Holly springs program teaches students the thrill of picking

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jevans@pickenssentinel.com

PICKENS - The players bend over their guitars, mandolins and banjos, their fingers working up and down their instruments as they jam together on "Shady Grove."

These pickers and grinners wouldn't be out of place at Hagood Mill or Pumpkintown's Oolenoy Community Building, but they're not your typical bluegrass musicians.

They're students at Holly Springs Elementary School, participating in the Young Appalachian Musicians program, which introduces students to the joys on bluegrass music.

The program, based on North Carolina's Junior Appalachian Musicians program, just finished its first year, said director Betty McDaniel, media specialist at Holly Springs.

"I've been interested in bluegrass and old time music for a good while now," McDaniel said. "I saw the (North Carolina) program was blown away by it.

The YAM program began in January, when McDaniel joined forces with Dan and Norma Hendricks - who host Oolenoy's weekly bluegrass jam - to bring bluegrass lessons to Holly Springs' third, fourth and fifth-graders.

Easley's John Cooper taught the first 8 weeks of sessions. Dan and Norma became instructors when McDaniel decided to keep going with the program.

"Dan and Norma had planned to go to Florida for the winter," McDaniel said. "They came out and spent the day with the kids and fell in love with the program. They canceled their trip."

The couple said they "really got into the program.

"It's such a joy," said Dan Hendricks. "I just enjoy being with the kids. It's such a thrill when they get it.

Norma Hendricks agreed. "When they find they have the ability to play by ear," she said. "It changes their outlook."

Students practice several times weekly, learning guitar and bass from the Hendricks and fiddle and mandolin from Lewis Crowe.

"They're here helping out everyday, practicing, playing, teaching, tuning," McDaniel said.

Other local musicians have assisted in the program by helping teach or donating instruments to the students.

"We've gotten wonderful support, particularly from Oolenoy," McDaniel said. "We have some absolutely marvelous musicians in the area."

Pay lunch students pay $10 a lesson, reduced lunch students pay $5 a lesson and free lunch students pay $3 a lesson.

Students use the school's instruments and additional rental instruments are available to take home, McDaniel said.

YAM students played eight performances this year, including before the school board, at

Table Rock, and at a recent bluegrass festival in Dacusville.

"A lot of kids have been going up to Oolenoy on Friday nights," McDaniel said. "We really encourage that."

The program will resume in the fall and then again after Christmas break, she said.

"I'd like the kids to do more service type things, playing in nursing homes and things like that," McDaniel said. "We were just getting our feet this week."

McDaniel hopes the program can secure some grant money in the future. The SC Arts Commission does not fund afterschool elementary programs, she said.

In the fall, the program will be a part of Junior Appalachian Musicians, as that program has gone regional, she said.

"I think we'll be the first one (in the state) going along with that program," McDaniel said. "It's been wonderful."

So far, 30 students have signed up for the coming school year's program.

"We'll probably get more before it's over with," Dan Hendricks said.