![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/tonya_staley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNew exhibit highlights Gospel\u2019s role in our region\u2019s music<\/b><\/p>\n
In 2020, the Tryon (North Carolina) Fine Arts Center launched its Illuminations Through Music and Heritage exhibit, shining a light on the region\u2019s diverse musicians. The program is funded in part through the Communities Connecting Heritage grant administered by World Learning and the U.S. Department of State. An organization dedicated to supporting youth music education, Pacolet Junior Appalachian Musicians (PacJAM) is a cooperating affiliate organization in the effort. Telling the story through photos, audio and video, one of the program\u2019s core exhibits is \u201cSame Roots, Separate Sounds,\u201d featuring a half dozen musicians. One of the featured music personalities is Gospel vocalist Tonya Staley.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What are the specific goals of the \u201cSame Roots, Separate Sounds\u201d exhibit?<\/b>
\nJulia Moore, Program Director:<\/i> While PacJAM teaches music through using Appalachian song traditions, we want our students and broader community to have a comprehensive understanding of the multitude of voices comprising the region’s musical genres. We have all benefited from hearing the music and experiences of the guest artists in our enrichment program. \u201cSame Roots, Separate Sounds\u201d is our public access archive of these local artists.<\/p>\n
What did Tonya Staley bring to the program that was special and unique?<\/b>
\nMoore: <\/i>Our other guests did not link their music with their spirituality. Tonya was a wonderful addition to our program; she did a beautiful job communicating to our youth that the driving force behind Gospel is to bring praise to God.<\/p>\n
Against the backdrop of COVID-19, what’s the future of the program?
\n<\/b>Moore:<\/i> PacJAM was able to run a successful fall 2020 all-outdoors session, at nearly full capacity. We are at a reduced budget this year, but we\u2019re trying to hold space in our budget to resume bringing guests artists to work with our youth for the spring semester.<\/p>\n
Ms. Staley, What\u2019s your background in Gospel music?<\/b>
\nTonya Staley: <\/i>A lot of what I know about music and what I\u2019ve learned is because I sing. I have a brother who taught me. He\u2019s a writer and musician; he\u2019s a pastor now at our home church in Marion and affiliate of the Gospel Music Workshop of America founded by James Cleveland.<\/p>\n
Have you brought Gospel music to people outside your home church before now?<\/b>
\nStaley: <\/i>Yes, with my brother, because he did have a non-denominational singing group called Voices of Inspiration. We\u2019ve been to several states: North and Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Philadelphia, upstate New York, Missouri, Louisiana, D.C. \u2026 we\u2019ve been lots and lots of places. It\u2019s not \u201cperformance.\u201d It\u2019s ministry.<\/p>\n
What form did your part of the exhibit take?<\/b>
\nStaley:<\/i> It\u2019s kind of interactive. I did a little background on Gospel music: there\u2019s Southern gospel, there\u2019s traditional, there\u2019s contemporary. I talked to the Polk County students about my experience with Gospel music, what I\u2019ve learned, things that I\u2019ve been involved in, how important it is to me and what it means in our community. Then I taught the students a song \u2013 one that most of them had heard anyway, \u201cHow Great is Our God\u201d \u2013 and we had a sing-along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New exhibit highlights Gospel\u2019s role in our region\u2019s music In 2020, the Tryon (North Carolina) Fine Arts Center launched its Illuminations Through Music and Heritage exhibit, shining a light on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,41],"tags":[4562,4561],"class_list":["post-21154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gospel","category-interview","tag-pacjam","tag-tonya-staley","cat-35-id","cat-41-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21156,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21154\/revisions\/21156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}