The Country Music Association (CMA) honoured thirty instructors on 7 October with its tenth annual Music Teachers of Excellence ceremony at The Pinnacle in Nashville. These thirty recognized educators represent twelve states, spanning from Massachusetts to California.
The Kids on Stage program began at Hillsboro Elementary and Middle School in Tennessee. The Hillsboro school in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, established Kids on Stage a decade before the CMA’s 2006 decision.
Williamson County Board of Education supported the initiative after Aubrey Preston promised funding. Preston stated that the school’s test scores were around the 15th percentile before the program but showed improvement after the first year.
The program predates the School of Rock in Philadelphia by two years. When Kids on Stage started thirty years ago, Williamson County was expanding, yet the Hillsboro school’s student numbers were falling.
Gene Cotton remarked, “What we decided was that if we could put one or two rock ‘n’ roll bands together at school, that nothing would excite a school more than having their own rock ‘n’ roll band.” The students subsequently organised a festival they named Hillstock.
Miley Cyrus, Kesha, and at least two members of Paramore became nationally recognised artists through the program. Trevor Baxter, who played drums at Columbia Central High School and now heads the fine arts department at Centennial High in Franklin, Tennessee, noted, “It’s tremendous just to watch how much the arts have flourished in our county.”
Playing within an ensemble develops skills such as creativity, improvisation, cooperation with others, organisation, and planning. The CMA Foundation has committed $30 million towards music education.
