Pascagoula, Mississippi
A Story of Loss, Recovery and Ongoing Need
by Dr. Ellen Carter
I first made the acquaintance of Dr. Ellen Carter when she called in to report a print error in one of our string publications. She was right, of course, and the error has since been corrected.
During our initial conversation I learned that Dr. Carter is a cellist and teacher as well as the Executive Director of the Emerald Coast Institute of Arts & Sciences (ECIAS) in Pascagoula, Mississippi, a largely volunteer organization that tutors children in math, science and music subjects.
Incorporated in 2004, the Institute's good intentions were severely compromised by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. Pascagoula, a costal town of 25,000, was 90% flooded by the storm surge and two years after the fact, the post office is still located in a FEMA trailer. In addition to huge personal and material losses among the Institute's faculty and student body, the Institute's music library holdings and basic infrastructure were decimated.
In short, it's been a shaky start and a long haul for ECIAS and a life-changing event for Pascagoula residents in general; I would encourage readers with unused musical instruments and music, or the time and means to share teaching and performance skills to lend a hand. Your response could change dozens of young musicians' lives for the better. If interested, please see the contact data at the end of this article.
Stephen Rekas
Guitar Sessions Editor
While August 29, 2005 will remain alive in the minds and hearts of everyone who lived here, Hurricane Katrina didn't stop the music in Jackson County, MS. Katrina was the storm we weren't prepared for. We didn't warn our children that their homes and schools might be destroyed, nor did we prepare ourselves or our children for the possible death of our pets or loss of human life. Much further down the list but important to many of us, beginning or heirloom musical instruments might indiscriminately perish.
For nearly a year after being "Katrinaed", no subject could be discussed unless it was in the light cast by the storm. Schools met at odd times and places, making a normal classroom experience difficult. The children in the classrooms went home to grandmother's house, a hastily assembled FEMA trailer park, or to a single trailer parked outside their now destroyed homes. Parents who were struggling to deal with insurance companies, FEMA and other aid agencies, or with getting homes fixed or learning to do home repairs themselves among other endless difficulties - could not focus as much as they would have liked on schoolwork or extracurricular sports or learning activities.
Two years after the storm, too many Jackson County children are still in FEMA trailers or in other temporary housing situations, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is all too common in both children and adults. Yet, much has improved and that is what this story is about. Here are a few brief case histories:
Von Deen was 12 years old and lived in an apartment with his mom and new little brother when Katrina hit. He was playing soccer and baseball, and dreamed of football. He had started in the band program in school and taken a few piano lessons as well. After Katrina, there was no hope of football that year. He had no trumpet and no way to continue piano lessons. His family's apartment was gone. They moved into a shelter, lived briefly with a grandmother upstate, and then moved back to the area to live in a FEMA trailer in a trailer park. He had to go to a different school with new friends, but everyone else had to adapt as well.
Sydni Crain was 8 years old and had played the piano for four years. She was an honors student at Resurrection Elementary School. She lived with her mom and dad a few blocks from the beach in a neighborhood that had survived storms for recorded history. After Katrina, her house was gone. So was her piano, and her piano teacher had moved. Her dance studio reopened six months later. Her parents got her a keyboard to use in the house they live in temporarily while they try to get their home rebuilt.
David Knowles was 7 years old and living with his grandparents in an older home that had always survived the many hurricanes that passed through over the years. Their FEMA trailer is parked next to their home, which his grandparents have been repairing themselves. One year after Katrina, his grandmother was able to get him back into soccer but wanted him to be able to focus on other things as well- things that have nothing to do with Katrina or recovering from disasters.
The Singing River Youth Orchestra was founded in August 2006. Some teachers put instruments into children's hands in July, and one month later they struggled through their first "concert". The "Ode to Joy" may have sounded much better when played by more experienced musicians and groups, but it never had more meaning. Von plays cello, Sydni has continued her piano studies and is playing the violin, and David is a violist who has also begun studying piano. They, like the other members of the orchestra, are inspirations to each other, to the community, to their parents, and to the people who lead the orchestra.
Connor Read was also 12 when Katrina hit. He and his family are just now moving back into their home. He began studying the viola in July nearly a year after Katrina and later agreed to switch to the bass because the orchestra needed one. His brother Charleton was 10 when Katrina hit and 11 when he started the viola. Because Connor switched to bass, the Singing River Youth Orchestra only has three violas right now, but we are fortunate that they are all very talented musicians and strong on their instruments. Connor and Charleton are also very active on their soccer teams, and have participated in state tournaments.
