We're still finalizing all the last details, but it appears that my songwriting and recording studio production students will, starting this fall, be able to receive as much as 12 college credits for their work with me, through SCC.
This is obviously a pretty serious step forward on my quest to further legitimize the CMAS program as the new paradigm for music education, and in truth without the support of Ron Marschall, and the efforts of Paul Langworthy, both from SCC, none of this would coming to fruition. On a personal note, it has been very gratifying knowing that not a single element of the curriculum I created needed to be altered. In fact, CMAS seems to have more than exceeded all parties' expectations, which is certainly no small matter.
So what does this really mean? Well, aside from the legitimizing I mentioned already, it is also a potentially big motivating factor for the students. It not only is going to be a huge selling point to parents and students to take part in the program, but it also means we can enforce an even higher standard of work ethic from the students. I suppose it also puts a bit more pressure on us to produce even more significant results, as this will further increase the attention the CMAS program gets, but I, for one, feel that to be a good thing.
In the end, CMAS is still about giving students an opportunity to pursue their musical instincts, and frankly that will not change. Nor will the notion of self-reliance be diminished - probably increase in truth. For me the most interesting part of all this is how, at each evolution of CMAS (original curriculum adoption, ASU Music Ed collaboration, now the credit from SCC, etc) the general experience has been pretty easy on our end. We just keep doing what we do, and others jump on board. That might be the most legitimizing aspect of all.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Another great guest artist
Earlier this week we hosted another great artist: Becca. She came in and did a great acoustic set and was really great with all the students. She's signed to Sony Japan and had a lot of great stories and advise for the classes. A very talented musician, she related especially well to them as she is close to their age herself.
It was particularly interesting to learn of her rise to fame at such a young age - signed to Meredeth Brook's production company, lots and lots of showcases, endless working, till a friend of a friend got Sony JP to take a listen- and the rest is history.
By her own admission, she still has a long way tp go, but it was clear that Becca works very hard, and I suspect that she will go quite far. So if you can, check her music out. (www.beccaofficial.com) Some really good stuff.
It was particularly interesting to learn of her rise to fame at such a young age - signed to Meredeth Brook's production company, lots and lots of showcases, endless working, till a friend of a friend got Sony JP to take a listen- and the rest is history.
By her own admission, she still has a long way tp go, but it was clear that Becca works very hard, and I suspect that she will go quite far. So if you can, check her music out. (www.beccaofficial.com) Some really good stuff.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
In Your Back Yard
This past week, while on a break from teaching (ha!) I had three very cool musical experiences. Well, actually, there were five, but I will leave for later the discussions about the awesome new preamps in the studio and the massive progress on some very exciting new songs for the CD. So back to the three I started with...
The first, is actually thanks, yet again, to Michele's Mom's club. Through her connection to that group I have become friends with another dad in the group, Brock. Brock is one of the lead teachers at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences here in Phoenix. Needless to say, he is musically on a level I cannot even explain, much less equate myself to - simply, Brock, is a master, in the truest sense of the word. He's also a very cool person, just generally. Though I had heard of CRAS many times, Brock's tour was the first time I had actually spent time in the facilities. I have been in many studios, but this was really incredible - especially for an "educational" institution. The level of skill of the people who attend this school, much less the instructors, is pretty staggering. This is not your 4th or 5th tier audio specialist getting $20 per hour. There are so many gold and platinum albums on the walls, earned by CRAS students that they have to rotate them out into storage every few months. Same goes for the movie posters from all the post production work they have been responsible for. It was simply mind-numbing to walk through. The rooms were just full of so many cool audio "toys" I felt like a kid in a candy shop. This place turns out 48 students, only about 10% or less from Phoenix, every 6 weeks. It's an intense year for them. The most telling thing is that there are only something like three places in town that CRAS feels are acceptable for the required internship each student must complete. Three. That's a pretty high standard. Every know and again I meet someone who is clearly so many steps beyond my skill set that I cannot believe I get to call them friend. Brock is definitely in that category. He's also being kind enough to come speak to my more advanced students about the Conservatory and what the "real" music production world is like. Very cool.
The second was guest speaking at ASU for some Music Ed. classes (one undergrad, and one grad) about the CMAS program I created, for a prof. friend of mind, Dr. Evan Tobias. Evan is a brilliant guy, vastly more forward thinking than most people, and a big fan of what we're doing with CMAS. The opportunity to talk to some of his students about the program was really quite fun. It also forced me to really consider how the program's details are presented just generally. Clearly, I need to address this issue, but I am glad I was at least partially effective as after both classes I found myself talking for quite some time to numerous students about ways to push the music educational envelope. I'm eager to see what the future holds with ASU. Evan already sends me several interns/observers each semester, and I am hopeful that we can create a scenario whereby ASU students might be able to work with me directly as CMAS teaching assistants or something similar.
