Crossfeed the Mix

Nils Lofgren Plays CMAS, December 8th, 2011

2011-12-10T21:57:00.001-07:00

I am late in posting this because I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that one of my musical heroes was willing to try my students, and me for that matter to produce a performance of his. There needs to be a stronger word than "surreal" for this kind of thing.

First off, if you are reading this and do not yet have a copy of Nil's newest CD "Old SChool" you need to stop reading right now, and go pick up a copy via his website (www.nilslofgren.com) or iTunes or however you purchase new music. Then come back and finish reading my prattling on here. I'll wait a few moments for you to get back here...

Interestingly, it is now, a couple of days later, pretty easy for me to give you a sense of what the evening was like for CMAS (www.tinyurl.com/ArcadiaCMAS): imagine the greatest thing ever and then multiply it by about a billion. No joke. On every level Nils gave of himself in a manner that I cannot fully express.

The most obvious would be that one of the world's greatest musician played that night. It was watching a true artist do something amazing. It was sublime, inspiring, and just beautiful. Nils plays with a kind of awareness to the larger musical line that most of us can only wish for. Heck, I'm grateful I am even aware of it, forget that I will likely never attain that kind of musical bliss/wholeness/oneness myself.

But he is, after all, Nils Lofgren, so, to be fair, the notion that he was indescribably good, I know, is hardly a shock. What ultimately made the entire experience stand out, and granted I have a severe bias here, is that he did something to push music education forward in a manner that I have never seen before.

I have talked in other posts about the project overall, so I will leave those details for you to review if you like, but I feel I must point out the realities of what Thursday night meant in terms of the educational value.

The truth is that I run a program that as great of a concept as it is, until someone like Nils was willing to come in and give my students real control over the end result of his performance, everything we have done has been fantastic, but, in truth, somewhat only theoretical. Nils made it real. He made it real like nothing has before. There cannot be anymore discussions about weather or not the kind of music education CMAS offers is valid. None. Nils ended that. He, perhaps without realizing it, took a huge stand regarding music education - and education in general. By allowing CMAS students to produce his performance he told the world that those students are doing something that really matters. Matters enough that someone of hist stature wants to be a part of it. He did not control the night - nor has he controlled any of the other aspects of this bigger project - he genuinely collaborated with CMAS. To say this was a huge development does not even come close.

I does not matter that I have been pushing CMAS students forward for all these years. I am quite proud of my role in all this, but as Nils and I have talked, I am a not even a has-been, I am a never-was, so my pushing only goes so far. But Nils is a master. A true living legend. What he did created a true watershed moment. He was already a musical hero of mine, now he has surpassed that.

I should mention that there will be several videos coming in the next couple of weeks/months stemming from this unprecedented collaboration between Nils and CMAS, but for now here are at least some photos from the night.

I will write more on all this soon. Frankly, I am still in shock over the entire thing. THANK YOU, NILS!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!

The Nils Lofgren Project

2011-11-10T21:47:00.001-07:00

Talk about lucky! About a year and a half ago we were very lucky in CMAS to have Nils Lofgren (the E Street Band, Neil Young) come in and speak to CMAS about his career and his music, the industry - pretty much all the things that he has ever done professionally as a musician. He was scheduled originally to come in for, I think, about an hour and he wound up staying for just shy of three. Needless to say it was pretty amazing. Nils is an incredibly gifted musician - pretty much everyone knows that. It's evident in all the work he does. It's evident in the people he works with. But more than that, he's just a really gracious person. Nils is one of the kindest most gentlest souls I've ever met and very much willing to share anything that he can with others.

Certainly that session with CMAS was extremely successful. It was extremely inspiring - not just for the students, but also for me; as well as any number of other faculty from the school that attended. In the wake of that, I was blessed in that Nils wanted to stay in touch, and about 10 months ago, back in February of this year, kind of out of the blue, I got a phone call and he wanted to know a) if I'm still teaching at the school and had the CMAS program and b) if I would be interested in having CMAS work with him as part of his upcoming album that at the time he was still putting together.

Obviously the answer was yes. It is a rare gift when an artist of his stature and skill offers to work with your students. Something that we simply could not pass up. Basically, the project is rooted in Nils feeling that he's aware of all the new technology and is aware of the need to involve and reach out to a younger generation (more specifically people that are the age of my students) but he's not quite sure how to do it. So his idea was basically to turn my students into a kind of record labels of sorts. Not having the kids on the phones pushing the CD or anything like that, but just having them help him work through what I might or might not work.

We started this process very recently. He's coming in frequently to CMAS and he's talked with students now quite a bit about what he has in mind. He's played a good bit for them and has relayed some great stories to them. He's basically giving them open access to Nils Lofgren the legendary guitarist, songwriter, singer, producer, and it's been just wonderful.

Right now we are focusing on helping him create two videos for two songs that are on his new album "Old School." The album by the way is unbelievable and if you get a chance to pick it up you absolutely should. It's on iTunes and it is also available at his website and any number of other places www.NilsLofgren.com.

Anyway, CMAS is not really a video production program. CMAS is about music. It's about writing it. It's about performing it. It's about producing it. Both live and in the studio. But we are not a video production class. However, several of the my students in CMAS are also very accomplished students in our Media Communications program at the school where they do work very specifically on video production, so we are tapping lots and lots of resources for this.

One of the videos is basically going to be a more standardized kind of storyboarded video for the song "Miss You Ray." The other one is going to be a kind of "making of" documentary for the song "Dream Big." We're hoping that after those we can move on into more detailed production and songwriting skills with Nils. He and I have even discussed the possibility of doing a live show - one of our songwriter nights as it were - but featuring him. We're still not quite sure how that will work or if we can even manage to make that happen, but to even be talking about it is pretty amazing.

Both Nils and I are hopeful that this will be a lasting partnership. Something that the CMAS program does with him not necessarily every year, but that the students have this resource of an artist such as Nils. It's a remarkable opportunity and it is a tremendous honor and I cannot ever fully thank or express how grateful I am to Nils for giving my students - and honestly me - the opportunity to work with him like this.

Much more coming soon...

Lemons, Lemonade, and CMAS

2011-11-05T23:16:00.001-07:00

Lets be honest, nothings ever 100% perfect 100% of the time; and as much as what CMAS students are capable of, and as much as they've accomplished in the past, sometimes mistakes are going to happen. That's part of learning, but that's also part of the real world. You put yourself in a big high profile gig and sometimes during that performance there may be problems. And last week that's what happened.

It wasn't anybody's fault. Nobody intentionally messed up. The truth is that even the most "simple" CMAS show is pretty complex, by any standards: three totally independent Mix desks (FOH, Monitors, Pro Tools recording), some serious PA wattage (excess of 40,000 watts for some shows) etc., etc.; but that is no excuse. We had a problem and the show suffered. The performers did great, the crew worked really hard, but we made some errors on the production side of things and it was a problem. So we were thrilled when we were going get to play one more show (at least) because the varsity football team was in playoffs and we were hosting last night which meant another Super Bowl style halftime show for us.

It might have been a bit nerve-racking as the students were feeling, all week, a good bit of pressure and where a bit worried could they pull it off? Could they redeem themselves from last week and do it in such a way so that they would still feel good about everything that they've done in the past as well?

The answer turned out to be yes. The students went back last week and completely reevaluated their process - voluntarily I might add. They came to me after the problems from last week's show and said, "We don't want to do it like that again. Ever." It was a important learning lesson for the entire CMAS program. A somewhat brutal one in front of a couple thousand people - not exactly my first choice - but an important one none the less. Details matter. Plain and simple. Your best show in the past only matters if your next one is at least as good, ideally better, and certainly not worse. More importantly, the audience simply does not care. For them the equation is very simple: it's good or it's bad. The reasons why, on either end of the spectrum, simply do not matter to the audience. Some tough lessons at any age, but certainly for a group of high-schoolers.

But they were flawless last night. It was amazing, and what's more, they were calm about it. I was nervous a bit on their behalf. Not that they cannot handle the job, far from it; but I wondered, leading into last night's performance, if they would be overly anxious. Would they not have a good work ethic or attitude towards each other?

But this was the calmest most well-prepared easy-going show they've ever produced. And it was certainly the highest pressure they've ever had because they know that if they make a mistake once they may be forgiven for it, but if they go out the next week in front the same crowd - huge crowds, by the way, we're talking several thousand people now at these games - and they make a mistake again, even if the crowd loves the CMAS program as a concept, the crowd may start to wonder can they really pull this off?

But CMAS did pull it off. They did an amazing job last night. Even managed to avoid the rain. It started to come down just as we were getting all the gear back in. Fortunately that's why they make road cases.

We also had the pleasure of recording the Peoria High School marching band up in CMAS Studio B. What a great group. They were so kind and receptive and appreciative of the opportunity to be recorded by our students. To get a professional level recording in our studio. They were just thrilled. They were really gracious and it really showed the benefits of this kind of musical camaraderie across genres, and more than anything that was really nice to see and it's something that I would like to foster more of and bring in even more schools to do the same.

In the end it was really an exciting night for CMAS and I could not have been more proud. Last week was tough for the students, and they really were upset; but it turned out they might've done themselves a favor. They redid their process and that is now going to make every event they do even better. And if you've ever been to some of their previous events it's hard to imagine how they could improve them. It was just incredible and I'm so proud of all of them and I just can't wait to get back to it on Monday and see how much further we can push this thing we call music education: CMAS.

Fine. I'll write the (insert expletive) book!

2011-10-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

It's been a good while since I have posted anything here. Trust me, the irony has not been lost on me. Given my proclivity (oooh, that's a good word) to ramble on generally, I have clearly been, it would seem, holding back.

In truth lots has been going on and I really cannot account for why I have not taken the time to write more here. So for some odd reason, late at night, tonight, when I should well be asleep, I have decided that it's time to remedy that.

The family is great and I am as ever the luckiest man in the world.

As for projects, that has been quite a ride lately. For a good bit now the main thrust of my "free time" has been to deal with the perfecting the EARS™ concept and the unreal amount of work that goes along with the related intellectual property issues. On the whole it is going very well, but wow, lots of work. EARS™ has taken on a level of legitimacy that I cannot fully express. It is a unique feeling to know, with 100% certainty that something works as it should. Wonderful, but unique. At least for me.

I have also, after what seems like far too long, really gotten a sense of my next musical project. It's called "With One Voice" and it will very much feature my lovely Michele. I don't wanna give too much away just yet, but I have been quite captivated by a band from my past called Jellyfish - you should check them out - and when combined with my love of the Beatles, Queen and a few others, it got me thinking...and then my friends George and Nils (seriously, how lucky am I?) both gave me, without likely realizing it, some great ideas for how to go about creating the music. Very very VERY excited. Anyway, more on that later....

Right now my other push is a book about CMAS. Or maybe more accurately, my sense of what I have learned from creating and facilitating CMAS. I am not kidding. A book feels like a good idea right now. Even if only as a kind of cathartic exercise, it might prove useful.

I already have some of the chapters/major topics worked out:
(in no particular order at this time)
1. The Music Eduction World is NOT Changing. It's Already Changed.
2. Seriously? You're saying I should do my job less effectively to keep you from having to do yours as well?
3. Money isn't everything, but you cannot expect to run most music programs on very much these days
4. There are only two kinds of music: good and bad.
5. Arrogance is the enemy.
6. Education decisions should always be made based on what;s best for kids, not adults.
7. Yeah. You heard me right. It's not just a music program, it's a legitimate record label. Get over it.

There are surely to be more, but that's what I have so far. My real issue is the book's title. I suppose I will eventually stumble upon it but for some reason I feel like until I have it I cannot truly write. As of now, I am leaning towards:

"I've Come to Kill Your Music Program"

but I am open to other ideas if you have any.

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A Self-Evaluation CMAS Style

2011-05-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

So I am required to do a year end self evaluation for my "day job" with CMAS, and for some reason, despite it being a bit unconventional to do so, I felt like posting it. I figure some day I may look back at it and be glad I have the record of it. Or at least have a good laugh. Which is fine too.

Note: If you read this and wonder how in the world I can possibly stay employed, rest assured I often have the same question. On the other hand, while teaching doesn't pay that well I have the best "day job" there is. regardless of compensation. Period. I am very, VERY lucky. Ok. Here ya' go...

Year End Self Evaluation:

I am, generally, very pleased with this past year. I find it very difficult to discuss my own work objectively, but I do feel that things went well this year and I was grateful to learn that I am considered “above and beyond” in several of the evaluation rubric’s categories.

