I come from a rich musical background. My brother plays guitar, my mom is first chair percussionist in every band she’s ever joined, and my dad is a bluegrass picker who occasionally plays guitar with mandolin as his primary instrument. Aunt Connie plays piano, flute, and guitar, and my cousin Aaron also plays guitar. Clearly we value music considerably, and I expect Ian to follow the rest of the family in picking up an instrument. I had planned on having him join band in 5th grade, and learn how to play a wind instrument like I did. But Ian is intent on blazing his own path and he found a different way to start music.

At the beginning of third grade, Ian came home from school one day with a flyer about the String Project at my university. He asked if he could start taking violin lessons and join the beginner orchestra. Out of all the musical knowledge in my family, none of us knows anything about violin. But in true Ian fashion, he wanted something different than all the rest of us. String Project was a great way for Ian to dip his toes into learning the violin. The program is grant funded, which allows the university to offer the program for a steal of a deal! Each Monday during the university’s regular fall and spring semesters, the groups would meet for an hour in a small group lesson (usually 3 to 4 kids per group) and then for an hour as a large ensemble. The program would present their work early in December and again in early May with a big concert showing the progress of each group.

String Project gave Ian the opportunity to experience a lot of the same things band kids learn in school. The master teacher, Ms. Mia Hagarty, works with the beginner students on reading music, stage presence (including bowing and carrying the instrument), memorizing scales, and playing fun tunes! The small group lessons are taught by university students majoring in music. This gives them an opportunity to earn a small pay check while gaining valuable teaching experience. Ms. Hagarty gives String Project students the opportunity to attend TTU faculty concerts, as well as participate in master classes with composers like Tracy Silverman and perform with TTU’s student orchestra.

After Ian completed two years in the String Project, we were beginning our conversation about making the move to homeschool. String Project would fit in great with our homeschool goals, but then we learned about another options for Ian: Peachtree Learning Center. Some of my college friends who had been homeschooled had taken classes at Peachtree in the late 90s, and affectionately referred to it as “Friday School.” Then I heard of Peachtree again around 2010 or 2011 when the boys from Mustard Seed Ranch took some art courses there. I assumed that this meant Peachtree was an art center, so I didn’t initially consider it when we began our research of local homeschool resources. But Peachtree’s name floated across my radar again last May, and I scheduled a meeting to stop by and speak with their staff. Ian and I visited during my lunch hour, and had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Brianne about all that Peachtree has to offer, and boy was I wrong! Peachtree Learning offers academic enrichment courses in about every subject you can think of (math, sciences, reading, writing, geography, apologetics, art history, engineering…) along with a variety of fine arts including theater, music, dance, painting, and even sewing! What caught my notice was the specific music classes available. Not only did Peachtree offer private instruction in violin and piano, but there was also a mandolin instructor on the faculty! And that instructor also taught a bluegrass ensemble course.

Ian was excited about the opportunity to learn the same music that his Grandpapa plays, and also excited at the thought of learning a second instrument. We filled out the application for Ian to become a student at Peachtree Learning Center, and eagerly awaited to hear from Ian’s new teacher, Mrs. Sarah Merritt-Howell, to see if Ian could be allowed to enter the bluegrass course.

Mrs. Howell soon reached out to us to talk about Ian’s options for playing. She agreed to allow Ian to join the bluegrass group, but suggested that Ian take private fiddle lessons with her in order to supplement the learning curve he would need to make up for to be able to play with the more advanced students in the class. She also agreed to take Ian on as a mandolin student! We had no idea at that time what a boon we had landed. Soon we would learn that music at Peachtree is on a whole other level. Mrs. Howell herself is of remarkable talent. Not only does she have a way of connecting with each student personally to bring out their best, she also has her own stunning talent while playing. She has performed all over the country, including at the Grand Ole Opry! It’s hard to describe the talent of her students. They range from tiny kindergartners through high school seniors, and they just bowl you over with their abilities. Their concerts and recitals leave you speechless.

After a busy summer of tutoring, August arrived and brought Ian a year of more music than he’d ever experienced. Mondays would include Bluegrass at 1:30, then String Project at 4:00. Tuesday was a private Mandolin lesson, and Thursday private fiddle. We also needed to get instruments ready! Ian was set to borrow my dad’s A style Horner made in the late 70’s, but Grandpapa decided he wanted to do some work on it to make it more playable for Ian. He’d raised the action considerably on it back in his gigging days, as he had to compete with the banjo for volume. He needed to lower the action and add new tuners, and was concerned that his work would take too long as he’d ordered quite a few new parts for the instrument, so he decided to gift Ian with an Eastman MD305 A style mandolin to start his learning career. This great student-level instrument has a nice sound and a radiused fret board which we’ve learned can be very friendly to arthritic fingers of older players. Along with this brand new instrument, he set Ian up with a Blue Chip pick, a tuner, a strap, and plenty of extra strings.

