James Believes that if He is in town for a concert, he should do his part in the schools.
School Performance format for James Hunley
Written by Nancy Price, President of the Oregon Coast Music Association


Mr. Hunley has a passion for learning, and a passion for communicating this to young people. He has asked for the opportunity to speak with school students in the classroom.

Mr. Hunley has given interactive classroom presentations to students of all ages in many western communities and in Hawaii "he tells of his record of speaking with 3,000 young people in four days. He invites us to schedule as many sessions as we can.

He offers a 20 to 25 minute session playing guitar and talking about his love of music, his love of learning, and his recognition that learning, no matter what your field of interest, is an essential and enriching life-long pursuit. He speaks not only of the artists' need to study and learn but also of the central importance of school and learning to all human endeavors.

Mr. Hunley would like to target middle-school students, but he is also willing to do a presentation for high school or elementary school classes. James asks to meet with students in the classroom, where young people can ask questions and talk with him, not in a formal assembly recital.

Mr. Hunley is a touring classical guitarist, but also works in the television and recording industry and lives in the Hollywood area. He has contact with people both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes "in fact he knows how to use all the techniques of the music video to reach his audience, something that can help blow the dust off some preconceptions of classical music.

A note from an educator received after a school presentation:
Dear James, I would like to thank you for your wonderful contribution to the lives of the students at South Prairie
Elementary School in Tillamook, Oregon. You thought that they were an outstanding audience, whereas in fact they
were responding directly to you, your music, and your message. You have touched the students' lives in ways that they will not forget.

Before your concert began, you sat directly in front of the students, close enough that they could have touched you and then you talked with them casually as you warmed up, strumming chords. By the time you started to play, the students already saw you as an accessible human being as well as a famous Classical Guitarist. You spoke to their level by explaining the guitar to them and by demonstrating how different sounds are made. When you happened to mention that your father did not see one of your concerts until you were 26 years old, the students entered into a new dialogue with you, about your parents attitudes toward your music, your reactions to their attitudes and your ways of earning money to support your guitar playing.

Each of your messages from, your caring enough about guitar to persist in spite of the lack of your parents support, your earning money for sheet music through diving for golf balls and finally, about how well the hard knocks you experienced as a young musician have served you by making it easier for you to deal with adversity than if everything had come to you easily. All of these messages, coupled with your clear, caring and natural manner created a very special bond between the students and you.

Please continue to give concerts and talks to elementary students. Reaching children when they are young is the key to developing and maintaining audiences and support for classical music. Today, you not only taught the children about guitar playing, but you also responded to their emotional concerns by sharing personal stories with them that were clearly significant for their own lives. You are a gifted teacher of children and you communicate an understanding and appreciation of music in a way that is most compelling.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mary M. Kimball

Tillamook Education Consortium

James is known to create conversation and even give away guitars on occasion. He creates a kind of follow up treasure hunt, taking clues from his comments about the music to the locations of the prizes.

Email altanovabh16@hotmail.com