Black Violin plays The Tonight Show!

By now you have probably already heard that Black Violin is joining Be Part of the Music as Artist Advocates. We could not be more proud of our association with these incredible artists as they evangelize the importance of music in our schools and in our lives.
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Just hours before our announcement yesterday we learned that our friends would be performing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. For those of you who missed it, we wanted to provide a link to the performance for you (it will compliment the materials on our site).
See the performance

As you can see, we are working VERY hard to continually add new and innovative resources to help you recruit and retain more young people to Be Part of the Music, but we can still use your help. Do you have an idea or a question for us? Do you know someone who can help us and want to help make the connection? Do you want to see if we actually read and respond to email? Well then, you can contact us here!

Have a great week!

A recent study unearthed data that suggests that precocity at a young age, more often than not, fails to manifest itself in adulthood accomplishments. This isn't to say that they aren't successful, just not exceptional. A vast majority of these exceptional children grow up to be well adjusted and happy. They are as winning at a neighborhood social gathering as they once were in a childhood math spelling bee.

Why don't child prodigies often become adult geniuses? Nobody really knows but New York Times journalist Adam Grant argues that, "What holds them back is that they don't learn to be original." He further states, "The first step in raising a creative child is to back off."
He believes that they strive to earn the approval of their parents and the admiration of their teachers but as they perform at Carnegie Hall, something unexpected happens: practice makes perfect, but it doesn't make new.

According to Grant, the gifted learn to play magnificent Mozart melodies, but rarely compose their own original scores. They focus their energy on consuming existing scientific knowledge, not producing new insights. They conform to codified rules, rather than inventing their own. Research suggests that the most creative children are the least likely to become the teacher's pet, and in response, many learn to keep their original ideas to themselves.

Something to keep in mind as you stare at your All-State player with adoration and your percussion section with contempt.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

p.s. My parents backed off on my percussion lessons, and now I'm writing a newsletter. Just sayin...

p.p.s. It was great to see a Super Bowl halftime show that included choirs, orchestras, and bands. Go Dudamel and the Cal Marching Band!

Joe Montana and our cognitive dissonance

"My hands... in the middle of the night they hurt like crazy!

My knee? I can't really run or do much with it. They keep saying I'll have to replace it.

My eye acts like lazy eye. Every time you're tired, it kind of goes wherever it feels like. Not dramatic but just enough where you can't read or you have to refocus.

My family likes to be active, and I regret that there are things I can't do with them anymore."

- Joe Montana
Those are just a few outtakes of the former NFL quarterback talking about his body a few years removed from his remarkable NFL career, and yet he still encourages his son to play. And he's not alone!
According to a recently study, most Americans know there's a risk of concussion from playing football -- and yet most Americans also say they'd still let their kids play the sport.

I recently read about a poll where people were asked about their attitudes toward the Super Bowl and football. It stated that eighty seven percent of respondents had heard about the concussion problem facing the NFL. Sixty seven percent of those people were still comfortable allowing their own kids to play.
All of this is to say that there is a cognitive dissonance, or disconnect, when it comes to what we know and what we BELIEVE. Joe Montana is a man who knows and feels the effects of a career in football, but believes the activity is good for his son.

I wonder if the same thing is happening in reverse for music education? We have a huge body of evidence which shows that students who participate in music making become better students and human beings. We have study after study, and facts ad nauseam, and yet we still struggle to get people and politicians to BELIEVE in it's importance. As a society we KNOW the benefits of music but I wonder if we actually BELIEVE in them.

Perhaps in the fight for advocacy, we should focus less on what we know (facts and figures) and more on what people believe. They are both important, but people tend to make decisions on the latter.

You're my Mr. Miyagi

We're close, right? If I tell you something that is a secret, do you promise not to share? Seriously, some of my closest friends don’t even know about this. Promise?

For the past twenty months I have been taking karate. Kempo, to be exact.

I wouldn't say that I am good at it, nor would I say that I am bad at it. I guess I am just “at it.” To be clear, I’m closer to Kung Fu Panda than I am Kung Fu.

I don’t think that I am achieving at very rapid pace, but every couple of months, there they are anyway, handing me a new belt. They say it's because of the techniques I have mastered, but I assure you,  if you saw me perform the term "master" would not be what comes to mind. Iam convinced they just give me different colored belts in an effort to color coordinate with my latest bruises.

Once you are an “intermediate belt”  you're required to fight for forty-five minutes after every class, whether you want to or not. The belief is that learning karate is not enough, you have to apply it in real life situations. They call it sparring, I call it reliving my childhood, as every night someone bigger, more experienced, and stronger channels his inner Bruce Lee on me.

Because of this, I wear my belt as a badge of honor, as I have earned every bit of it, bruise by bruise.

