This popular 3-5 day classroom residency program for grades 2-5 offers up to five virtual or in-class sessions/day, plus an optional assembly show, during which students will experience first-hand the multi-cultural tapestry of southern music styles including Classical, Latino, Blues, Celtic, Folk, and Gospel that combine to give us Bluegrass music! Each day the students will enjoy hearing, and singing along with, a different “focus” instrument, learning how it works, and where it originated (guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, voice). They also will learn how to write and perform their own folk song, with the option to present this to the entire school at the closing assembly! Students gain a greater appreciation for the diversity of cultures represented in southern music, and a deeper sense of how music and culture combine to make new art forms.

Both in-person and virtual (live and pre-recorded) options are available for this program.

Artist Background

Charles Pettee is a guitar and mandolin-wielding songwriter and singer from Asheville, NC with a strong commitment to music education who loves sharing the catchy rhythms and melodies of southern Bluegrass and Folk music, as well as the segregation-defying stories behind this culturally diverse tapestry of sounds. Transitioning from fronting Chapel Hill, NC’s world-traveling Bluegrass band The Shady Grove Band for over 25 years, Mr. Pettee has become a master teaching artist and music educator whose programs and residencies feature interactive audience participation and are in high demand throughout North and South Carolina. Pettee offers a number of age-adjusted presentations that align with SC and NC Standards for both Music and Social Studies for grades preK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Along with his group “Charles Pettee & FolkPsalm,” Mr. Pettee also performs at festivals and special events with many of NC’s finest acoustic musicians, including his son, guitar player Jackson Pettee, under the name “Slippery Hill,” with whom he is currently at work on his 14th CD/album. He has logged over 6,000 performances over the course of his career.

Search Criteria

• Program Type: Workshop/Residency
• Discipline: Music, Storytelling
• Grade Level: Elementary
• Cultural Context: African-American, European, Hispanic, North Carolina
• Accepts bookings in Johnston County
• Virtual option available