Once lessons began, Ian had a lot of information to learn very quickly. Not only was he required to continue learning his scales, now he also had to learn pentatonic scales and the circle of fifths. Violin required long bows and fiddle wanted short bowing. Lessons were intense and required lots of note taking with homework assigned. After a few weeks, Ian told me how much he enjoyed working with Mrs. Sarah. I asked him if he likes her so much because she’s an easy teacher. He answered earnestly, “Oh no, mama, Mrs. Sarah’s the hardest teacher I’ve ever had!” Mandolin lessons started with the basics including holding the instrument, how to hold a pick, how to correctly strum the strings, and eventually some very simple songs.

Ian threw himself into all of his music classes, and tried hard to hang in there to learn all the new sheet music handed out each week while memorizing major scales and pentatonic scales, but then misfortune struck in the middle of the fall semester. Days before we were set to leave for a training trip to mush for a whole week in Michigan, Ian stepped off the back of the tailgate and fell out of the truck, fracturing his left wrist. His first cast went all the way up to his bicep, leaving him unable to run dogs or play music. Ian spent the next several weeks in a variety of casts and braces, knocking him out of any playing until January. Ms. Hagarty cautioned Ian that returning to playing would be difficult for a little while as his left hand had been immobile for a few months. We all nodded along with her warning, but none of us truly understood what she was trying to convey to us. Then when Ian returned to classes, he quickly grew frustrated that his left hand didn’t always move the way he expected it to. It also grew tired quickly, and he’d lost all of the callouses on his fingers. It was a little rocky starting back, and he had several discouraged moments with violin. But mandolin was coming along and he started learning a few chords, which helped him to feel like he was really making more intentional sounds instead of just noise.

A few weeks after Ian started to regain strength in his left hand, Mrs. Howell asked if Ian could back up his fiddle lessons to focus on more classical violin training and give him a stronger foundation for his playing skills. She also gave him the option to begin playing mandolin in the bluegrass ensemble. At this point, Grandpapa had finished working on the Horner, and Ian was delighted to be able to bring it with him to play in the bluegrass class. The songs were fast and intimidating, but the other mandolin picker in the group, an impressively talented young lady, graciously helped Ian during class with chord changes and timing. Arkansas Traveler soon became one of his favorite songs to play.

In April, we took Ian to his first concert. Since Nickel Creek had such a strong influence on Mrs. Howell, we decided they would be a good option for Ian’s first show, so we loaded up and went to the Tennessee Theater with Grandpapa. Ian sat spellbound hearing the sounds that four musicians on stage could produce from their instruments. He has since increased his practice time on the mandolin. He still practices his violin, but never for as long as he practices mandolin. Frequently, he’ll pick up the Horner and walk around the house or out in the yard picking snatches of Bear Creek Hop.

As Ian’s first year of homeschool drew to an end, we needed to start making some plans for his upcoming school year, including what music classes he would take. Mrs. Howell recommended a music theory and ear training class, along with letting him continue in the bluegrass ensemble. Inevitably, Ian made some decisions on his own, and asked if he could drop orchestra for the coming year. He still wants to keep playing violin/fiddle, and will continue his lessons, but he’s no longer interested in working towards concerts with the large group. We’ve agreed to let him drop String Project since he’s still very enthusiastic about continuing to learn and improve, so we’ll swap SP out for taking Music Theory at Peach Tree come August.

Ian is incredibly fortunate that our community own offers so many educational opportunities for young musicians. Many students are limited to the band programs offered in their elementary school, or they have to drive to larger cities to seek out instruction. Our small town has a population of less than 40,000 people, yet there is so much talent packed into the performers and instructors in this place! I’m very glad that Ian has these opportunities to make his own choices for musical training so he can carve out his own place in our family’s musical community.

According to Lisha Tiwari: “Investing in your child’s music education is an investment in their future that extends far beyond musical proficiency. The cognitive, emotional, social, and creative skills fostered through music education are transferable to countless aspects of life. By supporting your child’s musical journey, you provide them with a well-rounded education that prepares them for academic success, personal growth, and professional excellence. Let music be the soundtrack to their development and watch as they flourish into confident, expressive, and innovative individuals ready to conquer the world.”