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Music Resource Page Now Online

David — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:21:34 +0000

“Learning about music is as important as learning

to read and write. We are all affected by music

even if we don’t perform for a living. Encouraging

a child to listen to music, or to learn how to play

an instrument, and teaching them about the lives

and experiences of artists inspires some to go on

to be singers, writers and performers, and for

others, it simply becomes a tool to express

themselves in their daily lives.”

-Trisha Yearwood, 3-time Grammny winner

In my last post I talked about the need to support and promote music education across the United States. In the time since then, I have compiled a small listing of sites that could be useful and have posted what I have on the page, “Music Resource Page“. Admittedly not comprehensive, I hope to make it much more so – with your help.. If you come across a site or a program that advocates for music education, please share it with us. If you have a site from outside the U.S. I will gladly include it in the list as long as I can personally verify what it says, and unfortunately I only read English fluently. Help me make this page into a valued asset in the music education community.

Two quick examples-

Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation – This foundation was started in 1996 by the late Michael Kamen, composer for the film of the same name that told the story of a struggling composer who went to work as a high school music teacher and the impact he had on generations of students. The foundation provides instruments to schools and after-school programs that need help to continue providing music education to students who might not otherwise be able to afford it. It is my understanding that this group was a major player in getting school music programs in New Orleans back in operation post-Katrina.
Discovery Through Music – The Grammy Foundation and Campbell Soup Company’s “Labels for Education” have partnered to make this 6-week K-6 curriculum available free to schools participating in the “Labels for Education” program. This curriculum will “provide sequential, creative and fun opportunities to understand and apply the basic elements of music (beat, tempo, rhythm, pitch, melody, harmony, dynamics, timbre, and texture) while integrating language arts, math, science, and technology into the curriculum.” This is a means for a school; to have a basic music education even if they can’t afford anything more.

I’m not able to donate money to these groups. Living on disability I do good to get my bills paid each month and keep food on the table. But I know how important music has been in my life and if I can help one other person know that joy and richness then I am more than happy to use this blog to spread the word.

Music even helped me find my wife. I was staff pianist in a small Southern Baptist church in the Texas Hill Country. As my wife tells the story, she and her little girl started attending this church and she fell in love with my playing before she actually met me – definitely before her daughter asked me to be her Daddy! As of this past June we have been “happily ever after” for 23 years.

Spread the word. If you know of a music program in jeopardy (from what I hear there are more each year) maybe something from one of these sites will help keep them going. If that happens I’d love to hear about it and I imagine your fellow readers would too, so please leave a comment. If you know of another site or program that I didn’t mention, please share. Leave a comment or send a message. Let’s work together to keep the music playing!!

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Celebrate Music – Celebrate Life

David — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:49:04 +0000

A few nights ago, I had the joy of seeing a piece on ABC’s Nightline program about an elementary school music program at PS22 in New York City featuring their 5th grade chorus and the music teacher, known to his kids as Mr. B. In a word – WOW!!! In case you missed it, or if you did see it and would like to see it again, here’s the link . This is not a “magnet” program or a “gifted and talented” program, but I heard a performance level (intonation, phrasing, enunciation and timing) that I have rarely heard below high school level. Give a listen-

It is obvious that this group has learned to sing. It is obvious to me, as it should be to anybody who has done any performing that they have learned how to put on a good show. They have also gained in ways that aren’t as immediately obvious and have potential benefits that reach far beyond 5th grade chorus. They have developed the discipline necessary to reach for a common goal and the teamwork skills needed to reach said goal together. They have also, at least in some cases, overcome some serious personal inhibitions. Jared, the soloist in this next piece, is the boy mentioned in the Nightline piece who was afraid to even speak in class just a few months before recording this video. (I have heard of many corporations spending hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on personal development programs for their workers.) How many of them can report such success? Listen -

Sure, I realize that much of this program’s unusual success has to lay at the feet of Mr. B, I cannot believe that there are NO other teachers out there capable of accomplishing something like this. Could it be that the teachers are spending so much time and energy defending the very existence of their programs in this age of budget slashing that they have nothing left for what matters – the kids and the music? It was stated in the ABC piece that most of these 5th graders would be going on to schools with no music program. If you are a parent or community leader facing this possibility, please check out supportmusic.com. This is an excellent advocacy resource site.

Teachers- Keep teaching music as long as the opportunity exists. But don’t just teach the time signatures and note values and “Every Good Boy Does Fine”. Teach them to love the music and to love making music. Teach them the discipline and teamwork needed but make sure that they also get to know the thrill of putting on a good performance and having the audience in the “palms of their hands”. (It doesn’t get much better than that!) Then you will have equipped them with something that can stay with them for the rest of their lives – and won’t hurt nearly as much as the sports injuries sustained by so many children these days. Also, promote your program as it gets going. Think what a kick it would be for one of your kids to write Grandma across the country or Dad in Afghanistan and tell them that they are on YouTube. What a morale booster!

