good all right
I have prepared three different pieces
for you to choose from for me to perform
for you this evening
option number one is a caveat by Bach
option number two is a minimalist Avant
pop piece called music for a found
harmonium and your third option is how
far I’ll go from the movie Moana so I
need everybody to raise their hands and
I raise them nice and high so I can see
you it’s a little dark raise your hand
if you’d like to hear the Bock okay
number two the music for a found
harmonium
alright and third how far I’ll go from
Moana oh okay it looks it’s really close
but I’m gonna let’s do how far I’ll go
from Awana
a few summers ago I was living and
teaching in Costa Rica’s poorest
neighborhood Lacock field in colloquial
terms the locario means the island
because this place was stuck between a
rock quarry and a garbage dump and while
I was working for there el sistema
program my assignment was to teach
twenty beginner violin students and I
found that they were learning mary had a
little lamb and Hot Cross Buns the
students had no idea how these songs
were supposed to sound these Western
songs they didn’t know what the words
were all they knew was that they were
required to learn them so I asked koalas
to canción favorita and very excitedly
in almost unanimously they replied libre
soy I went home and I discovered a
so for those of you who don’t know what
that piece is that is let it go from the
movie frozen and after three weeks of
practicing our butts off the students
owned it at the recital and they
completely owned their musicianship this
experience had me wonder why is music
education supplementary to and
preparatory to life instead of being
life itself why do we continue to teach
music through Western and outdated music
that seems almost obtuse to a generation
of today my job as a music educator is
to teach the craft of music making but
more importantly it is to create
connections across boundaries of people
that come from different backgrounds
purposes preferences by understanding
who they are where they come from and
what the realities are that’s why I
asked you the audience the community
what you wanted to hear just so I could
learn a little bit about you even if
it’s on the most basic level of
understanding what your musical
preferences are so now I know who my
classicist are who my minimalists are
and who my disney fans are I I study and
learn about my students and the
communities I work in in the same way a
business would I’m constantly asking
myself who am i serving what does what
do my customers need from me and my
business how can I make learning music
making music living music more a part of
the communities realities we know that
music has the power to be very impactful
and make connections but we must first
we meaning music educators and musicians
must first learn about who are serving
in order
to make those connections while I was in
lockup vo there was a specific student I
remember her name was Giselle and
Giselle was an 11 year old very
naturally gifted musician she was faced
with the task of having to raise her two
younger siblings and a 12 month old baby
brother and a five-year-old sister one
days the students were getting ready and
they were unpacking their instruments
and getting their instruments out they I
overheard them talking about and teasing
Giselle because she was actually coming
to class
apparently Giselle was notorious for
skipping it is a daunting task to take
care of two other human beings as an 11
year old Giselle and her siblings came
to class every single day until I left
lacarpe oh and I wonder if Giselle would
have made the decision to come to violin
class and bring her siblings had we
continued learning mary had a little
lamb and Hot Cross Buns my colleagues
might call me a popular wrist for saying
this but situations like Giselle’s and
many others have made me come to realize
that we must first teach students
something that they can grab on to and
connect to in order to lay the
breadcrumbs for Bach Beethoven
Stravinsky Bartok and the rest instead
of taking music on authority and me
putting a fugue in front of a student
and saying this is good for you
you should learn this why can’t I teach
the first four notes of the D major
scale or on the D string d e f sharp and
G by teaching We Will Rock You by Queen
I’m gonna need your help with this by
the way so
any beginner violin student can play
that the music must be the vehicle for
connection and the connection is the
catalyst for musical growth and breaking
boundaries my way cannot be your way but
your ways essential to you is – to me thank you