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The Tacy Foundation empowers children and teens to share hope and joy with hospital patients, military veterans, senior citizens, and disadvantaged youth through performances, music recording projects, and music mentoring programs.
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Director’s Corner: The Piano Pals program continues to grow. The days, schools, and times for Piano Pals during the current school year are:
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Mondays: Brown Station ES, 3:30 to 4:30
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Wednesdays: Gaithersburg ES, 3:30 to 4:30
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Thursdays: Fox Chapel ES, 3:30 to 4:30
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Fridays: Clopper Mill ES, 4:00 to 5:00
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Saturdays: Tanglewood Apts. HOC, 11 am to 12:00 p.m.
Beyond these current sites, initial steps have been taken towards further expansion of the program. Navya Suri, a high school senior, pianist, and long-time volunteer in Ashburn, VA, has planted the seeds for Piano Pals in Loudoun County at Sully ES, a Title 1 school in Sterling, VA. Initial steps have been taken with this school’s principal and family liaison staff. As we explore this new opportunity in Virginia, we encourage Tacy volunteers and their friends in that area to offer their time and talents for this program. We are asking independent piano and guitar teachers there to help us identify middle and high school students who are privileged to study music privately and who might welcome this opportunity to mentor children whose parents cannot afford lessons. Please share this information with piano and guitar teachers in Loudoun County that you know and trust.
Another request for Piano Pals has come in October from the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission. A family residence in Stewartown Homes in Gaithersburg has asked for Piano Pals in their facility. Like Tanglewood Apartments, the Gaithersburg facility will offer both piano and guitar lessons to participating children.
Piano Pals mentors and volunteer adult staff’s achievements and legacy inspires us all. But the expanding program naturally requires additional resources. It is essential now that the program obtain new keyboards and guitars as well as new music books. We will purchase additional keyboards and guitars, curriculum books, T-shirts, and achievement wristbands in order to offer music skills that deepen brain capacity, logical thinking, and executive functioning among yet more children who cannot afford lessons.
Rather than organize and fund a benefit concert during the busy holiday season, we are asking that funds be donated through the website, www.tacyfoundation.org, or mailed to The Tacy Foundation, PO Box 2334, Germantown, MD 20875.
All Tacy Foundation volunteers send our gratitude, prayers, music, and hope to you throughout this beautiful Thanksgiving season!
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Benefits of Participating in Piano Pals
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All parents of 6th-12th graders will appreciate this program for their hard-working youth musicians. This community service component has inspired many young people to invest in those less fortunate. The children we serve in after-school Piano Pals programs learn to read music and play songs on a keyboard with guidance from middle or high school students. The children are inspired by their mentors. Likewise, the mentors appreciate the opportunity to pass on the musical knowledge and skills honed by their own fine music teachers. Reading and playing music become lifetime skills no matter what profession one chooses to pursue.
Parents of student musicians might not be aware of the value that universities place on mentoring programs in the arts. Please search your schedules to find one of the Piano Pal schools where you can send your son/daughter to make a tremendous difference in the lives of children whose families lack the funds to pay for their children’s lessons. Teaching support comes through the videos of the Faber Curriculum, available to everyone on the team.
Change the trajectory of a child's life and deepen appreciation and humility in your teens' lives. Send them purposefully to give wonderful gifts to a child of their time, attention, and music training.
Applications are available on the Foundation website: www.tacyfoundation.org or request one from thetacyfoundation@gmail.com. Apply soon. Classes will continue until spring break. Thank you!
One very active Piano Pals site is Clopper Mill ES. To give readers an idea of all of the hard work and fun involved, below is a note from the adult supervisor and photos of the volunteer student mentors.
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Note from Genny Go, Adult Supervisor, to the Tacy Foundation, October 10, 2024:
Thank you all so much for coming to the Clopper Mill ES Piano and Guitar Pals mentor get-together last Friday! It was so nice welcoming back last year's volunteers and meeting new ones. Special thanks to the parents, Katherine Phillippy, Paul Newgen, Wendy Wang, and Tam Nguyen's dad who helped and hung out with us. Thank you for working quickly and efficiently together, we were done before 6 pm!
We will have a total of 20 sessions from October 25, 2024 to March 28, 2025 (the end of the program this school year). We are so blessed to have 15 piano mentors and three guitar mentors signed up so far. I will create a schedule and match mentors with students based on availability/absences that day. We will have about 50 participants at any given time every Friday, so it is important that I have advance notice of any mentor and student absences.
