NBC Nightly News - Better Minds Through Music

As seen here (This link takes you to a blog on NBC Nightly News' website that links to resources directly involved in this study. The video of Brian Williams giving the story is available as well but it is not possible to link directly to it from here.)

NBC Nightly News reported a new (?) study that shows music ed in schools improves performance in math.

This isn't new. Studies have been showing the correlation between music and academic performace for years. If you let kids in school (at any age) take a music class, their scores on exams in academic courses go up. I grew up in school districts where music was a standard - even if it was considered an "Easy A" course to boost your GPA. Although I can think of some times when I had my doubts about the intelligence-boosting aspect. Case in point: high school chorus is rehearsing an English-version, concertized performance of Faust. High school boys get bored too easily. As a second alto, I was sitting next to the bass section so I was treated to a front-row view of their antics. Boys find things to do when bored in chorus class - like re-write the libretto. "Gounod" became "Gonad" and the situation deteriorated from there.

I liked to sing but I'll never claim that I was good at it. Today I only sing in church on Sundays. My excuse is, in church, they have to forgive you. ;-) I always wondered if my very deep alto range could be pushed further to a full contralto (basically a female tenor). Every choir director I ever had discouraged that kind of training. I could never tell if it was really bad for me, if I just didn't have enough talent for that kind of investment, or if they just had never had a female student with that deep a voice and thus had no idea how to handle it.

I skipped lunch to take chorus in school. I did feel rejuvenated going back to my academic courses. So maybe I did benefit in the way the news report said. I believe it enough to ensure that my own children get to enjoy music. Even my two-year-old has a weekly group for children her age where she can bang on Remo's line of instruments for children and play games to music and learn songs she can sing along with at home or in the car.

It makes me concerned for my children and others of my friends and neighbors when I hear that a local school district is in financial dire straits and one of the first programs cut is the music program. Gym programs get cut, and then there's public shock and outrage that kids are overweight and not active enough. Then music programs get cut, and there's public shock and outrage that kids are bored in school and glued to video games and wasting their creativity. You'd think the solutions were obvious - guess not.

Back in January Barry made news in his hometown by donating instruments to a local middle school whose instruments were literally falling apart. (News report on manilow.com) Note that the area where he lives is not poor by any means, and yet even this school district can't find a way to prioritize the needs of a practical music program. What Barry did was set an example that ANYONE can follow. So here's a few clues from a fellow parent who is probably going to deal with this situation in her own school district:

1. You can't rely on a school district or board of education to make the best decisions and provide every educational opportunity your children need.
2. Music programs are not about turning your kid into the next Mozart, Yo Yo Ma, or Kelly Clarkson. They are about opening them to a different dimension of life and probably helping them in their academic studies. Music is not less important just because most kids taking it are not going to be famous.
3. It shouldn't take a celebrity to draw attention to or provide a solution to gaps in the school program. It's nice, but not a key.
4. Take the study mentioned above and others like it seriously.
5. Fighting the Board of Ed is only one option. Others include passing the hat amongst yourselves to fund a boosters program, or finding a music program outside of the public school system - like your house of worship or local cultural center. They almost universally have a childrens' music program.
6. Nothing is stopping YOU from enjoying these programs, either! My daughter has learned to love to dance because of the music in our house and in preschool. She has a thing for the drums too - I won't tell her 'no' if that's what she wants to play! That mistake my folks made won't be repeated.

Bottom line - everyone benefits when children and their families have a chance to make music (no matter how badly). But don't expect the school board or anyone else to automatically make it happen for you!
8^D

A Segue

Before I get into the next chapter of this story, I'd like to put out a heads-up to anyone - fan or artist - who is involved in a fan club or collective of some time.

Be careful what you say and do, especially on the Internet.

People get excited, people want to get carried away. Some people will love everything, others will find something to criticize.

Let. It. Go. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. Unless your career or family are directly affected, it's not worth getting in a lather. Just turn off the computer and go do something else and it will all go away.

Every fan group on Earth either IRL or the Internet has conflicts. Artists, stay out of it. It's about the fans, it's not about you and you can't do any good by getting into it. Fortunately, Barry seems to be a smart enough guy to realize this. I haven't seen him post in fan-oriented chat boards, he seems to handle that kind of interaction in structured environments to ensure that conflicts don't happen. There is a parade of other artists that can and should learn from his example.

Fans, when you fight about music and the people who make it, you are not fighting with words or keystrokes. Music is about your immortal soul. When you fight with each other, try to get an artist or their management on your "side", that is what will get damaged - souls. Yours as well as your target. Hurting someone with the thing (music) that they love the most and that inspires them in many ways doesn't always get healed. You have to be very fortunate to recover from that kind of battle.

