On July 6 of 2015 I was contacted by Doris and Mike Merritt of Cowboy Crossing Church in Hugo Oklahoma. The reason for their contact was to ask me about teaching a group of teenagers (ages 13-16) to play various instruments in hopes of forming a youth band for their church.
So on July 14 I began a weekly trek to Hugo to teach my first full classroom of teens! During the following weeks the students went from knowing pretty much nothing about their respective instrument to gaining a knowledge of their instrument, how to tune their instrument, and learning how to chord and strum their instrument. By the way, the instruments and musicians are:
- C.J. Hughes – bass guitar
- Joseph Nelson – 5-string banjo
- Ty LeBlanc – rhythm guitar
- Lily LeBlanc – dobro guitar
As their teacher, I am SO proud of these teens for what they’ve accomplished in just eight weeks! On September 2 all of the students assembled at Cowboy Crossing to play their first concert together. I had been eagerly anticipating the day when they could all come together and play a couple of songs as a band. When Debbie and I arrived, we found that they were as ready as I was! I didn’t even have to ask them to tune their instruments…they were ready to play!
The following photos show the group performing two different songs, “Amazing Grace” and “The Old Rugged Cross”. Each student received a certificate of completion for eight weeks of study.
Left to Right: C.J., Joseph, Ty and Lily
AMAZING GRACE
THE OLD RUGGED CROSS