When the Country Music Association decided in 2006 to plow money from its annual CMA Fest into music education, the decision seemed like a logical pursuit for a music-driven organization.
It was, in fact, extending a tradition. Ten years prior, Hillsboro Elementary and Middle School in Leiper’s Fork, Tenn., outside of Nashville, had instituted Kids on Stage, a program that gave students a chance to create music, produce mini-concerts and do all the backstage work required to put on a festival. The school was struggling, it had no fine arts program, and the Williamson County Board of Education went along with Kids on Stage when investor Aubrey Preston promised to raise the money to kick start the program.
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“The school superintendent and the board were like, ‘You know, what do we have to lose?’” Preston recalls.
More importantly, there was plenty to be gained. The school’s test scores were roughly in the 15th percentile, Preston notes, but after just the first year, the students’ academic performances soared. Kids on Stage arrived two years before School of Rock launched in Philadelphia; thus, Kids on Stage was pre-School of Rock. Several years later, it unwittingly passed the baton to the CMA.
The CMA celebrates music in schools when it honors 30 instructors on Oct. 7 with its 10th annual Music Teachers of Excellence at The Pinnacle in Nashville. The instructors represent 12 states, from Massachusetts to California, and one of its honorees has seen the growth of music education in Middle Tennessee firsthand. Trevor Baxter, 49, played drums as a student at Columbia Central High School, and he’s now the head of the fine arts department at Centennial High in Franklin, Tenn. He’s witnessed the “resounding” increase in attention on music education in the area.
“It’s tremendous just to watch how much the arts have flourished in our county,” Baxter says.
When Kids on Stage emerged 30 years ago, it was little more than an experiment. Williamson County was growing, but the Hillsboro school’s enrollment was declining. Parents who could afford it put their children in private schools, and those who could not had come to expect little from Hillsboro. The kids weren’t motivated, and unmotivated kids don’t do their homework. A few of the local adults — including some members of the music industry — locked onto music as a tonic for the situation.
“What we decided was that if we could put one or two rock ‘n’ roll bands together at school, that nothing would excite a school more than having their own rock ‘n’ roll band,” says Gene Cotton, who snagged four top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 in the mid-1970s, including the Kim Carnes collaboration “You’re a Part of Me.”
Preston worked a deal to acquire dozens of Epiphone guitars — among other instruments — for the students, and they put together a festival they dubbed Hillstock. Music pros such as Michael McDonald, Deana Carter, John Hiatt, The Chicks and songwriter Trey Bruce (“How Your Love Makes Me Feel,” “Look Heart, No Hands”) helped with fundraisers and/or served as guest instructors. And the classes spanned an array of experiences, from a study of sound and lighting that was subtitled “So You Want to be a Roadie” to a songwriting class guided by Cotton.
“One of the things I did at the very beginning of the class is up on the board I drew this big circle and I put a dot in the middle of it and I asked the question, ‘What is that?’” Cotton remembers. “They gave answers like ‘Oh, it’s a record company,’ or ‘It’s a manager,’ or ‘It’s an artist.’ When it was all said and done, I would point out that the center of all this is the song. Without the song, there’s nothing.”
A few of the students — Miley Cyrus, Kesha and at least two members of Paramore — went on to become nationally known artists, though that wasn’t the point of the program. The goal was simply to get the kids who didn’t feel rewarded by school more excited about it, particularly those who didn’t have the always-popular spot on a football team or a natural A-grade talent for learning.
“They don’t have anything when they go to school that gives them a good dopamine shot, and a pat on the back that says ‘good job,’” Preston notes. “Give them the spotlight, or a little applause, you might be surprised at how many kids you can get engaged.”
The artists appearing at the CMA’s Music Teachers of Excellence event — including Kix Brooks, Keith Urban, Sierra Hull, Marcus King and Tucker Wetmore — are accustomed to receiving applause for their efforts. Music teachers have to look elsewhere to feel rewarded.
“If you want confetti and these different things, then it can be a thankless job,” Baxter concedes. “But for me, it’s a very thankful job.”
He has a staff of 10 instructors who cover everything from vocal lessons to teaching music theory, and he’s watched his students grow over the years into professional touring musicians, band directors, orchestra members and music teachers. It’s through those results that he finds his rewards.
“If you’re doing your job, and you keep up with your kids and where they go,” he says, “you will get the results.”
They don’t have to be music-specific results, either. Playing in an ensemble — be it a rock band or a marching band — develops creativity, improvisation, cooperation with others, organization and planning skills, he says. All those tools can be applied to other pursuits.
That, CMA executives believe, is worth the investment. To date, the CMA Foundation has poured $30 million into music education, the organization says, as it supports future generations of leaders.
“We’re teaching things that [apply] for anyone that’s going to go out and get a job or is going to work for a Fortune 500 company,” Baxter observes. “We’re teaching life skills.”
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