Do you want that on your conscience?

If you're using Barry and his music as a weapon you're on dangerous ground. Get off while you can.

Beautiful Music

And when I heard all the words about passion
Singing to me about love of a fashion that I never heard anywhere else
That's when I said - gotta get some of that for myself....

When I thought about putting this story together I started to think about where my love of music in general came from. EVERYWHERE! From day one, almost literally and it amazed me at how much of it was there!

My parents tell me that as an infant my dad would hold me while listening to classical music on the radio - usually the old "An Afternoon at the Met" on WQXR. I remember one of the main classical stations out of NYC once changed formats from classical to oldies rock in the early 70s - the kickoff song at the time was "Roll Over Beethoven" by Chuck Berry. When the classical format was reinstated, the opening piece was Et resurrexit from Bach's "Mass in B Minor". Back in the day when DJs of all types had some power over their playlists and a sense of humor besides. Talk about early impressions of using pieces of music to tell a story or even a joke.

My next-door neighbor had one of those '70s organs that tried to imitate a church organ at home and had several rhythms and sound effects. Looking back it looked like an early attempt at today's synthesizers. With a little guidance I learned to plink out a tune from whatever sheet music was available. I had a thing for "Over the Rainbow" for some reason. A lot of after-school sessions spent in that house, but why on earth didn't I learn to play with my left hand? There were violin lessons too - to appease Mom and Dad. I dropped it like a bad habit ASAP. I hated the violin. The one instrument I wanted to play - the drums - were verbotten.

Church choir was also a staple. My dear ole dad, bless his heart, can't carry a note in a bucket but we went to a small enough church that it didn't matter - they just needed men in the back row. So naturally I was enrolled in the childrens' choir. The very youngest of the group by several years. The director was an elderly, grandmotherly lady who took me under her wing as her favorite. Since I never knew my grandparents it was like having a grandmother on Saturdays who played the piano and taught us songs.

More than playing or singing, what really stirred me was dance. Mom enrolled me in the standard dance class series at age 5: ballet, tap, jazz. It's like a rule that every little girl has to go through this and it took hold of me but fast! My rebellious streak was shedding the classical music influence Dad tried to get into me, but ballet exercises at the barre reinforced it, if marginally. I moved into pointe as I got older and really aspired to polish up my technique in romantic-era ballet work. Tap got left behind relatively soon. You can't really move. So it was jazz that did the most to reinforce my growing popular music love. The instructor was obsessed with pop music that was outside the mainstream for my age group. Favorites for floor exercises were lots of Peter Allen (I can't hear "Bi-Coastal" or "I Go to Rio" without repeating the little practice drill.....), Stevie Wonder, a little Melissa Manchester, and any stage musical that Bob Fosse choreographed something for.

Aside: for our recital one year, I was cast as Velma Kelly in a group dance routine to "All That Jazz". I was FOURTEEN!! I look back on that, especially now that I know the entire Chicago story line and wonder, what in the world were they thinking putting a kid in that role?? But on stage I could make that song come alive, let me tell you...... ;-)

Afternoons after school when I didn't have an activity or club or lesson, I was a latchkey kid. I didn't care about TV or video games - I would dig out both my folks' showtune records and the pop/rock music I was listening to, and choreograph a routine to it. Just make something up, like that sequence in Flashdance.

This is a lot longer than I thought it would be! This is the backdrop of music that I started making my own choices against. I thought I was rejecting all of the classical influence but most of what I chose to listen to had complex melodic arrangements with more than three chords and lyrics that took brains to write. Time for Part 2.....

I made it through the rain...I think

This blog is about love - of music. How it was lost and how I found it again and who helped along the way. I've never posted any of these thoughts over the past 10+ years for fear of how silly they would look in public or that someone, somewhere would find a way to use them against me and make my life miserable. Again. (More on that in a future post.)

But since my name isn't on this (HA! Gotcha!) I guess it's OK.

When friends are hard to find
And life seems so unkind
Sometimes you feel afraid

Just aim beyond the clouds
And rise above the crowd
And start your own parade

Bear with me and I'll get to the point soon enough. Just to warn you there is a TON of stuff about music by Barry Manilow in this little diary. If you're not a fan, you won't get it. If you are, then you might get it a little too well! What's great is you can reinterpret and reapply lyrics and intentions however you want and bring an entire new life to words and music he wrote years ago.

Good night, my new friends. Be gentle with me. This is the first time I have enjoyed writing in more than ten years - I'm still afraid.