The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum has received a $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which will allow the Museum to expand its Words & Music program.
“The Museum has offered its Words & Music program, which allows students to express themselves creatively and to learn the craft of lyric writing, for more than thirty years now,” said Director of Education and Public Programming Justine Gregory. “Up until now, students have had to visit the Museum to participate in the program. This generous grant from the NEA, however, will allow us to take Words & Music directly into Metro Nashville Public School classrooms. We will also continue to offer our traditional Words & Music program here at the museum, meaning that thousands of additional students will be able to participate in the program each year.”
All participating music and classroom teachers will be trained to use the Museum’s curriculum and will teach the material, which includes lyric-writing exercises, to their classes over a four-week period. Lyrics crafted by the students will then be given to one of the Museum’s volunteer songwriters, who will set selected lyrics to music. Finally, the songwriter will visit the classroom to talk with students about the melody-writing process and the craft of songwriting, and to perform selected student compositions.
David Bogart has been named Words & Music Outreach Coordinator and will oversee the new program. Interested Metro Nashville Public School music and classroom teachers of fourth grade level students should contact Bogart at (615) 480-3971 or dbogart@countrymusichalloffame.org.
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