The program is the first in the state of Mississippi, and in the country, to offer performance-based Blues instruction for children. There is no charge for enrollment in the program. For the past five years the DBEP has concentrated its programming on highly successful and innovative after-school classes. They have proven to be more effective than in school classes because children come voluntarily, out of personal interest - not because they are forced. Classes are performance-based.
Students enroll in what is called a yearlong apprenticeship.
They are taught similarly to how band is taught in high school. Apprentices learn their chosen instrument and they are expected to perform. The teaching method is by the oral tradition, the way Blues has always been passed on from one generation to the next. There s no textbook, but apprentices have the opportunity to learn directly from master musicians. This makes the DBEP a unique program in national Blues education.