Parents and administrators- Support your music teachers. That’s not just a financial commitment, although if the teacher is not getting paid it makes it harder for them to work with the children. Let them know they are appreciated. Make sure they have the resources necessary to get their job done. Keep their piano tuned without them having to beg for it. Make sure an administrator is present everytime the kids perform.

Final comments- If any of you know of good resource links for supporting school music please send me a link. If I get any, I will put up a resources page. Also, if you have a school music program that you are proud of, please write and tell me about it. I would love the opportunity to help tell the Internet world about you. Now, in “tribute” to the 100-degree weather we are having here in South Texas, here is one more number from Mr. B and the PS22 chorus. Stay cool-

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KUIW Fundraiser

David — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:15:44 +0000

If you live in or near San Antonio, Texas, and want to support music in this area, come out this Thursday night, starting at 6 pm, to Tycoon Flats at 2926 N. St. Mary’s for a fundraiser for KUIW, the Internet radio station for the University of the Incarnate Word. There will be a concert, a silent auction, and an open mic jam session. You can click on the image above for a larger version of ther flyer. (Click here to listen to KUIW.)

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How Good A Deal Is A Used Piano From A School?

David — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:13:24 +0000

“My son’s school just got some new pianos and is auctioning off their old ones. Could I get a good deal there?”

(Before we continue, I need you to go back and review “Why Does My Piano Go Out of Tune?”. We will continue from here when you return.)

Going for a cup of coffee while you read the other article…

Welcome back – let’s begin:

School pianos are generally purchased on a lowest bid basis. The district will usually specify how many pianos they want and some general standards they expect the instruments to meet, then put out the proposal for bids. Lowest bid usually gets the deal.
Piano service, at least in larger districts, is usually contracted on a lowest bid basis. Tunings are usually done at most twice per year. Regulation and other maintenance is usually put off as long as possible, sometimes requiring special authorization from the purchasing department. Smaller districts don’t have enough pianos to attract low enough bids to make it worthwhile for them. Since they generally have to pay full retail for their service, pianos often only get tuned once a year. I have even encountered some poorer districts where the pianos only got tuned if the teacher shelled out personal funds to get it done.
Temperatures in classrooms where pianos are kept can vary as much as 25 degrees in the course of a day, depending on region and season. Many schools have programmed thermostats so that the heat (or cooling) kicks in about 7 a.m. then cuts off by 4 p.m.
Schools have always tended to keep pianos until it would cost more to repair them than to replace them. I would expect in the current economic climate, especially with the way arts programs are getting less and less support in school budgets, this will probably become the rule more than the tendency.

To sum up, you have a piano that probably was not the best available to start with, kept in an adverse climate until it is thoroughly worn out and given only a fraction of the maintenance it needed over the course of its lifetime. Sounds like a terrible deal to me.

Photo Credit, eflon

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History of the Piano – Victor Borge

David — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:59:49 +0000

Just for fun today, let’s take a break and look at piano history through the comic genius of Victor Borge, a hilariously funny individual as well as a great musician. Who better to have fun at the piano? (Just wondering – was he as funny in his mother language? Feel free to leave a comment.)

We’ll get back to the serious stuff in a few days. Hope this brightens your day.

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Merry Christmas and a Look Ahead to 2009

David — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:15:42 +0000

Hope this finds all of you enjoying a little time with friends and family in this time that tradition has set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Please reflect some on the love that He showed in the sacrifice that He made for us.

Looking forward to 2009, I hope that all of you will continue to stick with me as I further develop this blog. For those that have subscribed for email updates to the blog, I have not forgotten the ebook that I promised you. I am trying to add some extra content beyond what was in the blog and am having some difficulty compiling it in a form that will satisfy me and be of interest and benefit to you. If you haven’t signed up for email updates, go ahead and do so and you can still get the ebook when I get it ready.

I am still working on the series “Who Made My Piano?” about some of the corporate changes through the life of some of the major piano brands and the effect of those changes on the pianos that came out under those names. As part of my research, I need your help. If you have, or have worked on, any of the following pianos, I would like to ask you some questions that might be included in the article series:

1)Steinway grands- CBS or post-CBS period

2)Mason&Hamlin grand – post Aeolian

3)Any Gibson Baldwin products

If you have experience with any of these instruments and would be willing to answer a few questions, please send me a message using the “Send Us A Message” tab at the top of the page telling me your email address and with which piano brand you have experience. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Finally, if you have any piano related questions or piano technology subjects that you would like to know more about, please leave me comments at the end of this post. (Please note: If you leave a first-time post here in the first few days after this article is posted, it may not appear for a few days. I am spending Christmas in an area that barely has dial-up Internet, at a house that doesn’t even have a viable computer, so I will probably be totally off the blog until I return home.)

Enjoy family and friends and eat another piece of pie for me. See you next year-

David Miller