year we engage as many as 1,000 young people with the art and discipline of music in after-school programs and summer classes.

This year, with support from your donations, the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Jeff Breazeale Foundation (see page 5), we are sending four teachers out to a record 14 area organizations, including Boys & Girls Clubs, Urban Family Outreach, Wesley House, and the Great Schools Partnership’s 21st Century Learning Center programs.

This fall we’ve added a new teacher to our outreach programming, Doris Moreland, a retired elementary school teacher from Sequoyah Hills Elementary. Welcome Doris! She joins Joe Jordan, Will Carter and Anthony Hussey as they fan out into the community and reach those children and teens who cannot make it to our building, but who still want music in their lives.

Outreach was an important part of our founder’s vision. James Dick knew that many children in East Tennessee couldn’t simply hop into a parent’s car after school and get a ride to a music lesson. He felt these musical children should not be denied opportunities to learn and grow just because they can’t get here.

Music changes lives—at home or on the road! If you know of an after-school music program that could use a music teacher, free of charge, let us know. Music is everywhere. Let’s be sure there are musicians everywhere, too! Students at Urban Family Outreach Photo by Wilson Browning