The Foundation for Bluegrass MusicÂ believes strongly in passing bluegrass music along to the next generation of fans and musicians.
One of our goals is to help educators (elementary â€“ university level, including home schooling parents) to become more â€œbluegrass aware.â€ Bluegrass music, a relatively new style of music (the classic sound jelled in the mid-â€˜40s with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys), is one of the very few musical genres to originate in the United Statesâ€”so it has a roots music cultural value for American students in particular. Like jazz and blues, itâ€™s also a valid style of music for teaching improvisational skills.
Perhaps more so than most other genres, bluegrass music connects students to a larger, multi-generational community of musicians and fans who love the music. Learning to play a bluegrass instrument is usually a life skillâ€”something that folks continue to do for a number of years after they leave high school music programs.
- A 67-minute educational DVD,
Discover Bluegrass: Exploring American Roots Music, complete with downloadable lesson plans for each of six units, targeting students age 8-13 (available at $3.00, for educational purposes) - Teacher Workshops held in conjunction with major bluegrass festivals across the country, to give educators the tools to utilize bluegrass music in the classroom.
- Matching $200 Mini-Grants to help fund live, educational presentations of bluegrass music for students
- A variety of local programs implemented by our members, including: bluegrass camps and workshops at festivals, after school bluegrass clubs, two-week artist in residency programs where a bluegrass band works with orchestra students who already play stringed instruments, special bluegrass-related lesson plans and units planned during the school day, and live educational presentations from touring bands at school assemblies.
- An online Bluegrass in the Schools Implementation Manual
- An international Bluegrass Lesson Plan Competition with award-winning lesson plans posted on this website
- Regional Bluegrass in the Schools Workshops for Artists interested in developing in-school bluegrass presentations.
For more info on theÂ Bluegrass in the Schools program, contact Nancy Cardwell at Â (615)Â 256-3222Â , 888-GET-IBMA or firstname.lastname@example.org. For info on the Foundation for Bluegrass Music go to www.bluegrassfoundation.org or contact Dan Hays at email@example.com