Bluegrass Ambassadors teach local students about music heritage

The crowd of fourth graders paid rapt attention to the musicians standing on the stage at the Don Gibson Theater Tuesday afternoon as the band finger picked their way through an intricate bluegrass song.

Local students had the opportunity to participate in the Bluegrass Ambassador program this week, which was hosted for all Cleveland County 4th-grade students.

The Henhouse Prowlers presented the program at the Don Gibson Theater and used humor and hands-on techniques to keep the kids engaged and entertained while educating them on the rich musical heritage that has originated from their community.

Mary Beth Martin, executive director of the Earl Scruggs Center, said the programs are given by the Chicago-based band, Henhouse Prowlers. She said through their non-profit, Bluegrass Ambassadors, they travel the world teaching people about music, even working for the U.S. State Department as cultural diplomats.

“Here in Cleveland County, they’ll teach students about the importance of our region’s music and the diverse influences that contributed to the music that we celebrate today,” she said.

According to its website, the Bluegrass Ambassadors operate on the premise that music is the great uniter, an incredible force and something that people from all backgrounds have in common.

During the program, they explained details about the instruments they played, from the bass to banjo, and some of the instruments’ history.

“We play music all over the world and so much of the music we play comes from right here in Cleveland County,” said Ben Wright, founder of Henhouse Prowlers and banjo player.

They talked to the kids about Bill Monroe, founding father of bluegrass, and how the banjo gets its roots from West Africa and made its way to North America through the slave trade.

“These people had their freedom stolen from them, but they still made instruments and they still made music,” the Prowlers said.

The band demonstrated the improvisation technique called scatting and had the students try it out, a cacophony of noise erupting from the audience.

The performance was filled with laughter and the band held the students’ attention throughout the duration of the program.

The group learned about rhythm and beats by stomping and clapping and learned how the finger picking style called Piedmont Blues originated right here in Cleveland County.

The kids were shown videos of different musicians playing different styles and concluded with a video and photos of Earl Scruggs, Cleveland County’s own, and how he developed modern bluegrass.

“Earl learned right here and played right here and inspired millions of people all over the world,” the Prowlers said.

They discussed how he started playing young and was inspired by the other great musicians surrounding him. They talked about how he worked in a textile mill and how the mills began shutting down, putting people out of work.

“There’s one thing that everybody shared in this community, and that’s music,” said Wright. “They used music as a tool to survive hard times.”

The band played a song about the mills closing called Aragon Mill and told the students to put themselves in the mill workers shoes as they listened to the music.

“You guys are the next musicians and artists to inspire people,” Wright said.

On Thursday, April 20,  the Henhouse Prowlers will be giving a free performance at the Bobby Bell Pavilion from 6 to 8 p.m. The Scruggs Center is partnering with the Uptown Shelby Association to offer the show to the community.

Reporter Rebecca Sitzes can be reached at rsitzes@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Bluegrass Ambassadors teach students, offer free concert Thursday