The third was a brief stroll through a local Zia Records store. It has been a terribly long time since I have been in a record store of any kind. I get almost all my music, as most people these days. on-line. The experience of walking amongst all those rows and rows of actual, tangible CDs (no it's still not the same as the days when I could walk through shelves of vinyl LPs, but still) was really cathartic. It was very freeing to just brows, something that you really cannot do with the same kind of feeling to it online. I plan to do it more often.
It was quite a week.
The first, is actually thanks, yet again, to Michele's Mom's club. Through her connection to that group I have become friends with another dad in the group, Brock. Brock is one of the lead teachers at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences here in Phoenix. Needless to say, he is musically on a level I cannot even explain, much less equate myself to - simply, Brock, is a master, in the truest sense of the word. He's also a very cool person, just generally. Though I had heard of CRAS many times, Brock's tour was the first time I had actually spent time in the facilities. I have been in many studios, but this was really incredible - especially for an "educational" institution. The level of skill of the people who attend this school, much less the instructors, is pretty staggering. This is not your 4th or 5th tier audio specialist getting $20 per hour. There are so many gold and platinum albums on the walls, earned by CRAS students that they have to rotate them out into storage every few months. Same goes for the movie posters from all the post production work they have been responsible for. It was simply mind-numbing to walk through. The rooms were just full of so many cool audio "toys" I felt like a kid in a candy shop. This place turns out 48 students, only about 10% or less from Phoenix, every 6 weeks. It's an intense year for them. The most telling thing is that there are only something like three places in town that CRAS feels are acceptable for the required internship each student must complete. Three. That's a pretty high standard. Every know and again I meet someone who is clearly so many steps beyond my skill set that I cannot believe I get to call them friend. Brock is definitely in that category. He's also being kind enough to come speak to my more advanced students about the Conservatory and what the "real" music production world is like. Very cool.
The second was guest speaking at ASU for some Music Ed. classes (one undergrad, and one grad) about the CMAS program I created, for a prof. friend of mind, Dr. Evan Tobias. Evan is a brilliant guy, vastly more forward thinking than most people, and a big fan of what we're doing with CMAS. The opportunity to talk to some of his students about the program was really quite fun. It also forced me to really consider how the program's details are presented just generally. Clearly, I need to address this issue, but I am glad I was at least partially effective as after both classes I found myself talking for quite some time to numerous students about ways to push the music educational envelope. I'm eager to see what the future holds with ASU. Evan already sends me several interns/observers each semester, and I am hopeful that we can create a scenario whereby ASU students might be able to work with me directly as CMAS teaching assistants or something similar.
The third was a brief stroll through a local Zia Records store. It has been a terribly long time since I have been in a record store of any kind. I get almost all my music, as most people these days. on-line. The experience of walking amongst all those rows and rows of actual, tangible CDs (no it's still not the same as the days when I could walk through shelves of vinyl LPs, but still) was really cathartic. It was very freeing to just brows, something that you really cannot do with the same kind of feeling to it online. I plan to do it more often.
It was quite a week.
Monday, March 8, 2010
McCartney got it right
The story goes that after being repeatedly criticized by many music critics, and John Lennon for that matter as well, for writing too many "light weight" songs, Paul McCartney wrote "Silly Love Songs" as kind of not so subtle response. As much as I am a huge fan of John's - really, all the Beatles (yes, even Ringo- Ringo is a true visionary as far as I am concerned) - I have always found this particular story very informing as a writer.
On many levels the message to me is, "stick to your guns," to say nothing of the notion of what's wrong with writing about love, anyway? In point of fact Lennon wrote countless classic love songs himself, and the reality is that there are far more hit love songs than anything else. Love works. On so many levels, it just works.
There is even a compelling argument to be made that all music is about love - and I genuinely believe that to be the case. Even protest songs can easily be viewed, without losing even the slightest bit of their potency, as love songs: in simplest terms, love of humanity. In point of fact, my strong feeling is that there is a very real and direct connection through music - all music - to a, forgive the cliche, higher power. At the risk of being too melodramatic, that really is the heart of all of it for me, and I suppose it manifests itself in all I do. Everything. Or at least I hope it does. Music is love. It's Godly. Pure. I make this point seriously, despite its obvious self-righteous tone. But in the end, what else could possibly be the point of music?
The point is that in the end, I felt only sorry for him. Imagine someone so very smart but so very myopic as to be unable to appreciate something as simple as the sentiment of a love song. I don't just mean my songs - one could certainly claim they are at best mediocre. I mean the concept itself seemed less than worthy to him. And as I look back at his behavior with other people, even his own family, everything seemed so trivialized all the time. So impure.
Now I realize the hypocrisy of judging him in one breath while complaining of his judging of me in the other, but the difference to me is intent. To not see the point in love songs. To not feel they had anything new or viable to say, as he would tell me, seems, well, sad. I am grateful to know what real love is. I hope my former associate finds it within himself to someday seek it out and reciprocate it.
