Organization Profile:

Mission Statement
The W.O. Smith/Nashville Community Music School, founded in 1984, is a nonprofit educational institution created for the purpose of making quality music instruction available to talented, interested, deserving children from low income families at the nominal fee of 50 cents a lesson. The school also seeks to encourage student participation in the cultural life of the community through concert attendance and performance.

Faculty
Instruction is provided by a one-hundred member volunteer faculty of area musicians from many elements of the Nashville music scene: studio musicians, symphony players, college professors, public school teachers, church musicians, private teachers and university students. These individuals each donate one to four hours a week to teach their students.

Students
Over three hundred fifty students, age 7 to 18, representing academic schools from across Metro Davidson County and the middle Tennessee area, participate in over 500 different courses. Students must qualify for the reduced or free lunch program in the Metro schools to take lessons.

Program of Instruction
The school offers introductory classes for pre-instrumentalist, individual and group lessons in all band and orchestra instruments, piano, guitar and voice. The school also provides computer assisted instruction in music fundamentals and theory, classes in composition, music technology and recording. Three choirs, string ensemble,wind band, and other performing groups are available for ensemble experience. A week long resident summer music camp is also available.

Facilities
The school is housed in the inner city at 1414 and 1416 Edgehill Avenue. These two houses, renovated in 1995, provide 10 teaching studios, computer theory laboratory, waiting room, listening and homework areas and administrative offices. More than 150 instruments are loaned each year to students, along with instructional materials and music, at no additional cost.

Financial Support
The school is supported by gifts and grants from foundations, arts councils, individuals, and corporations. The W.O. Smith School’s leading benefactor is the Nashville music industry who is generous with time, talent, and monetary support.