About Silver Strings
Silver Strings is a mountain dulcimer training program for older adults designed by Kara Barnard.
The mission of Silver Strings is to provide participants with social, physical and mental benefits while teaching them to play a musical instrument. The curriculum is specifically tailored to meet their age specific needs and taught in a group setting.
Silver Strings, Making music to exercise the mind, maintain muscle tone and flexibility, forge friendships and build community.
Silver Strings is a registered trademark, owned and operated by Kara Barnard.
Objectives
Create weekly music classes serving seniors, 60 and over.
Equip participants with musical instruments, accessories, instruction books and handouts
Teach participants to play in a group setting and encourage them to continue to practice together creating a social outlet beyond the classroom.
About Kara Barnard
Kara Barnard has been self-employed as a private music instructor for over 30 years maintaining a schedule of 40-60 students per week continuously through these 30 years. Her primary instruments are banjo, mandolin, mountain dulcimer and guitar.
Kara gained the reputation of being one of Indiana’s busiest music instructors while teaching at Guitarworks in Greenwood, Indiana. Her patience and creative techniques helped students achieve goals they hadn’t reached with other instructors.
She became the principal instructor at Guitarworks and held this position for 10 years. During this time she filled 12 lesson rooms with new teachers and students. Her duties included managing and mentoring the teaching staff, scheduling the students and quality control.
Kara began teaching from her Brown County home studio in 2000. She currently has 59 students on her weekly, private instruction roster in addition to weekly group workshops and her Silver Strings students.
Over the past 30 years Kara has performed and given workshops at festivals all over the country.
Kara was the first woman to compete in the Home of the Legends Guitar Championship in Muhlenburg Kentucky in 1993. In 1999 she was the first woman to compete in the Indiana State Mandolin Competition taking 4th place. In 2009 Kara placed in the top five at the National Mountain Dulcimer Championships. Other notable achievements include awards for mentoring students, songwriting and musical entrepreneurship.
Kara has recorded seven albums of her original acoustic music. Her recordings have been featured on radio stations across the country and written about in publications including Acoustic Guitar and SingOut magazine. She has worked as a session player in studios from Wisconsin to North Carolina with award winning engineers.
In addition to producing events and concerts throughout the year, Kara is the founder and co-producer of the Indiana State Fingerstyle Guitar Contest, bringing top guitarist from all over the world to Brown County Indiana every July. She co-owns the Weed Patch Music Company in Nashville, Indiana featuring locally built instruments, Kara’s instruction books and various items including custom guitar picks that she creates in her wood shop.
She has taught students ranging from ages 4 to 85 and believes her greatest asset is her ability to teach others to do what she does. Kara’s greatest passion is creating opportunities for others to shine.