The following is a reprint of the article that appeared on the the BPMM teaching method in Bluegrass Unlimited, Jaunuary 1990. Since that time there have been some revisions in the program. Most of these and more details of the original program are covered in other links on this site concerning teaching and the student band.

BLACKWELL PRACTICAL MUSIC METHOD By Charles North

     One might not normally expect a student musician to be ready to play in public after only four lessons. But some of the students of Charlotte Blackweil have done just that and students with less than four month's lessons have won awards in music contests.
     Blackwell, who lives in Niangua, in southwest Missouri, teaches guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin at the Blackwell Music Center, co-owned with her husband, Bob, in nearby Seymour.
     Appropriately enough, she calls her teaching system the Blackwefl Practical Music Method (BPMM). She has already copyrighted the lesson material and is writing a book on the method plus a teacher's manual.
     Blackwell's Practical Music Method is, she says, aimed at "carrying students easily and logically from one accomplishment to another in musical technique. The idea is to have fun and achieve at the same time and when technical problems are properly handled, this becomes possible."
     Blackwell's method allows students interested in music to progress qukkly to a point of playing for friends and even in public. The BPMM approach is very different from conventional approaches and deals, Charlotte says, "with the practical application of music."
     Charlotte notes her method has "structure where there needs to be and freedom where there needs to be." Bob Blackwell adds, "And there's fun all the way through it."
     Charlotte says, "The primary objective of the method is to see a continuation of our American heritage through old-time acoustic and bluegrass music by teaching students to be serviceable musicians who can perform the music and at the same time be entertaining and pleasing to their audience."
     Blackwell says she and Bob "encourage an interest" in old-time and bluegrass music in students who do not bring such an interest with them. "Through this approach we have seen many familles learn to enjoy and appreciate bluegrass and oldAime music, become involved in it as a family unit and end up sharing the fun of a common pastime."
     Blackwell began developing her method over ten years ago when she and Bob were operating a mobile music store in a twelve-state area. They concentrated on bluegrass festivals, where they sold instruments and did repair work. Charlotte took an informal survey of professional musicians, asking how they learned to play, what principles were the most important in their learning and what helped them to develop their skills most quickly.
     Certain principles were mentioned by almost everyone and she incorporated these into her method along with the data she compiled from her own experiences as both a private music instructor and musician. Since there were no books available for such a method, she began writing her own. She has written BPMM books on guitar, fiddle and mandolin which are available to BPMM students only.
     As her students progress, Blackwell has three student bands in which they can play. The Achievers is the lower-level one. Most students who want can start with it after two to four months of weekly lessons. Members of the Achievers play in non-public for-mats for relatives and friends of students.
     The two other bands, the Diamonds In The Rough Level I and Levd II, are road bands that play in Public within 200 miles of Seymour. Members of these bands have ranged in age from six to fifteen. The Diamouds in the Rough Level I band is made up of students who have played approximately one year or less and generally average about eight months of lessons. although many began performmg on stage as a Level I Diamond after only three or four months of lessons. The Diamonds in the Rough Level II band is designed for those who have played for approximately two years or less, and current members average about one and a half years of lessons:. Students are reevaluated periodicially to enter, maintain, or graduate in their band status according to their progress.
     The band program was formed as a result of the effecctiveness of the teaching method and is prirnarily for students who do not the atvantage of corning from musical families where coesistest jamming and and playing on stage with the family band is encouraged.