I think we’re all set with storage. The laminating room suggested by the building services supervisor is perfect for all our needs. It is just a few doors down from the office so it’s easily accessible. The shelves are heavy duty, and they make everything look so neat and organized!
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Clopper Mill Elementary School
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Mia Fuller (Northwest HS, 12th), Raaga Daliparti (Poolesville HS, 11th), Ramya Chokkalingam
(Poolesville HS, 11th), and Hannah Phillippy (Kingsview MS, 8th) doing a cheer/toast
after trying the new Coke and popping candy-flavored Oreo cookies.
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The Life Stories Initiative
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The Life Stories project is the Tacy Foundation’s newest initiative. Through it, student volunteers conduct one-to-one interviews with a senior and then write a story about the life of the senior. As of now, Life Stories is happening at Brookdale Senior Center in Olney, but it will expand to other senior centers in the future.
The Life Stories program started when Mr. Favin, the Tacy Foundation’s Newsletter’s Chief Editor, had the idea to feature stories about some audience members for musical performances, since many of these individuals have led interesting lives and made contributions to their communities and the wider world. He wrote about it in the Foundation’s September newsletter, calling for volunteers. He also provided an example story about his grandfather, as well as suggested guidelines for submissions. Ms. Charlotte Holliday, the founder of the Tacy Foundation, thought it was a wonderful idea, saying that volunteers would be “touching on a gold mine of life stories.”
Samuel and Shaun Wang, who have been performing music at Brookdale for years, had interviewed the former program coordinator of Brookdale, Antwan Coates, and were excited to have an opportunity to get to know their supportive audience as well. Another one of our Tacy Foundation members, Christelle Anaelle, emailed Ms. Holliday, expressing interest in the Life Stories program at Brookdale in Olney.
Ms. Sherry Bai, who is a site supervisor for live music performances at Brookdale, contacted its Program Manager, Ms. Kira McClure, about the possibility of conducting an interviewing session. Kira found that the event fit in well with the theme, Inspiring Generations, of the week of September 8th at Brookdale, and was happy to host the event.
The first interviewing session, at Brookdale, occurred on 9/8, which saw volunteers Christelle, Samuel, Shaun, and Ryan Lim, Samuel’s friend. After Shaun and Samuel had written their pieces, they conducted follow-up interviews to have the seniors proofread them.
“Thank you so much, this is such a nice piece!” said Saul Popick, who was interviewed by Shaun.
“I’m so glad you’re doing this,” said Florida Parker, Samuel’s interviewee. “It lets us know we’re not forgotten.”
The article on Ms. Parker was in the October newsletter. The one on Mr. Popick is expected to be in the December issue.
We are working out some of the procedures for interviews and stories (e.g., permissions, SSL hours), which we hope to share in the next newsletter. In the meantime, please be patient and don’t move ahead yet with contacting people in the care facilities about the initiative.
As of October 31st, SSL Credit has been authorized under the guidelines on Montgomery Volunteer Center on The Tacy Foundation, Inc listing:
https://montgomerycountymd.galaxydigital.com/agency/mgrNeeds/?agency_id=76804
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Cards for Another Community Suffering Trauma
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Tacy Foundation volunteers made beautiful cards for the Apalachee High School community in Winder, Georgia, which suffered yet another episode of gun violence. Tacy volunteers sent their support and compassion in art and written messages on the cards. Jessica Chen of Northern Virginia, a longtime volunteer, musician, artist, and leader in Reston, designed QR Code and business card to carry our musical message to the Georgia community. Shaun Wang, Chief Intern of Brookdale Sunrise in Olney and Tech Team Volunteer Youth Staff, created the YouTube Playlist for Sounds of Hope for Apalachee High School. Jules Amyot, Claire Lee, Yuja Wang, and Dan Sloutskovski submitted their recorded music for the playlist. The playlist is easily accessible from Jessica Chen’s QR Code.
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The Cards Team, Mario and Rukmani Lara, created cards and collected cards from Eric Zou. Ms. Wilkes-Lara organized the cards project rapidly and ensured prompt delivery of the cards. The letter accompanying the cards is in the box below.
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Thank you to all of those who rallied to send their eternal messages of hope to those suffering tremendous loss.
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Last year, as chief intern and a regular volunteer at Brightview Woodmont, I embarked on a project I called “You Pick, I Play.” At that point, I had been a part of the Tacy Foundation for three years. Over this period, I realized that volunteer programs were limited to classical music, and although many seniors loved this type of music, the most common request after each concert was: “Do you know any show tunes?”
