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!                                

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.