The truth is that I am always looking at how I can improve the CMAS experience for my students. On some levels it’s because I am not convinced that we are doing everything as well as we can, so I like to think that the program can continue to evolve as I look to further improve the implementation of the curriculum. However, if I am to be totally honest, a great deal of my interest in evolving the program is because I believe that there is no such thing as “status quo.” It’s either getting better or worse – there are no other options. To that end, staying the same is, to me at least, just a variation on getting worse. Plus, I get bored easily. Which I figure means my students do too so that has to be accounted for. I also believe very strongly that education is always evolving. It must, I would say, by definition. In fact, for all we have changed by creating CMAS I fully predict that some day there will be something that will come along and make CMAS seem as outmoded as many traditional programs do now. This is a completely different issue than what I am to be covering here, but it is important, I feel, in order to put my comments below in to full perspective. So…

As proud as I am of this past year, I am not at all convinced that I have found the correct balance between guiding the students in pursuit of their goals and allowing them the space to explore the possibilities of their musical instincts free from my influence. It is very easy to talk about “guided independent study,” but it is not so easy to implement with a content area that is as creative and subjective as it is technically and academically demanding.

To be fair, this year I feel I greatly improved the execution of the workshops we do at the end of each project cycle. I felt that this year was far more productive in allowing the students more effective feedback from both myself and their peers than in the past. But at some point this year, I began to notice that my original concerns, that date back many years, to the start of what would eventually become CMAS, that if I was too “hands on” in their process the students would simply create material that sounded less like themselves and too much like an extension of me. Something, I assure you, I would loath as I find that notion very, if I can be so cliché, unmusical.

But something new has come to light in the wake of the evolution of the way the curriculum is being implemented: In numerous, unsolicited conversations, with students across the entire spectrum of the CMAS program, they are apparently looking to me as more of a producer rather than just a teacher. I have always been hesitant to get too involved in their creative side, beyond giving them the necessary tools, but it appears that they are looking to me to guide them more directly. Not so much in the idea stage, but once they have the foundation of the material. It’s a huge complement that I am not certain they themselves fully appreciate, but it none-the-less creates an interesting opportunity to yet again change the paradigm a bit.

I have to admit that the notion of approaching CMAS more as a producer is very appealing – certainly to my ego – but I want to be very careful that it does not lead to a nonproductive (nonmusical – there’s that cliché again. Sorry.) arrogance. There is a sign when you first walk in to CMAS that says, “Arrogance is the enemy.” I put it there to remind myself as much as to remind the students. I have to take some time this summer to completely work out how to fully become an effective producer in the context of CMAS, and likely, like all things CMAS, it will be an evolutionary process; but it seems logical at this point to move forward and see what’s viable. If it turns out I am wrong (it would not be the first time) in this, then we can take another look at a later date.

I’ll close by stating that as I reread what I have written here, I am not entirely certain this is what was asked for as a year end self reflection, but as I think back on the last year, and all we accomplished in CMAS, this is the one thing that keeps coming to my mind as needing to be addressed for next year more than anything else in terms of my role in it all. Happy Sumer break!

A Self-Evaluation CMAS Style

2011-05-23T00:08:00.000-07:00

Year End Self Evaluation:

To be fair, this year I feel I greatly improved the execution of the workshops we do at the end of each project cycle. I felt that this year was far more productive in allowing the students more effective feedback from both myself and their peers than in the past. But at some point this year, I began to notice that my original concerns, that date back many years, to the start of what would eventually become CMAS, that if I was too “hands on” in their process the students the students would simply create material that sounded less like themselves and too much like an extension of me. Something, I assure you, I would loath as I find that notion very, if I can be so cliché, unmusical.

But something new has come to light in the wake of the evolution of the way the curriculum is being implemented: In numerous, unsolicited conversations, with students across the entire spectrum of the CMAS program, they are apparently looking to me as more of a producer rather than just a teacher. I have always been hesitant to get too involved in their creative side, beyond giving them to necessary tools, but it appears that they are looking to me to guide them more directly. Not so much in the idea stage, but once they have the foundation of the material. It’s a huge complement that I am not certain they themselves fully appreciate, but it none-the-less creates an interesting opportunity to yet again change the paradigm a bit.

A Simpler Path

2011-05-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me how, no matter my intentions, projects seem to always get more and more involved, time becomes harder to allocate as the complexity increases, and invariably I get to feeling a bit lost in the process. On a lot of levels the truth is that is not necessarily a bad thing, but in matters of a creative nature (whatever that means) there are so many times that I just wanna be able to get lost in the creation, not the process.

So lately, I've bee taking stock. We've already done a total revamp the main website, which was surprisingly cathartic; and my pet project for the last several years of seeing how far I can take the notion of making music live, from nothing, with multiple lines/textures all going on simultaneously has started to see some real progress as well. In fact, the truth is that it was largely my recent progress on that method of music making that kind of got me really thinking of this idea of simplifying.

I plan to write more about the specifics very soon - hopefully to coincide with video of some performances to show it in application - but, if nothing else, the "break through" seems to have occurred when I had finally gotten reasonable hold of the open-source technology elements required (programming pedals to talk to other gear to talk to computers, etc. without any of it being relegated to any of the gears' proprietary or design limitations)

The fact is that this took so long in no small part because it took me quite some time to develop a musical approach let alone conceive of a manner to actually do it to say nothing of execution. Anyway, as I made all this recent progress at some point I took a step back - something I should do more often - and noticed that while it would all work in theory, in practice I could see it lacked the necessary simplicity (can I say "elegance" instead?) to really work without requiring a counterproductive level of focus. I saw it as leading to getting far too lost in the process and not the music - not at all my intention.

So once I realized that, it's been a matter a retooling and simplifying. Once the musical concept was clarified it seemed like a good idea to branch out, so the website was the next logical step. Obviously there is more to do, and though I am not entirely certain how far I can take this, it has felt very therapeutic in general, so I am highly motivated to continue.

There is a lot more and as I reread this post I am clearly writing even more ambiguously than usual - which is certainly saying something. It's also very possible that this is all related in some manner to my upcoming birthday causing me to take stock of life in general and this is just the current manifestation. Or maybe I need a nap. Or both.

The Triumphant Return of "Guitar Troll!!"

2011-02-09T19:44:00.001-07:00

I just came across an report saying that "Guitar Hero" is being pulled from further development. Apparently the same goes for "Rock Band." The article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110209/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_activision_blizzard) is interesting in that it points to the fact these games at one point truly revolutionized the gaming industry, but have proven to be consistently unprofitable.

There is some logic to that notion that even I can follow. The games had a huge rush of initial sales and popularity in the mid-2000s, but the problem is that unlike almost all other games they require multiple and, by industry standards, expensive additional controllers (guitars, drums, etc.) in order to operate.

The initial business model seems to have been based around the idea that the consumer will spend enough additional money purchasing more songs to play on the game to offset the rather high costs of producing them. I suspect that licensing rights for many of the artists also were costing quite a bit - which certainly would not help things.

I wonder if some of the issue is also due to the fact that for the most part you cannot really learn to play the instruments from playing the game. A lot of my students - and granted, my students are a unique bunch with regard to this kind of thing - have frequently told me that they find the games interesting and fun to a point, but that ultimately, it feels like a simplistic toy. They tell me that in the end they'd rather just play the real thing.

Now, to be fair, I have a well deserved reputation for being the "King of the Epic Fail" when it comes to playing these games. I can no better navigate through the game versions of any number of songs, regardless of the "instrument" I'm playing - which is kinda funny since I can play many of those same songs on many of the real instruments required.

In any case, a while back I wrote how I thought that a better use for all this would be something I called "Guitar Troll." If you wanna read the details from back then they can be found here: http://crossfeedthemix.blogspot.com/search/label/Guitar%20Hero. Essentially, the concept is to use the games' guitars and other instruments more like battle axes. (Yes, I know that for a self-proclamed "uber-pacifist" this seems a bit violent, but bear with me, ok?) Level one you go up against maybe, I don't know, some punk rocker; level two is Kirt Cobain; then on to Heldrix and Townshend - you get the idea.

Anyway, the way I see it, if "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" are ending, unless someone comes up with a way to integrate real instrument technique, I figure there is a huge market for what to do with all those game controllers just kinda sitting around once all the tunes have been played. Just a thought.

Guitar Troll FOREVER!!!

CMAS and the Apple Distinguished Educator program

2011-02-02T10:53:00.004-07:00

I was recently asked to apply to become an Apple Distinguished Educator. Basically the program, which is facilitated by Apple, is a way to connect nationally, and internationally, with like minded educators each of whom are changing the old educational paradigms for the better. I have no idea if I will be accepted or not, but I very much love the idea behind the ADE program. My preference for Macs and related products aside, I think the notion of getting teachers like this together - even just helping to put them into contact with each other - is very cool.

On the other hand, funny as this may sound, while I am incredibly proud of what we've created with CMAS, on so many levels getting selected for the ADE program (should that happen) feels a bit like giving credit to the guy who sold you some paper to write your novel on. Despite all that can be said, and again, I am very proud of all we've done with CMAS - to say nothing of what I feel we can do with it in the future, at the end of the day - and please forgive the ridiculous cliche that this sounds like - it really is the students making it happen.

I've been teaching a long time. Far longer than I probably want to admit, but in that time I really have learned many things and one of them is that all I can really do is show them that there are opportunities for them to take advantage of. I cannot make them take advantage, I can only show them what is possible. They have to actually do the work. I don't say any of that lightly. It's just a reality of the gig.

All that in mind, I put together the required 2 minute video that Apple asks for as part of the selection process. The end result feels a bit, as I've said in other forums, self-indulgent for my taste, but I think I covered the main points that Apple wants. Here's a link to the final two minute submission: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nxAL_79aDc

In the end, the really cool thing (beyond some really wonderful comments by some incredible supporters of the program - there were so many more than I could include in this version) is that I found I have the foundation for what I think could be a great, and I think insightful, look into CMAS. I'm hoping to get this longer and, less "me centered" version complete shortly and be able to use it when I do presentations about CMAS and as a way for future/interested students to learn more about what it is we do.

I am also really hopeful to be selected as an ADE so that I can further my own understanding of what sort of possibilities there are to continue to expand all that CMAS has to offer. Wish me luck!

I learned that in High School

2011-01-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

I recently received an email from a former student who is doing very well now studying in Los Angeles, and it struck me as such a kind thought that wanted to write a bit about it. There was also an underlying message about the effectiveness of CMAS, and his comment made me feel very proud of what we've created.

Cory wrote: "I was in my studio guitar skills class today and my teacher wanted to teach us about compressors and all i had to say was 'I already learned it in high school.'"

Thank you, Cory. I cannot express just how good that makes me feel.

Some CMAS history

2010-11-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

We've been putting together a new web archive for CMAS and as that has been going on, it has grown into something more - a kind of repository for everything the program does. There's a lot still to do, but the basics are up and over time it'll continue to grow.

As part of the new archive several people asked me to write a bit of the history of CMAS as part of things and so I thought I would include some of it here. The entire story is on the new site, along with a lot of recordings and videos, and, if you get a chance, we'd love to know what you think. So check it out at:
ex.susd.org/rmaxwell

A History of the Arcadia CMAS program
(as told by Richard Maxwell, CMAS creator/facilitator - October, 2010)

In the Fall of 1999 I came to Arcadia to be the school's new Band director. For years I had worked as a gigging musician/recording "studio rat," and at that time had been out of school, teaching, for about a year and a half, having completed my second Master's degree, at the University of Arizona in conducting.

I have a great love for classical music, and still write for symphony orchestra and clinic whenever I am able, and I recall many conversations with Greg Hanson at the University of Arizona about how all music can be viable, regardless of the genre. Greg's attitude was just one of several pivotal influences informing my own, personal, musical philosophy - but his was the most potent, because, as I would later come to realize, his was the farthest reaching. To be fair, there were others along the way (Heineman, Vroman, Kaizer and Sanders, etc. at Bradley; Gage at Youngstown; Metzger, Beeler, and Wagner at Sycamore) but I am not sure I was ready back then to really appreciate the true depth of either their expertise or experience at the time. I mention all this, not so much out of false modesty, but rather because, taken all together, they had a huge impact on how CMAS would ultimately be designed. In a very real sense, the true "Father of CMAS" is Greg, and all the others.

Anyway, it has always struck me odd that pursuing "current" musical trends is generally treated as counter to academic musical pursuits. The lack of legitimacy that it can be given is even further confusing, at least to me, when you consider the fact that all the great and lasting music throughout history was composed by musicians who were - every one of them, I would argue - very forward thinking.

By definition, "Bach, Beethoven, and the boys" were all writing "Pop" music. The goal for them was not just similar, but identical, to the goal of today's musicians working in the "current" scene. Somewhere along the line though, music education in schools, for the most part, seems to have lost sight of this. There are exceptions, certainly, but on the whole, the more "modern" classes (ie. Guitar, History of Rock 'n' Roll, etc.) are treated as throw-away classes. Frequently offered to a school's music teacher simply as a way to allow them a contract that keeps them at the same school for the entire day.

