As a pragmatist, I realize that music education is not merely to entertain aesthetic purposes. I am more interested in assuring our community and educational institution that my students will be likely to have music as a driving force which will carry out throughout their lifetime and will transfer to other facets of their life in positive ways. My objectives as a music educator are: 1) to give students an opportunity to be successful in life through the expression of music, 2) to insure that the classroom environment is both safe and conducive to critical thinking amid varied learning styles, 3) to build upon each student’s prior knowledge base in an individual way, and 4) to allow students to discover facts for
themselves rather than simply repeating what I have instructed them to say.
As a behaviorist, I will insure that my classroom is inviting to discussion as well as a healthy display of order. Oftentimes, discussions may seem a bit chaotic in the work of Lucy Green entitled Informal Learning, and the School: a new classroom pedagogy (2008). However, these very times, when a teacher drops his or her inhibitions and allows the students to creatively solve problems, can be some of
the most rewarding times for both teacher as well as the student(s) involved.
I believe that the effective teacher is one who is eager to use new ideas in formatting the lesson plan from day to day. Evaluation and research are part of a lifelong quest for excellence in teaching. I am happy to work with my peers in professional conferences and daily interaction in order to afford my students with the most technologically-cutting edge education that they could possibly have.
In conclusion, I believe that a lifetime of music can be had if one is able to learn a disposition toward music-making, has times in his or her education to be acculturated in music and acquiring listening skills, is treated with value, and is respected for the music which they produce as an individual. The best way to assure that a musician can thrive is to allow that musician the freedom to do so within a certain framework or structure. Most of all, this process requires educators who are willing to learn of their students at a one-on-one approach within the context of a music classroom or studio.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Reflective Bios Rock
For today's post, I would like to ask the following question: why do we think our musical training allows us to continue making music at age 40. The following is a little biographic sketch. See if you can find anything in my life that points to the fact that I am still "musicing"...
My kindergarden teacher played four-part children's songs on an old, upright piano. It wasn't anything incredible, but it was the first time I had heard a piano in an intimate setting. I instantly fell in love with the sound of this type of music and never have lost my attraction to it. My mother told me that I went home and drew a piano keyboard on several pieces of cardboard and began to pretend that I was playing piano. Shortly afterward, my parents purchased a studio piano for me. As part of the piano purchase, I was able to study the basics of piano for six months at the music store. I could not continue lessons after about a year because my mother had to pay medical bills. So, I started playing a song by ear which I had been singing in my music class. My mother said that she could not believe I was able to chord the song and play melody at the same time. My parents divorced about three years later.
I moved from Michigan to my grandmother's home in Ohio. I enjoyed singing in middle school through my break, but it was not until high school when I started to play again. In fact, I started improvising because my choir teacher was somewhat of a jazz pianist and he used a lead sheet. I had to figure out the other riffs on my own since they were not written out. Of course, riffs can be found in other music, but I was not studying privately at the time. I started taking piano lessons from a professor at OSU when I was 16. I then auditioned into college on my instrument and enjoyed practicing eight hours a day until my junior year when I switched to composition. I ended up graduating with a degree in vocal music.
I have played with orchestra, entertained heads of state, and performed specials on television and radio programs. I was also privileged to be the Irish vocalist for the West Chester Symphony back in 2006. I owe a lot to Anand Saha, the owner of Mozart's European Piano Cafe and Bakery. Thanks for making me learn all the Mozart sonatas! They have been a substantial part of my repertoire.
Q.: What would Elliot or Green say about my formative years? If you have read their works, you may say things like, my education was more than aesthetic. You may say that I did not come around to music a large part of my life in a traditional way. Does this support Green's arguments regarding popular versus classical musicians? Why or why not? Now its time for you to decide. Post away!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
When Schools Forget to Rock
A lot of schools are cutting their arts programs due to funding. While this may seem necessary at the time, the devastation caused by such cuts could prove unbearable. The words to a song came to mind. "The Awakening" by Martin (1995) was presented in a concert at Wright State University during my undergraduate schooling. The text reads:
"I dreamed a dream, a silent dream of a land not far away where no bird sang, no steeples rang, and teardrops fell like rain. I dreamed a dream; a silent dream. I dreamed a dream of a land so filled with pride that every song, both weak and strong, withered and died. I dreamed a dream No hallelujah; not one hosanna! No song of love, no lullaby. And no choir sang to change the world. No pipers played, no dancers twirled. I dreamed a dream; a silent dream. Awake, awake! Soli deo gloria! Awake, Awake! Awake my soul and sing, the time for praise has come. The silence of the night has passed, a new day has begun! Let music never die in me; forever let my spirit sing! Wherever emptiness is found let there be joy and glorious sound. Let music never die in me; forever let my spirit sing! Let all our voices join as one to praise the giver of the sun! Awake, awake! Let music live!"
