I may have missed someone posting this, but...

STUDENTS TO PERFORM AT THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME® AND MUSEUM’S ANNUAL WORDS & MUSIC NIGHT ON APRIL 29
Hit Recording Artist Trisha Yearwood To Host
Posted: 4/10/2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 10, 2008 - Young songwriters will fill the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s Ford Theater with songs about dreams, family, football, piggybacks and more on Tuesday, April 29, during the annual Words & Music Night. This year’s event is made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund and the ASCAP Foundation.

“We are very excited to have the generous support of Ford Motor Company Fund and the ASCAP Foundation for our flagship educational program, Words & Music,” said Museum Director Kyle Young. “Both organizations have commitments to education within Nashville’s community and beyond that are directly on par with the Museum’s goal of engaging students, families and educators.”

Middle Tennessee students will perform their original songs accompanied by volunteer professional songwriters during the annual event, which will be hosted by hit recording artist and Museum board member Trisha Yearwood.

The evening will feature songs written by Tennessee students throughout the 2007-08 school year. The program, which begins at 6:30 p.m., is open to performing students and their families.

“The Words & Music program allows students to express themselves creatively and to learn the craft of lyric writing,” said Justine Gregory, director of education and public programming for the Museum. “The Words & Music Night recital showcases the breadth, depth and quality of those student compositions. When the students perform their songs on the Ford Theater stage with professional songwriters, it is not only a proud moment for the audience of parents, teachers and Museum staff, but also an evening of first-rate entertainment. We look forward to it every year.”

Words & Music Night is the culmination of the yearlong Words & Music program. Classes participating in the program complete a four-part lesson plan, developed by the Museum, which highlights the lyric-writing process. Students write or co-write lyrics in the classroom; the lyrics are then given to professional songwriters, who refine their lyrics and add melodies. Finally, students visit the Museum for a tour and a performance of their songs by their participating songwriter.

More than 4,700 kindergarten through 12th-grade students at 51 Tennessee and Florida schools wrote songs that were put to music by 48 volunteer professional songwriters throughout the 2007-08 school year. This is the 29th year that the Museum has offered its Words & Music program.

The Tuesday night showcase will include performances by students ranging from third-graders to high school students, from Battle Ground Academy, Brentwood Academy, Christ the King School, The Ensworth School, Glenview Elementary School, Harpeth High School, Hunters Bend Elementary School, McFadden School of Excellence, Meigs Magnet Middle School, Overbrook School, Rose Hill Middle School, Rose Park Middle School, Stanford Elementary Montessori Design Center, Sumner Academy, Tulip Grove Elementary School and Woodland Middle School.

Georgia native Trisha Yearwood helped redefine country music’s sound in the 1990s with her powerful voice and crossover appeal. After moving to Nashville in 1985, she attended Belmont University and became a sought after demo singer. Yearwood even worked briefly as a tour guide for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum before scoring a recording contract with MCA Records. With the help of longtime producer Garth Fundis, she recorded a slew of hits including “She’s in Love with the Boy” (1991), “Believe Me Baby (I Lied)” (1996) and “How Do I Live” (1997), among others.

Yearwood recently released her newest studio album, Heaven, Heartache, and the Power of Love, on Big Machine Records. Her new cookbook, Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen (Recipes from My Family to Yours), is a collection of comfort foods compiled by Yearwood, her mother, Gwen, and sister Beth.

Professional songwriters volunteering their time and talent to participate in the program during the 2007-08 school year include Deborah Adams, Rich Adams, Shane Adams, Joel Atkins, Tim Buppert, Shawn Byrne, Marla Cannon-Goodman, Todd Cerny, Jeff Chase, Larry Wayne Clark, Kim Copeland, Candace Corrigan, Gary Culley, Jeff Dayton, Moriah Domby, Jason Duke, Erin Enderlin, Steven Farmer, Micki Fuhrman-Milom, Doug Gill, Joel Goldstein, Janne Henshaw, Bob Howard, Kathy Hussey, Casey Kelly, Les Kerr, Lynn Langham, Bill Maier, Simon McCain, Jim McCormick, Craig Monday, Steve Nelson, Ron Oates, Alan Powell, Sandy Ramos, Bill Renfrew, Karen Reynolds, Nelda Sisk, Belinda Smith, Gary Michael Smith, Bob Spanburgh, Charley Stefl, Keith Thompson, Richard Trest, Jerry Vandiver, Tammy Vice, Camille Wallin and Lee Young.