I think karate and the martial arts have something here. I think we should award teachers belts. And like karate, they would be awarded not just for the skills you have mastered but for the bruises you have earned, emotional and physical. Teaching is a beat down and although the bruises are not as visible, they are every bit as painful as they are real.
 
Like sparring, for teachers it's not enough to learn about learning, you have to get into a classroom and do educational hand to hand combat to learn how to really teach. If you want to survive, you have to be able to take AND deliver a blow, day after day, month after month, year after year.

In this way, your belt is as much a sign of high achievement as it is a statement of battle scars. It as much about pain as it is performance. You are a black belt, not just because of what you know, but because of what you have survived. Then one day, you find yourself as Mr. Miyagi to someone's Daniel-san.
 
On a side note...

My wife recently asked me if I was learning anything in karate. More specifically, she wanted to know if after all this time I felt that I was better able to defend myselffaced with a confrontation. My response, "If you attack me, with advance warning, very slowly, in just the right way, and wait for me to remember the correct sequence to react in, I am fairly confident I could take you.”   

The problem is, my wife is not likely to be my attacker.  If some guy sucker punches me…  Well, I’m going down.
 
 

The worst thing you could say to me...

Those were the best years of my life...

These are the words of a long ago grateful former student.

It left me wondering… “Where did I go wrong? How did I fail him so spectacularly?”

I know the sentiment he was trying to share and am appreciative of his kind intent, but I hope that no one ever says that to me again. What if the time they spent with me WAS the “best years of their life”? What if those four years were the apex of their life-long existence? What if nothing got better after they left my program? What if my efforts to teach them more than just music had failed?
 
To be clear, I don’t want my class or the time you spent with me to have been the best years of your life. I DON’T!

What do I want?

I want my class to have taught the lessons and set the stage so that every day going forward is more successful than the ones in the past. I want to know that the time spent with me placed you on an upward trajectory personally, professionally, and academically. I want to know that while you look back with fondness, that you are also looking forward with optimism. I want you to remember the days of frustration and angst as clearly as the ones filled with happiness and joy as they were likely more formative to who you are.

Listen, I loved my high school experience. I loved the friends I made and the experiences I had. I acknowledge the role they played in making me the person and the teacher I am today, but they were not the best years of my life.

I am living those right now! The best years of my life were not in my high school band, but they are in part because of my high school band.
 
The comments I am waiting for is, "those were the worst years of my life."
 
THAT would make me feel good!
 

Sean Penn, El Chapo, and the secret of our profession...

Sean Penn, El Chapo, and the secret of our profession...

Maybe it’s watching the stories about El Chapo and the young lives he ruined with drugs. Maybe it’s spending time this weekend with the incredible instrumental hip-hop duo Black Violin who serve as role models. Or, maybe it’s because today is Martin Luther King Day and his speech has been running through my mind. Whatever the reason, I think it’s time I said something out loud that I have been thinking for about for awhile, which is:
 
Music education is failing to help the kids who need it the most.
 
It's not anyone's fault, but it is happening. This is not to say that the educators who teach in such places are failing, because nothing could be further from the truth. These teachers are deserving of a Midwest Medal of Honor and Grammy Educator of the Year Award. These teachers are saints in my book.

I think we all know that where money is plentiful and diversity is limited, music education is alive and well. The suburbs are our sweet spot and the places where we revel in Ravelli, Mackey, and all things Grainger. But in the inner city, where free and reduced lunch rates hover near or above 75%, and the majority is what we call the minority, the student experience can be decidedly different. In places like these, the music participation rates are smaller and the retention rates are even less. Simply said, music education is struggling in the very place we need it to succeed.

Music is not alone in the problem, nor is it the source.
 
Where young people read English below grade level, they often read music below grade level. Where they struggle with issues of basic number counting, they often struggle with basic rhythms. In these challenging places, students' musical skills are not that different than their other academic skills. But, is that the bar we want to compare ourselves too?

If we REALLY believe in the power of music. If we TRULY think that it helps people, then we have a professional obligation to provide the best possible experiences we can for EVERY child!

Listen, I taught in East Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots and I spent most of my career in places that were as diverse as they were economically challenged. I have seen first hand the power that music can have in these places. And yet, I am also painfully aware that I am as guilty as anyone and could do more in this area with Be Part of the Music. I am working on this.

I am not writing this to get you to “do" anything. I am writing this to remind myself that I can do more... and WILL!

FYI: El Chapo called me first!  You know, before Sean Penn. Yes, that’s right, I was his first choice. It just so happened that I was knee deep in score study and didn’t take the call!
 
 

STOP, DROP and enROLL

If you are a secondary music teacher you know that the fever pitch of recruiting is about to hit. You also know that young people along with their parents, armed with very little information, are about to make BIG decisions about their future.
 
Many students have a smoldering fire of doubt: "I wanna try something new in high school." It's important to be aggressive in putting this fire out before it gets out of control.
 