At the risk of sounding apocalyptic, I would be hard pressed to not tie the end result of a culture which forgets the importance of music, pictured here in this lyric, to our nation's public school system where individuals, in large numbers, no longer see value in music education. While the lack of value may be in some ways attributed to our profession's aesthetic presentation of the arts, we cannot simply shrug our shoulders and retreat. We must mobilize. We must call upon every citizen who holds music in high regard. We must start at the "grass roots". We must start with advocacy. We must do everything within our being to ensure that the future does not become the one pictured in the aforementioned song. If the song is a predictor of what is to come, it is we who will be responsible for ultimately loosing the future generations of American citizens. It is not a call to arms, but a meeting of the minds, so to speak. We must begin to articulate a well-overdue concept of progressive music education philosophy based in sound logic. No more should we ever again argue with intangible verbiage. While music may be very ethereal at some, or even most times, we must argue its reason for existence as a very basic human and universal need, supported with scientific arguments.
While music is very many things to many people, we must find a way to concisely argue the existence of all music and not loose sight of the forest for the trees. Of course, each educator will continue to make artistic judgments based upon his or her expertise. However, gone are the days of arguing an individualized approach to your own school music program. We must unite as educators and build a "big-tent", inclusive picture for all to argue main points for all music that will be applicable to not only a local school board meeting, but to school districts in the remote corners of this land we call our home. We must do this now. Today is the day of arguing. For if we do not, we must surely find ourselves "defunded" by Monday morning. Good luck. Our very purpose and lifelong ambitions depend on each of us rising to the occasion!
"I dreamed a dream, a silent dream of a land not far away where no bird sang, no steeples rang, and teardrops fell like rain. I dreamed a dream; a silent dream. I dreamed a dream of a land so filled with pride that every song, both weak and strong, withered and died. I dreamed a dream No hallelujah; not one hosanna! No song of love, no lullaby. And no choir sang to change the world. No pipers played, no dancers twirled. I dreamed a dream; a silent dream. Awake, awake! Soli deo gloria! Awake, Awake! Awake my soul and sing, the time for praise has come. The silence of the night has passed, a new day has begun! Let music never die in me; forever let my spirit sing! Wherever emptiness is found let there be joy and glorious sound. Let music never die in me; forever let my spirit sing! Let all our voices join as one to praise the giver of the sun! Awake, awake! Let music live!"
At the risk of sounding apocalyptic, I would be hard pressed to not tie the end result of a culture which forgets the importance of music, pictured here in this lyric, to our nation's public school system where individuals, in large numbers, no longer see value in music education. While the lack of value may be in some ways attributed to our profession's aesthetic presentation of the arts, we cannot simply shrug our shoulders and retreat. We must mobilize. We must call upon every citizen who holds music in high regard. We must start at the "grass roots". We must start with advocacy. We must do everything within our being to ensure that the future does not become the one pictured in the aforementioned song. If the song is a predictor of what is to come, it is we who will be responsible for ultimately loosing the future generations of American citizens. It is not a call to arms, but a meeting of the minds, so to speak. We must begin to articulate a well-overdue concept of progressive music education philosophy based in sound logic. No more should we ever again argue with intangible verbiage. While music may be very ethereal at some, or even most times, we must argue its reason for existence as a very basic human and universal need, supported with scientific arguments.
