Music workshops at Sisters schools

Leslie Satcher and her husband David Allen live in Nashville, Tennessee, but that has not stopped them from volunteering to work and contribute to the Sisters schools.

This last week Allen worked with the high school radio station, and Satcher held songwriting workshops and lent a hand with the music students in all three Sisters schools.

Although both are originally from Texas and carry a soft southern drawl, they now live in Nashville and are in the music business. Satcher is a singer-songwriter and has a co-publishing business with Sony.

Satcher related how her affair began with the Sisters school system: "When I came here the first time to the Starry Night concert with Vince Gill and Amy Grant about five years ago, I met the Americana students. We just hit it off, and Brad (Tisdel) invited me to come to a class and listen to the students."

Allen related, "When Leslie and I came to the class and listened to the music, we were overwhelmed."

Since that date they have returned to Sisters every time they have been on tour in Oregon, Washington or California and had enough time to make coming to Sisters practical.

They believe that they have a connection to the spirit that has been developed in the students here, and both are committed to doing whatever is possible to help the Americana Project achieve an even greater level of excellence.

"This program is just awesome," Allen said of the Americana Project. "We decided that we want to help in any way we can. We feel like this is a great thing to be able to do, and we are not sure who gets the most out of it (the kids or us)."

As Satcher described her first time volunteering in the school, she reflected that it was really just the high school that was a part of the program. Now she is working with the elementary and middle schools, as well. She has nothing but good things to say about the teachers in all three Sisters schools, commenting how they have such a broad focus and are able to not only inspire the young people with music but also with art and theater, so that education becomes full-bodied and rich with learning experiences.

"The kids in Sisters - well they aren't kids - they are joyful spirits," she said. "They're just awesome."