Amanda McElfresh

amcelfresh@theadvertiser.com

Steve Riley has played music all over the world. He’s a Grammy Award-winner, and for years he and his band, the Mamou Playboys, have been one of the best-known acts from the south Louisiana music scene.

This fall, though, Riley expanded his repertoire to new territory — that of a music teacher.

It all came about as Amber Dwyer, an enrichment director at St. Genevieve Elementary School, was looking for new activities for the after-school program. Through the grapevine, she learned Riley was looking to increase his involvement in education and the community.

“I’ve been teaching music since I was a teenager, mostly one-on-one lessons and music camps, but I was looking for a way to kind of ramp up what I was doing,” Riley said. “Christine Balfa, a friend of mine, said I should try to teach an after-school program. I thought it was a great idea and I ran with it. It’s been fantastic all the way around.”

Riley ended up teaching at two St. Genevieve after-school programs. For elementary students, his classes focused on Cajun culture and history. Middle school students received lessons in various instruments, including the accordion, guitar and triangle.

“The elementary students were able to learn some Cajun songs,” Dwyer said. “He wanted to show them Cajun instruments, and some of the kids wanted to learn how to play, so he was able to teach them a little bit. In the middle school, enough students wanted to learn instruments that we were able to create a band.”

Riley said he was able to provide instruments to the students through the Al Berard Memorial Fund. Once they had the ability to play music in their hands, the students’ progress, even just by taking classes one day a week, was beyond what anyone expected.

“They were awesome. I was really impressed,” Dwyer said. “They were able to put a band together and play really well. The children really enjoyed it. On the last day, we had a little crowd of parents and grandparents. They played some songs and spoke a little bit of French. Everyone enjoyed it so much.”

Riley said the six-week program quickly became “the most gratifying thing I do.”

“I think it’s a combination of me liking to teach and being able to teach what I do pretty well, and also the fact that the young kids are engaged, focused and learning at a rate that astounds me,” Riley said. “At first, I didn’t want to bring instruments. We were just going to sing. But in the first couple of weeks, they were asking immediately to play instruments, so we were able to do that for them.”

Besides the programs at St. Genevieve Elementary and Middle, Riley also taught classes this fall at Mamou High, giving him the opportunity to work with students of all grade levels. Now that he has some classroom experience under his belt, Riley said he’s already thinking of ways to improve his lessons in the spring, including adding more activities to keep the younger students busy.

Dwyer said some St. Genevieve students have already signed up for Riley’s spring program, even as the details are being finalized.

“He learned a lot, along with the students, and we’re all excited about it for the spring,” she said.