I know this to be true if only because in preparing for my second year at Arcadia, I benefitted from just such a scenario. Jim Lee, the principal of Arcadia at the time, came to me late in my first year and asked me, given my "outside" musical experience in studios and such, if I would be interesting in taking over the guitar class the following year. I accepted, and that is very much were CMAS began.

I took the guitar class very seriously. (Perhaps, to some, too seriously?) In any case, I wanted to make the experience more about music fundamentals rather than just a class kids could "hang out and sometimes jam" in. I had a lot of real-world experience, and I felt that it was important to relate that experience to the educational opportunity provided to the students. My idea was that if we used the students' interest in current musical styles as a way to get them to refine their skills legitimately through music theory and such, we might, eventually create something that was really viable both musically and educationally. To say nothing of being able to reach more students with music than I could as only the band teacher...

read the rest here: ex.susd.org/rmaxwell

CMAS and the Search for Ensmble

2010-09-10T23:24:00.002-07:00

Tonight was the first ever CMAS stadium show, and it was just beyond wonderful. I am so proud of the entire program, that I really do not know where to begin. There is so much to cover that I think it likely that I will do a series of articles to get it all out over time in the, I hope, not too distant future.

That said, there is one element that stands out to me that I had been suspecting for a while now, but tonight showed me that my instincts were, in fact, very gratefully, correct: there is a true sense of large ensemble within the program.

ensemble (noun):

1. all the parts of a thing taken together, so that each part is considered only in relation to the whole.

2. in music: the united performance of an entire group

Over the years, as the CMAS program has evolved, we've pretty much been able to prove any educational or musical criticism of the program to be wrong. Very wrong. The only one that I have ever felt might have had some validity was a comment that for all the benefits of CMAS, the one thing the students cannot get in program is a true sense of ensemble. Specifically, large ensemble.

To be fair, part of me had to agree. After all, though we have a vast number of smaller groups (most of the bands are 3-5 members) that larger sense did seem a bit absent. On the other hand, there was always this feeling in my gut that we just had not crossed the threshold yet on this subject and there was every bit a large ensemble aspect to CMAS as much as any music program of any kind anywhere. It just had not been presented properly.

Well tonight, it turns out, among all the other accomplishments, was the very tangible proof that the CMAS paradigm evolves this aspect of traditional music programs too. Significantly. I have had the honor and pleasure of leading any number of large "traditional" music ensembles over the years, in a vast array of concerts and events. What I can now tell you is that in CMAS that exact same feeling of large ensemble exists. Very, very prominently. At the end of the stadium show tonight the entire program clearly felt exactly the way a large band or orchestra feels after a great performance. There was absolutely no difference. The benefits from the experience, at heart were even identical. The group has to find a way to take all of the best aspects of everyone's efforts and create a collective result that all involved can feel not only proud of, but that they were in fact a key and integral part of the performance's success. That they as a part, allowed the sum total to be far greater than the individual.

CMAS more than proved that to be the case tonight. In fact, in some ways they eclipsed the "traditional" ensembles in this because it's not what you might expect from the CMAS experience. It's not necessarily the obvious result or benefit of the CMAS experience. But it is there, and significantly. And now that we know it for certain, CMAS, I can promise, will be taking it farther than could every be expected from any other musical experience - just like they do everything else.

As you can tell I am beyond over the moon over this. I am just so proud to be a part of this musical journey called CMAS. It is such a thrill and an honor.

More soon, including some more picts and video from tonight. Amazing stuff. I am so proud of the entire program. Just wonderful!

Dreaming In Memories

2010-07-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

A few years back Michele and I released a CD entitled "Fade." The songs were good - really good, in most cases - and her vocal performance was absolutely brilliant. But the truth is that the album was not well promoted, much less heard by many, and more importantly, as the producer, I really did her a terrible disservice. The material was great and the vocal performances fantastic, but the arrangements and the production were, at best, flawed; and it has bothered me for quite some time.

I don't say any of that lightly. The fact is that over time, it became very tough for me to be able to listen to the disc because of what I felt were all the unnecessary flaws in the production. I always thought I should go back and rework the material - if only to satisfy the "itch," but by the time I was ready to do so, it appeared that all the original session data had been lost due to a bad hard drive. And so for a very long time I had to simply live with it as it was.

And then, in the Summer of 2010, something very unexpected happened: on a bit of a fluke - and with a lot of dumb luck - I was able to revive the hard drive long enough to transfer the data to a new drive. This meant I could now go in and do what should have been done in the first place, and make the album right.

Beyond some minimal piano and percussion, nothing has been re-tracked. And while a few of the songs from the original "Fade" simply did not make the cut, for any number of reasons, the overall end result is something wonderful, I feel. Something that is worth the time of the listener. I'm hopeful you'll agree and pass along the link to your friends so that they can hear the music as well.

The "official" explanation of CMAS...for now...maybe...

2010-07-06T23:55:00.000-07:00

I would have thought that the Summer would be a time when I got fewer questions about what CMAS is and such. On the other hand, all interest is good interest as far as I am concerned. So for anyone curious about this crazy music program that I am truly blessed to run, here...ya'...go:

The CMAS (Contemporary Music and Sound) program is a 4 year high school program that allows students to work with music industry professional grade equipment while learning how to take their music from the stage to the studio and beyond. Largely funded through Federal grants, in CMAS there are no musical restrictions of any kind, nor is any prior experience or training required. CMAS I is rooted in music fundamentals, emphasizing a comprehensive understanding of instrumental technique and music theory. CMAS I students declare and musical emphasis of guitar, bass, drum kit, piano/keyboards, or lead vocals, and begin the process of learning the fundamentals the recording studio utilizing Pro Tools - industry standard software. CMAS II takes those fundamentals and expands them into the harnessing and refining of musical instincts with the creation of original musical ideas, as well as more advanced aspects of the recording studio process as well as live music technology. CMAS III introduces detailed studio production techniques as well the further refining writing and performance skills. CMAS IV culminates the program with advanced studio production, writing and performance skills, as well as internships and other specialized musical experiences.

Along with frequent guest artists and clinicians, approximately every six weeks of school the CMAS program produces a full 90 minute concert of original student music. These “Songwriter Nights” are fully CMAS student produced, utilizing a massive 20,000 watt PA and full 16 channel ProTools recording rig, all of which is designed, set-up and run by the students. CMAS also offers numerous other performance opportunities, all fully CMAS student produced, at various locations and events both on and off campus throughout the year. All performances are mixed and recorded by CMAS students and many are available as downloads off the program’s website.

Beginning in the 2010-2011 school year CMAS will further change the paradigm of music education by producing CMAS student artist original music performances at all home Varsity football games with productions inspired by recent Superbowl halftime performances. Additionally, students will be eligible to receive as much as 12 credit hours of college credit for their work in the program.

CMAS has been proven to reach many students who would otherwise never be involved in music; and in many cases provides the motivation to not only keep students in school but provides a path for them to achieve at much higher levels academically than might otherwise be expected. With literally hundreds of students involved in the CMAS program, and graduates moving on to work professionally in numerous capacities within the music industry, as well as partnerships with, among others, Arizona State University, Scottsdale Community College, and the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Science, CMAS continues to evolve and break the mold of standard music education.

The CMAS program was designed and is facilitated by Richard Maxwell.

Lift: An exercise in "does/should this matter to anyone other than me?"

2010-06-20T01:22:00.002-07:00

"Lift" will be (is?), in some ways, a departure, and in others, a kind of musical reunion. For a while I felt I needed to move away from my more Art/Prog-Rock tendencies. I was having a very difficult time aligning my sense of being a singer/songwriter and those more "artful" musical interests. That's not to say I am particularly artful - though I'd like to think so - but I certainly have a great affinity for many of the Prog-Rock genre.

I am huge fan of musicians like Asia, Genesis, Yes, Peter Gabriel and so many others. For the longest time I have always wanted to be able to create that kind of musical atmosphere, but always felt I was coming up short. Actually, I should also mention that I am a big fan of the intricate orchestrations of bands like Iron Maiden. The orchestral nature of their music has always been very inspiring to me. There are of course countless other bands and artists (The Beatles, Queen, Toto, Flecktones, The Who, etc.) that are significant to me; but it would take me pages to get through them all.

In any case, with "Lift" I have decided not to worry at all, on any level, how the material might or might not translate to a live performance. Not only has this been very liberating from a creative standpoint, but it has also allowed me to somewhat rethink my entire creative process. "Lift," like much of my work, has its share of love songs and ballads - can't get away from who I am in that regard (and don't really want to) - but there is also a fair share of other subject matter as well.

The project is still a work-in-progress, so to some extent everything I write here is really just speculation as I am still waiting to hear what the final result really will be; but what I am confident in is that "Lift" is strong on all levels. Very strong. Only time will tell if others agree or not. Either way, as long as people are listening, it's all good.

Remix, rethink, remaster... REDEUX!: How going back can help to move forward

2010-06-15T12:22:00.003-07:00

Over the past several years since I have released any new music, several significant things have happened. Beyond the more important ones like lots of Gray-and-daddy time and Tanner arriving, I have also made some very serious changes in my entire approach to to producing music and general audio engineering. A lot of those changes have coincided with the formal adoption of the Contemporary Music And Sound (CMAS) program, and a lot have evolved out of what I feel is just a very natural progression towards such things. The other major factor has likely been my development of a very strong sense that the real beauty of being an independent musician, is just that: the independence to do what you feel is best. Certainly there are endless drawbacks, but if there is one true benefit it is the complete artist freedom I am afforded.

The fact is that I have never been truly pleased with the end result of many of my past recordings. Much of that dissatisfaction can easily be attributed to my, admittedly not always helpful, refusal to ever be satisfied that anything I do is "perfect." (I have a pretty hard time "letting go," but that is another topic) but much of if is also rooted in aural reality. Songs are good, songs are bad, but the production has tended to get in the way and not, in my view consistently, allowed the music to stand on its own - good or bad.

So as I began to finalize the writing of my next project of original material (working title is "Lift) I started to take a look at the older stuff as well to see how I wanted to apply my new production techniques to the new recordings. While doing that I found that it would not take too much effort to go back and "redo" (Redeux?) the production and get many of those old tracks into the aural shape they deserved to be in. It's kind of a going-back-in-order-to-go-forward kind of thing, but it has already proven very useful. "Redeux" is not really about re-recording or re-tracking, it's more about re-thinking the production. Certainly this may cause arrangements, and some other aspects, to change but I think on balance it will all be for the better.

The "Redeux" project will actually be a series of releases. I am not entirely certain how "Lift" will fit into the overall time line, but it'll be along soon as well, and if nothing else, will certainly be worth the wait. I feel the material on "Lift" is the strongest I've ever written, but in truth, as I said above, I am not convinced that I was ever able to give the earlier material its proper due to allow it to stand on its own. Again, the Redeux project is now making that possible.

The first release of Redeux will be from the more recent material that appeared on "Ties" and "Pulse" and a few others. The second will be the entire "Fade" CD from back in 2004 that featured Michele on vocals. For many reason I cannot wait for you to hear those tracks "redone" (Redeuxed?) For a very long time I thought that all the "Fade" sessions were lost forever do to a failed hard drive but just recently I was able to restore the session data and so am really excited to hear what comes of it - Michele's vocals alone are gonna just blow everyone away. There is a possibility of a third release as part of "Redeux," which would be going all the way back and examine the sessions for a "bootleg" from many many years ago that actually still sells well for me called "093003." If we get lucky, as we did with "Fade," to find a way to restore the sessions from the old hard drive, then we can make that third release happen as well. I am cautiously optimistic.

As ever, things all seem to be happening at once, but it's all good. Very good. And now it's back to work...

Pandora's Box: How the greatest CMAS concert (so far) might also be its worst

2010-06-03T23:00:00.002-07:00

Two weeks ago tonight CMAS held its final concert of the 2009-2010 season. It was, in a word, amazing. I don't say that lightly at all. It was a culmination of so many factors into a single, successful evening of music that I am still a bit dumbfounded over the entire thing.

The evening consisted of over 120 minutes of all original. all student produced and performed music; and the show itself (also, all student produced) was about as over the top as anything I have ever seen anywhere. I suppose the most notable addition was a 25 foot high, 40 foot wide, video projection system behind the performer - thanks once again to Harkins Theatres for all the continued support (Dan Harkins is, as always, beyond kind - Kirk Griffin, their chief engineer, as well - more on them another time). It was stunning. Just stunning to see it all come together. And it was an absolute triumph for all involved, and an certainly a huge honor for me to be part of it.

But here's the thing - and I have been justifiably accused of destroying some professional relationships over this kind of thing - to me, as high as the bar has now been set, we can still do it far better. I'll save the specifics of how for another time, but it's the general concept that got me writing here: the potential Pandora's box of expextaitons.

