Violins and More of Lynchburg Enriches Local Music Scene with Expertise and Emphasis on Connection

By: Jeremy Angione / Photos By: Ashlee Glen

Tucked away into an unassuming storefront is Violins and More of Lynchburg, a local hidden gem that has been a haven for musicians all over Virginia. Owner Rachel Love says that her father, Allan Heer, took ownership of the store about 20 years ago.

After a stint in teaching, Love decided to join Heer as owner in 2019. Both father and daughter have a rich history in music. Love is a singer, choir director, and has been on the board of the Lynchburg Symphony for six years. Her father is an organist.

“My dad is very philanthropic and he loves music. One of the things that he loves to do is to go play piano for all of the concerts that the Lynchburg City Schools do,” Love said.

The storefront is small but tightly packed with stringed instruments, supplies to care for them, and everything in between.

As you navigate further into the shop, the space opens up into a large common area with several branching rooms that serve unique purposes.

There are a few rooms that are dedicated to violin lessons taught by local teachers who rent the shop’s space. Violins and More has a directory of local teachers available for lessons on their website.

In another more spacious room is a workshop clad from floor to ceiling with the bodies of violins in various stages of repair. The workshop is home to Sam Howell, Violins and More’s resident luthier.

“A luthier is a woodworker who specializes in stringed instruments. Stringed instruments are made of very old, dry, thin pieces of exotic woods connected together under extreme tension,” Howell said.

According to Howell, luthiers are an “odd mix of artist and engineer.”

While there are several schools that specialize in producing luthiers, Howell received his education through a collection of experiences including historical reproduction, custom millwork, furniture building, and his own musical acumen as a longtime cello player.

Howell considers his work to be more than just repair; he sees it as artistry. The look and feel of a violin is just as important to Howell as its primary function. The unique and delicate ingredients of lutherie, including the horsehair violin bow, all over Howell’s workshop make it apparent how much skill is required to do his work and why he is so sought after in Central Virginia.

“He [Howell] is one of the only luthiers in Central Virginia,” Love noted.

Love says that Howell’s luthier services currently have a three month waiting list. Violins and More supports the growing ecosystem of string players in the area.

All instruments are “rent to own,” which helps longtime students grow with their violin, from youth player to adult artist.

“A lot of these kids, who are dynamite little players—their parents aren’t ready to invest in an expensive instrument for them, but they have a really nice instrument that they can rent from us,” Love said.

According to Love, as a child player physically grows, it becomes necessary to fit them for a bigger violin. In her time owning the shop, Love has seen many young players grow in skill and into a full-sized violin, which she cites as one of the most rewarding aspects of her work.

Violins and More is a proud supporter of the Lynchburg City Suzuki Strings Program. The program offers free Suzuki Violin lessons in Lynchburg City Schools.

“It’s an amazing program that not very many cities in Virginia have. This is putting Lynchburg on the map,” Love said.

Violins and More helps to provide the students in the program with their instruments, making the shop a vital part of the life and growth of the program.
“This program is growing and growing.

We have the kids who come up through the City Schools playing violin, and then they have this amazing opportunity to play in a youth symphony,” Love stated.
While support for the Suzuki Strings program is a large part of Violins and More’s business, the shop also welcomes the musical community at large into the shop.

“Beginner’s Luck” is an ensemble program for adults who have some experience, but perhaps no grander ambition to play in a symphony or in other professional venues.

On Tuesday evenings, Violins and More hosts a free Talent Night for kids and adults to come into the shop and play musical pieces of their choice.
“Those are some nice ways we reach out to the community,” Love said.

Ultimately, Violins and More keeps the artistry of string music alive by engaging with its community of players.

“If you do rock climbing, marathon running, or biking, you can find your group in Lynchburg. There is an incredibly large community of string players in Lynchburg, but if you don’t play, you wouldn’t really know it,” Love said. As an owner of a family-run business, Love recognizes the role of family in supporting the arts.

“I love the people who come through the door. I feel like I’m part of their family. I feel like I have a service that can really benefit them. Being in partnership with my dad has been an amazing season of life,” Love said.

Currently, Love says that her hope is to help the Suzuki Strings program expand into neighboring counties so that students who don’t have the opportunity to play can receive free string instruction in school.

To learn more about Violins and More, visit violinsandmoreoflynchburg.com.