While music is very many things to many people, we must find a way to concisely argue the existence of all music and not loose sight of the forest for the trees. Of course, each educator will continue to make artistic judgments based upon his or her expertise. However, gone are the days of arguing an individualized approach to your own school music program. We must unite as educators and build a "big-tent", inclusive picture for all to argue main points for all music that will be applicable to not only a local school board meeting, but to school districts in the remote corners of this land we call our home. We must do this now. Today is the day of arguing. For if we do not, we must surely find ourselves "defunded" by Monday morning. Good luck. Our very purpose and lifelong ambitions depend on each of us rising to the occasion!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
appropriate school rock
After reading selections from Lucy Green's Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy (2008), I have been evaluating my own teaching of popular music within the music classroom. While I don't think club music is the best thing to introduce to a class of adolescents who have a tendency of behavior issues, I have been successful at integrating popular music into music education. One day, a class I had been teaching as a long-term substitute proved to be highly successful from a behavioral and musical perspective. One of the students requested singing "A Whole New World" from Alladin. The children really got into the music. We were not singing in parts, we were singing by rote or ear at this point, and I could teach "beyond the notes" because it was music with which the students were familiar and which allowed me to concentrate on the other elements of musical performance. When the regular teacher received word of this, recovering at home from surgery, she was taken aback. Perhaps it was because the principal couldn't remember the name of the song and referred to it in a conversation with the teacher as "pop music". That is a dirty word still to this day to some music educators.
I taught for a year at a private school where I was told that placing Disney music on trial at the local music store soiled the name of the school. Well, excuse me, Snow White! I guess a dream is not a wish your heart makes after all if you are purchasing Disney music! With thinking like this after the turn of the century (2000), it is sometimes doubtful if our practice will become much informed by popular music. However, there is hope. The undergraduate piano lab which I designed for Wright State University's elementary education program included a unit in which I related the chord progressions of a familiar popular song, "Friends Forever" by Vitamin C to the chord progressions of Canon in D by Pachelbel. The progressions of the two selections are practically identical. Not to mention, "To Love You More" by Celine Dion is also similar. The students also learned how to play melody and to chord in "fake book" fashion with easy songs such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb". When using popular music in a classroom, a lot of learning can take place if you trace the classical roots in the music. In addition, incorporating different types of music will help to tear down cultural barriers which students may erect when they think of classical music. After all, there is not that much difference between a D chord no matter what type of music your students listen to. Right? Let me know what you think!
In closing, I would like to ask, as a bit of film buff trivia related to music, if anyone was as struck as I when they viewed the climatic scene of Ocean's Eleven. The film's music supervisor decided to accent the violence of the casino scene by muting out the sound. He chose the very peaceful piano piece by Debussy, Clair de Lune instead as a backdrop to the action.
I taught for a year at a private school where I was told that placing Disney music on trial at the local music store soiled the name of the school. Well, excuse me, Snow White! I guess a dream is not a wish your heart makes after all if you are purchasing Disney music! With thinking like this after the turn of the century (2000), it is sometimes doubtful if our practice will become much informed by popular music. However, there is hope. The undergraduate piano lab which I designed for Wright State University's elementary education program included a unit in which I related the chord progressions of a familiar popular song, "Friends Forever" by Vitamin C to the chord progressions of Canon in D by Pachelbel. The progressions of the two selections are practically identical. Not to mention, "To Love You More" by Celine Dion is also similar. The students also learned how to play melody and to chord in "fake book" fashion with easy songs such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb". When using popular music in a classroom, a lot of learning can take place if you trace the classical roots in the music. In addition, incorporating different types of music will help to tear down cultural barriers which students may erect when they think of classical music. After all, there is not that much difference between a D chord no matter what type of music your students listen to. Right? Let me know what you think!
In closing, I would like to ask, as a bit of film buff trivia related to music, if anyone was as struck as I when they viewed the climatic scene of Ocean's Eleven. The film's music supervisor decided to accent the violence of the casino scene by muting out the sound. He chose the very peaceful piano piece by Debussy, Clair de Lune instead as a backdrop to the action.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Guitar ensembles rock!!
