April 29, 2005
AMC Remembers Dr. Gordon Shaw
The American Music Conference - the organization responsible for bringing much of Dr. Gordon Shaw's work to the general public - weighs in on his passing:
Dr. Shaw established himself as a pioneer in the understanding of "music as a window to higher brain function."Best known to the public as a leader in the discovery of the "Mozart Effect," Dr. Shaw led a number of landmark studies that established the connection between active participation in music and the development of the brain, with demonstrated implications for spatial-temporal reasoning and math ability. He co-founded the M.I.N.D. (Music Intelligence Neural Development) Institute in 1998, and helped develop the basis for its "Math+Music" educational process, which is producing dramatic test score improvements for more than 13,000 students in more than 67 elementary schools.
Posted by musicforall at 8:19 PM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2005
Confessions of a college music major
You know the feeling... we have all been there (well... most of us). The distain you feel from the superior gaze that comes from someone after you tell them "I was a music major in college." Like choosing a career path in the arts was some sort of scarlet letter. For me, it was worse. Admitting that I was not only a music major but a drummer brought out instant ridicule, and major outbursts of laughter... followed by the obligatory bad drummers joke (insert your favorite drummer joke here).
You also know the feeling of the tremendous amount of restraint it takes to keep you from smacking the smug look off of the face of the person with whom you converse.
Be silent no more! Bart Mills gives a great backhand on behalf of all of us who have ever been on the receiving end of the snide "You were a MUSIC major in college" response in his hilarious editorial commentary for the Lima News: Confessions of a college music major
Posted by musicforall at 8:20 PM | Comments (0)
UCI physicist/Music Research Pioneer Gordon Shaw dead at 72
What Plato, Socrates, and Albert Einstein knew intuitively, Gordon Shaw set out to prove scientifically.
Most people will never really know the true impact of Gordon's work...
Music Makes You Smarter, The Mozart Effect, Baby Mozart products, Zell Miller's CD's for Every Newborn in Georgia, Johnson and Johnson's CD for young children, VH1's Save The Music campaign and theme "Music Education Equals Brain Power", Newsweek cover stories, national radio, television and newspaper stories, cultural references, a Simpson Episode, The various advocacy efforts claiming connections between music and improved
More thoughts on his life, his work and his legacy after I let this news settle in.
The Obit after the jump
The Orange County Register
By GARY ROBBINSA founding member of the university's faculty, Shaw was known for the "Mozzart Effect," his claim that listening to classical music could increase math scores.
LAGUNA BEACH - Gordon Shaw, a physicist and founding member of the UC Irvine faculty who generated considerable debate when he claimed that listening to classical music could help students perform better on math tests, has died. He was 72.
Shaw died of kidney cancer this morning, said UCI physicist Myron Bander, a longtime friend.
The Cornell-trained Shaw joined the UCI faculty in 1965, the year the campus opened, and helped found the physics department, which then had fewer than 10 professors. It has about 40 today.
Shaw - who studied under the famed physicist Hans Bethe - spent the early part of his career in elementary particle physics. Then he shifted to biophysics, where most of his work has involved memory, music and learning.
He caused a stir in 1993 with research that purported to show that a small group of college students briefly improved their spatial-temporal reasoning - a key to math - by listening to the first 10 minutes of Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major. This became known as the "Mozart Effect" and was widely debated in academia.
Shaw is survived by his wife, Lorna, and three children.
While Dr. Shaw is most known for his work on "The Mozart Effect" his pioneering work to document the impact of music on brain development has changed how we think about music and music education, and spurred on the current field of research to scientifically quantify the impact of arts education. What Plato, Socrates, and Albert Einstein knew intuitively, Gordon Shaw set out to prove scientifically.
His contributions to the field and the impact of his and his colleagues research efforts have saved thousands of music education programs for a large number of children and have been cited by everyone from President Clinton - to the halls of congress - presented to a worldwide Grammy Audience - and used by music and arts education advocates before local school boards around the country.
