Miller receives KAC grant
The Kentucky Arts Council has awarded grants through the Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program to honor traditional artists and encourage the continuation of Kentucky's living traditions.
The grants of up to $3,000 each will support master artists in teaching their skills, practices and culture to their apprentices. Members of the master artists' community or folk group apprentices must have a prerequisite skill level in the art form and the potential to share or teach the art form..jpg?n=1667 "Miller-Web-photo")
L. Scott Miller, a native of northeast Kentucky currently residing in Hanceville, Ala., while Carla Gover of Berea, Jeri Katherine Howell of Frankfort, and Roger Cooper of Garrison in Lewis County, are all teaching.
Miller's skill in traditional music is advanced. He was awarded a scholarship to Morehead State University and completed his degree in music education. "My goal in this apprenticeship is to create an educational system which enables local musicians as well as musicians around the globe to learn eastern Kentucky fiddle tunes from the Ohio River Valley," said Miller.
Gover is a singer and songwriter who plays guitar and banjo and also dances. Born in Letcher County, she was influenced by her grandmother and her church, where she learned mountain-style harmony singing. She later studied under Lee Sexton in the apprenticeship program to master the drop-thumb style of banjo playing.
Howell took her first guitar lessons in Frankfort at a community education class and has since studied under John Fields, Lyndon Howard and John Harrod. She has also attended the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School in Letcher County.
Cooper is a master fiddler who started as a child playing guitar in accompaniment to Lewis County fiddle players. Old-time fiddler Buddy Thomas convinced Cooper to take up the fiddle at age 15 and mentored Cooper until Thomas' death in 1975. Cooper has won old-time fiddle state championships in Kentucky and Ohio and placed in the top 20 at the World's Old Time Fiddle Championship in Union Grove, N. C. Cooper's technique and style is typical of that found in Lewis County and northeast Kentucky.
For more information about the Kentucky Folklife Program and the Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant program, contact Mark Brown at (502) 564-5135 ext. 4491 or mark.brown@ky.gov.
Posted: 12-10-09
