From flatfoot dancing to fiddle stick drumming, the mountain music duet Appalachian Roots stuck a note with more than 100 students at Shoals Elementary School students yesterday.

The Surry Arts Council presented Appalachian Roots Friday as part of its School Cultural Program.

In the educational show, Ira Bernstein and Riley Baugus took the audience of students and teachers on a historical, musical and dancing tour of the origins of traditions, all in a relaxed and playful manner.

The hour-long show, which also took place at White Plains Elementary School, was held in conjunction with the 6th Annual Tommy Jarrell festival which continues today. The festival celebrates the memory of the famous old-time fiddler Tommy Jarrell of Surry County, who passed away in 1975.

“It’s a presentation of old time music and dance,” Bernstein said of the duet’s performance yesterday. “It’s about keeping tradition and culture alive, it’s not for us to tell what’s important. It’s like other traditions people try to keep alive.”

Bernstein and Baugus have been professionally involved in the music for almost 10 years, but have been friends for 25 years.

“We travel together internationally,” the pair shared Friday.

Baugus, who performed with Jarrell, has been featured on the Grammy award-winning soundtrack for the film Cold Mountain and was also featured on Raising Sand, an album by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, which won a Grammy for album of the year.

“A lot of culture is lost, at one point this was pop music,” Baugus said, adding that the group has traveled throughout Europe, including England and Ireland. “So we spend a lot of time with old people learning from them and passing it on.”

He said while the music is popular in Surry County, he and Bernstein often find its even more popular in other parts of the world.

“The Southern Appalachian music came from England and Ireland, it met with Native American, English and with other cultures’ music, and the blend created an American brand,” he said. “Whether it’s African American or European—it all has the same origin. It’s like grease in a pan, some goes this way and some goes that way.”

The Appalachian Roots performance is one of more than 100 free cultural arts programs provided by the Surry Arts Council for 2008-09 year that have reached more than 30,000 students. These programs, which cost in total $70,000, were funded in part by proceeds from the annual ArtsBall, cookbook sales, the Mayberry Days Bake Sale, grants, and contributions from schools.

Contact Erin C. Perkins at eperkins@mtairynews.com or 719-1952.