Moving Music Education Forward One Small Step At A Time

Over the recent years I have to admit that I have gotten used to the notion of the Contemporary Music And Sound (CMAS) program (www.ArcadiaCMAS.com), I am fortunate to have created and get to facilitate, push the boundaries of Music Education.  I know that statement can come across as a bit arrogant, and I apologize for that, but it is not at all how I mean it, and more importantly, it is true.

This past weekend we partnered once again with our friends in the Technical Theater program at Arcadia and produced a complete, full scale musical called "The Arcadia Project." (see the plot synopsis below) And when I say "produced" I mean they students wrote it.  The script, the music, all of it.  Designed and built the sets, executed the technical production, made the program, etc.  EVERYTHING.  It was stunning.  I need to get some pictures up.  In any case...


From the press release: 

“The Arcadia Project” musical’s plot was written by Arcadia’s theater students, and is an epic story of discovery, love, and loss through the eyes of a group of high school students, their teachers, and community, as they come to terms with the fact that their original school, now remodeled, was actually designed to safely house a previously covered up alien invasion force from a distant planet. Part suspense thriller, part comedy, as the story unfolds, we learn that the new school’s design inadvertently freed the outer-space menace, now bent on revenge. As the plot progresses, through moments of deep emotion, humor and intrigue, the students learn that sometimes life is what you make of it, and that every moment counts.

The music for this all original, student production was written entirely by students in Arcadia’s acclaimed CMAS program. Not just a sound track, but a complete live musical experience, this show, with a cast that even boasts a few local Arcadia celebrities, promises to be a great evening’s entertainment for all ages.

Part of the Career and Technical Education department of the Scottsdale Unified School District, the Arcadia High School CMAS and Technical Theater programs have a long and proven history of successfully pushing the boundaries of arts educational opportunities for students, and this musical is certainly no exception. At a time when all the arts are in jeopardy across the entire state of Arizona, the students at Arcadia are hoping to show that the Technical Theater/CMAS/CTE methods they are using to create this amazing event can transform Performing Arts education into something that goes well beyond just performances, but can actually lead to real jobs in the fields they love, all while keeping the programs’ overhead costs below those of the standard Performing Arts approach. It’s a lofty goal, but one they are keen to achieve; so join us at Arcadia on April 18th, 19th, and 20th, and see for yourself just what the arts can be.



I'm going to include the program notes, and other commentary below just to give you an idea of what they did.  And I could certainly go on for quite a while about the entire project, but what matters most to me right now is the notion that we can change education for the better.  Waiting on the politicians to do it is a fools errand, so we gave the kids the ball as it were and just told them to run with it.  This show cost practically nothing to produce in comparison to a standard school musical, but the educational benefits were vastly superior. Vastly.  And the show worked.  It was legitimately a great show.  I should also mention here that as much as I am proud of CMAS, it was my friend, Richard Fairchild (Tech Theater and Drama) who really deserves the credit for coordinating the entire event.  Yes, this was a partnership, but someone has to be in charge overall, and thank goodness it was him and not me.  Also, we did bring in Michele as a bit of a ringer to help with vocal coaching the cast, so that was also a huge advantage we had.  Anyway...

If you missed it the good news is that we are just getting started.  There will be more.  Lots more.


Here's how one school board member described it:

"I had the pleasure last night of seeing The Arcadia Project, and wanted to let you know how much I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was great fun, and the songs were just terrific.  I’m so impressed that everything was written and composed by these incredibly talented students - you could see that that their hearts and souls were in this production."  

- Barbara Perleberg, Governing Board Member, Scottsdale Unified School District



Here are the program notes and commentary:

Program Notes

One behalf of the entire cast, crew, writers, composers, musicians, and everyone involved, thank you for joining us for this performance.  It’s a lot to produce a school musical – any school musical.  This one has proven to be not just a fantastic challenge, but also incredibly rewarding.  We are immeasurable proud of all the students who have taken part in this process.

