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Articles on Music education

Displaying 1 - 20 of 45 articles.

Learning music the informal way some popular musicians do could inspire more school students

Anna Mariguddi , Edge Hill University

Hallelujah, it’s school concert season. A music researcher explains why these performances are so important

Kathleen McGuire , Australian Catholic University

Microphone check − 5 ways that music education is changing

Clint Randles , University of South Florida

How video games like ‘Starfield’ are creating a new generation of classical music fans

J. Aaron Hardwick , Wake Forest University

NZ music schools under threat: we need a better measure of their worth than money

Dugal McKinnon , Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

US music education has a history of anti-Blackness that is finally being confronted

Philip Ewell , Hunter College

If you want your child to be more resilient, get them to join a choir, orchestra or band

William James Baker , University of Tasmania ; Anne-Marie Forbes , University of Tasmania , and Kim McLeod , University of Tasmania

We studied the ‘bibles’ of jazz standards – and found sexism lurking in the strangest place

Wendy Hargreaves , University of Southern Queensland and Melissa Forbes , University of Southern Queensland

An 11-year -old Prince spoke out in support of his striking Minneapolis teachers – a historian of the city’s music scene explains why

Rashad Shabazz , Arizona State University

‘Just as important as English or maths’: how mentoring is bringing music alive for primary school students

Margaret S. Barrett , Monash University and Katie Zhukov , Monash University

You’re not tone deaf and you know more about music than you think

Alexander Albury , Concordia University and Virgina Penhune , Concordia University

Music can help lift our kids out of the literacy rut, but schools in some states are still missing out

Rachael Dwyer , University of the Sunshine Coast and Anita Collins , University of Canberra

Teaching music online in the pandemic has yielded creative surprises, like mixing ‘Blob Opera’ and beatboxing

Robbie MacKay , Queen's University, Ontario

Why improvisation is the future in an AI-dominated  world

Rich Pellegrin , University of Florida

‘We need each other’: Black classical musicians are building supportive communities

Gloria Blizzard , Dalhousie University and Gillian Turnbull , Toronto Metropolitan University

Music education has a race problem, and universities must address it

Jacqueline Warwick , Dalhousie University

Young musicians can perform on virtual stages when schools are closed

Christopher Cayari , Purdue University

How using music to parent can liven up everyday tasks, build family bonds

Lisa Huisman Koops , Case Western Reserve University

Steve Martin’s banjo and other music played from coronavirus isolation show how the arts connect us

Roberta Lamb , Queen's University, Ontario and Robbie MacKay , Queen's University, Ontario

Why some of the best-known tunes, like ‘Happy Birthday,’ are the hardest to sing

Bryan Nichols , Penn State

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• Arts education
• Classical music
• Musical instruments
• music curriculum

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Lecturer in Musicology, Dan School of Drama & Music, Queen's University, Ontario

Professor of Music, Australian Catholic University

Associate Professor at the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University

Professor and Head of Music Therapy, The University of Melbourne

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Adjunct assistant professor, University of Canberra

Associate Professor of Music Education, Public Voices Fellow, DePaul University

Associate Professor, Music Education, University of Missouri-St. Louis

Head of School, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds

Professor of Music, City, University of London

PhD candidate, University of Newcastle

NRF Accredited & Senior Researcher; Lead Coordinator of the South-South Educational Collaboration & Knowlede Interchange Initiative, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Professor of Education Research, School of Education, Durham University

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Your membership has expired, you have tri-m advisor level access, march 2023 marks the 38th music in our schools month®.

/    News Posts    /   March 2023 Marks the 38th Music In Our Schools Month®

This Year’s MIOSM® Theme Is “Music Is All of Us”

RESTON, VA (March 2, 2023)—National Association for Music Education (NAfME) recognizes March as the thirty-eighth annual Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®). This March, music educators and music students will be celebrating music education in their school communities demonstrating how the theme “Music Is All of Us” resonates with them.

“It is because of music’s unique way of bringing people together, creating a sense of belonging, and cultivating relationships that I chose Music Is All of Us as the theme for this year’s Music In Our Schools Month celebration,” shared NAfME President Scott R. Sheehan. “Music, through its inherent virtues and unlike any other area of study, impacts the creator, the re-creator(s), and the listener emotionally, intellectually, as well as physically and spiritually, in ways that are deeply personal to every individual. Music in its fullest context gives people a pathway to discovery, both personally and globally, and contributes to the greater good of society. We need music! Every person on the planet needs music and its indescribable power to instill meaning in our lives. Thank you to everyone who believes music is an essential component of every child’s education and advocates for equitable access for music education in schools.”

“Music, through its inherent virtues and unlike any other area of study, impacts the creator, the re-creator(s), and the listener emotionally, intellectually, as well as physically and spiritually, in ways that are deeply personal to every individual.”

