String instruments have always held a special place in the heart of musician and educator Vicki Boyle, who was named executive director of the Bristol-based Community Strings Project (CSP) in July. Her involvement with CSP dates back to 2009 when the non-profit was created with the mission to provide affordable and accessible string lessons to youth (and adults since 2010) across the East Bay. Over the years, Boyle has been a CSP volunteer, instructor, and since 2023, its program director. Previously she spent 40 years in public education, 28 of which at Mt. Hope High School, where for the last seven she served as chair of the Arts and Applied Arts Department. While at Mt. Hope she created a successful guitar program, including the Classical Guitar Ensemble, a perennial producer of RI All-State Music guitarists. The Bristol resident has a BA from Westfield State University, MA, and a master’s degree from Rhode Island College, both in music education. She serves on the board of the RI Guitar Guild and is a member of the Rhode Island Music Educators Association.
No Strings Attached: About 33 percent of our students are tuition-free. The school day ends before our lessons start at 4pm, so if students don’t have the wherewithal to take the school bus home and get a ride back, we provide Child Opportunity Zone care for them. Strings in particular are dwindling in music education across the country so parents know that this is a great opportunity for their kids, and they don’t have it elsewhere, so I think that is part of our success.
Lifelong Learning: People know us for our thriving youth program, but a well-kept secret has been the adult program. We did a big push in the fall to promote it with CSP red and white signs around the community with slogans like “adults learn to play,” and “make music, make friends.” We ended up going from 60 adults to 80. We offer beginning, intermediate, and advanced strings for adults, including guitar and classical guitar. The adult programs help subsidize what we’re able to do for the children, and that makes it very affordable for anybody who wants to learn strings: violin, viola, cello, and bass.
Guitar Heroes: Lucien Chidester, a freshman at Princeton, started on the viola in third grade and by his senior year at Mt. Hope High School, he was the number one All-State violist. The Mt. Hope High School string players performed at the CSP 15th anniversary party and they all had started in third grade. Anybody who learns an instrument will have a skill for their life, whether they are eight or 80. When you’re playing in a group and you’re one of all those people making this music happen, and hearing how nice it can sound, it’s a really rewarding experience.
Making Music: I fell in love with the cello as a child and started playing in fourth grade, then all through high school. I was involved in the string program at Westfield but it wasn’t very strong; however, they had a huge choral department. I majored in voice, and ended up going into choral education. Even though I had spent many years as the choir director at Mt. Hope High School, I became known as the person who developed the guitar program. It became very successful over the course of several years; we went from one class to four, and the guitar ensemble was participating in All State and with the Rhode Island Music Educators groups. We traveled with the band and the chorus as a performing ensemble. It revolved around my background as a cellist, and when this opportunity with CSP happened, it was full circle for me. Learn more at CommunityStringProject.org.
Other items that may interest you
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here