While the show on 5/20/10 was beautiful, it was also the first time we had put in so many of the elements that I know we can do all of them far better if we simply are willing to not only look objectively, but also take the needed, and in many cases, fairly simple steps to significantly build upon what we have already done. And this is the part that has been a death-knell for some of my professional relationships: perfection is a great goal, but it is not actually attainable. Being satisfied is akin to promoting the status quo, and I simply do not believe in status quo. Things are either getting better, or getting worse. Those are the only two options. No exceptions. Staying the same is akin to getting worse as far as I am concerned.

Yes, acknowledge the accomplishments and revel in the successes as they happen; but I firmly believe that every time you take another step closer to "perfect," the bar of that perfection moves that much further up as well. At the point at which the bar stops moving, or worse, you are satisfied, it is time to stop. Needless to say, many of my professional acquaintances over the years have not been able to hold a similar view. My "arrogance" on this topic makes me feel only bad for them. To be fair though, the relationships that suffered the most over this kind of thing were with people who I would describe as very "unmusical;" very non-creative - though, and again, I freely admit the arrogance of this statement, they think they are musical and creative, but clearly are not. That said, I am not sure I am actually a "pure" personality of music and creativity either - even though I'd like to be. But, as usual, I digress.

Back to the Pandora's box: The further we push these shows, the greater the expectation is from our audience. That is not a bad thing - not at all. But as we start the 2010-2011 season in a few short months I wonder if the audience will allow for the learning curve that is needed over the course of the total season on the part of the students. The audience, perhaps ironically, and perhaps without realizing it, is actually in line with my view of perfection. The question is will they allow the trials and time needed to get us to take those next steps. If they do, the truth is that despite this amazing last show, they have not seen anything yet - I can safely say that there are at least four more major evolutions to the show coming in the not too distant future - not that I will give any details away here and/or now - to saw nothing of the studio progressions that will soon eclipse the shows.

If the audience does not, well there's the Pandora's box for you. The only way to ensure we make it happen and give the audience what they not only want, but deserve, is to consciously keep moving forward. Can't allow ego or arrogance to get in the way. Call it like it is and move forward. Keep pushing. Always. It's not about besmirching the efforts or reputations of anyone - like I said, revel in the well deserved successes as they come along - but if you stay there too long (and I define "too long" as the moment a single element is found to be vialbe for specific improvement) then you are back to status quo. And then, really, what's the point?

I am so proud that the bulk of the CMAS program's students resist status quo - whether they know it or not. They resist taking the striving for improvement as arrogance. They seem to see it for what it is: the continuing search for bettering the end result. Maybe the lesson really is that the Pandora's box is really just that: a box. Keep yourself "outside the box" and the box really cannot have any impact.

Dio - A Legend Passes, But A Conflict Lives On

2010-05-18T21:39:00.001-07:00

I never got the chance to meet Ronnie James Dio, but I was still very struck by his passing earlier this week. To some extent, my heart has reached out to the family of anyone who succumbed to cancer after my mom passed from a brain tumor in 1997. Personally, I cannot claim to be the biggest Dio fan - I think I might have a few singles in my collection but that is about it. What struck me most these past few days was, in retrospect, his sense of self. In interview after interview he seemed so in tune (no pun) with the realities of his life and career. How he was aware of his importance in the world of Metal, but never really got too caught up in it. He had this mighty voice and incredible stage presence and seemed pretty down to Earth, generally.

Now, who knows. Maybe that was all a facade, but as I thought about his passing, I started to think about how so many musicians of more aggressive musical styles get dumped into these categorizations that portray them as bad people. Evil. It just seems like too easy of a target to me.

Sure, there are plenty of examples of "Metal Gods" doing very bad things; but that seems more to be a potential trapping of the industry than a result of musical genre. Want proof? Go check out some of John Denver's moments off stage. Nothing against John either, but, seriously, blaming music for anything seems like taking the easy way out and not really meeting the issue head-on.

There are far too many examples to name, proving just how ridiculous the the entire thing is. I have been lucky enough to have spent a small bit of time with Alice Cooper - the Godfather of shock rock - and I can tell you he's about as well grounded as anyone. He, much as I suspect Dio was, is just a really good guy.

And for those who would claim that aggressive music creates more opportunities for Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll abuses than other occupations, simply has not been paying attention to the news. Nothing against The Church specifically, but, uh, there's a real concern. Sorry, but a musical genre just is not going to be worse than that.

Yes, there are bad people, who deserve the negative reputation they get; but they wouldbe bad people if they were accountants too. Don't make music the scape goat. I have yet to see a musical playback devise of any kind that did not include an "off" button of some kind. If you don't like it, turn it off. if you don't wan your kids to hear it, turn it off. But that's it. That's all you get.

Look, I'm hardly the biggest Metal fan. I pretty much don't get into too much of the real hardcore stuff - I need more melody. That does not mean it's bad. Actually, I can really appreciate the energy - it's just not my thing. But if it makes you feel good to listen, who am I to tell you not too because of some stupid story that the guys in the band once made a pact with the devil, rooted in a promise to only eat butter and never margarine (stupid butter1) Come on! People who buy into that crap also likely fall for every marketing trick in the book and buy tons of stuff they don't need but see in ads on TV. They likely also thought John Lennon was blasphemous when he pointed out the obvious that the Beatles had become more popular with the youth of the day than Jesus (he did not say that was a good thing, by the way, he was more commenting on the industry's control of culture). At the very least they have a serious cholesterol problem from all the margarine they are consuming to avoid their own devil-butter pact.

So God bless Ronnie James Dio. Rest in peace. You brought a lot of joy to a lot of people. The rest of us should be so lucky to be able to make such a claim.

...you know all this talk of classic Metal reminds me that Iron Maiden is coming to town soon. I wonder if I can score some tickets...

Pure Musical Joy: Why Nils Lofgren is one of the greatest musicans around and I am not

2010-05-07T20:58:00.001-07:00

Thursday was an amazing day. Nils (http://www.nilslofgren.com) came by and spent several hours playing and talking to CMAS. It was beyond incredible. Aside from his obvious talent, he is also one of the most grounded, kind, and generous people I have ever met.

I found myself way too star struck with him. You'd think being so close to "Uncle George" as Gray calls him that I would act like less of a boob around someone like Nils; but no, I was kinda "Captain Wonderputz." I hope he doesn't think me too dim after all is said and done. I don't even wanna think about it.

Ok, now past all that, there were several things that really struck me in the time he was with CMAS. The most significant was his humility. Not just the obvious and almost cliche kind of thing that you'd expect from someone who has "made it" and done so much - in truth, he's probably best known for playing in the E Street Band with Springsteen; but even if you take that all away, his resume is staggering - but more about how he kept emphasizing his love of the song as his driving motivation.

With Nils you get the real sense that he loves playing with Bruce and all the work he's also done with Neil Young and so many others; and he's clearly grateful and appreciative for all he's been able to do in music; but he talks of smaller gigs in small clubs with the same kind of affection. He has a kind of musical Joy about him that I don't see very often. It reminded me of Robert Billups (see an earlier blog about that true genius). Even in the CMAS main hall, which is pretty cool for a school facility but not really a big deal in the pantheon of places Nils has played, he was just clearly in love with the music.

And I don't mean in an arrogant sort of way 'cuz it was his songs. I mean he just loves music. You can see it, palpably, in his face. The Joy of it seems to take on his entire body and informs all the energy about him - he literally radiates it. I learned more from Nils in those few hours yesterday than I could possible recount here, but his joyous playing and sense of self within the musical lines was just indescribable.

Full disclosure, I feel I did him a disservice in the sound I provided him - not that he complained. I'm hoping passing along George's contact info to him, as well as the mixes I'll create of his performances for the show that was being taped, will at least make up a bit for that and all the rest of my gaffs.

Ok, time to go and find some of my own musical joy. So this is Captain Wonderputz, signing off...for now...

Back inside the sound: why I sometimes almost miss my old teaching gig and why "traditional" ensembles matter

2010-05-03T01:10:00.003-07:00

This past week I was asked once again to be a clinician for the Arizona Band and Orchestra folks. In short, it was beyond terrific; and to work, even if just briefly, with these amazing young orchestras, was great fun for me.

With all the studio work and training I do; and the songwriting, etc, etc. that makes up the CMAS program, I sometimes forget how much I still love being "inside" that kind of sound. It is a very different world, and in some ways I miss it. Not enough to go back, but...that sound...no matter what else I ever do, I still love it. Frankly, it's been creeping back into my own music in some ways lately, so maybe it's a kind of musical synergy coming to fruition. Who knows. Anyway...

Lately when I am lucky enough to be a part of these kind of things, inevitably the conversation comes around to CMAS. Many times I cannot tell for certain at first if I am being investigated or envied. The truth is liekly somewhere in between.

While it's my job to promote the paradigm shift that CMAS represents to music education, people usually seem so surprised to learn that I have a very real and strong affinity for traditional ensembles. It just seems odd to me. Music is about something more than the specifics of the ensemble. More than a tale of who is playing what instrument. It's about getting inside yourself and life and the world and God and whatever else you wanna connect it to. The organic, pure nature of music is not limited to any specific parameters. I find it odd that this strikes so many as a "new" concept. Many will feign agreement only to privately scorn the music CMAS now fosters in people who would otherwise have no interest in its exploration.

It seems very simple to me and was really reinforced for me while at this recent festival with all these grand orchestras: either all music is viable or none of it is. Sure, you cannot do it all, and everyone will have their strengths and weaknesses in execution; but at it's heart music - of all genres - reaches beyond.

Does it really matter which path you take to get there? Traditional ensembles are hugely important. Truly. But, in the end, it's music that is the important entity. Get it however you can and encourage others to do the same, no? Band, Choir, Orchestra, Jazz, Rock, Country, Rap - that's all just superfluous details. Music is what matters. All music. Sometime I really wonder if CMAS is really that big of a change. I swear, fundamentally, I am only able to approach music one way - I know of no other - regardless of the specific ensembles or genres.

I may not be a "traditionalist" but I am certainly a "purist." And I am very, very lucky to have a life that is 100% family and music. It's just that simple. Really.

It's all in the numbers: my recent epifany about class size in schools

2010-04-27T23:40:00.002-07:00

So lately I've been having lots of conversations with people about the CMAS program - how it started,where it's going, why I structured the curriculum the way I did, etc. Inevitably, one of the questions is about how the current "traditional" program at the school is dealing with the success of CMAS.

The truth is, not well. While CMAS is certainly going through some pretty massive growing pains, overall the general path is forward. Fast. So much so that I have been wondering if I need to reign it in just a bit to ensure that we maintain the level of quality I feel is essential -bit that is another topic.

The point is, I was recently talking with some folks from the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (my buddy Brock, and the school's Administrator Kirt Hamm - also a great guy) about how CRAS could do more to reach out to other music teachers in the community - to say nothing of their support of CMAS, generally - and we got to talking about my transition from the traditional program to full implementation of CMAS. The context was more about helping other, interested teachers do something similar, even if on a smaller scale; but in the course of that discussion something so unbelievably obvious struck me that I am kinda ashamed I have not talked about before whenever the topic of the current traditional program at the school comes up:

(I wanna preface this by stating clearly that this is definitively not a commentary on any other teacher - just a statement of some facts.)

In the years just prior to the full transition to CMAS I was simultaneously running what would become the bulk of CMAS as well as the complete band and orchestra at the school. There was also another teacher facilitating several other classes that would eventually evolve into part of CMAS as well while also running the choir program at the school. Full disclosure: for many years this other person was my wife Michele, who to be frank, is a far better teacher than I in all areas, but I digress.

The point is that during this time there were big numbers of students in the CMAS -like classes as well as strong numbers in the band, orchestra and choir. All working together somehow. All viable educationally - despite the compelling argument that I was at best a mediocre band/orchestra teacher. So if the numbers have diminished since in the traditional classes, I just don't buy it that it was CMAS's fault.

Look, the job of the traditional music teacher at the school - at any school - is very tough; and having done it for years, I can vouch for the fact that it stretches the traditional teacher far too thin to possibly succeed at their best level all the time in all aspects. But blaming CMAS for the drop in numbers is not only unfair, it's untrue.

OK. I just wanted to get that out. My personal goal, if I am very lucky, once the CMAS curriculum is fully implemented and running (likely within the next 18 months or so) is to help revitalize the traditional program. Who knows, maybe reinvent it a bit...if they'll let me.

Music Education Irony: Or how I try to justify a very strange set of circumstances and call them totally logical and obvious

2010-04-18T22:40:00.002-07:00

Truth: I was never any good at being the "Band guy." Though I was always thrilled to be able to guide students toward a common musical goal (marching band shows, festivals, and such) I never felt like it was really me; and I am not certain I was very good at it either. As I completed the transition to the full CMAS program, despite all the seemingly endless variables with creating a new type of music program, at least I could be assured that, at its core, CMAS was more a true reflection of myself than all my previous work in education.