Over the next few days we will be culling our archives to share some Gordon Shaw stories to illuminate his unique genius and immense contributions to the field. If you have your own Gordon Shaw story, please send it to us, and we will post these on the Music for All website.
From his foundation:
MIND Institute Co-Founder, UCI Professor Emeritus, Visionary Scientist Dr. Gordon Shaw
The New York Times > Education > Gordon Shaw Dies at 72; Tied I.Q. to Hearing Mozart
Posted by musicforall at 8:16 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2005
Arts Education Getting New Respect
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported in yesterday's paper that arts education, long treated as an academic stepchild is now being embraced as more and more officials understand the role creativity plays in the educational development of our children.
While one news report does not a trend make, we are beginning to see more of this kind of reporting. Be sure to share this with your friends!
The full story: Arts education getting new respect
Posted by musicforall at 8:50 PM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2005
Sousa Gives Way to Mariachi
Today's New York Times highlights something many people involved in music education have known for a long time... the traditions of the past have to make way for everyone's traditions. Music education needs to embrace music that is culturally releant to the students involved. So, it is no suprise to see how new genres of music are now coming into the classroom... reflecting the community that these classrooms serve and beyond!
CHULA VISTA, Calif., April 17 - At home with his family - four brothers and a foster mother - Jorge Geraldo struggles with pimples and shyness, a handsome 18-year-old with deep brown eyes who sleeps on Goofy and Donald Duck sheets that tend to lie in an unmade heap on his bunk bed.But come the weekend, he dons his traje de charro - the suit of the horseman, a glimmering costume with gold buttons slithering up the sides and custom-fitted by a tailor in nearby Tijuana - to become the lead singer in Mariachi Chula Vista, a group of high school mariachi musicians who have forsaken John Philip Sousa marches at halftime of football games in favor of spending the weekends playing at parties, baptism receptions and the like.
The 15 young musicians - cellphones attached to elaborately stitched leather belts to communicate with carpooling mariachi moms and dads - are stars in a spirited and growing movement to bring the centuries-old Mexican musical tradition of mariachi to public schools.
Across the country, more than 500 public schools now offer mariachi as part of the curriculum.
The New York Times > National > Sousa? Many Students March to Mariachi Instead
Posted by musicforall at 8:46 PM | Comments (0)
Welcome the new home for our blog!
This is the new home of the Blog of Music for All. We hope you like the changes we have made.
Please send any comments you may have to bob@music-for-all.org
Enjoy!
Bob Morrison
Posted by musicforall at 8:42 PM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2005
Florida Legislation Could Mean More Music/Arts Education
A Florida legislator has proposed new legislation to have the arts measured and assessed with other core subjects. An Editorial from Daytona Beach hits on some of the disturbing data that has led to this proposal:
An estimated 85 percent of Florida public school students took some sort of music class in 1985. By 2003, the number was down to 65 percent. The number of students who took visual arts classes slipped from 65 to 55 percent in the same period. Experts expect the numbers to be even worse as cost-cutting and test-taking impact public school classrooms.Florida does include arts education in its Sunshine State Standards -- the road map for public education in the state -- but many advocates say they're not being met. Today, the House is expected to pass a bill sponsored by Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, that would require the state Department of Education to track students' performance in comparison to the standards. The bill also requires the department to compare test scores for children who take arts classes to scores for those who don't.
Let's hope they are onto something!
The full story....
The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Editorials "For Arts Sake
Posted by musicforall at 8:49 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2005
Sting goes back to his early career... as music teacher!
Surprise visit to U of Ill in Chicago stuns students!
CHICAGO (Reuters) - British singer Sting went back to the classroom this week, assuming the role of a musical mentor for a group of college students.The one-time school teacher surprised students in a music composition class at the University of Illinois at Chicago, barging in with MTV cameras in tow to speak and jam with them on Monday.
