Music teachers,
How passionate are music educators about music?
Would our students know that we have a passion for music and the Arts?
The passion they see when Steph Curry charges the basket has to be seen in the music room.
If we don’t communicate that passion, where will our students see an example of passion for the Arts?
When we perform, conduct, or compose music, how do kids know we’re passionate about it?
I guess that begs the question, are you passionate about music? And if you are passionate about it, how do you pass that on to your students so that when they sing or pickup an instrument, that they find music they can perform that they're passionate about, too?
Notice that I haven’t used the word “teach”.
I’m talking about a passion for music, not teaching music or teaching in general.
To my mind, music is to teaching like god is to religion.
I wasn’t all that passionate about teaching. My “teacher” mindset was more craftsman-like.
I never said the quiet part out loud. But the kids knew.
I WAS passionate about music, about making music, about sharing how important music was to me, about how much structure and understanding music brought to my world.
Music, yes; teaching, not so much.
I think the initial “tell” music educators give concerning their passion for music quotient is the first time they sing a song for a class of older elementary kids.
When I flat out sang a song for new group of kids in a new school, there would always be some diverted eye contact and embarrassed laughter, as in, “What’s up with THIS guy?”
I was doing nothing different than I had done on hundreds of gigs when I was wearing a tux and singing into a mic: focused, prepared, delivering the emotion, uninhibited.
They just hadn’t encountered that yet.
I would usually stop in the middle of a phrase and, with a sense of ennui, explain that this is what singing is about: it’s about BIG singing, not tentative singing; it’s not about going through the motions – it’s about traveling through the heart. And as my students, they better get used to this mindset because that was going to be how we were going to roll from there on out.
The kids who initially got a lot of my eye contact were the ones who put passion into their music. I would rather have a class with one passionate music maker than a room full of well-behave, attentive kids.
Passion can be the joy of a simple song.
For the littlest ones that I taught, the song “Magic Penny” was one they noticed I felt a little bit more special about. “Love is something if you give it away”. I believe in that lyric!
“This Little Light of Mine”. Again, sending your light out into the world – I passionately believe in that mindset!.
And of course, there are all the goofy little folk songs that just make us smile and laugh.
“Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Throw your teacher overboard and
Listen to her scream!”
A great source book for that material is “Campfire Songs: Lyrics And Chords To More Than 100 Sing-Along Favorites” by Rene Maddox and Rosalyn Cobb.
As kids got older, more lyrically complex story songs started to appear in my lesson plans.
“Mr. Bojangles” by Jerry Jeff Walker and Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” were favorites of the kids. The stories that I told behind the songs gripped their attention and made them think about people, places, time periods, situations, and hardships they would have never thought of before.
The cautionary tale of the Beatles’ “Nowhere Man” or the insecurity of John Mayer’s “Stop This Train” were like candles lit in a dark room that illuminated the idea that there is more to learning a song than just the mechanics.
Lucky for me, I was able to write a song called “Two Friends” that was able to sum up a relationship that never ends. For some reason, that song resonated and stuck with kids.
How passionate are music educators about music?
Would our students know that we have a passion for music and the Arts?
The passion they see when Steph Curry charges the basket has to be seen in the music room.
If we don’t communicate that passion, where will our students see an example of passion for the Arts?
When we perform, conduct, or compose music, how do kids know we’re passionate about it?
I guess that begs the question, are you passionate about music? And if you are passionate about it, how do you pass that on to your students so that when they sing or pickup an instrument, that they find music they can perform that they're passionate about, too?
Notice that I haven’t used the word “teach”.
I’m talking about a passion for music, not teaching music or teaching in general.
To my mind, music is to teaching like god is to religion.
I wasn’t all that passionate about teaching. My “teacher” mindset was more craftsman-like.
I never said the quiet part out loud. But the kids knew.
I WAS passionate about music, about making music, about sharing how important music was to me, about how much structure and understanding music brought to my world.
Music, yes; teaching, not so much.
I think the initial “tell” music educators give concerning their passion for music quotient is the first time they sing a song for a class of older elementary kids.
When I flat out sang a song for new group of kids in a new school, there would always be some diverted eye contact and embarrassed laughter, as in, “What’s up with THIS guy?”
I was doing nothing different than I had done on hundreds of gigs when I was wearing a tux and singing into a mic: focused, prepared, delivering the emotion, uninhibited.
They just hadn’t encountered that yet.
I would usually stop in the middle of a phrase and, with a sense of ennui, explain that this is what singing is about: it’s about BIG singing, not tentative singing; it’s not about going through the motions – it’s about traveling through the heart. And as my students, they better get used to this mindset because that was going to be how we were going to roll from there on out.
The kids who initially got a lot of my eye contact were the ones who put passion into their music. I would rather have a class with one passionate music maker than a room full of well-behave, attentive kids.
Passion can be the joy of a simple song.
For the littlest ones that I taught, the song “Magic Penny” was one they noticed I felt a little bit more special about. “Love is something if you give it away”. I believe in that lyric!
“This Little Light of Mine”. Again, sending your light out into the world – I passionately believe in that mindset!.
And of course, there are all the goofy little folk songs that just make us smile and laugh.
“Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Throw your teacher overboard and
Listen to her scream!”
A great source book for that material is “Campfire Songs: Lyrics And Chords To More Than 100 Sing-Along Favorites” by Rene Maddox and Rosalyn Cobb.
As kids got older, more lyrically complex story songs started to appear in my lesson plans.
“Mr. Bojangles” by Jerry Jeff Walker and Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” were favorites of the kids. The stories that I told behind the songs gripped their attention and made them think about people, places, time periods, situations, and hardships they would have never thought of before.
The cautionary tale of the Beatles’ “Nowhere Man” or the insecurity of John Mayer’s “Stop This Train” were like candles lit in a dark room that illuminated the idea that there is more to learning a song than just the mechanics.
Lucky for me, I was able to write a song called “Two Friends” that was able to sum up a relationship that never ends. For some reason, that song resonated and stuck with kids.
As I told my kids, if at least a portion of your music isn't traveling through your heart, it doesn't really count.
Find the passion in your music.
Don’t be embarrassed to display it.
Pass it on to your kids.
I’m betting that someday when I’m old and forget the lyrics, melodies, and chords, that last thing I’ll hold onto is this passion.
And in reality, it’ll probably be the other way around.
In the end, it will probably be that the passion I have found in music will be the one holding on to me.
Find the passion in your music.
Don’t be embarrassed to display it.
Pass it on to your kids.
I’m betting that someday when I’m old and forget the lyrics, melodies, and chords, that last thing I’ll hold onto is this passion.
And in reality, it’ll probably be the other way around.
In the end, it will probably be that the passion I have found in music will be the one holding on to me.
RSS Feed