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Local musician Pete Mealy started an after-school guitar club at
Walker-Grant Middle School in Fredericksburg.
Photos courtesy FCPS.
Walker-Grant's after-school clubs
meet twice a month on Fridays.
For an upcoming meeting of the club, he's asked students
to come with a song they want to learn.
"We'll use those songs as a vehicle for learning concepts,"
Mealy said.
Parents have also sent him videos of their children sitting
in their rooms, playing songs and singing.
"I encourage the students to also teach themselves," he
said. "They can go out and get the information—it's all
there. If you want to play, go play!"
In addition to maintaining the club at the middle school
and expanding it to the high school next year, Mealy said
he would also like to offer guitar as an elective, like band
and orchestra.
He said it can be easier for students to keep up with the
guitar after graduating from high school than it is to keep
up with the trombone, for example.
For Mealy, the
guitar has been
"an incredible
gift that I don't
take for granted,"
and he's look-
ing forward to
sharing that gift
and making it
accessible to
Fredericksburg's
public school
students coming
years.