I suppose I need to admit that in some ways I live with a continual urge to offer a kind of apology to all my former band and orchestra students. I wonder if the experience I provided them was really as viable as it could have been. This is not false modesty - my experience with CMAS has shown me that the right environment (musical, educational) makes so much possible. Makes it simpler, more direct, and frankly far easier for the students to achieve. But, as usual, I digress...

Here's the thing. When I left the "Band guy" behind for CMAS I assumed that I was also leaving behind all the trappings of that moniker. In particular, the football game halftime shows. Oops!

A while back, as we were discussing all the aspects of implementing the CMAS program at the school, I had a conversation with my Principal (Dr. Anne-Marie Woolsey - as an aside, if CMAS is at all successful, it is in no small way do to her support. More on her and Dr. Mitch Simmons, our other key supporter, later) about how, in theory, CMAS could produce some pretty cool halftime shows, similar to the Superbowl, given the right circumstances. Over time, whenever we would meet to talk CMAS, the topic would return, and eventually it moved from a theoretical future possibility to a reality that begins this fall.

Certainly this marks a serious change in the community dynamic at the school - the band program has been on the decline for a long time - nationally the trend is similar, if not as pronounced, for what it's worth - and CMAS's success is likely not helping the situation (a discussion on why CMAS is only a small part of the equation, not the root cause, at another time) and there is simply an historical connection, and expectation, that there will be a marching band at the game; but it also marks an opportunity to further extend the paradigm shift that CMAS has precipitated, generally, in music education.

We're still very much in the planning stages, but the premise is basically a full on, albeit short, rock concert in the middle of the football field, with complete lighting and sound. Yikes! Is there a stronger word for this than "crazy?" I'll write more on the details as we work them out, but for now the point is that a) it really is happening, b) we are lucky to be able to tap in to some serious grant money to make it happen (ironically, CMAS is far less expensive, even with this new aspect, to operate than a traditional music program) and c) I am back to football games. Hmmm....careful what you wish for...

College comes faster now

2010-03-27T18:44:00.001-07:00

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.

Another great guest artist

2010-03-19T21:55:00.001-07:00

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.

In Your Back Yard

2010-03-14T21:33:00.003-07:00

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.

McCartney got it right

2010-03-08T22:23:00.001-07:00

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?

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):

Harmony

2010-03-07T16:07:00.001-07:00

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.

The real deal

2010-02-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, we were lucky enough to host Ryan Star (www.rstar.net). What an amazing talent this guy is. Among other things, if you know the show "Lie to Me," he wrote and performs the theme song. I cannot say enough good things about him. He was incredibly gracious to both me and my students and it was just a wonderful afternoon.

As an educator I was really glad to have someone of his caliber talk with my students about his experiences in the music industry. It was also very cool to see many of my students step up and ask some really great questions - not only of Ryan, but also of Ken Lane (Senior VP with Atlantic) who was also there.

Ryan was very good about pulling no punches with the students. After performing for a bit, he took lots of questions and was very open about how hard he has had to work and about how much focus his journey has required. It was very inspiring, but also very good for the students to hear about the realities of the industry. Neither Ryan or Ken were overtly negative, they were just very honest and it made for a great educational afternoon. Plus the music was awesome.

On a personal level, I learned a ton. It was very cool to hang for a bit and make a new musical friend - someone in my own age demographic. In fact, Ryan, was really kind in his comments about the program and me. He kept telling me how much he wished he'd had program like this when he was in school. Funny thing is, as I told him, that was the very point of creating it - I had had the same thought years ago.

Ryan is clearly very grounded and, like I said, I cannot say enough good things about his music. More than that though, he struck me a very decent person. The kind of guy you'd wanna be friends with regardless of his occupation or success. I'm really glad to be able to call him a friend.

The freedom that comes from cutting ties

2010-02-21T16:12:00.001-07:00

About a week or so ago, I stopped using a Blackberry and went back to a more, shall we say "modest" phone. The various specific reasons for the change aside, I can honestly say, I wish I had made the transition back sooner.

Certainly there are some obvious economic advantages, but those seem rather trivial on the whole, certainly when compared to the real advantage of not having the "smart" phone (I am beginning to seriously question the use of that term in this context). For all the months I had the Blackberry I grew increasingly tied to it. Somewhat unwittingly - Michele does correctly point out that she repeatedly tried to call my attention to this - I became rather obsessive with it. Any message from anyone had to be read and returned immediately. There is a compelling argument that my personality simply doesn't allow for moderation of usage of such things; but true or not, I am certainly glad to be rid of the thing. I'm glad I had the opportunity to make use of the Blackberry for a while, but I am so much satisfied without it.

Case in point: Friday evening Michele and I attended a concert of a band a friend of ours plays in. Great group called The Union Band (formed in '67 and still going strong) you should check them out. Anyway, it was very funny to watch some of the people there and their way of taking in the show. Glued to iPhones and Blackberries, messaging away, seemingly unable to actually enjoy the music and the people around them - unable to just be there. It was actually really sad in a way - to be all alone yet in a crowd of supposed friends - how unfulfilling that would be. Like I said, sad. Watching this, I realized just how much happier I was to be able to simply dance and hold my wife's hand, kiss her and just enjoy the night - I felt very lucky to be there with her and our friends - together, in the moment for real. I think there is a lyric for a new song emerging out of this (mybe even will make it in the new CD, who knows) Something like:

"Your PDA is your best friend,
Mine - the world sees me kiss my wife
These are very different messages we send
Mine is by far the better life"

Needs some work, but I like the concept. I guess this all kinda relates to my post about "The perfect piece of gear," and I am curious to see how this will inform my writing and producing. Life is always a journey - what a fun ride.

The perfect piece of gear

2010-02-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

So as things have started to calm down just a bit from the arrival of Tanner into our family, I find myself drifting back into my musical mindset. I suppose I am the type who never really leaves it, for better of worse, but in any case, Tanner's birth (he and the whole family are doing quite well, by the way) has gotten me thinking about the idea of "new beginnings."

This has carried over even into my teaching as I have been reworking the student recording labs these past days to make them more functional and efficient for their use. Kind of a lab reset or new beginning of its own.

In any case, as we've been setting up gear and such, students have been asking me questions about the individual pieces and such and how I designed the labs and all manner of related questions. One of the topics has been "what do we still need?" It's an interesting area to me, and one that I have decided to broach more directly with them over the coming weeks.

The truth is, the technology of audio is always evolving and changing. No sooner does a piece of gear get released does it seem like another one comes along that is an "improvement." The fact is that there is always more gear to buy. Always a new tool that can improve the end result.

I am not saying that is a bad thing. But over time I have started to wonder where the line really is between the gear we need and the gear we want. Case-in point: preamps.

For the last many years I have been, like so many others, on a quest for the perfect preamp for my studio. The ultimate absurdity of the notion is not lost on me, but I still find myself wondering what might work best for my varied needs. I have been lucky enough to have a lot of friends who have great expertise in such things-certainly more than me-and have been even luckier to be able to borrow any number of pieces to work with and get a sense of their sound in application.

I have no doubt that my assessment may change or evolve over time, but as I write this I have, as of late, had a recurring thought that has grown ever more persistent over time: there is no perfect preamp. This idea of the best combination of mic/preamp/converter is actually becoming funny to me. I think it must have something to do with the fact that, atthe end of the day, I seem always drawn to the song over the production.

I know, I know, seems a bit off given all the time I spend either in production for myself or others, or the fact that I teach so many students about the skills required for excellent production; but none-the-less, there it is. Even if I stipulate that I am not very good at it, I always view myself first as a writer. I tend to want the music to inform the production, not the other way around. I suspect that is one of the principle reasons that my music tends to be so acoustic based. For all the technology I like to use, I tend to want it transparent to a large extent.

To be fair, I am still trying to get my head fully around the implications of this as it relates to the current CD I am attempting to complete, but my gut tells my that the heart of this is accurate, so I feel compelled to go with it.

The gear does matter. There is some truth in notion of "garbage in garbage out" but in the end I feel that rather than search for the perfect piece of gear, it's far better to be searching for the perfect song.

Tanner and Gray videos (the important things in life)

2010-01-25T21:19:00.016-07:00

(hint: turn off music player above before playing these videos)

Tanner at 20 minutes...

Gray meets Tanner part 1 (1/25/10)...

Gray meets Tanner part 2...

Gray meets Tanner part 3...

Gray meets Tanner part 4...

Gray the day before Tanner...

Student Focus Threshold

2010-01-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

As established deadlines approach and the pressure to complete projects mounts, some students start to suddenly realize that their use of time did not necessarily go as planned. For some, it's due to things beyond their control: got sick and had to miss class, needed gear was unavailable for one reason or another, etc. (I'm not gonna go into the ways it is within their control, but you can assume what you like - it's not that much of a stretch. Anyway...)

When this happens, invariably I will get asked if there is an option for an extension of some kind. In many cases, I grant one - I am certainly not going to penalize a student for things they cannot control - but, that is not always best for them in the long run. Sure, in the controlled environment of a classroom, moving a date is easy and does not usually. in truth, create a lasting, direct, negative impact on anyone or anything. Certainly, I am not going to suffer any consequences over any thing of that nature as the instructor - frankly, I am still not sure anyone really understands what I teach any way to be able to draw any sort of erudite conclusions (myself included.)

But, indirectly, the result could be really devastating. I do not mean to be overly dramatic, but think about it for a moment. A student learns that deadlines are generally flux. They learn to not be quite so specific with them. They, in a very real sense, lessen their chances for continued employment. Truly. If you keep missing deadlines, no matter what the reason, your clients, at some point, start to go somewhere else.

So recently I have chosen a different take on this sometimes seemingly pervasive issue. "What's your threshold for focus?" The answer to this question for any student (to be fair, in any pursuit, not just music) is the key. At what point of compensation are you willing to get the job done regardless of the time limits or gear issues or whatever other parameter is impeding completion? The details are not really relevant, oddly enough. It's actually simple economics. At some point, in their mind, there is a threshold where their full focus will kick in regardless of the details to complete the work. At some point they will do whatever it takes because the compensation is worth the hassle.

Maybe it's $10; or $100; or $1000; or $10,000; or whatever. Again, the details, in this case, are not the issue. The only issue is simply that the threshold does exist; and once identified we can establish work ethic, work quality, and any number of other relevant base-lines. And if a student can identify their specific threshold and then treat every project like that point has been met, well, they can accomplish literally anything they set their skills to.

Of course, I cannot pay them in anything but a grade, but it is clear to me that the students who take their work seriously are already exploring where their focus threshold is. My hope is that they all someday are in situations where they can dictate the terms of a deal with a client and eclipse that threshold. And maybe send me some small percentage as a token for having set them on the path in the first place...ha!

Student Technology Gap

2010-01-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

Every now and again, I will have a conversation with other educators about the use of technology in the classroom. I always find it very enlightening to discuss this topic as it servers to help me refine my own methodologies in the area. Once in a while though I get comments like, "You know, the kids know far more about his stuff than we do."

When I was first developing the concept for the Contemporary Music and Sound program, having not even begun to create the curriculum, I was presented with this theory by two, highly respected arts educators. To be honest, my initial reaction was to be a bit shocked. It seemed so odd to me that educators of any level would infer that students had nothing more to learn; or worse that there was some sort of generational gap that prevented anyone of a certain age being a viable instructor. Odd. Truth be told, I later came to learn the comment was more a reaction to the CMAS concept as a whole and a sort of veiled effort to block its creation in the first place. Obviously, the success of the program rendered this mute, but I digress (as usual)...anyway...

What I have become more fascinated with over the years is the realities of student understanding of technology. Here is my current sense of this subject: In some ways my earlier mentioned colleagues are correct-students today do seem more inclined to use technology than say my parents were. But where they seemed to have missed the point is in the details. For example, the willingness to use technology does not necessarily correspond to a real understanding of the technology.

Here's an example: Year two students get to a point where they are ready to take their recording sessions they have created in Pro Tools and transfer them to a more consumer friendly medium - an .mp3, for example. Now the task of learning to record to in Pro Tools is not simple. It takes a considerable amount of work, concentration and self-discipline and effort on the pat of the student. There is a massive technological understanding required of the student be successful, even with the most basic of recording sessions. Frankly, it is one of the most enjoyable educational moments to witness as a student successfully crosses that ability threshold.

To that end, if we go with the theory posed by my colleagues, and even forgiving them to somewhat myopic view that the use of a DAW such as Pro Tools as something a student could easily gain on their own, their logic falls tragically short in the creation of the final .mp3. Ironically, I even fell a bit prey to this kind of thinking at first. The file format conversion to the .mp3 format is, I had thought, a fairly simple process in, for example, iTunes. Without intending to follow my colleagues lead, I assumed that all my students had a rudimentary understanding of programs like iTunes. After all, they all seem to have iPods or mp3 players of some kind, so it seemed like a fairly obvious conclusion that they understood the format conversion process - certainly to get he data onto their players they must have done the convertion, otherwise they would have nothing to listen to.

