Mountain School of Strings (MtnSOS) provides completely free mountain music education to students in Transylvania County, with a focus on the communities that need it most. While Transylvania County is home to exceptional music programs, many carry tuition costs that put them out of reach for local families — particularly in Rosman, where nearly 26% of residents live below the poverty line. MtnSOS fills that gap by offering high-quality guitar and fiddle instruction at no cost to students who might otherwise never have access to it.
The organization currently serves 75–125 students across Rosman Elementary, TC Henderson Elementary, and Rosman Middle/High School, providing a continuous pathway of instruction from 3rd grade through high school. Elementary students take their first steps learning traditional tunes, and as they advance, they can continue into MtnSOS’s Appalachian Music program at Rosman Middle/High School — a program so successful that the school created a dedicated Mountain Music course around it. MtnSOS also maintains a lending library of more than 100 instruments available to students across the county, ensuring that the cost of an instrument is never a barrier to participation.
Lake Toxaway Charities is proud to support Mountain School of Strings and its work to connect Transylvania County students to the musical traditions of their home — and to each other.
Learn More: mountainschoolofstrings.org
