Valerie Cordero on the impact of 50¢ lessons and returning to music

We call ourselves Music City and, for a lot of kids growing up here, music lessons are simply out of reach.

However, there’s a place in Edgehill where lessons still cost fifty cents — just like they did more than 40 years ago. It’s called W.O. Smith Music School and our guest today is executive director Valerie Cordero. She’s an ethnomusicologist whose own story veered away from music for much of her career. Now she’s back to helping make it happen for hundreds of students every year.

This episode was produced by Josh Deepan.