It turns out however that their understanding was limited to a very specific set of circumstances. Change even one of the variables and they could not be successful. It's kind of like when I drive a car. If there is gas in it and it is operating"normally" I can pretty much drive as needed to whatever destination is required. However, if there is some issue with the engine, I have absolutely no idea what to do to make the car function normally again. Not a clue.

And so I now see the implementation of technology in education as a function of process more than anything else. It's not so much teaching the student which buttons to press when, it's more about teaching them how the button works. Not so much the mechanics of it, but how it "talks" to all the other buttons - how they are interrelated - how their proper use accomplishes a specific task more efficiently. Even better is when the student learns to make self-imposed critical evaluations of new, in some cases, as yet to be covered in the curriculum, topics. "I took the ideas of this thing and wanted to see how they would work in application on this other thing." Even if the result is less than perfect, the exploration of the process is being cultivated and in the long run that kind of inclination or instinct is invaluable.

Closing on a cynical note, one of the colleagues I mentioned has retired and the other, I think, is soon to follow. Makes me wonder if in retirement, they'll be calling their grandkids to get instructions on how to use the TV or if they'll be brave enough to open the manual and learn it for themselves.

A music education experience circle completed

2009-11-29T20:25:00.002-07:00

Teach enough students for long enough and eventually you start to experience some of your own lessons. For a while now I have been "ranting" both here and in my classes about the need to always look for a new perspective whenever a musical experience starts to feel overdone. A few days ago I found myself with that exact need and the end result proved very inspiring.

I was sitting in on drums for a friend's band - something I have been doing more of lately and have been enjoying so much that I now, somewhat secretly I suppose, am hopeful to do more of it more often. Anyway, four hours of "classic" cover songs is usually not exactly my idea of musical euphoria these days. Yes, I see the hypocrisy of my attitude - I should only be so lucky as to have a band, any band, cover one of my own songs, but I digress...

Anyway, in an effort to make things a bit more interesting for me, I decided to see what would happen if I played the kit for the entire night "left hand lead." (see Simon Phillips for pretty much the absolute master in this technique.) Turned out the 4 hours flew by for me. What a blast!

Sure a simple lesson in the end, and one that I should have known would produce results, but while in the midst of it I was really captivated. Looks like there will be at least a breif addendum to my Monday lectures...

New Creative Perspectives

2009-11-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

Let's be honest. On some level the Singer-Songwriter paradigm has been successfully, and fully mined by some of the world's greatest musical artists. That is not to say the art form is dead or irrelevant - far from it, there are countless amazing songs being turned out even today - but the fact is that the notion of innovation in the genre is a good bit less present. The sense of "Wow! I never expected that." Is not really all the common. There are certainly great shows and amazing performances and all that, but that is not really what I am referring to. I am looking more at the notion of approach to the craft.

So, as I am completing the writing of my next CD, I have decided to conduct a little musical experiment on myself. Worse case, I will have some great teaching opportunities with my students with regard to technology and how it relates to the creative process; but my real hope is to push my own musical perceptions to such a further point that while the sonic end result sounds "normal" the creative/performance process of the individual tracks is new, unique, and inspiring.

Here's one example: The Matrix Piano. Now there are lots of far better musicians than I, using devices like the Monome, or the new Launchpad, and others to interface with sound; but, with respect to their work, the results generally seem somewhat musically counter intuitive, and many times I am - granted cinically - left with the thought, "OK, but where is the song?"

(Forgive the overly jargon based next bit, by the way...) What I am working with right now is developing a viable matrix on an 8x8 grid MIDI controller that will allow for diatonic based musical thoughts processed through a vastly different perspective that the standard piano keyboard. To be fair, I am also working with the same 8x8 matrix in a more guitar fingerboard based context just to cover another base. We'll see.

The point is that if I am very lucky the end result will be music that is still considered viable and appealing to the listener, but the content more compelling due to the shift in creative process priorities - or more to the point my perspective on the creation/performance of the songs. As I said, if nothing else, this should provide some pretty cool teaching moments, which is no small benefit in and of itself.

Oh, for those few of you who have been emailing and such about the new CD's progress, I promise, even with this new creative approach, it is very much in the works, the music is something pretty special, and I'd like to think worth the wait; but, in the end, all that I suppose is up to you.

The student who creis wolf

2009-11-14T08:10:00.002-07:00

My more advanced student kinda hit a temporary wall a few days ago. The good news is that we got past it fairly quickly, but their initial impression of the situation, and treating the matter as essentially insignificant, struck me as troublesome.

The assignment had been to create a series of musically related themes (7 seconds, 15 seconds, and 24 seconds) that could be used in a news broadcast - a station had actually requested the work from them, so this was not entirely a hypothetical task for them. Anyway, as a way to ensure a certain amount of quality control, I asked them provide the actual ProTools session data, not just the final mixes. I had explained that this was an important part of the work they were doing so that there would be the opportunity to make any last corrections and thereby ensure a certain level of quality control.

For the most part they did a pretty good job, but a few either did not follow the instructions regarding the timings or in providing the actual session data. The issue of a grade for the work aside, when I brought this up to the class, several students commented that since the end result sounded so good (which it certainly did) that it should not really matter that the details of the actual assignment were incorrect.

And so ensued a bit of a rant on my part dealing with the need to make sure that you always provide the client with exactly what they request. No matter what. Now, if in the process you come up with something even better, then it is certainly viable to provide that as well, but to essentially ignore the specific request, can easily jeopardize the possibility of new work later from the client.

Granted I was on a bit of rant, but it was like I was speaking gibberish. There seemed to be a complete disconnect over the realities of how the industry really works. Artistic freedom must be earned, and I now realize that may be a far harder concept for my students to grasp than I had originally speculated.

We talked further, and it proved an interesting conversation, but it was such an odd starting point to me. I know full well that there is an immense amount of talent in that room. Frankly, I find it staggering what they are capable of; but the confusion of arrogance with ego (another, more detailed topic for another time) was concerning.

One even commented, "Would you tell Bob Dylan to change his music for something like this?" Of course not. Even if he was willing to have some of his music used in a news spot, it would likely be taken from already completed work, not a request for new material for this specific objective. And even then, no, I would not tell Bob Dylan to change his music. But the comment is a bit absurd any way, and the fact that the absurdity was not immediately seen is really my point here.

Dylan has such a proven track record that he walks into a room with a musical credibility of such magnitude that anything he says has to be taken seriously. But a 16 year old does not have that. The trip-up for them was to think this referred to a lack of talent. It's sort of the like a reverse boy-who-cried-wolf: students, younger musicians, have to be establish that they can successfully navigate within the rules first. Then once they break them, a client knows it was done for a musically valid reason, not just cause it's the easy way out.

Learning curve - student musical maturity

2009-11-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

Last night my students put on one of their CMAS concerts and, in addition to proving they are able to continually raise the bar each time with regard to their writing, performance, and production skills, they also demonstrated a new kind of musical maturity that I had not seen yet from them.

The shows themselves are pretty musically diverse since there are so many styles and tastes across the student demographic of the program. This is made all the more pronounced since they can only perform original material at the event so they, like most of us, write what they enjoy. This is all good, and after so many years of this, not really very suprising to me.

What was interesting about last night was that for the first time there seemed to be this universal sense that no matter the performer, no matter the style or skill level, every act was going to be given the same "start treatment." Keep in mind that the program is so big (a great problem to have) that many students working the production end of the show do no know all of the performers that well, if at all. This is significant and it was very interesting to simply observe them transition from "I'm going to do a good job just for my friends," to a far more mature, "I'm going to do a good job for everyone, because there are hundreds of people here watching this show and I need to make sure they get their money's worth."

It was even more impressive when we did the post show debrief that we always have to hear comments solely related not to, "I want 'this' or 'that' next time for me," but "I have an idea how we can train the newer student's in the program to learn to be more involved in the success of the event."

They are starting to see the forest-for-the-trees and it's pretty cool. Of course, each time they raise the bar it moves that much higher, so it'll be interesting to see if they can maintain this for their next show in mid-December.

The truth behind good music - what exactly are we teaching? (part 1)

2009-11-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

If there is only one thing I have learned from teaching, it's that students generally seem obsessed with the idea of "good versus bad" music. ""I like this...I don't like that...", etc. In and of itself there is nothing wrong with this. Frankly as consumers, it's important to evaluate what we're listening to based on personal preferences. But as a student of music, if you don't move past that point of evaluation you risk missing out on some really wonderful things.

I encourage my students to take a different approach. Start with good versus bad - if nothing else it's good to get that part out of the way - but then move on to a more important question, "is it viable?" In other words, like it or not, is it, on some musical level, working?

The distinction is important. The issue of good versus bad is always going to be pretty subjective. No real way around that, and to some extent it's a bit of a waste of time after a while. But the concept of musical validity is far more objective because it allows you to focus on actual fundamental music concepts. And if even one of those concepts can be found represented in the music in question then there is another way to get inside the music past "I like it so I'll work on it," or some such.

And that's the key step. At that point you're open to whatever the music holds for its own sake, not because of personal preference. That seems like a pretty good teaching goal to me.

Turn up the silence - are iPods and other mp3 players the enemy?

2009-11-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

Many of my students are, at times, of the impression that I deliberately try to act against their own sense of logic. Now, to be fair, there is probably some truth to that idea, though not in the manner they identify.

One example would be my desire for a fairly quiet learning environment. Keep in mind that I run a music program. A rock music program. But here's the thing: the issue is not so much the "quiet," it's the need to be able to accurately hear everything.

This has been one of the more significant learning experiences for me in developing and facilitating the CMAS (Contemporary Music and Sound) program. I guess I've been doing so much of this kind of work for so long that the notion of being able to really hear the details seemed kinda self-evident to me. Apparently not.

On the other hand, it's not really the students' fault. The proliferation of iPods and mp3 players (I have a treasured iPod myself) has been a really good thing in many ways, except perhaps for one: they create an artificial sense of auditory isolation. I say artificial because the fact is that by listening almost exclusively in headphones a person simply does not hear the elements of the recording accurately. Not even close. It's just the physics of it. (See my comments about crossfeeding for more on this and how to get around the problem.)

So they have learned to hear very inaccurately, and this inaccuracy has created a false sense of auditory reality when they work. The toughest lesson I find for even my more advanced level students is the process of replacing their past auditory expectations with new, more accurate, instincts. It takes a while, but it certainly can be done; and it's very cool when one of them takes a step forward on it, but it definitely takes some pretty serious patience to say nothing of deliberate, work on their part.

Like everything else though it is a process. One I suppose I have become somewhat hypersensitive to. I love my iPod but actually use it almost exclusively as part of my car audio system - I rarely use it with headphones. In fact, now that I am so obsessed with crossfeeding, I am not certain I could use it with headphones and not go a bit nuts without some kind of CF workaround - gotta look into that I suppose.

Anyway, back to my students and my love of messing with their logic - it's really not about the silence, it's about being able to hear. On the other hand, I always know when a student really has learned the key elements of the program: when they are able to make the distinction freely on their own. Who knows, maybe in this case, logic is over-rated.

Wolves and Sheep (update)

2009-11-01T22:41:00.002-07:00

Somewhere in the chaos I had the idea that at least part of this blog would be to document the creation of my next album, "Wolves and Sheep," so taking a bit of a break from my music education observations, here's the current scoop:

So right now there are about 15 songs in various states of completion - in other words, the basic framework is complete, though there may be some minor re-writing to do on either the music, lyrics, or both. Of those, 5 or so are fully composed, though I suppose once I get to tracking them in the studio, a whole 'nother set of options will likely open up. There are also a literally countless group of riffs and ideas that may or may not turn into fully formed pieces. Also, in general, nothing is for sure till the song is fully realized in production, so certainly those numbers are gonna change.

In any case, the seemingly endless stops and starts on this for the past year or so seem to be finally aligning themselves into a workable plan and the project is beginning to take a form of sorts. The basic idea is to create a two part CD. The first half will be the music presented in "normal" mixes for standard audio systems like home stereos, cars, etc. The second half will be the same material presented in crossfed mixes specifically intended for headphone listening, which, thanks to the massive popularity of mp3 players, has become an equally typical listening environment.

Of course with the limitation of only 80 minutes available on a CD, this really means only 40 minutes of unique material. Interestingly, this is having the unintended effect making me be perceived by some as a kind of recording arts purist as that is pretty much the limit that was experienced during the years when vinyl records were the standard format for distribution. To be fair, I probably am a bit of a purest in general, but it was only recently that I found it evidenced in such a way.

Ok, so enough the trivial, the real essence of this project seems to be that the sound itself has evolved significantly over the past year or so. As an example, the rhythm tracks are all being dominated by really cool world percussion grooves that I have to say have been a blast to compose, play and record. There are still drum kits within the textures, but there is a different kind of life to these tunes largely due to the timbre shift. Another element taking hold is the use of choirs. Full on, massive choirs, in some cases, not just the expected, if not typical, vocal harmonies and overdubbing. Certainly this is adding a significant load to the production end of things; but, man, it's also really pushing me musically, which, all the rest of it aside, I find just fantastic.

