Read this: High school a cappella jives with teacher evaluation systems

Recently I attended a festival at South Glens Falls High School in Upstate New York where I presented on two topics near and dear to my heart; contemporary a cappella music and student choice. I have found this type of music to be extremely popular among students and it allows them the opportunity to be creative, not simply perform the pre-written notes on the page. Read the excerpt and check out the full article:

Student leadership and choice has been a hot topic among music educators recently as the element is being used to evaluate teachers. To earn a perfect score using teacher evaluation tools such as the Danielson rubric or the new National Core Arts Standards, students need to take ownership of their experience and proceed beyond teacher-led activities. In many cases, that’s exactly what they are doing in their high school a cappella groups.

Read the full post here.

American Idol to end run; what’s the show’s value to music educators?

There is no doubt that American Idol was a mammoth turning point in the way music was presented to the masses. When it premiered on FOX, the hit-maker ushered in a wave of reality singing competitions and music was all over the television dial. But was the show good for music educators and school-aged musicians?

Let’s get something out of the way early on; all melodies are “pitchy,” Randy Jackson. I’m pretty sure you meant to use the term “intonation,” right? The biggest problem I had as a music teacher was the comments from the judges being overly vague. It wasn’t their job to educate those aspiring stars in auditions or the eventual stage performances, but it would have been of value to aspiring stars in general. It might not make for great TV, but it reminds me of the phrase “a rising tide lifts all boats.” If you want singers to do better on your show, throw some helpful tidbits in between “that was awful” and “I LOVE YOU!” for the future contestants and other performers to improve.

On a more positive note, the behind-the-scenes looks as contestants were being mentored by famous musicians from Elton John and Billy Joel to Alicia Keys and Akon were mostly positive and gave real world experience to the contestants and viewers as the season moved from auditions to elimination rounds. When musicians are on talk shows, they don’t usually talk about the ins and outs of a performance, so the opportunity for them to pull back the curtain was a nice change of pace.

It’s also undeniable that American Idol pumped out stars and hit singles. More than 350 songs from Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry, Adam Lambert, Jennifer Hudson, and more have topped various Billboard charts and earned GRAMMYs and other major music awards (in addition to Hudson’s Academy Award). These singers’ progressions showcase some of the talent and changes that need to be made to a persona and singer to “make it” in the industry.

But the biggest and unquestionably most useful legacy of A.I. will be the existence of a litany of music shows on television – reality and otherwise. Other networks built on the success of American Idol to produce similar music performance shows like The Voice and Country Star. It’s unlikely subsequent (and more musically-legitimate) shows like The Sing-Off would have been ordered without the success of the groundbreaking Idol and scripted shows like Glee and Empire may also have remained on the sideline.

Music teachers should look back on American Idol as a mixed bag; it was great for the overall music scene and exposure, there were good and interesting tidbits once the seasons moved past the auditions, and it made music on television relevant again. At the same time, William Hung was a thing so it’s definitely not all good.

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Read this: “Rock Me, Maestro” from The Chronicle of Higher Education

A professor in college told one of my education classes we shouldn’t bother teaching popular music because the students will know more about it than we teachers would. As you can probably tell, I didn’t take his advice. My students might know more lyrics or more current songs than I do, but I know how to analyze them and place them into context, but I had to learn how to apply my classical knowledge on my own. Dr. John Covach from the University of Rochester Institute for Popular Music wants that to change.

“What will the new undergraduate music degree look like?” is the question posed by Dr. Covach in his latest op-ed piece for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Covach relates his own “Jekyll and Hyde” existence to many high school students working in the classical vein during the week only to spend their free time playing popular music and seeing no way to merge the two while pursuing a music degree.

The article is a compelling argument for the inclusion of popular music in university programs that already exist. I particularly like that Covach focuses on the musical opportunities available to musicians when they leave college. While most schools focus on the classical and jazz canons, those jobs are declining.

Going back to my college experience, the only popular music class I took was a politics class on the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen. Hopefully the blowing winds of change will land Bruce and the rest of his pop music buddies alongside the other great “B” composers – Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.

While most people reading this will agree with me, please go read Dr. Covach’s article here, if only to get another view on the stats page at the site to prove that people are interested.