“You Pick, I Play” arose from my philosophy that Tacy Foundation volunteers are guests of the seniors, not the other way around. Therefore, student musicians should strive to learn and perform music that is most meaningful and enjoyable for the seniors today. My project contained a list of 20 pieces ranging from classical, to jazz, to show tunes, and more (see the photo below). At the beginning of each concert, I would take audience requests for pieces on that list, then play the selections that the residents wanted.
The goal of “You Pick, I Play” was, and always has been, to implement a “democratic” process into concert programming; in senior homes, where residents are striving to remain connected to their own past and present as time moves on, the concert should revolve around music that is relevant to them. The purpose of this project and the Tacy Foundation is to form a real, human, emotional connection, which starts with playing music that resonates with the soul of the audience.
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Tacy “graduate” Anika Arora Seth, now at Yale University, has written an article published in The Washington Post on U.S. college students displaced by war or who have refugee status. She has kindly sent a link to this very interesting article along with her best wishes for the Foundation: “I hold the experience and the teaching close to my heart….”
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A Growing Knack for Composing
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A light in my head permanently switched on when my piano teacher sat me down during a lesson and told me to play whatever I wanted. She told me that she would transcribe it into sheet music, and it would be a song, just like the exercises and pieces we played. I remember she had to force me to stop when she ran out of paper-- I just didn’t want to stop playing. I was about five years old at the time, and now, 11 years later, my love for composing music has only grown stronger.
I’ve come a long way since I first started composing music. I used to record myself messing around with a keyboard on a miniature voice recorder back when I was in the first grade. A few years later I was burning recordings of myself, improvising melodies over stock drum loops onto CDs.
Nowadays, I’ve been spending hundreds of hours composing music digitally in the DAW FL Studio -- I recently won an award from the Maryland Music Educators Association for a composition! I owe most of the improvement and success in composing to the Tacy Foundation -- specifically, the Composer’s Circle lessons with Mr. Michael Tacy.
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The lessons were how I was introduced to FL Studio in the first place. I’ve learned a lot about music theory, music composition, and audio design in the years I’ve been taking the lessons -- allowing me to really have fun composing. For example, I’ve based a song around the Phrygian mode, composed a song in 11/4 time, learned about sidechaining audio tracks (which I’ve used extensively since), along with much more.
The Tacy Foundation really is a wonderful organization. Along with all the composing work that I’ve done with Composer’s Circle, I’ve also performed for seniors and patients in nursing homes and hospitals. I very much appreciate the opportunities they’ve given me to further grow musically. I absolutely recommend anyone who is interested in composition skills to check out Composer’s Circle, and anyone interested in music in general to get involved with the Tacy Foundation.
Thank you Mrs. Holliday!
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Brian Eng Benefit Concert
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Bryan Eng, a Tacy Foundation alum, has continued to display his musical talent and have successful career. He has played and sung locally and has been featured in this newsletter.
Join Bryan Eng for a special homecoming concert on November 8 at Potomac
Presbyterian Church (PPC), the place where his musical journey began. The Bryan Eng Trio will present a captivating performance featuring selections from his latest album, A Few Days With You, alongside new original songs. Throughout the evening, Bryan will share heartfelt stories from his time at PPC and reflect on how this community has shaped his artistry.
All ticket sales benefit Hurricane Helen Relief efforts.
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Educational Mission: Foster youth development through music, story and mentoring
Philanthropic Mission: Empower youth to discover and use their gifts in service to others
Social Mission: Build community partnerships and create intergenerational connections
Whom We Serve
Seniors
Children
Teens
Service members
Veterans
Injured/sick
Economically disadvantaged
Individuals who want to serve
How We Serve (Programs)
Live music concerts
Reading Express®
Piano Pals®
Guitar Pals®
Composers’ Circle
Music USBs
Musical equipment
COVID projects through video, email, cards, puzzles for outreach to the community
Charlotte Holliday, Founder and Executive Director
Matthew D. Scott and Michael Tacy, Graphic Editors
Michael Favin, Chief Editor
Zoe Bell, Teen Editor
Max Belyanstev, Teen Editor
Donations are appreciated. All adult and teen staff are volunteers. No salaries or benefits. Every dollar you donate goes to supplies for all projects offered to the community.
Thank you!
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