BLOCK ISLAND — If you're in second grade on Block Island, chances are you've begged your parents to let you take private piano lessons with Carrie Todd.

It's fun, everybody's there, and it's an islander rite of passage. In the last two years, Todd said, "I've had the whole class" of second graders. She teaches from her home, within walking distance of the K-12 Block Island School, and second grade is the year she starts beginners.

She has taught piano for so long that she's teaching the children of former students.

Todd gave private piano lessons to 48 students last year, she said. The school had 130 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, Principal Kristine Monje said. Counting only grades 2 through 12, Todd gave private piano lessons to 44% of the 110 eligible students.

Why would such a high percentage of kids in public school take private music lessons? It's not like everyone on Block Island is wealthy. The year-round population, counted every year on Groundhog Day, is fewer than 1,000. In the summer, the population swells past 20,000. Parents whose children attend the Block Island School are basically working people, Todd said, like parents you'd find in Warwick or Coventry.

The most frequent answer for the high rate of students taking private lessons: "Carrie Todd." Second most frequent is that the school has always been able to hire extraordinary music teachers, and third, because it's an island and island people make their own fun.

On her way to being a local institution, Todd was organist at Harbor Baptist Church for decades. She switched to directing the Block Island Ecumenical Choir. She also owns the Redbird Liquor Store.

Tourist season keeps the island too busy for lessons. On Sept. 4, the first day of school and two days after Labor Day, crowds had thinned. At the Redbird, 233 Dodge St., classical music played on the sound system, indicating that Todd was in. From the front counter, she picked up an acrylic frame that displays the group photo of all her piano students at the spring or winter recital. Tucked behind the front photo are two nearly identical photos, taken of the same children in the same place, only the children are younger.

Todd has a degree in math education but never took a class in teaching music, she said. She became the piano teacher when "The lady who was teaching 30 or 40 years ago said she was moving off the island and asked if I was interested in accepting her students." Todd built her program by trying ideas and keeping what worked.

What works for second-graders, she found, is to give them a private lesson and a group lesson each week. In the group class, second graders learn "how to count, name the notes," and understand musical terms. They play rhythm games and make friends with eight classical composers, first by listening to stories and answering questions. Then they color each composer's portrait while listening to recordings of that composer's iconic pieces. By year's end, each student has a nine-panel paper wall hanging called "My Composer Quilt" and an introduction to the language of music.

Art teacher Lisa Robb, who studied piano with Todd until 10th grade and whose daughter Macy, 9, takes lessons now, said she loves hearing her daughter practice, loves that Macy has the confidence to perform in front of a large crowd, and loves "seeing the growth of all the kids" from beginners to musicians.

Megan Hennessy, the school's dynamic music teacher, starts her younger students on fingerplays, or songs with hand motions, such as "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Five Little Ducks," and "I'm a Little Teapot." Mastering hand dances helps children prepare to learn an instrument. And if they're good at circle games, they'll be able to sing while dancing.

Hennessy's aim is to open a variety of avenues that will lead students to build their confidence and express their musical creativity, she said. She just returned from a year-long sabbatical, and already she has found ways to apply what she learned.

As if she weren't busy enough, Hennessy asked some of her students and former students to play at the Yellow Kittens in late August. They raised $600 for Hands that Rock, a charity founded in 2012 by Darcy Lynch, who lives in South Kingstown and practices massage therapy in East Providence. One of Lynch's businesses is to oversee a global network of masseuses who provide therapy for bands on tour. She and her network then began giving massages at festivals to raise money for charities. Often the charities were to pay for private music lessons for disadvantaged children. Last year, Lynch threw a concert just to raise scholarships for music students in Narragansett and South Kingstown, her first event that had nothing to do with massage.

Last year's $20,000 concert profit was distributed as $300 to $500 scholarships to students in those towns. This year, Block Island students will be eligible to apply.

"The kids have to demonstrate financial need and a passion for music," Lynch said. They write an essay and provide references.

Even as shrinking budgets have forced some school districts to eliminate music, which has been shown to enhance brain function, the island school committee is "strong on the arts," Principal Monje said. The island has long attracted both visual and musical artists. Unlike on the mainland, she said, getting to where a visiting musician is performing "doesn't take much effort" on a 10-square-mile island.

Cameron Greenlee, 36, took Todd's place as organist at Harbor Baptist. He could be another reason music is so popular with young islanders. When he believes in a project, people want to help. He co-founded ConserFest, subtitled: "Block Island Music On a Mission," which is to buy land for preservation. He also took charge of a concert series for almost 10 years, he said, adding jazz and other genres to the traditionally classical concerts.

Greenlee grew up on City Island in the Bronx but claims to be nearly a native, saying he was conceived on Block Island. He spent every childhood summer with his island grandparents. He has a bachelor's degree in performance from the University of New Hampshire, specializing in keyboards. He also has a passion for boats. This summer he was waterfront manager at the Block Island Club, which he described as more like a YMCA than a yacht club.

Becky Ballard, who is involved in fundraising for the music scholarships, said Greenlee and Stephen Robison both inspire young musicians.

Robison, 91, has played clarinet and saxophone for 80 years. To him, music "is the best hobby in the world. Music is so rewarding in itself."

He credits the school for always selecting an excellent music teacher, but he thinks the island itself promotes musical excellence. "There are limitations on what kids can do without getting into trouble," he said. Calling it "a hobby that will last you your whole life," he said he'd rather practice with friends than perform for an audience.

"Rehearsals in somebody's house is my favorite way of playing music."

The 2nd annual Tribute Band Music Festival is Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Bonnet Shores Beach Club in Narragansett. Some of Lynch's friends in the music business, such stars as Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley, REO Speedwagon and Slipknot, donated items for the silent auction. Tribute bands for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chicago and Foreigner are on the bill. The music starts at 3 p.m. and tickets are $40.

— dnaylor@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @donita22