[ad_1]
From left, Mary Ann Casale, student Isabella Felter, Frontier physical education teacher Adam Olson and Tas Crews demonstrate the blues harmonica during the Blues in School assembly held Thursday at Frontier Middle School. (Photo by Gwen Sauer) Tas Crew, one of Blues in Schools’ educators, plays the three-string box guitar during the Blues in Schools program Thursday at Frontier Middle School. are. (Photo courtesy of Gwen Sower)
From left, Mary Ann Casale, student Isabella Felter, Frontier physical education teacher Adam Olson and Tas Crews demonstrate the blues harmonica during the Blues in School assembly held Thursday at Frontier Middle School. (Photo courtesy of Gwen Sower)
NEW MATAMORAS — The Mid-Ohio Valley Blues, Jazz, and Folk Music Association (BJFM) presented its Blues in School program to students at Frontier Middle School on Thursday. This is one of several school visits throughout the region.
Jay Phillips, president of the BJFM Association, said the organization has been bringing Blues in School to the Mid-Ohio Valley region since 2015.
The group visits schools throughout the area and introduces middle school students to the blues music genre at no cost to the school system.
“(We) bring in Blues educators who are on the Memphis Blues Foundation’s accredited list to visit different schools each year,” Phillips said. “We’re primarily focused on middle school students. They seem to be old enough to get excited and maybe already participate in music programs.”
The format of the program is a 45-minute presentation with facts about the blues and the history of its origins, followed by a question and answer session. This week’s presenters were Tas Crew and Mary Ann Cazale, two blues musicians based in central New York.
Tas Kru, one of Blues in Schools’ educators, performs his three-string box guitar during the Blues in Schools program Thursday at Frontier Middle School. (Photo courtesy of Gwen Sower)
Cru and Casale played classic blues songs and then asked the students what they thought of the blues as a genre. Several students raised their hands and said, “I think it’s sad.”
“Well, sometimes that happens,” Crews said. “Blues is music that comes from people's hearts and souls and everything in their hearts. It’s about what we care about, what we worry about, what we celebrate.”
During the meeting, Casale and Cru invited Frontier School physical education teacher Adam Olson and middle school student Isabella Felter to help demonstrate a blues-style harmonica. Mr. Cru gave a brief masterclass on how to play the harmonica, demonstrating how to hold the instrument and play the high notes on the right side and the low notes on the left side. Casale and Cru led Olson and Felter in a call-and-response song.
Shirel Barnett, a kindergarten through 12th grade music educator in the Frontier Regional School District, said she was pleased to have the group and said 18.5 percent of the district is enrolled in band.
“I hope they get more exposure to true American music than what we can offer in class,” Barnett said.
The Blues in Schools tour concludes today with a coffeehouse-style performance by Casale and Cru at the Gun Room Restaurant at the Lafayette Hotel in Marietta from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. I will.
Gwen Sour can be reached at gsour@newsandsentinel.com.
