FN2S is an educational series that exposes both youth and adults to the ingenuity of African Americans through music. This interactive presentation showcases how, despite limited resources, African Americans used everyday items or materials to create instruments. Teaching artists perform live demonstrations with their respective instruments and invite participants to create their own FN2S instrument.
Johnny Kantreed
We were excited to welcome Nashville native Johnny Kantreed as one of our FN2S guests to demonstrate his signature cigar box guitar and share the history of the instrument with us. Take a look at this video and watch Mr. Kantreed shows you how to play and create a cigar box guitar!
Harmonica Legend Carlos Deford Bailey
On April 9th, Nashville native Carlos Deford Bailey joined NMAAM on Facebook Live and explored the history of the harmonica and provided knowledge about how the instrument influenced the development of music genres.
Lucius “Spoonman” Talley
Join NMAAM for #FN2S (From Nothing to Something), our signature educational program for students grades K-8, as we welcomed Nashville native, Mr. Lucius “Spoonman” Talley via Facebook Live on April 23. Mr. Talleyl demonstrated his masterful spoon playing and talked about the origins and influence of the instrument.
Melissa Dupuy
NMAAM Called all parents with students grades K-8 to join NMAAM for FN2S (From Nothing to Something) featuring banjo and gourd player Melissa Dupuy on Thursday, April 30. On Facebook Live she demonstrated how to play the banjo, and shared insights about the instrument’s origins and use in different musical genres
Derrick Greene
Rhythm is essential to music, and the drums play an integral role in all musical genres. Performer, composer, and clinician Derrick Greene joined us on Thursday, May 14 for FN2S: Rhythm & Drums, and taught us about the history of drumming and demonstrated a variety of rhythmic patterns.
Tiffany Buchanan
This Youth Thursday FN2S is one you won’t want to miss as we welcomed washtub bass player Tiffany Buchanan. She taught us about the history of this instrument and its unique sound and construction 
Tia Smedley
For this FN2S, writer, poet, and spoken word artist Tia Smedley joined us for a workshop about the art and craft of writing lyrics. She led the session discussing the importance of storytelling, word choice, and rhythm in bringing song lyrics to life