By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
The Inner Banks School of Music and the Arts is adding new courses and welcoming new instructors for its fall semester.
The announcement was made by Sally Love, a member of the school’s board of directors.
“We’re please to welcome Sam Wall, Sheri Clark, Allison Jones, Gayle Watson-Roper and Eloise Wood as instructors,” Love told the Daily News. “We’ll begin our new semester of classes on September 14.”
The nonprofit Inner Banks SOMA was founded earlier this year as a means to offer music and arts instruction to students of all ages, according to Love.
“I’m excited about our new year,” she said. “I think we have a good faculty and we have a nice variety of classes.”
Among the new classes will be instruction in tap dance, a capella vocal and mosaics, Love said. Favorite courses from the spring semester that have been placed on the fall schedule include adult classes in art and creative writing.
The school is also soliciting monetary support for the Virginia Gibson Scholarship Fund, which sponsors instrumental lessons for local youngsters, according to Love. And musical instruments that may be gathering dust in someone’s attic are also needed.
“The scholarship fund pays for the lessons and we need donated instruments to present to the students,” Love said.
The Inner Banks SOMA is continuing to host its own brass quintet, the members of which share their talents and knowledge with local children.
“They’ll go into the schools and play and share their love of music during those visits,” Love said.
Members of the quintet are Frank Hammond, Ernie Black, Doug Cushing, Bob Hawkins and Richard Cooper.
The fall line up for youth classes includes instruction in creative writing, music and art. Those classes include:
• Creative Writing — Discover the Writer Within You, a course led by award-winning author and Washington resident Jerrie Oughton. Open to students in grades 5-8, the course will cover all genres including fantasy, nonfiction and picture books. The class will meet on Wednesdays from 5 to 6 p.m., Sept. 16 through Oct. 14. Tuition is $50.
• Children’s Art Class, taught by Sheri Clark for students 8 years old and up. Art projects inspired by Monet, Calder, Matisse and DaVinci are planned. The class will meet Tuesdays from 4 to 5:15 p.m. and two sessions are planned, Sept. 15 through Oct. 13 and Oct. 20 through Nov. 17. Tuition is $70, which includes materials.
• Saturday Fun with Mosaics, led by Eloise Wood of Crabby’s Stained Glass, a new gallery in downtown Washington. Youngsters can create their own mosaic projects including tile coasters, alphabet soup bottles and kaleidoscopes. Two sessions are planned for Oct. 17 and Oct. 24 for ages 4-7 (9:15 to 10:45 a.m.) and ages 8 and up (11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.). Tuition is $60, which includes materials.
• Group instrumental classes, with instructors Frank Hammond and Ernie Black for students in fourth grade and up. The classes meet Wednesdays for one hour beginning at 3:30 p.m. and 4:40 p.m. The fundamentals of playing will be included and instruments featured include trumpet, trombone, French horn, violin, guitar, flute and clarinet. Tuition for the 10-week class is $100.
Programs on the fall schedule also include individual instrumental instruction for all ages as well as piano instruction, according to Love.
Adult courses include beginning oil painting, beginning drawing, creative writing, voice training and tap dancing. Tuition for those classes ranges from $30 to $80.
The Inner Banks School of Music and the Arts is located at 146 Avon Avenue in Washington. For more information about the fall semester, call 252-945-2148 or 252-975-8915.