Support the animals!

I love lip dubs and would love to do one. In the meantime, I enjoy watching them and thinking about their communal and participatory nature.

Here’s one from the Wake County (NC) SPCA. Great job by a dedicated group of volunteers. And I love the little pup at the end. After you watch this video, run right out and donate your time or money to your local animal shelter. I know from experience that many struggle to meet the needs of the animal community, especially at times like this when families are abandoning pets because of their fragile economic situation.

This Old Guitar

My Martin HD28, a photo by pjbishop93 on Flickr.

Dozens of songs have been written about guitars. Here’s the one written by John Denver.

This old guitar taught me to sing a love song
it showed me how to laugh and how to cry.
It introduced me to some friends of mine
and brightened up some days
and helped me make it thru some lonely nights. Oh
What a friend to have on a cold and lonely night

This old guitar gave me my lovely lady
it opened up her eyes and ears to me
it brought us close together
and I guess it broke her heart
it opened up the space for us to be
What a lovely place and a lovely space to be.

This old guitar gave me my life my living
all the things you know I love to do
to serenade the stars that shine
from a sunny mountainside
and most of all to sing my songs for you
I love to sing my songs for you.
Yes I do, you know
I love to sing my songs for you

Rock on!

This article in the New York Times (“Beyond Baby Mozart, Students Who Rock”) describes a program in which children learn to play music in a way that will have the elitists spitting out their hemi-demi-semi-quavers with their tea and crumpets. They will surely put a fermata on this idea and claim that what these children are learning is distinctly not music or musical skills.

And here’s why. It’s not classical music (or even good sturdy Sousa marches). It’s not written notation. It’s not rigid conformity to said written notation. Instead it’s popular music, songs chosen by the kids themselves. It’s learning by ear. It’s composition and song writing with a big dose of improvisation. And for many kids, that means it will not be torture.

This innovative program, Little Kids Rock, is intriguing to me. I believe that any educational approach that invites children into the world of music–any kind of music–and sustains their interest is worthy of our consideration and support. I don’t care if it’s Bach or the Back Street Boys or Boyz II Men. Get them interested, honor their choices and tastes, and allow their musicianship to grow from that.

I would be curious to know, though, if at some point in the program, Little Kids Rock begins to offer what we usually think of as the fundamentals, such as reading notation and understanding rhythm, meter, and harmony. Otherwise, the program could become a stunt, a cool trick to get 25 kids in a room to play a song together but not necessarily enough to create a lasting effect.

Performance Space

IMG_3439, a photo by pjbishop93 on Flickr.

Saxophone player along the banks of the Seine River in Paris.

Hello Goodbye

Jon Pareles of the New York Times wrote an interesting Review of Paul McCartney’s concert at Yankee Stadium. I found myself singing along to it, but feeling a wee bit old at the same time. I’m encouraged, though, That I can keep rocking “when I’m 64″ (or 69, as he is). Thanks, Sir Paul.

And yes, Jon, that Don and Phil reference is to the Everly Brothers, whom Paul and John studied carefully in their formative years.

Trumpet Warmup

IMG_1182, a photo by Foxboro Music Photos on Flickr.

The door

The door, a photo by pjbishop93 on Flickr.

If you shut the door to all errors, truth will be shut out.
- Rabindranath Tagore

WordPress for iPad

I downloaded the WordPress app for the iPad. I’ll be blunt–I dont like it. The first problem I have with it is that I can’t figure out how to simply look at my blog. When creating a new post, it’s not obvious how to add links, bold, and all those things that make the online version so easy to use. Instead you have to hand code the HTML. Or maybe, like the preview and add photo feature, it’s just not clear to me. I would also feel more comfortable if there were a Save Draft button. Instead you have to hit Cancel, then save draft.

Writing Music History

My American popular music classes will be discussing what acts from the first decade of the twenty-first century should be included in a future textbook on the subject. We have taken a poll within the classes, but we would like to expand the pool of responses. Can you help us by taking a short survey?

Click here to take survey

or go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NTM8C56.

If the link doesn’t take you to a survey page, you can answer the question here in the comments section. Just list the 5 acts (individual or group) that you think must be included. You can also tell us what criteria you used to make your selections (optional).

Thanks!

Creating an Arts Spirit

I was only there to video the workshop, but I found myself entranced by Bill Rowell’s opening remarks and by the other speakers during the day. I recommend this video to anyone interested in any kind of teaching, music or otherwise.

I have been reflecting on the portion of the talk where Rowell referenced William Schuman and I wondered how we might apply that to musicologists. Are we musicians first, and teachers and historians second? Is it necessary in our field? Why is teaching so rarely discussed in our dozens of graduate-level musicology courses, when that is ultimately what most of us will do?