The students, who had been told that their regular class was going to be filmed for a promotional video for the university, erupted in cheers as Sting and his band entered through a side door.He started by playing "Message In A Bottle," a hit with the Police, the rock trio that he led to fame during the 1970s and '80s. Sting played an electric bass, accompanied by two acoustic guitars and a shaker.
He later took questions from the audience, discussing unusual time signatures, his music influences and his composition techniques.
"A blank page terrifies me, that's why I tour so much," Sting said of his own songwriting experience. "The more I figure out about music, the more I realize I haven't a clue."
He advised the students not to sweat the details and to keep playing music as a way to nourish the soul.
"We're not building cathedrals of sound here, we're building sheds," he said.
He finished the class inviting the students to join him and his band in an extended jam of his biggest hit, "Every Breath You Take."
"It was amazing," said junior Jenne Lennon after Sting asked her to play a solo on her Native American flute during the jam session. "Opportunities like that come only once in a lifetime, and I'm completely shocked."
The class was filmed for a program called "Stand In," which will air on mtvU next Monday. MTV's 24-hour college network, mtvU is available to about 6.4 million students on 700 campuses nationwide.
Sting is currently touring college campuses and other venues backed by only two guitarists and a drummer, a configuration reminiscent of his days with the Police.
Posted by musicforall at 8:44 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2005
Pay your taxes or face the music (actually drumming) in India
Authorities hire drummers to play at homes that haven't paid
From the "Now I have Heard Everything" File:
HYDERABAD, India - Tax defaulters in southern India are being forced to face the music after city authorities hired drummers to play non-stop outside their homes until they pay up.After many residents ignored repeated demands to settle overdue property taxes. authorities in a city in Andhra Pradesh state have sent 20 groups of drummers to play outside offenders' houses for the past week.
"They put up a spectacle outside the houses of defaulters, draw them out and explain their dues to them and the need to clear it at the earliest," said T.S.R. Anjaneyulu, municipal commissioner of Rajahmundry city.
"They don't stop until people agree to clear the dues."
The city, owed a total of 50 million rupees ($1.15 million), had been at its wits' end after sops like waiving interest and penalties had failed to recover the arrears.
The new method seems to be working, though. One week of incessant drumming has cleared 18 percent of the backlog.
Wow... a new career path for drummers!
Source: Reuters
Posted by musicforall at 8:47 PM | Comments (0)
"Silent Concert" performed at NYC Department of Education
Let's set the stage:
On the steps of the beautiful Department of Education Building, right next to City Hall, in the biggest city and arguably one of the great cultural centers in world, are a dozen or so elementary and middle school students. They have gathered to perform a concert. They stood on the steps blowing into their instruments - trumpets, clarinets, and saxophones - all made out of paper and cardboard, decorated with crayon.
Not a sound could be heard - this was a silent concert. That's the point.
The silence could not have been any louder to amplify the point. Too many children in New York City Public Schools do not have access to music programs, or arts programs, or other programs that would ensure a "quality" education for all children as mandated by the state.
Now many of you who regularly frequent this blog know I am a nut for numbers.So feast your eyes on these: In the three districts that encompass the area represented by the Brooklyn Education Collaborative (District 18 -covering Flatbush and Canarsie; District 19 - covering East New York and Cypress Hill; and District 23 - which includes Ocean Hill and Brownsville), there are 29 schools covering the middle grades. Guess what? 15 do not offer music classes. More than 50%
This stat begs the questions... what is the percentage of schools in NYC that do not offer music classes? How many students are "left behind" because music education is not even a choice for them?
Can we, as a community, stand by while music becomes an educational privaledge for the few and not a right for every child?
The article goes on to report:"You can't keep throwing academics, academics at a child; eventually they will zone out," said Victoria Bousquet, the P.T.A. president of Public School 219 in East Flatbush. "They are little people, and they will get bored, too, doing the same thing every day.
At yesterday's silent concert, which preceded the monthly meeting of the city's Panel for Educational Policy, leaders of the group carried signs that said: "Reading and Math are Not Enough" and "Bands Need Instruments."
