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About Pocahontas Music |
| Our original mission, established early in 2007, was to re-introduce music education to Hillsboro Elementary School in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, where music had not been part of the curriculum for many years. |
| That goal has been realized: All students now have music class as part of their weekly schedule. |
| Our current mission is to enhance the music education for third, fourth and fifth grade students at Hillsboro Elementary School. We will continue to provide them with innovative programs, exposing them to a variety of musical influences, incorporating language arts, math, history, and whatever else we can come up with. |
| It all started with Lucinda Tyler. In 2007 she received a mini-grant from Wal-Mart, recruited a teacher, Lois Airgood, and launched a pilot program to provide a music class for the 12 third graders at Hillsboro Elementary School. The students were taught basic skills on battery-operated rollup keyboards, culminating with a concert of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in various arrangements and languages, accompanied by a variety of local musicians who had visited the classroom to demonstrate their instruments. |
| The community response was wonderful, inspiring the support of three community organizations (Snowshoe Foundation, Pocahontas County Arts Council, and Pocahontas County Dramas, Fairs & Festivals), as well as an additional mini-grant from Wal-Mart and private donations. |
| Thanks to this generous support, instruction was expanded to include 3rd, 4th and 5th grades for the 2007-08 school year. We were also able to purchase 18 electric keyboards, enough for each student in a class, a harp and two sets of hand bells. They were all used in our Holiday concert. We continued our hard work and produced a spring performance, entitled "Appalachian Spring - the Sound of Music" featuring keyboards, hand bells, song and dance. It was held on the great lawn of the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace. |
| Following up for the 2008 holiday season, again with generous financial support from the community, we produced a dramatic musical version of "The Night Before Christmas", performing before a packed house. |
2009 has been a good year for Pocahontas Music!
See what we've been up to:
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| WHAT’S NEW WITH POCAHONTAS MUSIC |
Send questions and comments to Lucinda Tyler or Lois Airgood.
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