Macon Magazine

It's not the only time Bibb students le the classroom. The Douglass also hosts a student heritage festival. The Morning Music Club, a 100-year-old community organization, presents educational partnerships alongside the schools. GrandKids, a program at The Grand Opera House, has introduced thousands of students to professional touring performances for almost 30 years. The Jazz Association of Macon arranges for performers to travel to schools themselves. As students age, they specialize these partnerships, like with Macon Pops, who frequently opens final rehearsals for Pops performances to students from Central, Rutland, and Howard High Schools. Pops CEO and co-founder Steve Moretti said he keeps in touch with his own middle and high school band directors, and in an educational spirit, includes a Q&A session a erwards so the students can personally engage with professionals. Bridges said making connections to professional musicians is something they want to deepen. For example, his office has distributed free tickets to students across the district for the Macon- Mercer Symphony Orchestra. This creates "a pipeline for students to connect" to mentors and outside programs, according to Bridges, for lifetime impact. The Otis Redding Foundation, for example, takes frequent referrals from K-12 music teachers for their programs, which include intensive camps where kids to learn from industry experts. Andrews calls the Foundation "a safe place to create" that frees students from the outside stresses in their life and discover confidence through self-expression. Student marching bands, choruses, and orchestras get to perform anywhere and everywhere. On a sunny Saturday this May, Central High School's Sugarbear Band was at Carolyn Crayton Park to kick off the school district's 150th anniversary celebration. Cameron Agee just finished his second year as the band's director. As a Bibb County graduate himself, he believes performing music becomes a gateway to envisioning a greater future. "A comprehensive music education through band gives students a very holistic academic experience. You perform without realizing you are doing hard work to write, speak, work in a group, use physics and math with your instrument. It's an engaging experience that allows students to grow and be very fruitful in other areas of life," Agee commented. He cited multiple graduates who've auditioned for marching band again at major state universities or HBCUs, and others pursuing music production and technology careers. "I have at least a handful of students at each grade level who are considering how music can be a conduit to get to college," added Agee, who sees college readiness as a major goal. This approach is working. Freshman student Tzipporah Bullock, who is on the drum line, said band "helps show the possibility of music taking you places. You have a lot of responsibility being in this band, and Mr. Agee helps us see the best that we can be out there." Bullock said she's already looking forward to being in an HBCU college marching band one day. "Because that's what inspires us most." UNIVERSITIES EXPAND CAMPUS-COMMUNITY CONNECTION For students who continue to a collegiate career, Macon's professors are considering several approaches to contemporary issues in musicianship. Associate professor of music and Macon Concert Assocation president Chenny Gan intimately knows Central Georgia and Wesleyan College's music legacy. A Wesleyan alumna, she recalls being told stories of the old Fine Arts building downtown and graduates of the conservatory program, like 1953 Miss America Neva Langley Fickling, and grew up surrounded by Georgia music a er immigrating here with her family as a child. But simultaneously, she's lived, taught, or performed in over a dozen countries on three continents, so she can offer the college some perspective. "My own education philosophy is diverse, and it's focused on equity in terms of championing all music styles," Gan notes. For example, Gan felt like the classical focus of music training meant when she fell in love with jazz, "I kind of had to study it secretly!" Because she's discovered the value of all genres, she wants "to show people that any music is good music, as long as you like it and it moves you." Nathan Myrick of Mercer University's Townsend School of Music also touched on this division, and believes scholars can help: "There's an obstacle based on how people perceive styles in music, which is o en construed in opposition. How do you bridge sonic and social rules that people make across genres? You figure out how to overcome those barriers while also supporting the needs and values of each. All of these different musical communities exist here, but they are all underserved." Myrick serves as the director of undergraduate studies as well as an author and assistant professor in church music. "Having a local band and music scene is critically important," Myrick enthused, explaining that a thriving live music scene forms a symbiotic relationship with collegiate music programs. "We have a lot of facilities we can share with the community, beyond our undergraduates," Gan explained. For example, she's run summer camps that act as the first exposure for youth to both a college environment and fine arts training. Similarly, Myrick has used the institutional power within Townsend to offer symposiums for local worship leaders to learn from leading experts on integrating digital technology into traditional services. For an average music minister in Central Georgia to be able to meet and learn directly from scholars coming from Yale University or Oxford in their own backyard is, "Facilitating interaction with the resources of education to the people who are authentically doing the work – and that's a huge win for the community." JUNE/JULY 2023 | maconmagazine.com 43

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