Jerry Russo, a spokesman for Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, said officials were reviewing the group's requests.Thank goodness they will review the request.
They have been reviewing requests to increase music and arts programs to to come up with at least a base level of program for ALL students. That was three years ago... still waiting to hear the response
from that one!I hope the folks at the Brooklyn Education Collaborative keep up the pressure. It sure would be nice to see the Department of Education stop "reviewing" and start "doing."
The full story: The New York Times > New York Region > Brooklyn Coalition Rallies for Middle School Programs
Posted by musicforall at 8:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 9, 2005
Assistant Secretary of Education Hightlights the Arts as "Core" Subject at Little Rock Forum
From The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Friday April 8th
Arts 'Core' Of Change For Education System, Official Tells LR Forum (Democrat-Gazette)
By Cynthia Howell
If students are going to reach the high achievement levels demanded by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, schools must include the arts as part of the curriculum, an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education said Thursday.
"The arts are at the core of the No Child Left Behind Act," Susan Sclafani, assistant secretary for vocational and adult education in the federal agency, told leaders of the Education Commission of the States at the conclusion of their meeting on arts education held this week in Little Rock.
Not only do states have to develop standards for the arts just as they do for literacy, math and science, Sclafani said, the states and local schools should use the arts to attract students to school and to help them master all their academic subjects.
"When we talk about accountability and we talk about every child learning, that means we have to look at how each child learns. We have to look at what matters to them, what interests, engages and excites them," she said.
The No Child Left Behind Act - President Bush's education revision initiative - calls for all students to achieve at their grade level by 2013-14. To that end, states must test students annually in grades three through eight and in at least one high school grade in math and literacy. Science tests are to be added in future years.
Schools that don't meet student performance goals that are set by the states must permit their students to transfer to higher achieving schools. If the pass rates continue to falter, the penalties become more severe and schools may eventually be closed.
Sclafani discounted arguments that the demands of the law leave little time for teaching the arts and that there is no federal funding to support the teaching of the arts.
Federal Title I money that goes to schools with high percentages of children from poor families can be used, she said.
"Title I is for enabling our students who are economically disadvantaged to achieve at the same level as our other students," she said. "How do we do that? We do it by giving them a rich, comprehensive, coherent education - that includes the arts."
Federal Title II money, which is designed to ensure that teachers - including art teachers - are highly qualified also is available. That money can be used for teacher training programs, she said.
Sclafani, who has a doctorate degree and is a former Houston math teacher and high school principal, said the federal law gives states flexibility in how they help their students achieve. There is "no one silver bullet from Washington," D.C., on how best to educate students, she said.
But states must develop a set of policies or standards that ensure that the core subjects, including the arts, are taught, she said.
"You have to define what it is you want every child to know and be able to do in the arts, and then [decide] what additional policies are necessary to ensure that it happens," Sclafani said.
She cited Kentucky as a place where students are actually tested by the state in the arts because of the belief there that the subjects that get tested are those that get taught.
Posted by musicforall at 8:11 PM | Comments (0)
April 5, 2005
David Bryan (Bon Jovi), David Wells (Red Sox), Michael Strahan (New York Giants) Show Thier Passion
Stars of Football, Baseball and Rock n Roll Sport Music for All Awareness Bracelets
I couldn't believe it. I was off at lunch in Red Bank today with my friend and big music education advocate David Bryan ( no... I am not name dropping... they guy has been a great supporter of the cause!) He walks in, hands me an envelope, excuses himself for a moment, and low and behold there is this GREAT photo! We are adding this to the website... but I couldn't help but post this to the blog as soon as I returned.
I particularly like the "power pose" with the bracelets. Unfortunately for David Wells... this didn't help him two nights later on opening day as he pitched against the Yankees.
The bracelet looks god with Micahel Strahan's shirt (and smile)
And David... after selling 100 million albums maybe a little of that magic will rub off on our bracelets (which have just passed the 100,000 mark in sales!)
Posted by musicforall at 8:13 PM | Comments (0)