The last part of all of it may be the more "ambient" material that has been emerging lately. It seems to be an offshoot of a lot of the looping I seem to be fond of when performing live, but that is not always a true representation of the original recording of the song. Hard to tell at this point where that is gonna lead, but I guess that's the beauty of all this. As it evolves, I can continue to update.

A working theory

2009-10-31T23:43:00.002-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to do some final testing on my crossfeeding headphone mixing procedures and I am happy to report that it is, so far, remarkably successful. The basics of this last testing was pretty simple. I produced an entire 23 track CD - about 70 minutes of music with a wide variance in style/genre - entirely using my crossfeeding methods.

The proof of the success was equally simple. The sample tracks of the final CD have gone over unbelievably well. The implications of this are pretty significant. The most obvious are that I am now capable of doing high end studio work pretty much anywhere, anytime - a blissfully freeing notion. It also means an incredibly important tool for my students. It means that the cost of a "pure" room for mixing, for anyone, is now rooted almost entirely in the cost of a high quality set of headphones - imagine, for example, the benefit to college students studying audio production living in dorms. (FYI, Earbuds, and anything by Bose, are not going to be acceptable for any kind of quality result due to a lack of uniform frequency response and a significant tendency to color the sound, respectively.) There is also the possibility of creating a version of the process within the RTAS, VST, and AU plug-in formats which might mean a viable monetizing opportunity.

Anyway, as this all begins to play out, it is really exciting to know that the results are being so well received. Makes me feel like there are countless possibility opening up.

Joy versus fun

2009-10-30T23:48:00.001-07:00

The list of former teachers of mine who were far kinder and patient with me than I deserved is surely staggering. One of the more significant (to be fair, there are certainly many) is Robert Billups. Actually, Dr. Robert Billups, but I recall he had an aversion to such monikers - yet another important lesson he taught me. I knew Bob while at the University of Arizona in the mid-1990s. He was one of my conducting professors (the other was Gregg Hanson - whom along with Bob, rank as tow of the most musically pure people I have ever known.)

Anyway, Bob was the director of the U of A orchestras, briefly, till he had to take an eventually permanent leave of absence due to some medical issues. I was lucky enough to be one of his TAs for a bit of time, and he really opened up a whole new perspective of music to me. But of all the lessons I learned with him the one I still hold dearest is also the one that was the most subtle. In fact, I don't ever remember actually talking about it with him in any of our countless conversations. And yet, as I look back, I cannot help but always come to it. The lesson was simply this: Joy.

Bob always struck me as pretty scholarly. Like Gregg, he always seemed very musically wise and always, always a least one step ahead of me - usually several. But over time I have come to have a far different image in my head when I think of Bob: the joyous, beaming smile. Particularly when conducting.

It took me years of growing up to feel like I had even a cursory understanding of it, and even now I am not certain that I am there yet. Bob literally radiated joy when he was on the podium. It was simply undeniable, and, I now realize, strikingly infectious. No matter the quality of the sound created, it seemed impossible to leave one of Bob's rehearsals feeling bad. You just could not do it. The joy was too palpable.

On the other hand, I recall several times, after running a rehearsal myself, symphony members coming up to me and asking if I could not do more of the conducting as they felt Bob's was at times so hard to follow. I'm embarrassed to admit that at the time I was very flattered by this, and it served to boost my ego in ways I certainly did not and still do not deserve. But more to the point, a while ago I realized that the problem was really not Bob's conducting, it was that the symphony members who would speak to me were looking for the wrong things from him, and worse, they actually missed a priceless opportunity.

But we seem to be overwhelmed with the need to have fun. It is not remotely the same thing. If there is only one thing I would like my students to learn it is that joy and fun are not the same thing. As I have said, music is about joy.

"Joy" – noun: the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.

"Fun" – noun: something that provides mirth or amusement.

Fun is far too fleeting. Plus, eventually, no matter how "gifted" you are, the fun is going to stop and you're going to have to do some real work to musically evolve. I firmly believe this is the point were so many people stop playing music. I hear it all the time. "Well, ya' know, I just kinda lost interest." Give me a break! No you didn't. I simply don't believe that. What I think happened is that you lost your sense of the pure joy music can give you. Remember the feeling you got from music when you were the age of my two year old son, Gray? That's the pure joy of music. I hope Gray is able to retain it. In any case, I also believe it's because it's just so much simpler to focus on having fun; but again, once it feels like work - and if there is no joy to counter that - well, of course you lose interest. Who wouldn't?

I know it sounds harsh - which is not my intent - but I am so convinced of this theory of "Musical Joy," that I feel it self-evidently universal. Historically, so many of us view Beethoven as an ultimate musical genius - a label he certainly deserves; but we also know he struggled - he worked, hard - to write his music at times. (By the way, I know the easy path here would be to simply point out the subtext of his 9th symphony - the "Ode to Joy" - but I am not going to take the easy path on this one.) Even if one wanted to blame that struggle on his going deaf, the fact is it required a nearly inhuman work-ethic to accomplish all he did. We know from his own letters and journals that he struggled. Constantly battling his own diminishing sense of self as his illness (check out a fantastic book called "Beethoven's Hair" for the details) took more and more control. Certainly not fun.

No. I personally believe what really kept him going was that he managed to retain that pure sense of musical joy that first captured him when he started his musical journey as a young child. I for one have never bought into the accounts that claimed Beethoven to be arrogant. I believe is was simply certain. Not of himself, of his music. Somewhere inside he always retained the joy. My proof? Listen to his music. Or better yet, play it yourself. Either way the joy is there. Even when the context is dark, as it often was with Beethoven, there is still joy.

And so I come back to the seemingly simple lesson I got from Robert Billups about joy and fun. It has nothing to do with musical style or genre. In fact, it is not exclusive to music. It applies to anything we do in life. What Bob was able to do, I am certain I could work for the rest of my life every day, and still not quite have it right. He was joyous on the podium. Always. Every time. Sure his technique was imperfect. So what? I now know real music has little if anything to do with technique. Real music is about joy. Perfect, pure joy. It was miraculous to watch him. Joyous.

Greetings from the road

2009-10-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I don’t tour very much these days, but I am sitting in with a friend’s band tonight for a pre-Halloween party, and am writing this while on a short break in the set. (posting likely after the gig.)

I don’t play out nearly as much as I used to for any number of reasons, and in so many ways I miss it. On the other hand, the club scene is such a hassle, and I am sure I it is a sign of my age that I have far less patience for it than I used to. Plus I seem to grow weary of playing cover songs after a while - am forever more interested in creating something new of my own. Obviously audience opinions vary on this, but I digress.

On the other hand there is something truly joyful about playing with a group of people just for the sake of playing, for an audience that is just there to enjoy the moment with you. And that makes me think of a lesson I wish I was able to impart on my students easier: Joy and fun are not he same thing and joy is so much more satisfying in the long run.

Music is a show of joy to me. No matter the style or sound, even in the darkest of context, there is still an intrinsic element of joy. I know I need to fully explain this, but for now it’s back to the show. Anyone seen a roadie or two to carry my gear to my car later?....

All or nothing

2009-10-28T22:39:00.001-07:00

I had a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine today about how music education is changing. My friend, Evan Tobias, is a Music Education professor at ASU. For what it is worth, as much as there are people who claim I am a "cutting edge" music educator, Evan has me beat by far.

Anyway, we were talking about how there are all these backwards perceptions of music that seem to permeate educators on all levels, and then these same people seem so shocked when they are forced to come to grips the realities of a changing musical world. Evan is far more diplomatic than I am, but I could not help but to refer to them as fundamentalists.

We talked about all kinds of permutations, but they all seemed to come down to a single overriding concept: the notion that music is not, or should not, evolve is ridiculous. Think about it. Most music education is solely focused on the music and music techniques that have long since past. That is not to say they are irrelevant - that kind of thinking actually makes me just as upset (and I think Evan too, though I do not want to speak for him - check his blog to get more specifics from him.) It's more about this prevailing sense of some music is valid and some is not. Drives me crazy.

And let's not forget that this goes both ways. I spend so much time working with my more "contemporary" students on seeing the value of "classical" music to their own work. A tip if you are ever having to do something like that. Approach it from the standpoint of the composer's motivation. What was being said with the music? That kind of insight is far more universal than you might think. Using that approach I have turned a huge number of rock oriented musicians into fairly well versed classical fans. Frankly once the door to universal musical validity is opened, it seems like a flood gate that cannot be closed. Also works the other way with more "traditional" students as well.

Evan and I spoke for a quite a bit of time about all this, and basically decided that the musical standards we have all come to know are not the problem. It's the application of those standards that is the real issue. By the way, I am fully aware of my bias on this subject - I did, in a very small way, "pioneer" a new type of music education, but still, any time we are deliberately setting limits...well, that just seems so "unmusical" to me, if I can be that cliche.

All music students should learn to view all music as valid. All of it. There should certainly be personal preferences and tastes to guide us, but the notion that some is more viable than others is very hard for me to reconcile.

I must confess that our conversation was hardly confrontational as we both hold pretty much the same views on this subject, but to that end, I think Evan's idea of a kind of consortium of like minded thinkers in this area could really help. I cannot believe he and I are the only ones that think this way.

Lots more from me on this subject, I am sure, in the future. Stay tuned.

Art versus artist

2009-10-27T23:25:00.001-07:00

The need to reconcile the art from the artist can be tricky. Many of my students have been talking about the new Michael Jackson film, "This Is It." At the same time, MJ has become a bit of a punchline these days, which is kind of a shame. Not in relation to what he may or may not have done outside of the recording studio/off stage - the fact is, we, don't really know - but that those things tend to over shadow all the brilliant music. That is not to in any way imply his musical genius is any kind of excuse for any kind of behavior - quite the contrary; but it is sad to me that in the later years of his life he was generally equally known for the controversy surrounding him as he was for his music.

It actually makes me wonder what his motivations were in some ways. Even a cursory look at his life, particularly his childhood, makes it obvious he was not "normal." I've watched several documentaries on MJ and I always wind up disgusted by him as a person, but with a tinge of sympathy towards him. Frankly, I have no idea if he did the things he was acussed of; honestly, what tore it for me was when he held his own child out of that balcony some years ago. Who does that? At that point, regardless of all the rest, he lost me forever as far as MJ the person. To say nothing if any of the other accusations should ever prove true. Remember, all we really have in the public record is an acquittal and a lot very questionable behavior that I, for one, have a tough time thinking does not point towards him being guilty; but we just don't know as an absolute 100% certainly.

And how ironic if it should turn out he really was guilty. It would be naive to think that he was also not continually exploited and taken advantage of by all kinds of people throughout his life. Does that make it ok? If you steal from a thief, you are also a thief. Sad. There are so many victims of so many crimes here.

And it's pretty easy to knock the guy in terms of his not being a well grounded individual. Just look at what he did to himself physically. Forget the skin pigmentation part of it, just the endless plastic surgery alone is pretty off putting. You gotta wonder what was going on in his head, just generally.

But then there is the music. This glorious, brilliant, amazing, ground breaking, music. Does the music excuse the behavior? Certainly not. Absolutely not. But the real question is, does the behavior make the music irrelevant? Perhaps. And here's the thing many student have the hardest time with: there simply is no correct answer. And that might be the worst part of never really knowing what exactly happened with MJ. What exactly he did or did not do. Not because he should be vilified or apologized to - I figure that is ultimately between him and his maker, or at the very least his alleged vicitms - no, in this case the need for the truth is more about the need to fully and accurately separate the art from the artist. If he was guilty, then his musical gift is a tragedy in that is was placed in the hands of someone who simply did not derseve it. If he was innocent, then his musical gift was tragic in that it could not lift him out of his otherwise sad life.

Either way, without the full truth there can never be a correct answer. Art versus artist - it is such a tough call. For the record, I look forward to seeing the new film. I'd like to think that he was just misunderstood; but I fear he was just severely misguided. I am disgusted just at the notion of what may have happened to those kids. I'm also disgusted that we, as a society, allowed the circumstance to go unresolved. We seem to have been too complacent to find the truth, and now we may never know.

Maybe his music was a way to repent for his sins. Sounds nice, but I personally don't believe you can fully repent if you are also hiding from the truth of your life. Art versus artist. Either way, it's very sad.