Throughout the month of March, NAfME-affiliated state music education associations will be participating in advocacy activities, including holding meetings with state and local elected officials, sharing why music education must continue to be funded and supported. This month of music education advocacy will culminate in a virtual MIOSM Advocacy Celebration on March 28, 7:00PM ET, and all are welcome to register and attend .

This year, Sen. Cory Booker (NJ) and Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY-07) have introduced a federal resolution recognizing March as Music In Our Schools Month (S.Res 54 and H.Res.119). Music education advocates are asking their U.S. Senators and Representatives to join in cosponsoring the resolution and voting to pass it.* Sen. Booker and Rep. Velázquez have also both introduced the Guarantee Access to Arts and Music Education (GAAME) Act (S.364 and H.R. 969), which would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to further specify the eligibility of Title I funds to be used for music and the arts.**

Since 1985, MIOSM has been observed as an annual month-long celebration when schools and communities celebrate music in their local schools and the educators who dedicate themselves to bring music into the lives of students every day. The NAfME Council for General Music Education has provided teachers resources to demonstrate the musical learning process throughout the whole school year. The “ Music In Our Schools Month®: Process into Product ” document explains this direction, which began in 2018. NAfME is also proud to once again partner with Young Voices Education in Music Foundation and American Young Voices , which hosts the biggest school concerts in the world, to provide music educators with sheet music and teaching resources for “Take Time for Fun.”

NAfME encourages teachers and music education advocates to share on social media how their schools are celebrating music education, using the hashtags #MusicIsAllOfUs and #MIOSM and tagging “@NAfME”.

This year NAfME has provided MIOSM lesson plans for 36 songs, including resources from the Library of Congress, instructional goals and objectives, connections to the National Core Arts Standards learned in each lesson, worksheets, and more. NAfME has also provided classroom materials for MIOSM that teachers can share with their students as they celebrate how “Music Is All of Us” connects with students and communities. All of these items are available at https://nafme.org/student-opportunities/music-in-our-schools-month/ .

Coinciding with MIOSM 2023, NAfME is pleased to announce a new partnership with SBO Magazine to provide NAfME members with a free monthly publication, SBO+, which will include a monthly column from NAfME.

Music In Our Schools Month® and MIOSM® are trademarks of NAfME and may not be used for fundraising or materials produced for profit.

* These organizations support the Music In Our Schools Month federal resolution: American Federation of Teachers; AASA, The School Superintendents Association; The American Orff-Schulwerk Association; American String Teachers Association; Association for Popular Music Education; College Band Directors National Association; CMA Foundation; Drum Corps International; Education Through Music; Kindermusik International; Music Publishers Association of the United States; Music Teachers National Association; Music Travel Consultants; National Art Education Association; National Association for Music Education; National Association for the Study and Performance of African American Music;  National Association of Elementary School Principals; National Association of Music Merchants; National Association of Secondary School Principals; National Education Association; National Federation of State High School Associations; National Music Council; National PTA; Nuvo Instrumental; Quadrant Research; Recording Academy; Rock and Soul Forever Foundation; Save the Music Foundation; State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education; Wurrly, LLC; Young Audiences Arts for Learning.

** The following organizations support the GAAME Act: American Federation of Teachers;; The American Orff-Schulwerk Association: American String Teachers Association; Association for Popular Music Education; College Band Directors National Association; CMA Foundation; Drum Corps International; Education Through Music; Educational Theatre Association; Kindermusik International; Music Publishers Association of the United States; Music Teachers National Association; Music Travel Consultants; National Art Education Association; National Association for Music Education; National Association for the Study and Performance of African American Music; National Association of Elementary School Principals; National Association of Music Merchants; National Association of Secondary School Principals; National Concerts; National Dance Education Organization; National Education Association; National Federation of State High School Associations; National Music Council; Nuvo Instrumental; Quadrant Research; Rock and Soul Forever Foundation; Save the Music Foundation; State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education; Wurrly, LLC; Young Audiences Arts for Learning.

The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) is a collaborative community that supports music educators and advocates for equitable access to music education. The only association that addresses all aspects of music education, NAfME, together with its affiliated state music education associations, advocates at the national, state, and local levels and provides resources and opportunities for teachers, students, parents, and administrators. Founded in 1907 and representing more than 53,000 members teaching millions of students, NAfME advances the music education profession and promotes lifelong experiences in music.

Follow NAfME on Twitter (twitter.com/nafme) and on Facebook (facebook.com/nafme). For additional information, contact Catherina Hurlburt at [email protected] or 703-860-4000.

Published Date

March 2, 2023

March 2, 2023. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)

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Music Education In The Pandemic And Beyond

Emma Banker, Jessi McIrvin, and Valerie Sanchez record vocals in pop-up tents during choir class at Wenatchee High School in Wenatchee, Washington. David Ryder/Getty Images hide caption

Emma Banker, Jessi McIrvin, and Valerie Sanchez record vocals in pop-up tents during choir class at Wenatchee High School in Wenatchee, Washington.

