Students learn to keep Appalachian music alive

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Will cross post to south Carolina Group.

Greenville Online
Students learn to keep Appalachian music alive
Charles Sowell, Special to The Greenville News
August 18, 2014

It's an amazing thing to see a young girl pick up an instrument that she's only had for three days and play a complex bluegrass song on it.

That's what happens from time to time with the kids who join the Young Appalachian Musicians (YAM) program. "From the start, Ella was on fire," says Susan Ware-Snow, the volunteer instructor who has taught 10-year-old Ella Hennessee for the past couple of years.

"I teach classes in Easley and Greenville," says Ware-Snow. "Students commit to attend one class a week," taught at a local church.

"Some really catch on," she says, "others don't and drop out after the first six-week session. There is the option to go for another six week session and quite a few of our students do just that."....

MORE at http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/entertainment/2014/08/18/students-learn-keep-appalachian-music-alive/14220389/

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1. McDaniel honored for bringing traditional music to children

Greenville Online
McDaniel honored for bringing traditional music to children
Lillia Callum-Penso, The Greenville News 6:56 a.m. EDT August 18, 2014

There was a time when Betty McDaniel volunteered so much as a child that her father had to intervene.

"My dad used to say when I was about 16, when are you going to get a real job that pays?" McDaniel recalled with a chuckle. "I was candy-striping and taught swimming and did this and that. He said I'm ready for you to get a real job."

Eventually, McDaniel got a job as a soda jerk, but that didn't stop her from volunteering.

Not much has changed for the 68-year-old Pickens resident. This month, McDaniel was honored with the Caring for the Carolinas award from WSPA for her work with YAM, Young Appalachian Musicians, a program that introduces children to the traditional music and heritage of this area....

MORE at http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/pickens-county/2014/08/18/mcdaniel-honored-bringing-traditional-music-children/14220329/