Strengthening the Dennis-Yarmouth Music Program AFCC Grants at Work
W
Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School Chair Alex Pendleton, String Orchestra Director Kerry Cutler, Choral Music Director Stephanie Riley, and Band Director Raymond Castano.
hen nearly 30 percent of your students come from an economically disadvantaged background, private music lessons aren’t typically an option. They
are a luxury. That is exactly the predicament that the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School Music Department found themselves in this past year. So their choral music director, Stephanie Riley, applied for and successfully received a $2,400 grant from the AFCC to help fill this void. “If you don’t have private and group instruction, it holds you back,” Riley said. The AFCC’s support enabled the high school to remove this obstacle for over 200 students in eighth through twelfth grades, providing them with private and small group music instruction on a weekly basis this past year. “It’s been a huge difference for us,” Riley said. “For example, vocally, we had a larger number of students audition and qualify for festival ensembles this year.” Patricia Butcher, a soon-to-be junior, is one such student. A member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society, she has spent the past three years singing as a means of expression. “I feel like music allows me to express things which I really can’t do in history or math. It’s a nice outlet for me,” she said, noting that during times when she is experiencing a range of emotions such as anger or sadness, “I’ll play my piano or start singing, and it kind of calms me down.”
42
This past year’s extra voice lessons, partially funded through the AFCC grant, did even more than that. “It helped me build my confidence, not only in my singing voice, but in wanting to audition for music festivals,” Butcher said, earning her a spot in the All-Cape Music Festival. She plans on honing her vocal skills over the next two years so she can continue to sing once she moves on to college. As for Riley, she is appreciative of the AFCC’s support for students like Butcher. “Knowing there’s an organization like the AFCC in our own backyard willing to back up our kids is phenomenal,” she said. Riley also knows that it has helped shine a light on the pockets of poverty that exist on Cape Cod which necessitate the need for outside funding such as this. “I was very fortunate. I grew up in New York state,” she said. “They have private lessons in band, orchestra, and chorus once a week all the way through high school. In Massachusetts, students don’t get that opportunity past seventh grade.” Why is this type of instruction important? “Music is huge in keeping kids engaged and it exercises both parts of the brain simultaneously,” Riley explained. “It’s linked to improving scores in math and science. And it gives students an outlet when they’re so stressed out. It also gives them that little chance to be creative.”
Pops by the Sea 2017