Participating schools for 2007-08 include Barger Academy of Fine Arts, Battle Ground Academy, Belvoir Christian Academy, Big Ridge Elementary School, Blue Angels Elementary School, Brentwood Academy, Cannon County High School, Chadwell Elementary School, Christ the King School, Clinton County Middle School, David Lipscomb Middle School, Donelson Christian Academy, DuPont Hadley Middle School, The Ensworth School, Escambia High School, Glenview Elementary School, Gower Elementary School, Grassland Elementary School, Gulf Shores High School, Gulf Shores Middle School, H.G. Hill Middle School, Harpeth High School, Heritage Hills Middle School, Hunters Bend Elementary School, Jack Anderson Elementary School, Jackson-Madison County Board of Education, Lake City Middle School, McFadden School of Excellence, Meigs Magnet Middle School, Moves & Grooves, Inc., Oak Hill School, Oak View Elementary School, Old Center Elementary School, Oliver Springs Elementary School, Overbrook School, Pleasant Grove Elementary School, Pope John Paul II High School, Robert F. Woodall Elementary School, Rockvale School, Rose Park Middle School, St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Stanford Elementary Montessori Design Center, Sumner Academy, Tulip Grove Elementary School, W.A. Wright Elementary School, Walnut Grove Elementary School, Walter J. Baird Middle School, Westwood Elementary School, White House Christian Academy, Wilson Elementary School and Woodland Middle School.

This program is supported in part by grants from the ASCAP Foundation, Ford Motor Company Fund, Metro Nashville Arts Commission and from the Tennessee Arts Commission, through an agreement with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501©(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The Museum’s mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture. With the same educational mission, the Foundation also operates CMF Records, the Museum’s Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B, and Hatch Show Print.

More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is available at www.countrymusichalloffame.com or by calling (615) 416-2001.


http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site...l.aspx?cid=2429

Road trip???

Remember guys she is hosting...she is not scheduled to sing as of now! Not that you should call off your road trip!

AmberJ

Trisha discovers it’s good to be the yearbook editor
By Brad
May 2nd, 2008 - 4:15 pm

Call it Yearwood’s yearbook.

Trisha Yearwood gathered with a bunch of Nashville school children earlier this week for a Words & Music program that encourages kids to write their own songs.

When she was in high school, Trisha wasn’t completely absorbed in music.

Trisha was into sports — and the yearbook. This of course came with some power.

“The paragraph under my name, I mean I included everything I’d even thought about doing. I got a big paragraph. Everyone else’s was tiny,” she said.

How many pictures of Trisha were in the yearbook that year?

“A lot,” she said, laughing. “There’s a lot.”

http://musiccitytv.com/2008/05/02/trisha-d...earbook-editor/

Kids, professionals join forces to write music

By KATHLEEN SMITH
For The Tennessean

The stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's annual Words & Music Night weren't the seasoned veterans plastered on museum walls.

Students as young as 9 years old gathered Tuesday to sing their own lyrics accompanied by local professional musicians. Country star Trisha Yearwood hosted the event.

For 29 years, the Words & Music program has taught students in fourth through 12th grades the craft of lyric writing. Students co-write lyrics, which are then given to professional songwriters, who choose their favorites and compose melo dies. Once a year, a select group of students and professionals perform their songs on the Hall of Fame's Ford Theater stage.

For many of the professionals, it is a highlight of the year.

"The kids are so amazingly creative," said Steven Farmer, who collaborated on a song called "Piggyback." "They have no idea how brilliant they are."

4,700 wrote songs

More than 4,700 students at 51 Tennessee and Florida schools wrote songs that were put to music, but only a relative few were selected to perform.

Many of the lyrics poked fun at the everyday ups and downs of the kids' lives, from the reality of monsters under the bed to horse racing and football antics.

Family chuckled at "Life Isn't Fair," a tribute to younger siblings written by Noah Feld, Tate Stansbury and Lizzie Swartz, third-graders at Hunter's Bend Elementary in Franklin.

More serious themes included tributes to parents, who glowed to hear "Man I Want to Be" and "Mama, Queen of My Universe."

Becca Baker, a sixth-grader at McFadden School of Excellence, wowed the audience with "Shine," a stirring homage to a girl at her school who, as Becca put it, never has the chance to shine.

Authur Atu, a sixth-grader at Rose Park Magnet Middle School, expressed his desire to meet the grandfather he never knew through a particularly touching tribute. Authur accompanied the song on saxophone, an instrument his grandfather also played.

"It helps me express my feelings in songs," Authur said. "Different kids express their feelings in different ways, some in funny songs and some in sad songs."

The Words & Music Program is funded in part by the Ford Motor Company Fund and the ASCAP Foundation, and the museum staff hopes to take the program to other parts of the state in its 30th year.

"I think we'll see more of them someday," Ford Motor Company Fund President Jim Vella told the audience about the young songwriters. "Maybe even in Trisha's spot."

Yearwood poked fun at her own lack of songwriting skills throughout the evening and treated the audience to a performance at the finale. "All of you young people who have put your hearts into tonight, you have my utmost respect," Yearwood said.

After the night's impressive debuts, nearly all of the students plan to return to the stage.


http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...348/1018/NEWS01

Um... that's just too dang cool! What an amazing program. Glad she was able to be a part of it - must have been so rewarding to be there.

And in response to the other post. I was the yearbook photographer. The editor and I were always at odds with each other. Tee Hee. Explains a lot.

- lish