Grace Notes

The B.I.T.S. Program is an educational program designed to pass along the heritage of Bluegrass Music to a younger generation. Bluegrass Music had it’s humble beginnings in America and is a mixture of and is rooted in the cultures of our ancestors that founded this great land.

How does the BITS program work?

We will provide lesson plans to be used in selected classrooms Monday through Thursday. These teachers are able to give their classes some hands on experience with Bluegrass subjects 4 days before the live assembly program on Friday. The School will in essence have a Bluegrass Education Week on campus in these selected classes. The BITS assembly program, however, will reach the entire student body and feature a live Bluegrass Band that will demonstrate the Bluegrass sound and cover the 6 topics listed below.
The assembly type setting is the best way to present the BITS program dividing it into two age groups:
    1. Elementary & Intermediate Students (grades 3 through 6)
    2. Junior & Senior High Students (grades 7 through 12)
The Junior and Senior High School Program covers more fact and information in detail and for the younger audience we keep it simple (less detail and more illustrations) and cover the information at a quicker pace keeping their interest on the stage.

The BITS Program will cover:

1. The History of Bluegrass Music
2. The history of all 6 instruments in a Bluegrass Band.
3. Demonstrations of Historical Bluegrass Songs.
4. 3 & 4 Part Harmonies discussed and demonstrated.
5. How each Instrument works to produce the Band sound.
6. How each Band Member’s Vocal fits into the Bluegrass Band situation.

The BITS Assembly Program
The live BITS’s assembly programs will show each student exactly what Bluegrass Music is all about. We will add to the information that was presented by the teachers in the classrooms that were selected to concentrate on Bluegrass. We will show our Power Point presentation that will cover the 6 topics that were mentioned earlier. We will show pictures and illustrations that will keep the program interesting and make for a good educational experience for the students.
We will provide a sound system and set up a 9’ x 11’ rear screen projection system, with computer, to present our Power Point presentation. We will narrate live and switch the slide show to match our commentary. Each band member will discuss their instrument’s history and how it works in the band setting. We will perform 10 to 12 songs to represent the history, famous singers, and the overall sound of Bluegrass Music in the styles of yesterday and today.
The BITS program is designed to handle large or small audiences, depending on the size of the School, we can present 1 or 2 programs in one day. Our Grade School program is designed for the younger audience and runs approximately 50 minutes to 1 hour and our High School program gives more detail and runs about 1 to 1.25 hours.

We present the information in a way to make it fun and entertaining to captivate the Student’s interest and promote a good learning environment

We follow up by asking “How many of the students would like to learn to play Bluegrass Music?” For those that are interested in pursuing the challenge of playing a Bluegrass instrument, we will help them make the journey as simple as possible.

The Bull Shoals Lake Bluegrass Festival is having a raffle for a Purple Students Violin. The Violin tickets are $1. each or 6 for $5.00
If you win you can keep the Purple Violin/Fiddle or give t back for the Bluegrass in the Schools Program.

The Purple Fiddle