Amelia Perry Pride’s Steadfast Quest for Equity in—and Beyond—Home Economics

By: Emily Mook  |  Photos by Ashlee Glen

“I would rather wear out working among all classes of my race than to rust out seeing so much to be done.” – Amelia Perry Pride (in a letter to Orra Langhorne, 1899)

Although she was one of Lynchburg’s most groundbreaking, altruistic, and inspiring citizens, Amelia Perry Pride is not as well-known as she should be.

“During her time, everybody knew her, and yet today, I feel like nobody knows her,” said Ted Delaney, Director of the Lynchburg Museum System.

Perhaps this is partially the case because Pride, a free biracial woman born in Lynchburg in 1857, did not seem to be concerned with her own prominence. A monumentally generous and seemingly tireless philanthropist, Pride focused her energies on bettering the lives of others—particularly people of color who were less fortunate than she—rather than on widely broadcasting her own name and achievements. Additionally, Pride was more concerned with practical matters of equity and equality than with outright innovation. It also cannot go without saying that the accomplishments of people of color are routinely and unjustly undervalued.

Whatever the reasons may be for Pride’s relative lack of present-day recognition, her story is unquestionably worth knowing and celebrating. Among her most remarkable endeavors are her founding and running of the Theresa Pierce Cooking School, which ultimately became the basis for the public home economics curriculum for Lynchburg City Schools.

Born to biracial parents and orphaned by the age of 16, Pride demonstrated early abilities to take care of, motivate, and challenge herself. After attending local schools as a child, she continued her education at the highly esteemed Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (known today as Hampton University) and graduated in 1879 from the teachers’ education program. Upon her graduation, Hampton immediately hired Pride to teach a group of Native American girls through its missionary program. Over the next decade, she taught at various Lynchburg public schools, including Polk Street Colored School, Old Payne School, and Jackson Street School, and she went on to serve as the principal of Polk Street School from 1890 to 1911. She was one of the first Black women employed by the Lynchburg School system. Pride also established The Dorchester Home (a retirement home for elderly Black women) in 1897, the McKenzie Sewing School (a free sewing school for Black children) in 1898, and the Theresa Pierce Cooking School (a free cooking school for Black girls) in 1903. 

The Theresa Pierce Cooking School was held in a house owned by Pride and her husband, Claiborne Gladman Pride, and located on Madison Street across from the couple’s home. Its name evinces a common practice of that time period.

“[A white couple named] Wallace and Stella Pierce donated money to Amelia Pride to start the school in memory of their deceased daughter, Theresa,” Delaney noted. “At Hampton Institute, each student was sponsored by someone, and students were expected to write their sponsors letters. Sponsors were typically white people in the North trying to help Black people in the South. Amelia Pride herself was expected to write letters to her sponsors to update them on what she was working on. She had this model of how you were supposed to do things: Get sponsors to underwrite your projects and keep in touch with them. It was very natural and normal for her to make contact with Wallace Pierce, get him to underwrite the school, and name the school after his daughter.”

In fact, Pride was generally extremely adept and resourceful when it came to using her identity as an affluent biracial individual to enact positive change.

“Another thing she was very skilled at was, through her connections to the white community, getting white people to donate to her causes and being able to walk that line,” stated Delaney. “She was in a socioeconomic class where she could socialize with white people and gain their support while at the same time—because she was considered ‘colored’ or ‘Negro’ by the society of that time—she had full reign to work, lead, and start initiatives in Black communities. She used her position—which was very much on the line of race—to navigate both worlds.”

Although there are no rosters or other data sources indicating the number or ages of students who attended the cooking school, Delaney believes that students likely ranged in age from about eight years old (old enough to follow a basic recipe) to 15-20 years old (old enough to get work on their own). That said, he also thinks that Pride would have been unlikely to turn adults in need of basic cooking instruction away.

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if she had some adults in the classes,” he said. “She was so equal opportunity. Whoever was in need, she was going to help.”

According to Delaney, Pride’s granddaughter Miriam Pride Kyle said her grandmother was committed to helping families learn how to grow and prepare nutritious foods. An avid gardener herself, Pride insisted on adding a garden to the grounds of Polk Street School to facilitate this learning and took matters into her own hands when her request was initially denied. 

“The school board denied her request to plow a plot of land behind Polk Street School,” Kyle recalled in 1981. “She got a horse and plow and proceeded to do it herself. It was reported immediately and a man was sent out to do it. She taught gardening to pupils and canning to their parents.”

Pride’s focus on imparting essential skills also applied to her curriculum for the Theresa Pierce Cooking School.

