Austin Peay State University prepares future Music Teachers with Home-School Program

Clarksville, TN – On a recent Wednesday morning, about 60 children packed into a small music classroom in the Austin Peay State University Music/Mass Communication Building. They sat wide-eyed, staring at a piano and a table full of violins and other orchestral instruments.

In the front of the room, an APSU music student tuned a cello, and the strange sound caused some of the students to kick their feet excitedly back and forth. In a few minutes, they’d actually get to touch one of those expensive instruments. [Read more]

Planters Bank Hilldale Gallery to display Minister’s Creative Diversity

Clarksville, TN – The Planters Bank-Hilldale Gallery will feature the artistic works of Rev. Lyndel Littleton September 6th-October 3rd.

Littleton, the worship pastor at Hilldale Baptist Church, has been creating musical things as long as he can remember. In this role, he creates special musical events such as the church’s annual “Living Christmas Tree” and “Passion Play.” Over the years, many of his music compositions for handbells and choirs have been published by various music companies.

[Read more]

Austin Peay State University to hear ancient Chinese Sounds by the Orchid Ensemble on March 1st

Clarksville, TN – The erhu, a two-stringed instrument somewhat like a violin, appeared in China more than a thousand years ago. The zheng, a plucked half-tube wood zither, dates even farther back to 2,500 years ago, and the marimba, a wooden keyboard, evolved from early African instruments.

If you put the three instruments together, as Canada’s renowned Orchid Ensemble does, they produce a soothing, ancient sound that is unfamiliar to most modern audiences. At 2:30pm on March 1st, the ensemble will bring their unique, Chinese and Chinese-blended music to the Austin Peay State University Music/Mass Communication Building’s Concert Hall for a free concert. [Read more]

Suzuki Violin Lessons Prove Popular at APSU’s Community Arts Program

Clarksville, TN – During the last year, some of Clarksville’s youngest citizens – 3- to 5-year-olds – have picked up violins and are learning to play them competently.

“I am really impressed by them,” JoAnn McIntosh, coordinator for the Community School of the Arts at Austin Peay State University, said. “They are all playing in tune. We have a fabulous new teacher, and we’d really like to expand this program.”

Last fall, Robin Eckert, a Nashville musician who studied violin performance at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, joined the CSA staff, bringing Suzuki violin instruction to the Clarksville-area. [Read more]

Community School of the Arts Summer Session Begins June 6th

Clarksville, TN – For more than two decades, the Community School of the Arts at Austin Peay State University has provided area adults and children with a means of expressing their creative energy through art and music classes.

That tradition continues this summer as the CSA gears up to hold a new session of arts programs for the Clarksville community from June 6th-July 15th. [Read more]