Encore!

On February 7 a group of interested choral directors and other music educators from all over the southeast are assembling for a summit meeting. They will be discussing a new vision for children that has been articulated by the new Executive Director of the American Choral Directors Association, Tim Sharp, which states a desire for all children to have the opportunity to sing in a choir.

The centerpiece of the discussion will be the description of a grass roots program initiated by a group of volunteers in Dothan, Alabama. The program was called "Encore", and was the brain-child of Terry Taylor, the Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church of Dothan.

Terry moved to Dothan in 2000, and had enjoyed success in several large churches. In addition, he had developed a reputation as an expert in children's music. When he discovered that the public schools in Dothan didn't provide Music Education to their elementary students, he began to volunteer in one of the schools, going once a week to sing with the children.

Soon he felt a desire to multiply his efforts, and developed the idea of establishing the people and resources to send volunteers into all the Dothan elementary school classrooms to sing with the students. After publicizing the plan and soliciting volunteers, 143 people came to his first organizational meeting. Songs were chosen, resources were printed and recorded, and the volunteers were given the training necessary to begin the program.

The schools were receptive and saw the benefits of singing reflected in improved behavior and parental involvement. Volunteers' lives were improved by this interaction with students and involvement in such a worthwhile enterprise. And after two years of the program, the school superintendent announced that funding would be provided for the hiring of music educators for the elementary schools.

This exciting program illustrates what can come from an interested and motivated volunteer's thinking and dreaming about the value of music. Terry Taylor is a hero, who took his passion for music and love of children and made a real difference in the lives of thousands of students and hundreds of adult volunteers.

Our summit meeting will be a platform for the telling of this great success story, and the sharing of ideas and resources so that similar stories can be written around the country. Surely every community has a person similar to Terry Taylor, someone committed to children and to what the arts can mean in their lives.

When the day finally comes that the arts are valued and appreciated in our society, it is more likely to be because of the grass roots appreciation developed through local efforts like "Encore" than because of the accomplishments of our greatest artists. But those accomplishments stand to finally be fully appreciated if our children learn from us that the arts are important and worthwhile.