John Gerdy’s “Alphabone Orchestra” Is Designed to Help Children Get Excited About Music
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In this episode 111, we visit with John Gerdy, scholar, musician, author and illustrator of the book, “Alphabone Orchestra,” a book designed to help children get excited about music and offer adults tidbits of music education through the “Grace Notes” sprinkled throughout.
John is a lifelong musician who has served as an “artist in residence” teaching the Blues to children from Pre-K to grade 6. He performs regularly under the stage name “Willie Marble.”
This is an alphabet book with a music twist. John painted every letter (52 of them… 26 upper case and 26 lower case), each with a bell of a horn incorporated into the letter’s design. Someone needed to play those AlphaBones and who better than the triangle headed figure (now named “Dr. Dude B. Fonky)?
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About the Author
Dr. John R. Gerdy serves as founder and executive director of Music For Everyone a non-profit dedicated to cultivating the power of music as an educational and community building tool in Lancaster County. Since 2006, MFE has invested almost 1.8 million in school and community arts organizations and initiatives to enhance music programs in Lancaster County, PA. Prior to “Alphabones Orchestra,” he has authored five books, among them, “Ball or Bands: Football vs. Music as an Educational and Community Investment (2014),” “Sports: The All-American Addiction (2002)” and “Air Ball: American Education’s Failed Experiment with Elite Athletics (2006). He has also been extensive published in journals and periodicals such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Sporting News, Black Issues in Higher Education, NCAA News and College Board Review.
A 1979 graduate of Davidson College, John received all-American honors and graduated as the career-leading scorer in school history in basketball, a record that stood for 30 years. Davidson retired his jersey in 1979 and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1994. Davidson also awarded him the John W. Kuykendall Award for Community Service in 2014. He was drafted by the NJ Nets and played professionally in the Continental Basketball Association for one season.
John worked at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a legislative assistant before serving six years at the Southeastern Conference as Associate Commissioner for Compliance and Academic Affairs. John left the SEC to be a stay-at-home Dad and began teaching as a Visiting Professor in Sports Administration at Ohio University and writing in earnest. In 2007, he was chosen one of America’s Most Influential Sports Educators by the Institute of International Sport.
A life-long musician, he has served as an “artist in residence” at the New School of Lancaster, teaching the Blues to children from first to fifth grades, conducted summer music camps and performs in public regularly under the stage name of Willie Marble.
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