FROM STAFF REPORTS

MONTEVALLO – The University of Montevallo Community School of Music is offering a program to teach music to young people who may not have the financial resources to pay for private lessons.

The Montevallo Music Connection, in partnership with the D’Addario Music Foundation, Guitar Center Inc. and the Alabama Council on the Arts, will provide music lessons to children from 8-16 years of age who have an interest in learning to play an instrument.

Children must be nominated by a school principal, teacher, band or choir director or a religious leader and must show financial need. They must also have transportation to the University of Montevallo.

Lauren Morgan, director of the Community School of Music, said she would like to reach out to children in Shelby, Chilton and Bibb counties who would like to pursue an interest in music. Currently, lessons are offered in violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar and piano. She said she hopes to increase the number of instruments taught as the program expands.

“When I was a child, I lived in a rural community where music lessons were not available,” Morgan wrote in a press release. “I would like to provide young people in similar circumstances with the opportunity to learn to play an instrument.”

Classes are offered in the spring semester each year. Applications are available on the University of Montevallo website at Montevallo.edu/music/CSM/MusicConnection.shtm. The application deadline is Jan. 18, 2013, and classes begin in February.

For additional information, contact Lauren Morgan at 668-6678 or by email at umcsm@montevallo.edu.