Have your P.I.E. and eat it too: Macon pie fundraiser helps young musicians

Apple pie. White chocolate pecan pie. Lemon chess pie. Peanut butter cup pie. Macaroon pie. Coconut pie. Fudge pie. Buttermilk pie. Derby pie.

Every mouth-watering bite will be in a sweet-tooth lineup in the lobby of Wesleyan College’s Pierce Chapel prior to the monthly meeting of the Morning Music Club on Thursday, March 13. 

You can take any of the pies home with you … for the right price. Each of the more than 30 desserts, along with a cake and some quiche, will be awarded to the highest bidders as part of a silent auction. 

It is much more than a glorified bake sale, though.

Partners in Education (P.I.E.) is a community outreach of the Morning Music Club, which was founded in 1912 and is one of the oldest and most storied organizations in Macon.

The club launched its P.I.E. initiative with a soft start in November 2022 with the mission to provide opportunities to high school band and orchestra students in the Bibb County public schools. 

Young people accepted into the program are identified based on talent and need. The students receive cycles of 12 private lessons with professional clinicians at Mercer’s Townsend School of Music and McDuffie Center for Strings, Wesleyan College and Middle Georgia State University. 

There were two students in the inaugural class. There are now 47. Over the past two years, about $180,000 has been raised through community grants, individual and corporate donations  and fundraising events, such as this year’s 750-ticket raffle and silent pie auction.

Other P.I.E. initiatives include the refurbishing of musical instruments, as well as the placement of grand pianos in the auditoriums at Westside, Rutland and Southwest high schools. Upright pianos have been donated to the chorus rooms of two schools in Jones County and to the musical theatre room at the Academy of Classical Education (ACE) in Macon.

“We really didn’t anticipate it was going to mushroom like this,’’ Jane Bickley, the club’s chair for P.I.E., said. “There is a need for it. There is a niche in the community that was unfilled, and we are filling it with private lessons for these students.’’

Bickley said many of the young musicians come from families without the financial means to afford private instruction. Students can elect to participate in more than one cycle of the 12 music lessons. She said one student is currently in her fifth cycle of instruction.

“We are giving them an opportunity to develop their musical talent,’’ she said. “But, even beyond that, they are learning and developing life skills. There are a lot of benefits beyond the music.’’

The program is coordinated through Ben Bridges, director of fine arts and magnet programs for the Bibb County School District. Bridges has contributed two pecan pies for the auction.

The pie campaign was launched last year with some natural word play from P.I.E. (Partners in Education). Organizers borrowed a line from the old Frank Sinatra song, “… high apple pie in the sky hopes.’’

The date of last year’s pie auction was March 14, which was “National Pi Day.” Club members seized on the opportunity to promote it as a “fun” raiser for P.I.E.

“Pi” is the symbol used in math to represent the ratio of the circumference to its diameter (3.14159). On Pi Day, math enthusiasts celebrate by reciting the infinite digits of Pi, eating pie and partying with other “mathletes.’’ (It’s also Albert Einstein’s birthday.) 

This year, March 14 falls on a Friday, and the club traditionally meets on the second Thursday of every month. But knowing that Pi Day won’t come around again on a Thursday until March 14, 2030, Bickley said they have adopted the mantra: “Every day is P.I.E. day.’’

The Morning Music Club’s charter members studied music at the Wesleyan Conservatory and had a passion for promoting the arts. The ensuing years have been kind to their endeavors. The club is credited for having served as a springboard for both the Macon Symphony and Macon Concert Association.

The Morning Music Club has 128 women and men as members, and membership is not limited to musicians. Those who love and appreciate music are devoted to attending the monthly meetings held at Wesleyan College.

Since 1969, the club has awarded its “Outstanding High School Senior Musician” scholarship in memory of legendary Wesleyan music professor Joseph Maerz (1883-1969), a gifted pianist of his generation. The annual winner of the Maerz scholarship receives $4,000 and the runner-up $2,000.