Spring Session Begins Monday, April 1st
Current Students Save Your Spot by Friday, March 8th
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UPCOMING EVENTS
DANCE WITH US!
Saturday, March 23rd 5:30-9pm
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LEARN WITH US
Saturday, April 6th
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LISTEN WITH US!
Friday, April 12th 7pm
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PARTY WITH US!
Thursday, May 9th
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Join us for a fun night of
music, food, cocktails and friendship
at our Greatest Hits House Party. This year we're moving the party to the Portland House Of Music in celebration of our 15th anniversary!
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General Admission Tickets go on sale April 1st.
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SING WITH US!
Last Tuesday of the month
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All welcome! Bring a song or two to share with a friendly and supportive audience
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PLAY WITH US!
Week-long Camps July & August
Register by May 15th for lowest rate.
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Do you have a few hours to spare to support 317 Main? We are always looking for volunteers to distribute posters and brochures. support our Partnership Programs, help with administrative tasks and HenryFest. Or perhaps you'd like to sit on a committee, join our board or you have a special skill set you'd like to contribute our organization. Click on the link below to get started and thank you!
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We need your help to:
- support our free partnership programs and other nonprofits in southern Maine,
- offer financial aidfor lessons at our studios,
- and fill the gap between our tuition and the true cost of the 317 Main experience.
About 60% of our $900,000 annual budget comes from tuition and program fees. As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations for the remaining 40%.
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CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF COMMUNITY MUSIC
317 Main Executive Director
John Williams
It’s hard to believe 317 Main Community Music Center is embarking on its 15th year.
As someone who’s been here from the start, first as a board member and an amateur musician, and now as Executive Director (and still an amateur musician), I’ve seen our non-profit grow from a small organization with a few dozen students into a robust community center with 30 instructors, 550 students coming to us every week and hundreds more in our Partnership Programs across southern Maine.
Throughout our growth, the core mission has remained the same - to encourage personal growth, creative expression and community connection through music.
And almost every day, through conversations with you, I discover how this mission comes to life.
Just this week, an adult student shared his “317 story” with me, recalling how he was introduced to us at our holiday concert in December 2017. He said he was blown away by the
quality, collaboration, and community
of the 317 Main Teaching Artists and students who came together to put on that concert.
Moved by the music and sense of community, he signed up for guitar lessons with Jason Phelps, (who by the way, was the first Teaching Artist hired by 317 Main in 2004 and was part of the founding group that helped to launch the program).
The student admitted he was terrified when he showed up for his first guitar lesson a few weeks later.
Fast forward another year, this student has continued to grow and discover the musician within him. He’s added piano and voice lessons to his guitar lessons. As a direct result of both Jason’s skill as a teacher, as well as the interest, support, and encouragement that Jason offers to all of his students, the student has gained the skill and confidence to write and record his own music and perform it with Jason at 317 Main’s Farmer’s market and at several of the open mics held monthly at the Owl & Elm restaurant in Yarmouth. He describes Jason as being “at his side like a warm blanket surrounding my music with his prowess and joy – what a great way to make music part of your life.”
This is what community music making is all about.
Whether you have been with us from the start in 2004, or are a newcomer, we are delighted to be a partner in your musical journey and we look forward to making music with you in the years to come.
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EAST END COMMUNITY SCHOOL
VIOLIN PROGRAM
A PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM UPDATE
“How many kids would join the basketball team without ever having touched a basketball?
”
asked Dan Nogar, East End Community School’s Dean of Students, to a group of third grade parents. This, in a nutshell, is how a thriving four year partnership between EECS and 317 Main came into existence.
“The school was noticing that very few kids were signing up for their strings program,” recalls Jake Hoffman, 317 Main’s Partnership Program Coordinator. Together, 317 Main and EECS decided on a a few key changes that would make all the difference.
With teaching support from 317 Main, they decided EVERY third grader would have the
opportunity
to try the violin, and instead of offering the strings program at recess or after school, it would be
integrated
into the school day as part of the Rise and Shine Program. After a 3 week introductory period, the students would decide for themselves if they wanted to continue learning the violin for the remainder of the school year.
The new strategy paid off. Since 2015, roughly one-third of all the third graders have opted to stay with the violin after the introduction.
“What it shows is that if you create and offer a program that’s accessible to all, many of those kids will say yes,”
say Hoffman.
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This year, 28 third graders have opted in. On a recent Friday, their parents were invited to take part in
Violin Take Home Day
,
the day when students officially take ownership of the instruments for the remainder of the school year.
“The students are going to teach you how they'll care for the violins at home,” Hoffman told the families along with a reminder to practice just a few minutes every day.
