Preserving Mountain Music Legacy

For Sarah Hall, life on the Plateau is a sweet tune that will not be denied.

Cashiers is located in an area with rich musical heritage. The traditional music of Appalachia ballads, hymns, gospel, mountain swing, and fiddle music. The culture of this music has carefully been passed from one generation to the next preserving hundreds of years of songs and stories. Sarah Hall, a teacher at the Blue Ridge School and Early College, is committed to extending this legacy to youth while impacting the arts community.

countless times.”

Sarah genuinely cares for all of her students. Her dedication, patience and passion for teaching is inspiring.

During her second year of teaching, in the fall of 2016, Sarah founded the Blue Ridge chapter of JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) as an after-school club. The mission of JAM is to provide communities with the tools to teach children to play and dance to traditional old time and bluegrass music. “I am classically trained and was not especially knowledgeable about old-time mountain music and string instruments. But I thought it would be a good fit for our school, not just to provide more music instruction, but to help them connect with their local heritage and culture and take pride in that,” she says.