Groups visiting the Music Trail at McKee Park in Starkville now have a Music Trail Guide to help enhance the experience with organized play. Guides are being distributed by the Starkville Pilot Club to elementary school libraries, preschools, the library, Boys and Girls Club, arts council and the Travis Outlaw Center. That club spearheaded the original Music Trail initiative that added oversized playground versions of unique instruments to the park on Lynn Lane. They include a soprano marimba, tenor marimba, alligator drum, rain wheel, palm pipe drum, kalimba (thumb piano), amadinda and bass metallophone, plus a preschool music station. Instruments can be enjoyed by all children and are specifically accessible to children with disabilities.
Starkville Rotary Club provided special funding for the new guide compiled by Robert Damm of the Mississippi State University Music Education Partnerships, along with Pilot Club members Ellen Goodman and Ellen Boles.
“We hope that groups from schools, Scout organizations, churches and others will make use of this guide and will plan trips to the Music Trail,” said Boles.
The Pilot Club of Starkville shares in the mission of Pilot’s international organization to “transform communities by developing youth, providing service and education, and uplifting families” with a special focus on brain fitness.
“To that end, we are working to enrich our community by providing mentally stimulating, fun infrastructure available to all children throughout the city and surrounding communities,” said club member Bonnie Carew. Research shows that hands-on music experiences benefit the brain by improving intellect and reasoning skills, and provide many other benefits.
The Music Trail is open to the general public daily. To reserve the trail or to obtain more information, contact the Starkville Parks and Recreation Department at 662-323-2294, or email [email protected].
The Music Trail is made possible in part by grants from the Pilot International Foundation, Healthy Starkville Committee and the Starkville Area Arts Council, along with donations from the Starkville Junior Auxiliary Crown Club 2010-2011, Starkville Kiwanis Club, Starkville Civic League, Starkville Rotary, Cadence Bank and East Mississippi Lumber Co.
Collaborating partners include the Starkville Parks and Recreation Department, MSU Landscape Architecture and MSU Music Education Partnerships.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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