Joy of Music School

This school year marks 25 years of providing tuition-free music education to thousands of Knoxville youth. Join us in celebrating this milestone by helping more children in our community gain access to quality music education at no cost to their families.

If you have musical training and a desire to give back, the Joy of Music School needs you! Be a part of this important work this school year. To get started, all you need to do is teach one lesson a week starting in the fall. Bring your expertise and love of music; we provide the classroom, the learning materials, and even the instruments.

As a volunteer teacher, you can make a difference in a child’s life and prepare them for success. When you volunteer to share your love of music with kids, your mentorship goes beyond knowledge and skills. It opens a world that is more vibrant, more harmonious.

“The best part of volunteering to be a music mentor at the Joy of Music School is watching your relationships with students blossom as they begin to make progress and meet goals,” says Ed Sublett, our Director of Operations. “Their self-confidence just takes off. That’s when it starts to become more than just teaching music. These are memories that will last a lifetime.”

As student registration increases, so does our need for volunteers. The more teachers we have, the more children we can serve. Will you help us bring music to underserved children in our community?

We are sad to report the passing of a dear JoMS family member, Charles Parham, on November 20 at age 80.Charles was a volunteer piano teacher at the School dating back to 2008. He stopped teaching last spring due to the Covid disruption. He was father-in-law to longtime former JoMS staff member Russell Fuquay, who delighted in seeing Charles every time he came in to teach lessons over the years. Julie Carter, Director of Music Education, had a heartfelt response to the news. “Such a dear sweet soul – he will be sorely missed by me and our Joy of Music family. He gave us so many years of smiles and jokes along with a kind, steady hand with his students and a deep belief in the power of music. I will always treasure these memories.” Charles was a talented organist and pianist who gave hundreds of hours teaching kids at the School over the years. His charm and sense of humor were always on display. Charles interacted with everyone in the halls of the School, sharing stories, complimenting his fellow teachers, cracking jokes. He lovingly taught piano to many students, including Jarvis, Mobin, Pippa, Taelor, Alexis, Fiona, Lauren, Ella, Ryan, Aaliyah, Chloe, William, Daniel, Miriam, Nadia, and David. He also accompanied our soloists in recitals, kids who were not his students. He performed with Alex, Maya, Cody and sisters Caitlandt and Shaianna, in addition to his many performance accompanying the Joy of Music School Choir. “You can’t replace Charles Parham,” notes Executive Director Frank Graffeo. “He was more than a volunteer, more than a teacher, more than a mentor. His goodwill and enormous spirit lifted everyone he met.” The School extends our hearts to his spouse of 57 years, Patty, to Charles’ daughter, Holly Fuquay, and their families and loved ones.

We’ve always known our volunteer teachers would go to great lengths for their students. For three of our instructors this year, those lengths included teaching across state lines! University of Tennessee undergrads Matteo Sforza, Natalee Jobert and Karen Wemhoener all continued to teach their music lessons even after leaving Knoxville earlier in the year, thanks to the wonders of Zoom. “It’s been really awesome that they’ve not strayed from us even as they had to go home to be with their families,” says Ed Sublet, our Volunteer and Program Manager. “They’ve been so consistent for us. We appreciate that more than anything, because that’s the goal: to keep everything running as if we’re not in the middle of a pandemic.” Karen, a vocal performance major, taught piano lessons from her family’s home outside Dallas. “I was really glad to have it to do during quarantine,” she says. “It gave me something to focus on.” Her students are Olesia and Julissa. Natalee is a junior in industrial engineering. She went home to Cincinnati and continued piano lessons with students Emily and Aiden. She describes the online teaching experience as “weird” but she makes it work, often “miming” her instructions to students on camera because she can’t lean in and play the part herself on a keyboard as she would in a normal, in-person lesson. Matteo, who is studying supply chain management, taught drum lessons from family homes in Minnesota and Virginia for a while. It wasn’t hard, he says. Matteo and his student, Kaden, were able to keep the same schedule and carried on as if everything was normal. All three students are back in Knoxville now, but they’ll be heading out soon—and they’re more than willing to keep teaching remotely if it comes to that. We’re extremely grateful for their willingness to keep pitching in!