Teaching Artist Bethany Niedbala, who is leading the strings program this year, led her students through a short demonstration and families will be invited back at the end of the school year to share in the students' progress.
The third graders will return the violins, which are owned by 317 Main, at the end of the school year, and they'll have the opportunity to reclaim them in 4th grade and continue learning if they choose. To date,17 4th graders have opted in for a second year and many of those students go on to join the school band in 5th grade.
The goal of the program is not to turn every 3rd grader into a concert violinist.
This partnership is about exposure to music education regardless of circumstance
- a guiding principle for both 317 Main and EECS.
“No matter what, these kids' perception of music will be changed forever. That's really what we're doing here,” said Nogar.“
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WE ARE GRATEFUL TO THE FOLLOWING PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM SUPPORTERS
Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust
Jane B. Cook 1992 Charitable Trust
Bob Crewe Foundation
D’Addario Foundation
Maine Arts Commission
Rines Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation
Sam L. Cohen Foundation
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My Travels With Happy Traum
By Chris Moore, Director of Music Education
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Professional musicians have great stories from their travels and the many people they get to know along the way.
Folk musician Happy Traum has gathered even more than most. He was an active participant in the legendary Washington Square/Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1950s and ‘60s. He studied guitar with famed blues master Brownie McGhee, and he has worked with an astounding range of musicians - Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Levon Helm - just to name a few.
Perhaps Happy's most important and lasting musical contribution has been Homespun Tapes, which he and his wife, Jane, co-founded in 1967 in Woodstock, NY. This dynamic and growing company has a catalog of more than 500 music lessons on DVDs, CDs, books and downloads. Taught by top professional performing musicians, the lessons cover an impressive variety of instruments and musical styles.
I had the pleasure of working with Happy and Jane at Homespun Tapes in the late 1980s. The first phone call I picked up on the job was from the 1960’s culture icon and peace activist Wavy Gravy.
“Happy, it’s Wavy,”
I said on the intercom. I knew I was in Woodstock. During my time at Homespun, Happy and I traveled to music festivals and events around the country. Happy seemed to know everybody and, by his side, I got to meet (and, in some cases, play music with) some of my own musical heroes, including Norman Blake, Bela Fleck, Maria Muldaur, Tony Rice, David Grisman, Del McCoury, Rick Danko, Bob Weir, and many others.
Happy will be sharing music, stories, and images in person at his
“
Coming of Age in the Greenwich Village Folk Reviva
l” concert on April 12 at the First Parish Congregational Church in Yarmouth, presented by 317 Main.
Some of our own 317 Deep Roots folk musicians will be opening the show. I hope you will join us for this American musical history experience!
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2019 Maine Acoustic Festival
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SCHEDULE
11:30am -12:30pm
MAF Summit at NYA
12:30pm
Check in NYA
1-4pm
Workshops
4-5:30pm
Jams & Performances
5:30-6:30pm
Dinner
7-8pm
Contradance
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PLEASE RSVP TO FESTIVAL COORDINATOR AMANDA GALE
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After six years of running the Maine Acoustic Festival, 317 Main Community Music Center and North Yarmouth Academy have decided it’s time for a re-boot.
This spring, instead of 3 day festival, the event will take place on Saturday, April 6th and will include workshops, a shared meal, performance opportunities and a Contradance with an all-comers band. The one-day festival is
FREE
and open to middle & high school student musicians and adults.
(The charge for dinner/dessert is $15.)
We will have a meeting prior to the festival from 11:00 until 12:30pm (lunch served) to discuss the future of the festival-how to make it valuable, relevant, fun and financially viable. If you love the Maine Acoustic Festival and want to see it continue, we encourage you to join in the discussion. We are actively seeking community members who will play a role in moving it forward.
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Got a minute?
Listen in on a few of our Student Ensembles
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The Wabacs
A Classic Rock Ensemble led by John McCain
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The Local Vocals
Our Community Chorus Directed by Jeff Christmas
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Cajun Ensemble
Led by Mitch Reed
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Traditional Jazz Ensemble
Led by Jeff Christmas
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What are you waiting for? Join an ensemble this spring.
317main.org 846-9559
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FOUNDATION SPOTLIGHT
We are grateful for the support provided by many generous funders who believe in 317 Main. Recent grants include:
Bob Crewe Foundation:
We are in the third year of a multi-year grant from the Bob Crewe Foundation to support our Partnership Program and Financial Aid Fund to ensure broad access to music education programs.
Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust:
We were awarded our fourth year of funding from the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust to support our Partnership Program and Financial Aid Fund.
Rines Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation:
The Rines Thompson Fund recently made a grant to support our Partnership Program with Portland Public Schools.
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207-846-9559 I 317main.org I frontdesk@317main.org
317 Main Street, Yarmouth, Maine 04096
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