Guitar Troll

2009-10-26T21:37:00.001-07:00

I get a lot of questions from students with regard to my skills playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I can tell you, without any hesitation, (or concern, for that matter) that I am supremely terrible at such games. They seem perplexed at such a revelation. My nieces and nephews, all of whom seem to be quite accomplished gamers, like to pretty much beat any score I can put up, and then ask me things like, "But Uncle Richard, don't you play these instruments for a living?" I usually cannot come up with much of a good replay beyond a rather meek, "yeah," and then recall how for quite some time, in the years before we had Gray, all of them were the best kind of birth control for my wife and I as we pondered whether or not we wanted to have kids any time soon. On a side note, one of the many reasons I am a fan of Gene Simmons reality show, "Family Jewels," is the episode where the members of Kiss attempt to play their own song on one of the above mentioned games, and fail miserably.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against these games. And, to an extent they actually can teach a bit of rhythm and basic coordination; but they are not remotely like playing a real instrument. To be fair, I have never heard the manufactures claim them to be intended to teach real musical skills. They do, however, work great as a music appreciation tool. I have had several student's comment that they have since become big fans of some pretty iconic classic bands after being exposed to the music on the video games - so they cannot be all bad.

The Tuesday release of the new DJ Hero spin-off of the Rock Band/Guitar Hero games got me thinking about an idea I had with a friend of mine a while back as those games were first originally becoming popular. It's called "Guitar Troll." The idea is simple: you take the guitar controller from one of the games, but rather than play it like an instrument, you use it like a battle axe against your virtual opponent. First round is maybe Pete Townshend and you are judged on who can most creatively destroy a guitar. Then it's on to Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, etc. The details are still being worked out, but I think I at least wanna make up some t-shirts for now, if anyone wants to help promote the idea.

The State of Music Education (part 3)

2009-10-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

What information, at age 15-20 or so, could have made a difference for me in my musical growth? That's pretty much the defining element of this little experiment called the Contemporary Music and Sound program. It's actually a simple concept in retrospect, and there is something to be said for the notion that the most significant educational philosophies are generally the most obvious; but more importantly it's intuitive.

It's interesting to me that for all the attention CMAS has gotten, all the great comments received over the comprehensive and educationally valid curriculum it employs, it was really all developed with that "what would have helped me?" concept in mind.

That is not to say that I do not have a huge amount of respect for my former music teachers - in fact I do. Truth is, over the years, it was my analysis of them as it related to my own teaching skills that, in no small part, convinced me that I needed to find a new direction. It was clear that I was not up to a high enough standard.

So again I come back to luck. The CMAS concept, educationally, has been to find a way to repackage the music fundamentals of theory and technique with more modern sensibilities. I often talk to my students about what it really means to write "pop" music. Ultimately that conversation always leads us to the same place: people like Mozart, Beethoven and all the others, were writing Pop songs for their times. You cannot fault them for not using electric guitars and synths since they were not around, any more than you can fault current musicians for making use of the newer tools available to them. It seems a bit naive to think that Tchaikovsky would not have used a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) if it had been around when he was creating his music.

And that might vey well be why the more traditional minded of my collegues are are having so much trouble. It's not that the music is old. Frankly I find that a ridiculous if not irrelevant descriptor. It's the idea that it is more valid than what is happening now.

I know how harsh that sounds, but, at least to me, and this is what I demand my students to come to terms with, either all music is valid or none of it is. This is not and should not be an area of debate. That is not to say it is all good. "Valid" and "good" are about as related as "joy" and "fun." But as usual, that is a topic for another posting.
(end part 3)

The State of Music Education (part 2)

2009-10-24T22:07:00.001-07:00

The irony of the whole thing is that, if I am to be totally honest, a great deal of my motivation for creating the Contemporary Music and Sound program (CMAS) at the school was purely selfish. After a decade of teaching I found myself longing for a better way to musically connect. For a number of years it had almost felt hypocritical to be pushing students in musical directions that I myself no longer felt were valid.

And I got very, VERY lucky. When I started at the school I was brought on just to be the "band guy." A position that I enjoyed but it was never part of my true musical DNA, as it is with most excellent band directors. I was always more captivated by the possibilities of full symphonies - something I would eventually bring to the school - at one point as many as two full ensembles, actually.

In any case, shortly after I arrived I was asked to take over the guitar program - a popular if not complete waste of time for the kids as there was no defined curriculum of any kind. That took a bit of time to correct, but regardless, from there it all kinda moved along logically (except for the eventual over-stretched part of things for me as I began to take on way too much.) Kids in the guitar classes started to want to know if I might be able to teach them how to write songs since I was always playing mine for them. That lead to a songwriting class, which became hugely popular, in no small part due to the live events we started to put on that soon balloned into a kind of massive production by high school standards. (We are now a fully student produced event with a 25K watt PA, 8 moving lights, hazers, full 16 channel sound and 3 camera recording, etc. - very "Spinal Tap" at this point.)

From there it transformed again as students began to ask me if I might be able to also teach them recording production techniques to go along with what they were already doing with live sound. Keep in mind I was still running the band and orchestra programs at the same time - badly, I would think, to be fair.

The real problem now though was that in order to teach that kind of thing we would need quite a bit of additional resources. I have since learned that a CMAS program is far less expensive to run per student than a band or orchestra in the long run, but the initial investment is a bit much. So here's the really lucky part: I decided to write a complete, detailed, four year curriculum outlining every conceivable facet of CMAS.

And it is a very tough curriculum. CMAS is not an "easy grade." Not even close. I have been told many people who have since reviewed it that it is almost overwhelming the amount of expertise that is required of the students. Almost, they say, but do not change it. There is still a significant amount of "standard" elements: music theory, instrumental techniques, etc. But it is the repackaging of that material into something contemporary and immediate that seems to have caught the attention of the students.

Did I mention the lucky part? I had been getting a lot of encouragement from my administration and some fellow teachers that there were some options for funding. Specifically that the Career and Technical Education folks for both the district and the state were looking for ways to better incorporate fine arts. They loved my concept and curriculum. What I thought was a somewhat lark of an idea quickly became the model for everyone. It has been an amazing ride so far. We have a huge and growing recording lab of 16 ProTools stations and tons of outboard gear and on and on. More importantly, the student interest is massive. So much so that I cannot teach them all, even on an extended contract. Don't get me wrong, it's a great problem to have, but I know full well it is not me. It is the program. The standards I wrote have also been adopted by the state, which added a huge amount of educational credibility, and we are soon to be offering college credit for the 3rd and 4th years of the program as well. Another huge credibility factor. CMAS has changed the music education paradigm. For the better. I feel very lucky to be part of it.
(end part 2)

The State of Music Education (part 1)

2009-10-23T20:16:00.001-07:00

After 12 years as a public school music educator I would hardly call myself an expert in the field. That said, I have not only noticed some trends, but I have been lucky enough to move with them and in the process, perhaps, been able to, at lease in some way, change the paradigm. At least a little.

I suppose this is really about MY state of music education; but anyway, after completing a Masters in Conducting from the U of A in Tucson - something I am still very proud of - I began a journey as a music educator that has proven to be far more life changing than I ever could have anticipated. In the most obvious aspects, I met my wife, also a teacher, along the way, which has now blossomed into our son Gray and soon Tanner, so that part of the "life change" is pretty easy to see.

But the more subtle changes have occurred over the past years as I have both struggled and, I think now in many ways, succeeded in finding a viable balance between my true musical self and my desire to help students further develop their own creative process. It sounds horribly cliche, but, perhaps sadly, I truly believe in it. Regardless of where or who, regardless of if I am actually any good at it or not, my real job is to help others find and develop their creative instincts. Whatever they go on to do later in life, the pursuit of further refined creative instincts is at the top of the list of my priorities.

So I no longer direct orchestras as often as I would like, and though I miss it, if I am being truly honest, I am not certain I was ever very good at it from a technical standpoint. Which is not to say that I did not afford my students educationally beneficial opportunities - I am certain I did. But I am acutely aware that, even with the best of intentions, I may not have always been the best at it.

And after many years of growth for both them and me, it became obvious that a change was needed. I clearly hit a wall a few years ago. I no longer felt I could musically connect with the students as effortlessly as before, and as I look back I realize that I was solely responsibly for that growing lack of connection - not the students. Perhaps I hit that wall that so many educators hit after about 5 years, I do not know. If so, at least I was in year 11 when it happened, so I can claim I beat the odds a bit, no?

In the years prior to that I had been somewhat split between the "traditional" classes of band and orchestra - which I truly loved, and the more "contemporary" classes of Songwriting and Analysis, which I also loved and found to be more internally driving. And then, a kind of miracle that is rare in education happened: I found myself in a situation to develop and pioneer a new type of music program. And out of that came what we now call "Contemporary Music and Sound."

To call CMAS successful would be a great understatement. To call me the reason for its success, would be laughable. In so many ways I am now like a guy how is handing out free money - it's not me they love, it's the money. I can take credit for the concept and the curriculum, but CMAS works on its own, and that may actually be the most significant part of my accomplishment in creating it: it does not need me to work.
(end part 1)

Crossfeed the what?

2009-10-22T22:22:00.002-07:00

So for some time now I have been toying with the seemingly simple concept of being able to do accurate audio mixing with headphones as opposed to standard monitors, the usual term is called "Crossfeeding" and over time I have become a huge fan of it. It started out as just a kind of frivolity - I just thought it might be fun to see what was possible.

But in more recent times it started to become a more significant and legitimate goal. The driving force was really the birth of my first son Gray. My wife Michele has always been pretty tolerant of the studio work I do at home - in fact, she is pretty accomplished on ProTools herself - but when Gray was born a bit over two years ago, it became obvious that a change was needed if I was ever going to be able to get any work done consistently. To be fair, "Dude, "as we sometimes call him, has a pretty good sense of what works in a mix himself; but let's face it, he's still just a two year old, and daddy's work only keeps him interested for so long. Plus, I'm used to working late at night, and that train pretty much left the station once Gray was in the picture, just from a purely practical standpoint.

My other motivation was to create a viable tool for my students to do their work. (I created a Contemporary Music program a few years ago for a public high school that has proven incredibly successful - I got very lucky; more on that in another post very soon) Anyway, there is a practical matter for them both in the recording labs at the school, and also, like me, if they choose to do work at home. So between my own curiosity and needs, and those of my students, it - accurate headphone mixing - became a more pressing priority recently.

Fortunately, the concept has been around for quite some time, originally gaining some prominence, at least in theory, in the early 1970s, so there was a lot of data to cull and develop the methodology I am currently employing. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge a very serious piece of work from John Conover dealing with the spacial distortion research of Siegfried Linkwitz. This pretty much is what allowed me to create the final, successful utility for ProTools.

There are a lot of products these days, particularly higher end headphone amps, and even headphones themselves, making use of various algorithms to create the same effect I have generated, but I find myself now somewhat addicted to the tweaking process and it has been fun to work to fully refine my own method.

So as my new Crossfeeding obsession grows - not insignificant towards my motivation is the success I am having at accurately being able to to mix with a good set f headphones - I began to formulate a way to perhaps rethink my entire creative process as well, not just the way I mix. And thus I came upon "Crossfeed the Mix." A kind of band mentality, even though it's pretty much just me for now. I have no idea where it will take me, but it has been very freeing already not to think of my creative output as me, but as "Crossfeed..." Perhaps it is just my imagination, but as I tell my students, the ability to be able to push your creative process is a powerful and wonderful thing if you handle it the right way.

As I begin work on a new CD, I plan to document my progress in these posts as well as the progress of my other creative ventures, including the music education program I mentioned above and my production company too. Certainly, some family items will make appearances as well, and to that end I figure if nothing else, years from now, should I proved disciplined to keep this up, these posts will help serve as a way for my kids (and grand kids someday) to learn more about me. Not a bad motivator that one either.

A place to begin...

2009-10-21T22:02:00.002-07:00

Is it just me, or does it seem like these days everyone is looking for a way to reinvent themselves? OK, that was way too rhetorical. Of course we are. Well certainly I am; at least to some extent anyway. I guess I have hit some kind of creative rut of sorts. I suppose it is not uncommon; and in many ways, I'm just going through a "phase" that I bet lots of people hit at one point or another. Funny thing is, no matter how much I acknowledge its commonality, it still seems really significant as I am experiencing it.

So here's the quick rundown: 38 years old. Amazing family - sorry, gotta brag: totally hot wife who puts up with me for unknown reasons, wonderful 2 year old son (and another on the way), 2 goofy but very lovable dobermans, etc. etc. I'm actually far happier than I deserve to be. I am even lucky enough to spend most of my time either creating music or helping others learn to tap into their own creative process and make their own music. And, miraculously, all the bills get paid, and we have a nice roof over our heads.

Like I said, I'm far happier than I deserve to be. But where I have run into trouble is with the various attempts at artistic (music) self-expression that have resulted in varying levels of success. In some ways I'd like to think of myself a simply very driven towards a goal. In others, I wonder if I am not just obsessive over a fantasy.

And so, my plan with this blog is to see where the middle ground of all that might be. Somewhere there is a point of synergy between my dreams and my needs and I'm hopeful that these little "rants" might help further foster a sense of viability on my journey. Should be a fun ride, regardless.