School budgets have been hit hard in the last decade — and the COVID-19 pandemic hasn't helped matters. Oftentimes, when it comes to prioritizing services and subjects in a budget, one of the first things on the chopping block is music education.

Though they have proven benefits , both academic and social, music classes aren't always available to kids. Sometimes schools can't — or won't — pay for them, but lately, some schools say they don't have the technology or equipment necessary to teach music remotely.

And some educators fear cuts may be coming as we ease out of the pandemic.

Who gets access to music education? Why is teaching kids how to sing and play instruments important? And how are music teachers getting the job done?

Oriana Hawley , Samantha Reid , Ken Elpus and Jamie Kasper join us for the conversation.

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Images courtesy of the 2024 Music Educator Award finalists; Graphic courtesy of the GRAMMY Museum

10 Finalists Announced For The 2024 Music Educator Award

The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum have announced 10 music teachers as the finalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award, which recognizes current educators who have made a significant contribution and demonstrate a commitment to music education.

The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum today announced a total of 10 music teachers as finalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award, the annual honor that recognizes current educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the music education field and who also demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools. The 10 finalists, who hail from 10 cities across nine states, were selected from more than 2,000 initial nominations submitted from across all 50 U.S. states. See the full list of the 2024 Music Educator Award finalists below.

Each year, one Music Educator Award recipient is selected from 10 finalists and recognized for their remarkable impact on students' lives. The selected recipient will receive a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for their school's music program. The nine additional finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium and matching grants. The remaining 15 semifinalists will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants.

The ultimate recipient of the 2024 Music Educator Award will be recognized during GRAMMY Week 2024, just days before the 2024 GRAMMYs take place. Quarterfinalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award were announced in May; semifinalists were announced in October.

Nominations for the 2025 Music Educator Award are now open.

Learn More: Meet The 2023 Music Educator Award Recipient: How Pamela Dawson Helps Her Students Achieve Healing And Catharsis

2024 MUSIC EDUCATOR AWARD FINALISTS:  

View this post on Instagram A post shared by GRAMMY Museum (@grammymuseum)

An established partnership between the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum , the Music Educator Award is open to current U.S. music teachers. Anyone can nominate a teacher: students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators. Teachers are also able to nominate themselves. Nominated teachers are notified and invited to fill out an application. 

The Music Educator Award program, including honorariums, is made possible by the generosity and support of the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. In addition, the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, NAMM Foundation, and National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.

Learn more about the Music Educator Award program.

8 Artists Who Were Inspired By Their Teachers: Rihanna, Adele, Jay-Z & More

Photo: Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

La Santa Cecilia Celebrates Their 'Alma Bohemia' With Documentary Screening & Performance At The GRAMMY Museum

In a documentary screening detailing the making of their album 'Cuatro Copas' followed by a discussion and live performance at the GRAMMY Museum, La Santa Cecilia recounts years of making music and friendship.

"Oh no, I’m going to start crying again," says La Santa Cecilia singer La Marisoul during a touching scene in Alma Bohemia , the documentary directed by Carlos Pérez honoring the Los Angeles band’s 15 year anniversary. 

As it turns out, there are many reasons to be emotional about this film — and the very existence of La Santa Cecilia in the contemporary Latin music landscape. Fittingly, Alma Bohemia was received enthusiastically by the capacity audience during an exclusive screening on April 3 at the GRAMMY Museum’s Clive Davis Theater in Los Angeles. 

Formed by La Marisoul (real name is Marisol Hernández), bassist Alex Bendaña , accordionist and requinto player José "Pepe" Carlos and percussionist Miguel "Oso" Ramírez , La Santa Cecilia was for years one of the best kept secrets in the Los Angeles music scene.  As close friends and musicians, they won over audiences with an organic, down-to-earth sound and a lovely songbook that draws from traditional formats such as bolero, ranchera and nueva canción .

Alma Bohemia follows the making of La Santa’s 2023 album, Cuatro Copas Bohemia en la Finca Altozano . A celebration of the band’s longevity, the session also functions as a subtle, yet powerful musical experiment. It was recorded at the Finca Altozano in Baja California, where the band members stayed as guests of celebrated chef Javier Plascencia — a longtime fan.

Argentine producer Sebastián Krys — the band’s longtime collaborator — calls this his Alan Lomax experiment. The album was recorded live on tape with a variety of strategically placed microphones capturing hints of ambient sonics — a sweet afternoon breeze, the clinking of glasses, the musicians’ banter, the soft sounds that accompany stillness. 