“As far as I’m aware, there was nothing particularly revolutionary about her cooking and she didn’t have a signature dish,” said Delaney. “At that time, she was really worried that there were young people—and even older people—who maybe had been enslaved, were now on their own, and had never been taught things as basic as boiling water. She really focused on the core principles of cooking and being able to feed yourself. Reading her letters and articles that she sent to [Hampton Institute periodical] The Southern Workman, I think that in everything—cooking, sewing,
The Dorchester Home—she was really about imparting those fundamental life skills that many of us take for granted and assume that everyone knows or has the opportunity to learn at home with family.”

The Theresa Pierce Cooking School was transferred to Virginia Theological Seminary and College (known today as the Virginia University of Lynchburg) during the 1916-1917 school year. An excerpt from the College’s 1920-1921 catalog (seen to the left) outlines Pierce’s (likely somewhat modified) curriculum.

In 1949, 17 years after Pride’s death, Lynchburg City Schools created a new home economics building at Dunbar High School and named it the Amelia Pride Center in Pride’s honor.

“The oral history is that her cooking school and curriculum were generally integrated into the public schools here for Black students,” Delaney noted.

Today, the Amelia Pride Center is part of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation campus, and it houses continuing education and alternative secondary education programs. Pride’s steadfast legacy lives on, and her name is one we should all feel proud to know.

“She was in command at all times!” Kyle said of Pride in 1981. “It was often said of her: ‘When Mrs. Amelia Perry Pride walks down the street, the street has been walked down.’ I’m sure she could have persuaded the rattles off a snake if she had to in order to help someone.”

“She strikes me as one of the hardest-working, most productive people who lived in Lynchburg,” stated Delaney. “Starting schools, starting an old folks’ home, and taking on the many other initiatives that she took on were not easy tasks by any means. These are major accomplishments, and they require not only your own hard work and investment, but also the ability to mobilize other people and to get other people to follow your vision and support you. It’s really amazing to see how much she accomplished and to think about the forces she was able to marshal to support her work. She was an incredible woman in this community.”  

Lakrisha Scott, Director of Human Resources, Lynchburg City Schools is the Recipient of 2021 Level Up Award from Young Professionals of Central Virginia

Lynchburg Living Editor Shelley Basinger:
Why did you choose to start a career in Human Resources?
Lakrisha Scott: I chose to focus on Human Resources because I believe that people are the most critical asset for every business.

HR is a fascinating field with many disciplines. Over the course of my career, I have come to enjoy focusing on benefits and recruiting. Human Resources plays a pivotal role in attracting, hiring, and maintaining talented employees, which is essential for companies to be successful.

SB: You were recently promoted at Lynchburg City Schools. How has your new job as Director of HR been going so far?
LS: This new role keeps me active for sure! I appreciate the confidence that LCS has shown in me as I have taken on these additional responsibilities. I am fortunate to have a team that really supports one another, and I enjoy every day here in the office working with them as we support the staff and students of LCS. Since the majority of my effort is focused on recruiting and hiring top candidates, I’m looking forward to having an influential role that can truly make a positive difference for students and families in our community.

SB: What goals do you have in your new position for the future?
LS: Ultimately, my goal here at LCS, like my colleagues, is to support our mission of “Every Child, By Name and By Need, to Graduation.” In Human Resources, we may not have direct contact with our students on a daily basis, but that doesn’t mean we don’t contribute to their success. It’s imperative that we build an extensive talent pipeline with diverse professionals who contribute to the success of all students and are committed to promoting educational excellence. Another important goal I have is to promote professional career growth so that we can always grow and get better as educators. Additionally, I want to remain engaged with staff and maintain connections so that we can remain knowledgeable about staff needs and concerns. I aim to reduce employee turnover by remaining engaged, communicative, and offering competitive salaries for all positions.

SB: What kinds of challenges have HR departments faced over the past couple of years during the pandemic and how have you all weathered those challenges?
LS: The HR department has faced challenges over the past couple of years: managing a flexible workforce, remote onboarding, shortage of staff being able to work due to COVID-19, and achieving diversity with inclusion. We have weathered these challenges by utilizing remote onboarding via Zoom, creating a teleworking program, and increasing our substitute candidate pool.

SB: What is life like for you outside of work?
LS: When not working, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and volunteering in the community. I am an active member of Cross Road Baptist Church, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the YWCA board, the Junior League of Lynchburg, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).