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PRESS RELEASE
May 2007
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Pocahontas County's Hillsboro Elementary school third graders are completing a pilot program in music. They will celebrate what they have learned with a recital at the school Thursday 17 May at 2PM.
Americorps VISTA Lucinda Tyler with the Pocahontas County Free Libraries proposed the pilot program to the Board of Education in January. It was unanimously accepted.
With a mini-grant from WALMART Tyler purchased electronic roll up keyboards for each of the 12 students. Lumber company Neathawks of Lewisburg donated boards to support the keyboards.
Tyler solicited a volunteer, Lois Airgood, who was classically trained on the piano to teach the third graders. Also involved, is Airgood's 4th grade daughter, Corinne, who attends Hillsboro and has learned piano from her mother.
Before beginning the course, Tyler and Airgood consulted with Cleveland Orchestra's retired Recording Engineer Vladimir Malechar. He lives in Pocahontas County and attended New York City's prestigious music school Julliard.
Three days a week Tyler and Airgood spend 45 minutes with the class teaching them the basics of reading music and making sense of measures and tempos and musical notation. At the end of every week the class has "music appreciation" day. This session hosts guest musicians from the area to play and answer students' questions. Some "music appreciation" days are spent just listening to music as the students draw or dance to what they feel.
The students have learned on their electric keyboards how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" from sheet music. Having succeeded in playing it in unison, Tyler and Airgood provided a digital piano so each student could have the experience of the feel of real piano keys and of their sound.
The music program is being called "Pocahontas Music" (www.pocahontasmusic.org) and will continue next year with further instruction for next year's 4th graders and the introduction of the program for next year's 3rd graders.
Tyler recently applied for a grant from the Pocahontas County Arts Council to purchase 15 digital keyboards for next year's program. It is hoped that Pocahontas Music will continue to increase to eventually begin at the kindergarten level.
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