North Carolina Arts Council

Teaching Traditions

In communities across the state, students give life to North Carolina traditions through after school programs geared at learning old time music, pottery, and the age-old trades and crafts of our ancestors.

Started by Helen White in Alleghany County, the Junior Appalachian Musicians Program arose from need. With funding cuts and difficult choices by school administrators, none of the kindergartners through eighth graders in Alleghany County had the opportunity to learn about music, with the exception of marching band members. Coupled with a fear that children were losing a sense of the traditions in the area, White contacted Mountaineer Millennium, a 21 st Century Community Learning Center for After School Programs, established by the Public School Forum of North Carolina in Raleigh.

“As the guidance counselor, I see the needs of children in our schools,” White explained. “Knowing how important music and community have been in enriching my life, I thought that if we could get the kids and their families involved with music, it would provide positive activities for families and preserve the cultural heritage.”

Offering lessons on the fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin and other instruments, the instructional pairings resulted in several students learning to play traditional tunes by ear within the first year of the program. Today, with more than 65 students participating in their programs, Alleghany County’s parents are excited about the growth of the program.

“I do see kids and families at music events, and that is an exciting change,” White said. “I can’t tell you how many times family members and strangers in the community say that JAM is the best thing this school system has ever done for the kids. There is pride among the families and they can relate to the music. By having it in the school, it validates the experience.”

Growing interest in the program and funding from the North Carolina Arts Council secured programs in seven other schools. Alleghany County revised its model for JAM after the successful 2002–03 school year to more closely reflect the state’s education curriculum.

• White laughs when she talks about her dreams for the program. “I want it to become an institution like Girl Scouts or 4-H—students could come and participate on a regional level and a program would exist in each county,” she said, smiling. “The school systems would integrate music into their curriculum and after school budgets.”

Several North Carolina events are already recruiting younger musicians. Recently, the Mount Airy Fiddler’s Convention added several new components to the existing convention to encourage JAM instructors and participants to join in the fun. Scholarships were offered to JAM participants to help with the cost of campsites and fees associated with registration and competition. A workshop of best practices for JAM instructors also brought together several of the traditional musicians responsible for much of the program’s success.

“The Fiddler’s Convention is a place where children can be in the essence of the music,” explained Tanya Jones, executive director of the Surry County Arts Council. “They learn the music as it’s passed down through the generations, and their participation is vital to the preservation of the music. It’s authentic.”

The Surry JAM program has also been beneficial in raising community awareness and support for the preservation of traditional music. “Family members come with students to the class and take pride in their children’s talents,” said Jones. “They help the children tune an instrument or sometimes bring their guitars and play along. The community support and all the positive benefits… I can say this program is the best thing we’ve ever done.”

JAM Program Emerges in High Country

Using Alleghany County Schools as a benchmark for what a traditional music program should be, the North Carolina Arts Council’s most recent addition is a program in Boone. Directed by Mark Freed, a folklorist working for the Watauga County Arts Council, the program is entering its second year.

Having started work at the Watauga County Arts Council in July 2005, Freed was looking for programs to implement in their area. After moving to western North Carolina from Michigan partly for North Carolina’s rich musical tradition, it wasn’t long before Freed found a program he was excited about.

Freed first heard about JAM from the Ashe County Arts Council, where he knew some of the instructors. With a passion to give more music to school age children, Freed started the Watauga County program in October 2006.

“Having the opportunity to play something other than school band strings that focuses on classical music or learning to read traditional music notation is something different for the students. It’s also fun,” Freed said.

Freed’s program focuses on teaching the children traditional folk styles while encouraging them to explore the art form in other ways. A library of traditional music CDs compliments the program’s curriculum, and students are allowed to check out music to take home.

“For students who haven’t grown up listening to traditional music, it’s very important to hear the style and absorb the music they’re trying to play. The students that are getting into it really want to listen to the CDs,” Freed explained. “The looks on their faces are wonderful when they’re showing you the things they’ve learned. They know right where to put their fingers on ‘Old Joe Clark’ now.”

The lessons are held on Thursdays, and a community music jam is held afterward. Although all types of music are welcome, most of the attending members usually end up playing traditional mountain music. Freed encourages students to stay after lessons and spend time with community members at the jam. Students have the opportunity to observe and play with others not involved in the program, giving the JAM program wider community appeal.

“A couple of parents have had their eyes and ears opened to the traditions in the area,” Freed commented. “A lot of our students enrolled in the program came from some sort of connection to the tradition, but it’s changing attitudes.”

With grandfathers, fathers and uncles that often know a little about traditional music, the children have had some exposure to the music, but generally discover much more by playing it.

• “A few kids came into the program thinking they were going to be playing country or rock music, but after they play it for a bit and realize how difficult certain sounds are, it’s changed their mindset,” Freed noted. “In turn, I think they have more pride about the local areas and communities.”