Our concertmaster, Jeffery Johnson, is now 16 and began playing violin a little before Katrina. There were no violin lessons available or places to play right after Katrina, so he really started getting into it for the first time the spring after Katrina. Since then Jeffery has made amazing progress and has begun playing professionally for weddings; he is looking forward to studying violin in college. His younger brother Glenn is now 12 and plays viola in the orchestra. Jeffery and Glenn are both all-star baseball players.
Mason Lyons has just turned 12 as well, and is another all-star baseball player when not playing the cello. He and his sister and family lived with their grandmother after Katrina until a FEMA trailer was set in front of their house. They are finally in their home, but the piano destroyed by Katrina has just now been picked up for restoration. Mason's little sister Jenna, a soccer star who had just started piano and violin before the hurricane, has made great progress on both instruments but really shines on the violin. Though she only just turned 9, she has moved to the first violin section of the orchestra.
Our youngest orchestra member is Rian "Beebop" Black. She was 6 when Katrina hit and had just turned 7 when the youth orchestra was started. At first her family lived with her grandmother with other displaced family members- all crammed into a three-bedroom house. Then they lived in a trailer in their driveway until two months ago when they finally moved into their not quite completely repaired home. Rian plays the cello, and is also studying piano. Her brother, Reid, is 11 and plays the violin in our orchestra, in the church orchestra, and in the Mobile Youth Orchestra. He studies piano in his scant spare time. Since Rian and Reid are both straight-A students, it is easy to see that they are not victims but rather young people who have learned to focus on accomplishments rather then loss. That is our theme at Singing River Youth Orchestra. It's not what you've done; it's what you can do. It's not what someone can do for you; it's what you can do for someone else.
Chris Charlton is only 11, but has made great progress on the guitar and in his schoolwork- all while living with his dad in a FEMA trailer. Chris and his dad also volunteer with several groups rebuilding homes throughout the area.
Three members of the Chandler family were in our orchestra, two on clarinet and one on sax. We just lost one of them, though, because Christian Chandler has recently been accepted on scholarship to the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Sciences, a public residential high school for academically gifted and highly motivated teenagers. His sisters are in junior high, and the orchestra is looking forward to having them continue before they move onward and upward.
All of our students have accepted the challenge to work hard, and that is their greatest asset. As a group they are very talented and smart to be sure, but their willingness to learn, focus, stay on task, and to achieve has been and will surely continue to be their key to survival.
Dr. Perry Combs, strings professor at Hinds Community College in Raymond, MS, and past Mississippi State President of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) has been one of our greatest supporters. He helped us acquire two cellos, two violas, eight violins, and needed strings and supplies when we first began the orchestra. He drove across the state to show support at our first Christmas concert and donated another violin at that time. He also spent two days here this summer working with students individually. Young students truly benefit when a skilled college professor works with them one-on-one.
We have made great strides but still have great needs. Not one of our children had a decent instrument post-Katrina. Even now, most of them are using the most basic of donated beginner-level instruments. We are grateful that we have them, of course, but our children would benefit and progress so much more from having better instruments.
Most of our musical instructors are volunteers whose resources, time and energy are continually stretched. We have sponsored some master classes and workshops, but lack funding to support regular master classes or even individual instruction on a consistent basis.
Our problems are compounded by the fact that we have no space to call our own. We have been using the backs of churches and people's homes not only for lessons, practice rooms and rehearsals, but also for tutoring and supervised play. Likewise, our indoor concerts are staged in churches and our jazz festival was set at the confluence of the swift Escatawpa River and the Pascagoula River, the largest unspoiled river system in North America. We have augmented our office equipment by conscripting personal computers and our nomadic paperwork rides around in boxes in volunteer staff cars.
Since Katrina we have sponsored five concerts and a small jazz festival, but our kids need more exposure to all arts. Parents struggling to get out of FEMA trailers cannot afford to travel or buy concert tickets. We cannot yet afford space or paid personnel, so we are limited in our ability to bring in professional concerts. We have a website, put together by two volunteers learning as they go. Similarly, fundraising and grant-writing efforts are being coordinated by people who are learning as they go.
Yet as I've mentioned, we have made great strides. Twenty-four children actively participate in the Singing River Youth Orchestra, though only four played their orchestral instrument at all before the storm. Many more children have begun music lessons. Equally important, many kids both in and out of the orchestra are being tutored in academic subjects, some of them daily. All our kids are participating in sports or other extracurricular activities. Our students no longer see themselves as victims of Katrina as their primary identity.
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