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Read this: Should reading music be a requirement for children learning music? A response

In February, Sinfini Music published a blog post that was picked up by the National Foundation for Music Education regarding students being able to read and write standard notation. As a classical music proponents, Sinfini and the author Charlotte Garnder advocate that every musician should have ample education in standard notation.

Dr. Evan Tobias of Arizona State University wrote this rebuttal a couple days later that I just got around to reading. It’s well worth your time if you are like me and don’t think all music needs to be notated on a staff. Here’s an excerpt:

“Whether ‘reading music’ should be an essential requirement of children learning music depends on the context, young persons’ goals, and what one means by ‘read music’ among other factors.”

Read Dr. Tobias’ entire blog post here.

(Full disclosure: I invited Dr. Tobias to present at the University of Rochester Institute for Popular Music Educators’ Workshop this past year.)

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Student-run a cappella groups shouldn’t be seen as “low cost alternative” to chorus program

Increasingly, music performance ensembles are being forced outside of the school day. Sometimes it is part of teacher’s work requirements, sometimes it is an extra paid stipend, and sometimes they don’t receive payment at all. It’s important that music performance ensembles are valued as part of the school day including a cappella groups.

Here’s a post I wrote for Acatribe last year on the value of contemporary a cappella and why it shouldn’t be seen as a “cost-effective alternative” to traditional choirs. Read the excerpt and check out the full article.

“It is always great when students take the initiative themselves but we teachers kind of, sort of, want to get paid to help them with it during classes that we teach. Those kids in Vocal Rush have extra music classes where they are learning this material thanks to their position at the Oakland School for the Arts. Instead of advocating the cost-effectiveness of outside-the-day a cappella groups, [Ben] Folds should be touting the benefits of a cappella music alongside traditional music programs and as an integral part of those programs.”

Read the full post here.

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Sex, drugs, rock and roll, and music education

“How do you teach rock and roll and avoid the inappropriate stuff?” It’s a question I get asked at nearly all of my conference sessions. There is not simple answer to that question because each school and teacher is different, but there are ways to handle rock and roll with kid gloves.

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Lots of songs are overtly about these sensitive topics and it’s easy to avoid discussing those in class if you so choose. It doesn’t take an experienced wordsmith to realize you probably don’t want to play Sir Mix-a-lot’s “Baby Got Back” or Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine” for your 5th graders. The problem comes from the covert and artistic lyrics many songs employ to hide their content. If you’re worried, SongMeanings.com or a Google search can usually yield the lyrics and a rationale behind the song from the artists themselves or someone experienced. (Here is an example for Hozier’s “Take Me To Church.”) When in doubt or to double-check, look at the lyrics yourself and discern the meaning.

My personal philosophy for my eighth graders isn’t to ignore drug topics, though I don’t usually use the term “Psychedelic” as the main exception to that rule. I discuss musicians’ drug use with my 8th graders because it’s not hard to say “don’t do drugs” at the end of the conversation. There’s an entire Wikipedia list of pop musicians who have died from issues with alcohol and drug use and that’s not including musicians who have fallen into poor health. Rockers stammering over themselves or appearing older than their age give a visual to kids that many public service announcements can’t.

Sex and rock and roll will forever be linked – the term “rock and roll” was blank slang for intercourse, after all. Like drugs, I don’t dwell on the sexual nature of the music with my middle schoolers, either. We don’t discuss “Elvis the Pelvis” in my classroom when we listen to The King not do we talk about why Ed Sullivan only showed him from the waist up. Several of the documentaries we use rightfully link forms of popular music to sexual content – the first girl group song to top the charts was “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” – but it’s up to you to decide through conversations with your principal, health teacher, and other stakeholders.

We all have exceptions, of course. A couple years ago I first discussed the homosexual roots of Disco music in gay bars and the reasons they couldn’t have live music in these venues at the time.

It will be difficult to cut all romance from your pop music curriculum, but it would also be difficult to do the same for folk music, classical music, and practically anything that’s not Contemporary Christian. Music, art, social studies, science and English teachers will all have to address these issues at some point in their classrooms so it’s best to have an idea of what you want to say (and more importantly what you don’t) for when the situation arises. It’s also best to always pre-screen songs and music videos before showing them. With those two strategies, you can eliminate most of the uncomfortable situations that can arise.