After reading an article in Newsweek by Stephen Levy (2007) concerning the "revolutionary" consequences of the video game entitled Guitar Hero, I started weighing one particular claim that at first, I didn't doubt: The idea goes something like this... The aforementioned video game with which everyone loves to jam can afford the amateur playing the game a sort of "virtual" talent (although that is merely my translation to one of the major tenets of the article). If I am not that far off of what Levy actually is saying, or more accurately, quoting a CEO for Gibson Guitar, the flip side to the glorious reality of all these people being artistically satisfied by not putting the hard work into learning an instrument, I personally feel, are sometimes being cheated. Whereas Yamaha Pianos goes so far as to actually duplicate an acoustic piano's hammer actions in the Disklavier, I am not sure Guitar Hero has the same artistic-ended goal as Yamaha. Who am I to judge? This is a blog and I think it is good to at least bounce the idea around. What do any of you out there think? I can't wait to find out. More importantly, I suppose, is the why you think what you think. I would love to have someone argue for or against Guitar Hero as an artistic tool to create guitar players. Notice I said guitar players, not players of a video game! That is the heart of the issue: Not only is this not "real" music. It is also a great way for the video game to be sold. Who is not seduced by ads such as one that claims you could master an instrument (whatever the instrument is) in just "ten easy lessons"? At least, you are probably seduced until reason sets in. Am I correct or being too sadistic? Let me know. I'm dying to hear from you!
The reason I classify this particular rant as guitar ensembles is not overly complex. It is, however, much more positive than anything I have blogged so far. There are millions of non-guitar players spending hours on Guitar Hero. So, they are playing (oftentimes) the same hits that the person down the street is playing on it and so forth. That has to speak for something. At least people are being brought together in a new technological way who share similar tastes for certain musical numbers. More to the point is a truly delightful experience I had in a particular course while I was working on my undergraduate degree. My professor had the pleasure of inviting a middle school guitar class from a local public high school for our class one day. That was one of the best musical performances I have ever heard! If that strikes you as odd, think of all the different groups I have heard during my lifetime: I traveled to Cincinnati to a live performance of Sarah McLachlan before she was really very well-known in Cincinnati, I have gone to hear the occasional local band - none of which were half as good as Red Wanting Blue, I loved the Perry Como of our generation, known for his "self-titled" Dave concerts (and this one was at Polaris, a venue which had its name changed to the Germain Amphitheater), a riveting concert by Michael Feinstein (since he was probably possessed by the living spirit of Billy Joel the night I saw him), the Canadian Brass, a touring Irish bagpipe group, Nigel Kennedy, a Russian pianist by the name of Alexander Peskanov (who moved the concert grand piano several feet, a result of a rather aggressive style of playing during that performance), the popular piano duo of Ferrante and Teicher, the very relaxed Pearl Jam, and the list goes on and on and on. I had no idea a guitar choir would be so amazing. Am I just a choral fanatic? That is probably not the reason since the thought of a double reed choir does not excite me. To be fair, I have never heard a performance of a double reed choir that excited me which means I am up for the challenge. If there are any superb links to a double reed choir, I would love to change my mind! Please do post a link below no matter what you have as a contribution.
The reason I classify this particular rant as guitar ensembles is not overly complex. It is, however, much more positive than anything I have blogged so far. There are millions of non-guitar players spending hours on Guitar Hero. So, they are playing (oftentimes) the same hits that the person down the street is playing on it and so forth. That has to speak for something. At least people are being brought together in a new technological way who share similar tastes for certain musical numbers. More to the point is a truly delightful experience I had in a particular course while I was working on my undergraduate degree. My professor had the pleasure of inviting a middle school guitar class from a local public high school for our class one day. That was one of the best musical performances I have ever heard! If that strikes you as odd, think of all the different groups I have heard during my lifetime: I traveled to Cincinnati to a live performance of Sarah McLachlan before she was really very well-known in Cincinnati, I have gone to hear the occasional local band - none of which were half as good as Red Wanting Blue, I loved the Perry Como of our generation, known for his "self-titled" Dave concerts (and this one was at Polaris, a venue which had its name changed to the Germain Amphitheater), a riveting concert by Michael Feinstein (since he was probably possessed by the living spirit of Billy Joel the night I saw him), the Canadian Brass, a touring Irish bagpipe group, Nigel Kennedy, a Russian pianist by the name of Alexander Peskanov (who moved the concert grand piano several feet, a result of a rather aggressive style of playing during that performance), the popular piano duo of Ferrante and Teicher, the very relaxed Pearl Jam, and the list goes on and on and on. I had no idea a guitar choir would be so amazing. Am I just a choral fanatic? That is probably not the reason since the thought of a double reed choir does not excite me. To be fair, I have never heard a performance of a double reed choir that excited me which means I am up for the challenge. If there are any superb links to a double reed choir, I would love to change my mind! Please do post a link below no matter what you have as a contribution.
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