Ragtime performances at FSMS Friday

Hodges

Noted ragtime pianist Frederick Hodges will present a series of brief concerts for FSMS students from noon to 3 p.m. Friday at the school, 1105 E. 12th St. The performance is part of the Bourbon County Arts Council's continuing effort to provide art programs in Bourbon County schools.

"This is a basic art introduction for kids," BCAC Executive Director Peggy Cummings said. "We like to bring in these guest artists to help music teachers work with students before they go to contests ... it helps music students prepare for music competitions."

Hodges, a society pianist from San Francisco, Calif., who began playing piano at the age of 8, is a graduate of the University of California and earned a doctorate in history from Oxford University in England. He is a classically trained concert pianist who specializes in the piano music and popular songs of the ragtime era, the 1920s and 1930s.

He is a favored performer at major ragtime and jazz festivals throughout the United States and internationally, a BCAC statement said.

According to his Web site, www.frederickhodges.com, he performs "sophisticated and jazzy piano stylings of the Great American songbook." Hodges is sought after as a soloist, singer, and guest soloist with the California Pops Orchestra, and is a dance band pianist with Don Neely's Royal Society Jazz Orchestra. His extensive repertoire includes ragtime, stride and novelty piano solo pieces.

The BCAC board of directors decided to book Hodges after researching the performer, who is scheduled to perform a concert in Kansas City for a jazz revelry group on Saturday, Cummings said.

"We have a board member who is a board member of that (jazz) group," she said. "Then we looked on the Internet and got his CD. After we contacted him, he agreed to do a performance in Fort Scott."

BCAC activities will conclude this year with its 18th Annual Fine Arts Competition and Exhibit, a mixed media contest and exhibit scheduled to be open March 10-12 at the Scottish Rite Temple, 110 S. Main St. The BCAC has also provided funding for a performance by the Alvin Ailey II Dance Company on Thursday at Fort Scott Community College.

Each year, the nonprofit group presents arts programming in area schools; participates in the annual Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity at FSCC by sponsoring the creativity contest; co-sponosrs the annual Echoes of the Trail event; and presents the annual fine arts exhibit. The group also presents special events such as Chautauqua and special concerts.

Partial funding for Hodges' appearance is provided by the Kansas Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.