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Charlotte Danielson’s “Framework for Teaching” encourages popular music use in schools

Around the country (and specifically in my home state of New York) politicians are forcing more and more evaluation on teachers. While observations and evaluations aren’t bad in and of themselves, it’s helpful when they are minimally invasive to our class material as opposed to evaluations such as a standardized test. Charlotte Danielson’s “Framework for Teaching” covers what we teach inside the classroom as well as what we do outside and it is perfect for us using popular music.

My school district has used the Danielson rubric for a few years and (warning: humblebrag) I have achieved perfect scores each year using popular music in my general music classroom. Some of the key points of the evaluation rubric (much like the Common Core or Core Arts standards) include elements of student engagement and few music lessons allow your students to take the lead more than popular music.

In order to go from a 3/4 score to a 4/4, you need to move from teacher-driven instruction to more student-led opportunities. Having students share recent experiences with popular music, choose accompaniment patterns to a song they’re learning, a students forming groups to learn a song together are just a few ways the teacher can take a back seat and let the students lead the way.

Don’t be scared to show your observing administrator what you can teach with popular music; creating, performing, and responding. All of it can be student-driven with teacher guidance for you to get that perfect evaluation.

Next read: CHARLOTTE DANIELSON’S “FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING” AND MUSIC COMPOSITION ASSESSMENT

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Contemporary a cappella a good step for pop music in schools

Here’s a post I wrote for Acatribe earlier this month on contemporary a cappella being a starting point for using popular music in schools. Read the excerpt and check out the full article.

“A cappella singing gives kids an opportunity to move beyond the passive experience many school-age students have with popular music and offers them a chance to actively analyze and listen in addition to perform. Even if they choose to stop performing, they will forever hear popular music in a different way for having been a member of their a cappella group. It’s a valuable bell that can’t be unrung.”

Read the full post here.

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Emotional attachment to music is a double-edged sword in classroom

You remember it like it was yesterday. The first time you heard this song it instantly struck a chord with you and you listened to it on repeat until you had it memorized. It might define a moment in your life but to your students, it doesn’t mean anything. Keep that in mind if you choose to present it in class.

This isn’t just a pop music concept. I performed in a chorus that sang Brahms’ Requiem in college and it will always hold a special place in the canon for me based on the awesome tenor part and the experience I shared with the folks around me. But my students didn’t share that experience, so when I talk to them about it I point out the really cool tenor line and we break it down like any other piece.

When I get to a concept that holds a special place in my heart, I always tell my students about it and why. It shows them that music can be a deeply personal thing that can connect people on a deeper level. Whether it’s the song you listened to during basketball warm-ups before every game (Nelly’s “Ride WIth Me”) or the album that touched you after the September 11th attacks (Springsteen’s The Rising), it’s okay to share this information with students. It shows you’re human in addition to the power of music.

Music can be such a personal experience and when you have a revelation, you want everyone to share it. But each of your students are different and in different places in their lives. Most of my students weren’t born when the Twin Towers fell so it’s not going to be as emotional for them as it is for me when I listen to music from that time period. It’s one more thing to keep in mind when valuing your curriculum.

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My vision for popular music in schools

Music education is in a precarious position in American schools. As administrators and politicians push for our students to be college and career ready, music educators are left struggling to maintain their performance standards and curriculum amid shrinking time frames and support.

When music was added to the school day in the 1800s, it was designed to support the music programs available outside the school. Lowell Mason wanted his children’s choirs to sing better so he spearheaded a campaign to add choir and music curriculum to the Boston School System. Bands were added to support outside performance groups and eventually orchestras were, too. But that model is severely out of touch with the music in today’s society.

Fewer and fewer of our students are participating in these types of performance ensembles outside of school. Instead, rock bands and individual music-making have replaced these large ensembles for many kids. Have schools reflected that change? Most school music programs have not.

If music wants to continue to be relevant in a “college and career ready” environment, we need to prepare students for the music they will be experiencing after they leave school and for the vast majority of them that means popular music. Teaching kids to express what they like and what they don’t like as they listen is key to the next generation of music education. Being able to use the tools at their disposal to create, perform, and respond to the music around them.

That’s not to suggest that classical music and large group performance ensembles don’t have a place. Both certainly belongs in the school music program just like popular music, movie music, non-traditional performing ensembles, jamming, and a whole host of other opportunities.

Preparing our kids to be lifelong learners and musicians is key. Keep that in mind when you’re designing your curriculum.

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