Let me be clear. This is not a “I smell burnt toast” situation, this is a “I’M ON FIRE… STOP, DROP, and ENROLL” situation.
 
There is nothing more important during the next six weeks than recruiting. Better enrollment is paramount to everything you and your program are trying to achieve, both musically and otherwise. Want better clarinets (and who doesn’t)? Enroll more kids! Want more staffing? Enroll more kids!  Want a better budget? Enroll more kids!
 
Enrollment is the panacea to virtually every problem you face, so STOP what you are doing, DROP everything else, and do something to ENROLL more kids!
 
Listed below are some quick tips and ideas for putting out the fire efficiently and effectively.
 
Don't be embarrassed
Don’t ever be embarrassed to sell yourself and your program. If you believe in what you do and the benefit it has for someone, you should never shy away from who you are and what your program offers.
 
Recruiting is not an "event"
Recruitment is an ongoing campaign. They say it takes seven contacts to get someone to pull the trigger on a decision. Just doing a concert, a classroom visit, or sending a mailing is NOT ENOUGH! Make it a goal to contact a student/family member in seven different ways prior to the decision point.
 
Don't forget the parent
Recruit the parent as strongly as you recruit the child.  Students may want to take or not take your class, but then again, they also want to stay up until two o’clock texting their friends. The parents are the real decision makers when it comes to scheduling, so don’t forget to recruit them also.
 
Use every weapon at your disposal
Work with your feeder teachers, student leaders, and parents to have multiple points and ways of contact with every possible student and his or her family. Use students to recruit students and parents to recruit parents. Use every tool at your disposal and every opportunity to make your case of why music is important to their future development.
 
Don't forget to re-recruit the kids you already have
In pursuit of new members, sometimes we forget to re-recruit the kids we already have!  It's natural for them to feel some element of "been there/done that" and it's important that you remind them what music has done for them and how it has impacted them.
 
Listen, we know that you have way too much to do and not enough time to do it so WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK.  We have everything you need to recruit and retain your students at Stay in Music and it’s FREE, easy to use, and is sure to have an impact on your enrollment.  All you have to do is point, click, print, and show!  Let us do what we do best, so you can do what you do best, TEACH!

These materials that are individually adapted for band, orchestra, and choir. So, be sure to share them with all of your middle and high school colleagues!
 
Remember, for the next six weeks, your job is to STOP, DROP and ENROLL… After all, being a great teacher to an empty chair doesn't do anybody any good.
 
Have a great week!

Michael Markowski and our elevator adventures...

Michael Markowski is more than one of my favorite composers, he is one of my favorite people. He’s as thoughtful as he is thought provoking and has more integrity than most people twice his age. For years I have been trying to get him to sit down and film a webisode with me and this is the year we made it happen! Well, sort of...

We started filming in the lobby of the 19th floor at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, where it proved to be too stuffy for either of our likings, so we left our gear, I grabbed my iPhone, and said, “Follow me."
 
What followed was ten minutes of hilarity as we filmed our webisode riding the elevator from floor to floor involving whomever wandered in. Trust me, these are webisodes worth watching. Click on the links below to watch and giggle.
 
Webisode 1: Tone clusters, the composition process, and Michael’s good looks

Webisode 2: Fellow composers Larry Clark and Tyler Grant share their advice
 
There, don’t you feel better? You achieved one of your New Year's goals, you finished reading my e-zine! Now, go celebrate by hiding a pair of drummers sticks. Heck, let’s really celebrate, hide them all!

Have a great week, I missed all of you!

Education is the new immigration!

By now, you likely have already blown through your New Year’s resolution and are ready to move on to goals less lofty and more achievable… Like reading my weekly e-zine. Having not written for a couple of weeks, I have a lot to share, which is why you should set a goal of finishing this e-zine.

I recently overheard a VERY heated discussion at a restaurant that I can only assume was about immigration. I didn’t write it down, but it went something like this:
 
Person 1:  We can get others to do the job. There are plenty of people who are looking for work and would be happy to do that job.

Person 2: These people work twelve hours a day in conditions that most of us would find unimaginable. They work from dawn till dusk, behind fenced walls, six days a week. We pay them horrible wages, treat them like second class citizens, and scorn them while we use their cheap labor to make our lives easier. They need our help, not our condemnation.

I say I can only assume they were talking about immigration, because from what I heard, I thought they were talking about education. Yep, I said EDUCATION!

To my way of thinking, education is the new immigration and teachers are the new migrant workers. Don’t believe me? Re-read the conversation above and tell me that those statements are not applicable to our profession.

Like immigration, education is a hot button issue for politicians and pundits alike. They bloviate about it because it is an easy punching bag filled with people too pre-occupied with doing good work to fight back. Critics use inflammatory rhetoric and generalities to simplify and demean a complex problem that they likely do not understand, a profession they are not experienced in, and a job they have never done! Their ideas and opinions flow much freer than the money needed to implement them.