As I said at the start, McCartney got it right, and I, for one, intend to follow his lead. So in the interest of full disclosure I thought I would include one of my favorite photos - one that I find inspiring beyond words:
On many levels the message to me is, "stick to your guns," to say nothing of the notion of what's wrong with writing about love, anyway? In point of fact Lennon wrote countless classic love songs himself, and the reality is that there are far more hit love songs than anything else. Love works. On so many levels, it just works.
There is even a compelling argument to be made that all music is about love - and I genuinely believe that to be the case. Even protest songs can easily be viewed, without losing even the slightest bit of their potency, as love songs: in simplest terms, love of humanity. In point of fact, my strong feeling is that there is a very real and direct connection through music - all music - to a, forgive the cliche, higher power. At the risk of being too melodramatic, that really is the heart of all of it for me, and I suppose it manifests itself in all I do. Everything. Or at least I hope it does. Music is love. It's Godly. Pure. I make this point seriously, despite its obvious self-righteous tone. But in the end, what else could possibly be the point of music?
As I have been writing more and more, for what seems to be a never to be completed CD at this rate, I keep coming back to this notion of music, and love songs and all of it. In fact, it reminds me of a former associate of mine who used to take what seemed to be great joy in endlessly mocking me over the fact I write so many love songs. He liked to present himself as very erudite - regarding music and pretty much everything else - I lost track of the number of times he would lecture me about how I should be living my life and such - likely a strong reason why that association eventually unraveled; but I digress.
The point is that in the end, I felt only sorry for him. Imagine someone so very smart but so very myopic as to be unable to appreciate something as simple as the sentiment of a love song. I don't just mean my songs - one could certainly claim they are at best mediocre. I mean the concept itself seemed less than worthy to him. And as I look back at his behavior with other people, even his own family, everything seemed so trivialized all the time. So impure.
Now I realize the hypocrisy of judging him in one breath while complaining of his judging of me in the other, but the difference to me is intent. To not see the point in love songs. To not feel they had anything new or viable to say, as he would tell me, seems, well, sad. I am grateful to know what real love is. I hope my former associate finds it within himself to someday seek it out and reciprocate it.
As I said at the start, McCartney got it right, and I, for one, intend to follow his lead. So in the interest of full disclosure I thought I would include one of my favorite photos - one that I find inspiring beyond words:
If you cannot see the true essence of love and why it matters in that image, well, I don't even know what to say. And OK, while that photo of my parents is truly inspiring to me, so is this one, even if it is more predicable that I would post it in this context (yes, I am ridiculously lucky):
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Harmony
I must confirm a certain amount of embarrassment regarding the fact that last night was the first time in a while I had attended a professional symphony concert. Michele and I, through the generosity of the "Mom's Club" she is part of, were in the audience for a spectacular evening of music, made possible by the Phoenix Symphony. It was really an enjoyable evening on many levels, and as we sat in the hall taking in the music I was struck by just how much I still enjoy being inside that kind of sound - even if only passively as an audience member.
It had been a while since I had felt the kind of pure acoustic musical connection that an ensemble of that nature creates. It was very enlightening for me. The realities of life are such that my schedule simply doesn't permit as much of that kind of thing as it used to, and I am glad that I will be a guest clinician for some of the upcoming All-State music festivals, which will, if only temporarily, place me back in front of symphonic ensembles.
These days it seems like every musical experience I have informs either my teaching or my writing or both. In this case, in terms of teaching, it makes me feel I should be doing more to emphasize the notion that all music is viable with my students. I do this a lot with the more advanced classes already, but I'm thinking I need to implement more of this kind of thought with the lower levels as well. In terms of writing, it's made me glad I am following my instincts on a lot of my newer material to use larger, more orchestrated parts - even if in a "rock" context.
Whatever it turns into, one thing is for certain, there is something to be said for purity of sound, and last night was a great example.
It had been a while since I had felt the kind of pure acoustic musical connection that an ensemble of that nature creates. It was very enlightening for me. The realities of life are such that my schedule simply doesn't permit as much of that kind of thing as it used to, and I am glad that I will be a guest clinician for some of the upcoming All-State music festivals, which will, if only temporarily, place me back in front of symphonic ensembles.
These days it seems like every musical experience I have informs either my teaching or my writing or both. In this case, in terms of teaching, it makes me feel I should be doing more to emphasize the notion that all music is viable with my students. I do this a lot with the more advanced classes already, but I'm thinking I need to implement more of this kind of thought with the lower levels as well. In terms of writing, it's made me glad I am following my instincts on a lot of my newer material to use larger, more orchestrated parts - even if in a "rock" context.
Whatever it turns into, one thing is for certain, there is something to be said for purity of sound, and last night was a great example.
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