Having an appreciation for handmade music is one change. Freed pointed out the accessibility of mainstream music through downloadable media sources. “Today, it’s so easy to download music or listen to it on the radio. Older generations remember when they had to travel to a neighbor’s house to listen to the one radio in the community, and in order to have music, they had to make it. Having that appreciation is part of the tradition itself,” Freed explained.

Freed wants JAM to help create a wider network of community support for events that recognize the importance of community music. Jam sessions can be safe and entertaining ways to bring the community together.

“That’s what I love most about traditional music,” Freed admitted. “People come together not only to make music, but to listen to it and talk to others about the weather over a cup of coffee. It’s the community sense of traditions. I’d love for the students to see how much fun jam sessions and festivals can be, whether or not they play or just come to listen. That sense of community will help give the kids a deeper appreciation for their home and the traditions that have thrived there for generations.”

Traditional Arts Programs for Students

Though the programs are different, the community support is just as apparent in Seagrove, where the North Carolina Pottery Center is in partnership with Seagrove Middle School for an after school program focusing on local pottery traditions.

The Seagrove partnership is part of Traditional Arts Programs for Students (TAPS), a program based on the success of JAM and created by the North Carolina Arts Council. Providing community organizations such as arts centers, schools and community centers with funding for after school programs, TAPS unites North Carolina elementary and middle school students with local traditional artists in classes that are deep-rooted in traditional art forms of the community.

Known for its rich history of nationally-acclaimed pottery, Seagrove is a mecca for visitors and collectors. With more than 100 potteries in Seagrove and the surrounding communities, the area is rich in knowledge and expertise. The program at the North Carolina Pottery Center utilizes local expertise in classes that teach clay preparation, hand building, wheel turning, glazing and firing pottery forms drawn from traditional use and practice.

“The children have really connected to teachers that are potters in the community,” explained Denny Mecham, executive director of the North Carolina Pottery Center, where the after school program is held. “The teachers introduce themselves and bring in examples of their work to serve as encouragement for the students. The personal experience opens children up and develops their confidence.”

Mecham explained that students often hang back in the beginning of the program, fearing they will make a mistake. “One of the things we have to tell them is that clay forgives you,” she said. “If you don’t like what you’ve done or the pot collapses, you re-work the clay and start over.”

With confidence in their work, students also learn to work as a team and respecting the work of others. Recognizing the strengths and styles of other students became commonplace among those involved in the program. “We insisted on the notion of being respectful, and the students seemed to be aware that each person develops and makes work with their own method and style,” Mecham noted. “They noticed that almost immediately and came to appreciate it.”

The program garners student development, but it’s been beneficial for parents, too. For many having grown up in the area, the idea of creating pottery was commonplace, but they were impressed with the work of their children and have begun to see new ways that old traditions can become part of everyday life.

“The children opened the doors of the Pottery Center literally and figuratively to a lot of the community,” explained Mecham. “Parents have access to the building and look around while their students are finishing class and we’re friendly—it’s becoming a real place in the community.”

Mecham’s perspective has also changed as a result of working with the TAPS program. As instructors explain different methods, processes and classifications of pottery, her own perspective has been broadened. “I came to Seagrove with a background in contemporary ceramics, but I’ve learned a lot about the depth and breadth of tradition and pottery,” she explained. “We talk about pottery in terms of process and ways the potters use those methods for hundreds of years. The methods are changing, and that in itself is a process.”

Working for seven or eight potters in the Seagrove area on a regular basis, twenty-nine-year-old TAPS instructor Chad Brown is used to the different processes of artists in the area. He started throwing pots when he was nine years old and was selling his own work by the time he was the age of his students.

Brown grew up in Seagrove, learning from his grandfather, Graham Crisco, and his mother, a fifth generation potter. Having a family history steeped in tradition, it’s easier for him to relate his experiences to his students. “Pottery is an art that people can use and understand—the kids can appreciate that,” he explained.

One of his more recent projects taught students to build a clay house using hand building techniques. To give the projects an additional element of surprise, many featured detachable tops so they could be used for jewelry boxes and night lights, among other things.

Projects that are fun and engaging make the TAPS program a safe place to experience the arts—free from the stresses of emotional and social development that are often commonplace in middle school students.

“When I first started the program, the instructors warned me about a kid in the previous class that didn’t want to participate,” said Brown. “It probably took him five minutes to get over being mad. There was just too much fun to be had, and I saw that the program helped him come out of his anger.”

As his students learn from their work and use creating as a means of personal development, Brown has been impacted by the program in his work. “Everything I’m exposed to changes my idea of pottery,” he said. “I try to go beyond my expectations. As a potter, you’re always going to develop skills with hard work, but developing your eye takes a lot of work, asking questions and paying attention.”

 

 

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