They do this because it's easy. They do this to make themselves appear better. They do this because they are ignorant.

You do this because it's hard. You do this to make others better. You do this because you are educated.

They may have the bully pulpit, but we know how to handle school yard bullies.
 

The Case for Less Math

It’s been awhile since I stirred the hornets nest, but an article I read this morning has me FIRED UP, so here it goes.

I believe some students in America should take less math.

This morning (9 years ago) in an article in the New York Times discussing a decline in math scores published five sample questions from the Algebra 1 section of the New York State Regents exam. I have copied one of the questions below.
 
The graph of f(x) is shown below. Which function could represent the graph of f(x)?
Interesting Image

a)    f(x) = (x+2) (x2 + 3x - 4)
b)    f(x) = (x-2) (x2 + 3x - 4)
c)    f(x) = (x+2) (x2 + 3x + 4)
d)    f(x) = (x-2) (x2 + 3x +4)

Did you know the right answer? Are you certain?

If so, good for you! I didn’t, and frankly I’m not surprised. Math and I have had an Ike and Tina Turner type relationship for years. Heck, I think we are solving for “x,” but the other letter is effing me up.

You should know that I am 56 years old, have a couple of college degrees and have owned and four businesses for over two decades. All of this is to say that barring any unforeseen radical turns in my life (such as suddenly deciding to become an astrophysicist), I have a pretty good understanding of the amount of math needed to be successful in my endeavors. Having said that, I have never needed the skill sets required to solve the problem listed above. In other words, I took (and struggled) too much math in high school.

Last week, we visited with my 8th grade son’s counselor, where even he “supposed” that the numbers around teaching numbers were trending downward. For example, because my son is taking Algebra in middle school, his required four year journey through analytics will include:

• Geometry

• Algebra 2/Trigonometry

• Pre-Calculus

• Calculus

This means in order to just graduate high school my son will need to (according to Wikipedia) “Understand a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series in preparation for a scientific career related to space exploration, telecommunications systems, computer science, engineering, medicine, pharmacology, business, meteorology, and music.”

Music? I don’t know where Wikipedia went to music school, but I assure you, if accurate, had very few tuba players and exactly ZERO drummers.

We keep hearing, "In order to maintain competitiveness in a global economy, we need more science, math and technology.” but with the confines of time (scheduling), testing, and costs, we have had to establish a hierarchy of learning that leaves me very uncomfortable regarding the expectations it sets and the message it delivers. I am not saying math isn’t important. I think math is important. In fact, very important.

• I think math teaches analytical thought processes.

• I think we need mathematicians and scientists in our society to be successful.

• I think math is an appropriate and important benchmark for learning.

• I believe numerical literacy will benefit every American.

• I understand that math is important in many critical professions.

And let me be abundantly clear - I too want our American scientists and mathematicians to be the best educated people on the planet. I just don’t believe it needs to be EVERY child.

But, I want to know; when did we decide that:

Every child needs to know advanced math to be successful in life?
Math should be a primary benchmark of success for every child?
Should be required at the expense of all other classes?
Math would be the key analytic for determining our national success?
Decide that every child needs to be successful at math to be successful in life?

When did this happen? Was there a vote that I missed? Was there a national consensus reached of which I was not a part of? Was there a groundbreaking study show math = a life time of success and happiness? (See what I did there with the equal thingy?) What numbers were used to justify twelve years of numbers? I know the numbers associated with participation in music show higher GPA’s graduation rates, college acceptance/graduation rates, lower truancy, depression, and drug and alcohol use. How do those numbers sound?

If I had been at that meeting, or involved in that discussion, I would have told people that math IS important in fact very important. But not MORE important that music.
Music teaches individual and group analytical thinking processes that aren’t taught anywhere else during the school day. I also believe that music:

• Teaches grit, determination, and selflessness that will make someone more successful at whatever they do.

• Teachers (foreign) language, science, physical education, history, and art at the same time.

• Challenges every individual student to rise to their personal potential but does so in an inclusive environment that is safe and welcoming.

• Integrates students of differing ages, genders, country of origin, skill sets, etc. in meaningful ways.

• Creates a more balanced, safe, and vibrant school community.

• Serves to attract and retain the type of students we want other students to model.

• Gives every child a greater chance at happiness and success not just in high school, but for the rest of their lives.

Music, being somewhat unique to America, should be a benchmark in determining national success in education as it expands challenges students in all ways and creates a more balanced human being.

Again, I am not advocating zero math and all music, just less math and more music. And, there is plenty of numbers that supports my theory. So, why are people so good with numbers, having trouble understanding my numbers numbers?

As I said, I’m not good at math. But even I can see these numbers don’t add up.