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Music joins academics at new school

By Pamela Perkins
perkins@commercialappeal.com

The tone was set at the opening of the Stax Music Academy’s new charter school last week. And it was silent.

"Code red!" called David Hill, the leader of the new school. And the mouths of about 60 lightly chattering students in white shirts and burgundy vests snapped shut.

The code for silence was one of their first lessons when classes began Monday at the Stax Music Academy Charter School in South Memphis. It is among the four independent, publicly funded schools that the Memphis school board approved this year, making a total of 10 in the city.

Stax’s charter school accepts students from schools not meeting federal standards. It is at capacity with 60 sixth-grade students, about two-thirds of whom are from South Memphis. It will expand a grade each year until it becomes a combined middle and high school.

The school is housed in the academy, next to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at 926 E. McLemore in South Memphis. The nonprofit Soulsville agency developed the facilities on the former site of the old Stax Records in tribute to the label, its musicians and Memphis soul music.

The academy is for Soulsville’s community outreach efforts, using music-based youth development programs including summer music camps and performance groups.

While the school has a music focus, as well, academics takes center stage, said Marc Willis, Soulsville’s chief executive officer.

"We’re not a performing arts school," he said. "We have rigorous academics in a music-rich environment."

The music focus is found mainly in the school’s string and percussion orchestra. Each student takes orchestra class.

Although they will generally be kept separate, the music and academics will mix in a course called "Staxology," under development for the high school, Willis said.

He said the course will take inspiration from "the entrepreneurial spirit of Stax" with core subjects sewn into student performance and production projects. For example, he said, if the orchestra visits another country to perform, students will study its monetary system and government, and may even plan the trip.

The first week of school had no instruments involved, not even in orchestra class. It was about laying a groundwork of discipline for the year.

Students learned last Monday morning that "code red" means no talking and "code yellow" means low talking. And they learned "the four mottos" from Ashley Davis, the academy’s new director and orchestra instructor.

Chastising them Thursday for noisy behavior, Davis made students recite the mottos: "We are a team. We work together. We’re as strong as the weakest person. Nobody’s weak!"

Parents, students and teachers signed "commitment to excellence" pledges.

Students also sign a fresh pledge each day. It has a checklist of bad behaviors that can lose them prizes such as gift certificates and Memphis Grizzlies tickets.

"Our goal is to have a highly structured environment for kids to learn ... because of the high expectations that we set and expect to achieve," Willis said. "It’s tough to achieve."

-- Pamela Perkins: 529-6514

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