School musicals are fraught with countless issues.  Which show can we afford the rights to?  Which show do we even have the students to effectively cast for?  Which show can we afford the production costs of?  Which show will be interesting to the students?  To the audience?  Which show will give the most opportunities for real learning? And so very many others that it got us thinking: Why can’t the students write their own musical?

The truth is, they can.  In fact, as we are now on the other side, we can tell you, it’s not just that they can, the fact is they should.  Just on the practical side, so many issues go away instantly. 

This project is really something new.  Not just a new show, but a new approach to the Arts as a whole.   In truth it’s an approach we’ve been fostering in the Technical Theater, CMAS, and the Career and Technical Education (CTE) department in general for quite some time.

So thank you again, to everyone involved in this process that has lead up to this performance.  We are so very proud of every single student; humbled to have been able to play a small part in their success here; and truly glad you could join us for this event.  And now, on with the show!

Why CTE?

Career and Technical Education is designed to help prepare students for careers straight out of high school.  The CTE courses at Arcadia require that students meet not only a rigorous curriculum based on academic and practical competencies, but also that they demonstrate their skills in projects like the one you will see tonight.

Right now there is a push, nationwide for something called “Common Core.” In its simplest terms Common Core is the idea that underneath all the educational opportunities and experiences a student gets, there are a set of fundamental skills and concepts that are essential to their success, no matter what field they ultimately go into.  Right now, those fundamentals are focused nationally on English, Math, and, to a large extent, technology.  From those stem all kinds of things. Science.  The Arts.  And more.

But the Arts integration can get tricky, and the world of education is changing.   This is a fact.  So why can’t the Arts change too?  The truth is that at the heart of pretty much everything CMAS and Theater do at Arcadia lies that simple truth.  We approach everything we do with the mindset of “Just how far can we push the limits of Arts education?  How ‘real world’ can we make this? 10 years from now, can this experience directly impact and help a student be gainfully employed in a field they love?”

Essentially, to us, it means that while you must maintain a strong appreciation for the past, the real goal is to create something new.  Something of your own.  In pretty much every educational theory model the idea of “creation” is always – always – the highest level of learning, and we always aim to give our students every opportunity to do just that: create something of their own.  Hence, we now have a student written musical.

The Process

How does a show like this happen?

Arcadia CMAS incorporates real world musicianship with songwriting, live audio production and recording studio skills. As an aspect of that process, each song you will here tonight was solely written by students, and many were released on the first two CDs available free through the CMAS website, www.ArcadiaCMAS.com.

Part of the curriculum for the Arcadia Theater program involves scriptwriting, and so in early January a group of writers sat down with an outline, access to songwriters, and began to tell a story.  At the core of this musical, beyond the spectacle and larger plot, is a story about very real teenagers.

In the process of creating this show the students used a number of current and advanced technologies – a hallmark of CTE - and many of those technologies are present in their application this evening.  From the recording studios in CMAS to the scriptwriting collaborations of the Theater students via online script writing and communication tools, to the set design, and a host of others, this show happened not just because the students wanted to do it, but because they received the training to actually make it happen.   The entire show had to be completely written in under 3 weeks in order to ensure there would be enough time to cast, build the set, execute the technical elements, and rehearse. 

Everything in this show came from the students. Everything. The music, the script, the design of the show tonight - costumes, props, even the fliers on the doors – all of it was created by students working together using professional equipment and industry standard practices, built using online technology and modern media, meeting cross curriculum goals and thinking at the creative level.

The notion that these students have worked hard simply does not even come close to describing what they have all put in to this production.


So now that this show is over, what's next?  Well, for starters we have several more CMAS shows coming up.   Then there is the vol. 4 CD  of our "Works in Progress" series to be released in May.  And there will be more shows like the one we did this weekend.  Even as this one was in production we were mapping out a way to do this as an annual event.  A totally original show every year.  beyond it being cool, the fact is that the clear educational opportunities this provided the students, honestly mandate we do it again.  More soon...