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.
Showing posts with label ASU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ASU. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
College comes faster now
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.
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.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
In Your Back Yard
This past week, while on a break from teaching (ha!) I had three very cool musical experiences. Well, actually, there were five, but I will leave for later the discussions about the awesome new preamps in the studio and the massive progress on some very exciting new songs for the CD. So back to the three I started with...
The first, is actually thanks, yet again, to Michele's Mom's club. Through her connection to that group I have become friends with another dad in the group, Brock. Brock is one of the lead teachers at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences here in Phoenix. Needless to say, he is musically on a level I cannot even explain, much less equate myself to - simply, Brock, is a master, in the truest sense of the word. He's also a very cool person, just generally. Though I had heard of CRAS many times, Brock's tour was the first time I had actually spent time in the facilities. I have been in many studios, but this was really incredible - especially for an "educational" institution. The level of skill of the people who attend this school, much less the instructors, is pretty staggering. This is not your 4th or 5th tier audio specialist getting $20 per hour. There are so many gold and platinum albums on the walls, earned by CRAS students that they have to rotate them out into storage every few months. Same goes for the movie posters from all the post production work they have been responsible for. It was simply mind-numbing to walk through. The rooms were just full of so many cool audio "toys" I felt like a kid in a candy shop. This place turns out 48 students, only about 10% or less from Phoenix, every 6 weeks. It's an intense year for them. The most telling thing is that there are only something like three places in town that CRAS feels are acceptable for the required internship each student must complete. Three. That's a pretty high standard. Every know and again I meet someone who is clearly so many steps beyond my skill set that I cannot believe I get to call them friend. Brock is definitely in that category. He's also being kind enough to come speak to my more advanced students about the Conservatory and what the "real" music production world is like. Very cool.
The second was guest speaking at ASU for some Music Ed. classes (one undergrad, and one grad) about the CMAS program I created, for a prof. friend of mind, Dr. Evan Tobias. Evan is a brilliant guy, vastly more forward thinking than most people, and a big fan of what we're doing with CMAS. The opportunity to talk to some of his students about the program was really quite fun. It also forced me to really consider how the program's details are presented just generally. Clearly, I need to address this issue, but I am glad I was at least partially effective as after both classes I found myself talking for quite some time to numerous students about ways to push the music educational envelope. I'm eager to see what the future holds with ASU. Evan already sends me several interns/observers each semester, and I am hopeful that we can create a scenario whereby ASU students might be able to work with me directly as CMAS teaching assistants or something similar.
The third was a brief stroll through a local Zia Records store. It has been a terribly long time since I have been in a record store of any kind. I get almost all my music, as most people these days. on-line. The experience of walking amongst all those rows and rows of actual, tangible CDs (no it's still not the same as the days when I could walk through shelves of vinyl LPs, but still) was really cathartic. It was very freeing to just brows, something that you really cannot do with the same kind of feeling to it online. I plan to do it more often.
It was quite a week.
The first, is actually thanks, yet again, to Michele's Mom's club. Through her connection to that group I have become friends with another dad in the group, Brock. Brock is one of the lead teachers at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences here in Phoenix. Needless to say, he is musically on a level I cannot even explain, much less equate myself to - simply, Brock, is a master, in the truest sense of the word. He's also a very cool person, just generally. Though I had heard of CRAS many times, Brock's tour was the first time I had actually spent time in the facilities. I have been in many studios, but this was really incredible - especially for an "educational" institution. The level of skill of the people who attend this school, much less the instructors, is pretty staggering. This is not your 4th or 5th tier audio specialist getting $20 per hour. There are so many gold and platinum albums on the walls, earned by CRAS students that they have to rotate them out into storage every few months. Same goes for the movie posters from all the post production work they have been responsible for. It was simply mind-numbing to walk through. The rooms were just full of so many cool audio "toys" I felt like a kid in a candy shop. This place turns out 48 students, only about 10% or less from Phoenix, every 6 weeks. It's an intense year for them. The most telling thing is that there are only something like three places in town that CRAS feels are acceptable for the required internship each student must complete. Three. That's a pretty high standard. Every know and again I meet someone who is clearly so many steps beyond my skill set that I cannot believe I get to call them friend. Brock is definitely in that category. He's also being kind enough to come speak to my more advanced students about the Conservatory and what the "real" music production world is like. Very cool.
The second was guest speaking at ASU for some Music Ed. classes (one undergrad, and one grad) about the CMAS program I created, for a prof. friend of mind, Dr. Evan Tobias. Evan is a brilliant guy, vastly more forward thinking than most people, and a big fan of what we're doing with CMAS. The opportunity to talk to some of his students about the program was really quite fun. It also forced me to really consider how the program's details are presented just generally. Clearly, I need to address this issue, but I am glad I was at least partially effective as after both classes I found myself talking for quite some time to numerous students about ways to push the music educational envelope. I'm eager to see what the future holds with ASU. Evan already sends me several interns/observers each semester, and I am hopeful that we can create a scenario whereby ASU students might be able to work with me directly as CMAS teaching assistants or something similar.
The third was a brief stroll through a local Zia Records store. It has been a terribly long time since I have been in a record store of any kind. I get almost all my music, as most people these days. on-line. The experience of walking amongst all those rows and rows of actual, tangible CDs (no it's still not the same as the days when I could walk through shelves of vinyl LPs, but still) was really cathartic. It was very freeing to just brows, something that you really cannot do with the same kind of feeling to it online. I plan to do it more often.
It was quite a week.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
All or nothing
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.
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.
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