     The Diamonds in the Rough have played in Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, at Sliver Dollar City, the Ozark Empire Fair, bluegrass festivals:, fiddle contests and local town festivals.
     Blackwell's fiddle students have entered ten contests in the past two years receiving six first place wins, seven, second place wins, and eight third place wins, six fourth place wins, seven fifth place wins and seven honorable mention awards. These wins are accomplished by students who had played two years or less and who were competing against fiddlers with much more playing time. In the last year the students have had a first place win at each contest where they have been entered.
     Among other students not in the band program are those being trained to play in family bands or music shows in the Ozark resort areas of Missouri and Arkansas. Six students played with family bands during Siver Dollar City's American Folk Music Festival this year separately from the Diamonds In The Rough bands which have played there for the past two years.
     Two BPMM students guest regularly in music shows in Branson, Missouri, and the Bull Shoals Lake resort areas in Arkansas. Other examples of individual accomplishments by Blackwell's students include: A kindergarten studeet who got to play fiddle on stage with Bill Monroe after only 2½ months of lessons. The same student after 1½

JANUARY1990

years of lessons placed sixth in the Missouri State Championship at the age of seven competing in open competition against fiddlers of all ages.
· An eight-year-old guitar player and a fourteen-year-old banjo player who got to play on a local radio station after only six months of lessons.
· Fiddle students in schools without violin programs who received ones and twos in district and state school band contests after working on their contest pieces in private lessons with Blackwell.
· Another six-year-old boy who played his fiddle in a town festival talent contest and won second place.
· A girl twelve who had played only one year and placed third in an open fiddle contest under two fiddlers who were local band members, and over five other experienced fiddlers.
· Other fiddle students with as little as four months lessons and less than two years lessons have placed first thru fifth in national fiddle contests.
· Many students have played individually for local rodeos, talent shows, etc. and have even received playing job offers with other bands.

     Charlotte says the Blackwell Practical Music Method teaches students lead playing, back up and some basics such as working PA Systems, cutting tapes and records, getting and keeping jobs, attitudes to keep and attitudes to discard and the art of entertaining. Students also learn to both read and write conventional music by notation as well as tablature and receive training in ear playing and improvising. The importance of all these forms of musical communication are stressed in the program. A scholarship plan for BPMM students is also being organized.
     "When a student completes the program, he should have a well-rounded idea of what he will encounter as a working musician through actual field experiences, workshops and lessons that prepare him for the 'real' world of a musician. This is why I call it the 'Practical' music method."      Blackwell says her teaching program has "grown bigger than I expected, faster than I expected. Blackwell's classes are now fully enrolled, with fifty students and a waiting list. Students range in age from six to over sixty. After seeing Blackwell's students play at bluegrass festivals, private music instructors from six states have contacted the Blackwells about learning how to use the method in their areas.

BLUEGRASS UNLIMITED

Emily Longwith, six-year-old BPMM student, on stage with Bill Monroe in Branson, Missouri.

     The Blackwells include professional bluegrass musicians in the program as much as possible, because "these musicians should have the opportunity to be a part of shaping the playing styles of future generations," says Charlotte. "Already several musicians and bands have contributed through teaching mini-workshops for the program."
     About the public response to the Diamonds In The Rough bands Bob Blackwell says "After performances and throughout the year we've often had people from our audiences make special trips to our store just to tell my wife how much they enjoyed the students and what a good job she is doing. Some even insist on going back to her lesson room during her lessons to tell her this in person."
     The Diamonds In The Rough members also maintain a table at the festivals where they receive many comments from fans and keep a fan club book which can be signed by those who take the time to visit. They have collected hundreds of signatures from fans all over this country and other countries including those of many musicians. A sampling of the comments heard at the band table include great job . . . "I never knew

JANUARY1990

kids that little could play that good" . . . and "I wish I had started that young." Though Charlotte does the teaching, her husband, Bob, in addition to running the music store participates by scheduling students for lessons, printing lesson books, arranges playing engagements for the Diamonds In The Rough bands, organizing workshops for the BPMM students and at practices and performances tries to keep everyone organized and in tune. Says Charlotte "I don't know what we would do without his help and support."
     The Blackwells are not new to promoting bluegrass and old-time music through education. They were pioneers in introducing "fiddle camps" to the state of Missouri through the Blackwell Farm Fiddle Camps, taught by Art Stamper in 1984 which attracted participants from all over the United States. This concept of intensified single instrument workshops was expanded to include full bluegrass band instrument workshops now being coordinated by the Blackwells through the Academy of Practical Music and Performing Arts, the name given to their music lesson studio.

End