Teach Music to Kids!

ORCHkids made it on 60 Minutes!!!

AND. . .I got a few seconds of b-roll, but, hey, I was on 60 Minutes. My Mom and Dad were so proud. 

Now, really, the piece was about Gustavo Dudamel. If you're asking, "Who's that?", then you MUST see the segment they did last Sunday. Here it is. 

Gustavo Dudamel's Mission

I welcome any feedback. We're off to some good things with the ORCHkids. I'm hopeful that the press will cover us as much in ten years.

And here's a big question:

Does this kind of program have the potential to make irrelevant traditional instrumental music education?

Helping music teachers in Balitmore

See this Johns Hopkins University video on music mentoring in Baltimore City (1 of a few vignettes to be used). http://ping.fm/J5eZf

Whole hog music education with PreK through 2nd grade.

The Abreu Fellows of El Sistema model came to play with the ORCHkids all week. The kids had quite an experience.

 

What I've been doing with the ORCHkids, my inner city children.

Singing songs in all tonalities: major, minor, dorian, mixolydian, phrygian, etc.  

Singing songs and chanting rhymes in all meters: duple, triple, 5/8, 7/8, etc. 

 

Some are multimetric (switches around among meters)

Singing in tune with a light voice. Singing tonal patterns individually with each child.

Chanting rhythm patterns in the meter and style of songs just sung. Again, individually with each child.

 

Hearing the changes (chords that go under the melody) to "On Top of Spaghetti" by singing 

the roots and listening to that the IVchord sticks out if you already know the V and I chords well enough.

--Yes preK knows tonic, dominant and subdominant, but we're not calling them that yet.

Oh, and for real fun, we're moving expressively to music. Really jamming.

C'mon music teachers. Get up and really groove. Stop it with clapping TA TA TI TI TA. 

**That's so STOOPID—way below the rhythmic "intelligence" of school-age children.

We were scarf dancing to Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band "Hit the Ground Running."

I love it. I could do it all day. SO I do. Learn that tune folks. It's fun.

 Some say that's not PreK appropriate. Yeh, and what was Coltrane or Parker or Tatum listening to when they were 4?

So, why not??

 

 

 

El Sistema - Venezuelan music education American Style and DVD

The Baltimore Symphony has an outreach program called ORCHkids which is fashioned after El Sistema. I teach for this program in a west Baltimore city school. The very popular 60 minutes episode on the difference El Sistema is making with underprivileged youth in Venezuela was broadcast in spring of 2008. Now, they're coming to my school. That's right. 60 Minutes (and Bob Simon) is coming to our program to document the seeds of the El Sistema attitude begin to sprout in Baltimore. It's a very exciting development.

I've also been invited to Venezuela to share my teaching methods. I'm going down to steal some of their heart and soul. I'm very moved by their program. I just finished watching a very well-done and inspiring DVD titled "El Sistema: Music to Change Life." It's a no brainer purchase for those familiar with the story. For those not, play the 60 Minutes segment and decide if you'd like in depth coverage of the topic. I highly recommend it.

DVD here:

http://el-sistema-film.com/

60 Minutes video here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/11/60minutes/main4009335.shtml

Understanding crazy harmonic functions - in 2nd grade!!!

The first grade students last year learned to audiate (hear in their minds, predict) I, V7, IV and V7/V in major; i, V7, iv in minor.

This year, they not only remembered those, but have added V7 of vi, V7 of ii, and V7 of V7 of V7 of V7.

Translation: they know the changes to "5 Foot 2 Eyes of Blue" which goes (in C) C, E7, A7, D7, G7 C.

This Little Light of Mine goes at the end: C, E7, a, D7, G7 C. Almost half the children recognize and identify the difference in the two changes: E7 to A7, or E7 to a. 

For the V7 of ii, they know that in "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." 

"Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack I don't care if I ever get back" goes (in C again) A7 d D7 G7.

Quadruple dominant, triple dominant, dominant of the submediant, dominant of the super tonic.

If anyone would like to add to the list of songs that have similar changes, I'd be really happy.

First week under the belt

In a school not more than 1/2 a mile away from the school that hosted a very special music program last year, the children are notably different. Most of the Pre-K sings in tune even without having had any formal music instruction. I expected 70% or less to use their singing voices consistently, but not 80% to sing in tune! 

The reason for my underestimate was based on experience from the school only half of a mile away. There, a good percentage of the 1st grade children didn't sing in tune until after I worked with them two times a week for 45 minutes each class from September to November. Then, they started to come around. I think many of them had always had the talent, but they were lacking in appropriately guided experiences. Many didn't even use their singing voice. Some had issues simply staying in their seats. The first few weeks, more than a handful of children would consistently fall asleep during class.

The new school situation is striking in comparison. No children goofing in the halls. A stronger presence from the administration. The faculty seems more experienced and stable, less transitive. Being there during the day makes some difference, but that doesn't account for the musicianship the children already come with.

The program for which I teach promises exceptional results. Without the strong foundation I found at the new school, our work would have been significantly harder. Now add this to the mix: When the program is going at full bore, some of the children will be receiving music instruction 3 times a week during the school day and 4 times a week after school. 7 times a week! That's a lot. Music will just be part of the air they breathe.

Music teachers may look at the outcomes of this program down the road and suggest the schedule was a major factor. I want to suggest that high quality faculty/musicians and a specialized curriculum will contribute even more. In the end, it may not matter so much how it happened. The children's performance abilities will speak for themselves.

Read this, music teachers! Really.

Quincy Jones on "Arts Education in America."

Teaching music to Pre-K, K, and 1st grade in the inner city

That's what I'll be doing twice a week this fall. I plan to keep you updated on the children's musical progress after we start the school year. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra started their ORCHkids outreach program last year (http://www.bsomusic.org/main.taf?p=3,17). Now most of the kids have moved to a new school where I'll be teaching their younger schoolmates musical readiness skills. This will be hard-core ear training for the youngest.

The kids from last year (2nd and 3rd graders now) know major and minor tonalities, duple, triple, combined and unusual meters. They also started reading tonal and rhythm patterns that were too difficult for me after 3 or 4 years of private instruction in a privileged environment. 

I'll be using this blog to bust open any misconceptions about what children can learn if they're taught in a manner that challenges their musical potential.

School music programs getting axed. What now?

The economy is taking its toll and some schools are cutting music programs. Some parents get music lessons for their children. What percentage? Maybe 10%?

Of the remaining 90%, who has children who would have excelled in music, but no longer have a program offered in their school? And many of these children already have disadvantages from being in inadequately funded schools.

Here's where I ask you for your ideas. What would you want from an online music service? Think of the 2-way interaction: forums for your questions; a wiki for collaborating on the content you want; video and audio content; live chat/video; tons of possibilities.

Is this something to consider in the new technological age we're in?

I'd love your thoughts.

Nice Seder tonight. My daughter sings well.

My daughter sings better than anyone in the family. I wasn't always confident that she would be musical. She was always expressive, but not always in tune or with the beat. She's always had a lot of style.

It doesn't matter when children start singing in tune. Sometimes it's as early as 3 or 4, but often not until 5 or 6. My daughter was still not consistently singing intune until almost 7 years old.

It does matter that we sang and had fun all these years. The best fun we have is when we improvise together. We made up the "Poopy Blues" a couple years ago. She never forgot it. The second verse is the "Ploopy Bues" or the "Bloopy Poos." It's all the same imagery and we giggle about it.

Sing and have fun. That's the best a family can do.

Around the Seder table makes it just a little more special.