We’re nearing the end of the winter/spring semester of our Youth Stringband Program, and we’re continuing to have a blast! We are excited to share some updates from the last few weeks, and also let you know that we’re designing a series of workshops for young musicians that will take place throughout the summer. And we still have spots in our Youth Summer Get Together “Teen Week,” if there’s a musician ages 14-18 in your life who would like to learn with us for a week this summer! Stay tuned for more information about these workshops in the coming weeks!
We had a fantastic Community Day earlier this month, and our students finished up their Community Crankie project, led by Robyn & Lindsey, illustrating the lyrics to “Groundhog”! We can’t wait to share this with our community! Mac, Andy, Raistlin, & Sam led a group jam for students preferring to play music together. Students also had the option to join Jesse, the Eco Village farmer, in planting seeds for snacks that the students will enjoy at camp this summer! Full circle fun! Other students choose to join Gina & Jared and learn about Gina’s Musical Superhero Stickers and make their own! Jamie & Ipi practiced square dance calling or different square dances. We ended our day by inviting all of our families to join in on some Square Dancing fun and then enjoying the baked potato potluck together!Â
And last week, the Appalachian Arts & Outdoors students completed their weaving projects were able to work with the Eco Village farmer, Jesse, on some planting projects as well. Ipi’s Appalachian Enrichment had some fun square dancing and played some fun rhythm games. Sam & Andy’s Jam class worked on songs they have played together before while talking about the importance of playing in time with one another. Jamie’s Appalachian Enrichment class & Jam Class practiced some songs from the semester and worked on singing along with one another. Most Jam and Instrument specific classes wrapped up the semester by reviewing songs from the semester in preparation for next week’s celebration!
At the Floyd Country Store Campus, students had the pleasure of being joined by Richard and Barbara Bowman. Richard taught the tune Ebenezer in the key of D. He learned this tune from Ivan Weddell from Floyd in D chord. Richard says most folks play it in G but he learned it in D from Ivan and that’s where he usually plays it. Students learned the song with their individual instrument groups and then came back together to play it and jam through some other tunes
Additionally, last week, Raistlin led the students in learning “Nancy Blevins.” This is very fun tune to play and dance to. Students worked in their instrument groups to learn the song and then came back together to play it. They also started preparing what songs they would share next week from the semester.Â
We are looking forward to celebrating the end of our semester this week with an event for families at the Handmade House – our new physical location! We will host our Summer Kids Music Workshop series here as well, so stay tuned for more information about that! We plan to keep the music going all summer long!
