Published: August 29, 2008 06:40 pm         

Gardendale school of fine arts seeking a few good students

By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



A Gardendale arts program would like to invite north Jefferson County residents to pursue new creative paths.

Dawn Grant, violin teacher and director of the Gardendale Presbyterian School of Fine Arts, said it’s never too late to learn to play an instrument.

“There’s no age limit,” she said. “We’ve got an 80-year-old student who’s taking guitar lessons.”

Grant became director of the school at the first of August and brings with her years of violin and viola experience.

During 15-year-old Morgan Brown’s violin lesson on Thursday, she and Grant played a series of scales before starting work on her latest piece, “Lover’s Waltz.”

Brown, a sophomore at Gardendale High School, is in her second year of violin lessons at the school of fine arts. She also takes choir courses at her high school.

She said she began taking violin lessons when she was in grade school after participating in an Alabama School of Fine Arts exhibition on stringed instruments.

Brown enrolled in the school of fine arts after her mom saw an advertisement for the program. She said she’s much more proficient on her violin now since enrolling in the program.

“It’s just amazing how far I’ve come from where I started to where I am now,” she said.

Her ultimate goal is to play with singer-songwriters and country artists. “I hear a lot of violin in the background of country songs,” she said.

The Gardendale Presbyterian School of Fine Arts was founded about 20 years ago by Earl Singletary. Grant said early efforts made by him and local resident Mildred Hardin helped maintain the school, which is located inside the Gardendale Presbyterian Church at 200 Tarrant Road.

However, the school is open to any student of any faith.

“I know this church has a mission to help people develop the talents that God has given them,” Grant said.

In addition to string classes, the school has nine other instructors who teach piano, voice, guitar, visual arts and drama. All of the instructors have college degrees or teaching experience in their fields.

In all, the school has about 50 students.

The school operates on the semester system, the first of which begins the second week of August and runs through the second week of December. The second semester runs from the second week of January through May.

Each semester offers at least 16 lessons per semester at $18 per 30-minute lesson.

The school also sponsors two recitals a year — an instructor recital in January and a student recital in May.

Grant said the school offers residents a creative outlet they can tap into the rest of their lives.

“In the south, some schools don’t see music as important, but it’s on the same keel with English and math,” she said. “When the stresses of life come along, this is what will carry you through.”

For more information on the Gardendale Presbyterian School of Fine Arts, call 631-7044.