Appalachian Traditional Music Program for Elementary Schoolswith Anna & Elizabeth

We are Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle: two old-time musicians in Southwest Virginia. We love sharing music and heritage with kids in their region. Over the past year, we have developed a show that uses a creative multi-media approach to share traditional music--fiddle and banjo tunes, ballads, and dance-- and its history in an engaging way. We have brought their program to dozens of schools throughout Virginia, with great success.

What folks are saying about our program: "Anna and Elizabeth represent the most talented and passionate of a new generation of old time artisans. They are fabulous musicians and their accompanying artwork, presented through the old tech media of fabric and paper is compelling. Their show will hold children of all ages spellbound while introducing them to the wonderful musical heritage of the Appalachians. I highly recommend Elizabeth, Anna and their "crankies"!!"

Helen White, Founder and Regional Director, Junior Appalachian Musicians, Inc

"Anna and Elizabeth are blazing a trail of exciting, community-building Folk Music. They've found a way to make these songs come to life for young folks, old folks, and medium folks. I doubt there's a more creative, vibrant, passionate duo sharing their joy with the world right now."

Caleb Stine, Baltimore Songwriter & Actor

Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle brought their show, “Snow is on the Ground,” to two of our elementary schools... The students and teachers continue to talk about their program and want them back.These ballad singers, with history, culture and dancing in the mix, provided our schools with the best possible in education – engagement, information, heritage and story – in a way that students relate to and understand and teachers can use in teaching their lessons.

David Winship, Washington Co., VA Elementary Gifted Program Facilitator

The creative puppetry and crankies wonderfully complement Anna and Elizabeth's remarkable renditions of traditional songs and ballads as well as fiddle and banjo tunes. This unique and artful multi-media presentation brings mountain cultural and music traditions to life in a special way. Last year, children and teachers at Glade Creek School as well as at the Alleghany JAM program in Sparta, NC were mesmerized by Anna and Elizabeth's performances and artwork.

Susan Pepper, Past Director, Alleghany Junior Appalachian Musicians Program

Elementary School Programs we offer:

1. Assembly Program (45 minute-1 hour // for grades K-8) In this program, tailored to suit different age groups, we will do the following:

●Play traditional old-time fiddle and banjo music●Sing ballads, Appalachian story-songs handed down through oral tradition for hundreds of years●Teach students about traditional Appalachian instruments (banjo, fiddle, and guitar)●Demonstrate flat-foot dancing (traditional percussive dancing)●Share history of Appalachian music: stories of notable musicians from the region, ways of life

when old-time music was everyday entertainment, and how European settlers and African slavesdeveloped this uniquely American music.

●Share local oral histories●Share home-made art pieces that illustrate the songs and tunes: puppets and “crankies” (handmade sewn and paper story-telling scrolls)●Get students to sing and dance along

2. Workshops (One class period long)Crankie-making (visual art //Grades K-8)

-A crankie is a visual storytelling device in the form of a scroll. We will lead studentsthrough the process of collaborating as a group to make their own art piece as a group toillustrate: a local story, an oral history, a song they write, a folktale or a ballad.

Dancing (movement, music // Grades K-8)-We will teach flatfooting and square dancing to students, two forms of traditional Appalachiandance. We will share the history of the dance, engage students in moving rhythmically, andworking on dance figures as a group. Active enough to fill a gym period.

Singing (music // Grades K-8)-We teach harmony singing, Appalachian traditional songs, and traditional play-party games (oldkids’ songs that describe a game, which we can play).

Ballads & Storytelling Workshop (English, music // Grades 5-8 )-We will teach students about story, form, rhyme, narrative through the texts of traditional balladssung in Virginia, those that came from the British Isles through oral tradition, and those that werecomposed in Virginia about local events.

3. Residencies (multiple-day // Grades 4-8)Ballads & Local History Project (3-4 Class Periods over the course of a month)

-Learning this music is also a process of learning about local history, and sharing stories. We love bringing students into this process, using learning about interviewing and research, storytelling, music, and art, to connect them to the stories of their local communities. This is a workshop model that is used by a number of traditional musicians throughout the country, to great effect!Step 1: We teach students about ballads written about local events, throughout history. We share some of our research into the history of local traditional musicians and singers, and what we have learned about the history of Virginia through that research.Step 2: Students do their own research about town through newspaper, libraries, & conducting oral histories with elders in their community-- as individual assignments, or a group activity.Step 3: Students bring together the stories they collected, and we facilitate the writing of a song or narrative about them.Step 4: We lead students through the process of collaborating as a group to make their own “crankie”-- a visual stortelling device in the form of a scroll, to illustrate their story or song. Step 5: Students share the story with peers, parents, and/or community.

Oral History Project (2 class periods)A shorter form of the Ballad & Local History Project. Step 1: We lead students to do research about town through newspaper, libraries, & oral history.

Step 2: We facilitate students in writing a song or narrative about the stories they collected, to share them with their community.

About Anna & Elizabeth:

Elizabeth LaPrelle, 24, of Rural Retreat, is an acclaimed ballad singer and banjo player. She began winning prizes for Folk Song at local Fiddler's Conventions at age eleven for her heartfelt and powerful singing. She has dug deeply into the rich history of mountain music at the Augusta Heritage Center and in her major, “Southern Appalachian Traditional Performance”, at the College of William and Mary. Elizabeth has now released three traditional music CDs, and performed and taught workshops at festivals and concerts all over the country.

Anna Roberts-Gevalt, 24, of Floyd, plays fiddle, banjo and guitar; she calls square dances, and flatfoot dances. She has studied with master musicians throughout Appalachia, and was honored to learn much music and wisdom from Paul David Smith, the late, great master of Kentucky fiddling. She teaches traditional music and has been on faculty at music schools across the country, and abroad. A graduate of Wesleyan University, she recently completed an Appalachian Music fellowship from Berea College, writing about the lives of female fiddlers in Kentucky, stories which were published in the Old Time Herald.

Contact Anna and Elizabeth:arobertsgevalt @ gmail . com (802) 310-2146elizabethlaprelle @ gmail . com (276) 686-5878