From the very beginning, the making of Cuatro Copas mirrors the band’s bohemian cosmovision: A communal approach where the quartet — together with carefully selected guest stars — get together to share the magic of creation, the unity of like-minded souls, homemade food, and more than a couple of drinks. In effect, the bottles of mezcal and never ending rounds of toasting quickly become a running joke throughout the documentary.

La Marisoul’s fragile lament is enveloped in spiraling lines of mournful electric guitars with soulful understatement on the track "Almohada." Guest artists liven things up, with Oaxacan sister duo Dueto Dos Rosas adding urgency to "Pescadores de Ensenada," while son jarocho master Patricio Hidalgo ventures into a lilting (yet hopeful) "Yo Vengo A Ofrecer Mi Corazón," the ‘90s Argentine rock anthem by Fito Páez .

Visibly delighted to be part of the bohemia, 60-year-old ranchera diva Aida Cuevas steals the show with her rousing rendition of "Cuatro Copas," the José Alfredo Jiménez classic. " Viva México! " she exclaims as the entire group sits around a bonfire at night, forging the past and future of Mexican American music into one.

Read more: La Santa Cecilia Perform "Someday, Someday New"

Following the screening, the band sat down for a Q&A session hosted by journalist Betto Arcos. Sitting on the first row, a visibly moved young woman from El Salvador thanked the band for helping her to cope with the complex web of feelings entailed in migrating from Latin America. La Santa’s songs, she said, reminded her of the loving abuelita who stayed behind.

"We love the old boleros and rancheras," said La Marisoul. "We became musicians by playing many of those songs in small clubs and quinceañeras . It’s a repertoire that we love, and I don’t think that will ever change."

Carlos touched on his experience being a member of Santa Cecilia for about seven years before he was able to secure legal status in the U.S. When the band started to get concert bookings in Texas, they would take long detours on their drives to avoid the possibility of being stopped by the authorities. Carlos thanked his wife Ana for the emotional support she provided during those difficult years.

Ramírez took the opportunity to acknowledge producer Krys for being an early champion of the band. "He had a vision, and he made us better," he said, flashing forward to a recent edition of the Vive Latino festival. "There were about 12,000 people to see us," he said. "And they were singing along to our tunes." "The band is just an excuse to hang out with your friends," added La Marisoul just before La Santa performed two live songs. Her voice sounded luminous and defiant in the theater’s intimate space, always the protagonist in the group’s delicately layered arrangements.

"The first time I got to see the finished documentary, I felt proud of all the work we’ve done together," said producer Krys from his Los Angeles studio the day after the screening. "On the other hand, there’s a lot of work ahead of us. I believe La Santa Cecilia deserves wider exposure. They should be up there among the greatest artists in Latin music."

Martha Reeves Takes L.A.: The "Queen Of Motown" Shares Memories Of Smokey Robinson, Her Solo Career & Finally Receiving A Hollywood Star

Image courtesy of the GRAMMY Museum

The GRAMMY Hall Of Fame Returns To Celebrate 50th Anniversary: Inaugural Gala & Concert Taking Place May 21 In Los Angeles

Following a two-year hiatus, the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame returns to celebrate its 50th anniversary with an inaugural gala and concert on Tuesday, May 21, at the NOVO Theater in Los Angeles. Ten recordings will be newly inducted into the Hall this year.

Following a two-year hiatus, the GRAMMY Museum and Recording Academy are reinstating the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame on its 50th anniversary. The momentous event will be celebrated with an inaugural gala and concert on Tuesday, May 21, at the NOVO Theater in Los Angeles ; tickets and performers for the event will be announced at a later date. As part of the return, 10 recordings, including four albums and six singles, will be newly inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame later this year.

The GRAMMY Hall Of Fame was established by the Recording Academy's National Trustees in 1973 to honor recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that are at least 25 years old. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of the recording arts with final ratification by the Recording Academy's National Board of Trustees. There are currently 1,152 inducted recordings in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. View the full list GRAMMY Hall Of Fame past inductees .

This year, the GRAMMY Museum’s GRAMMY Hall Of Fame Gala will be the first of what will become an annual event, and includes a red carpet and VIP reception on the newly opened Ray Charles Terrace at the GRAMMY Museum , followed by a one-of-a-kind concert at the NOVO Theater in Downtown Los Angeles.

The inaugural gala and concert is produced by longtime executive producer of the GRAMMY Awards, Ken Ehrlich, along with Chantel Sausedo and Ron Basile and will feature musical direction by globally renowned producer and keyboardist Greg Phillinganes. For sponsorship opportunities, reach out to [email protected] .

Keep watching this space for more exciting news about the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame!

2024 GRAMMYs: See The Full Winners & Nominees List

The GRAMMY Museum Celebrates Black History Month 2024 With A Series Of Special Programs And Events

Throughout February, the GRAMMY Museum will celebrate the profound legacy and impact of Black music with workshops, screenings, and intimate conversations.

The celebration isn't over after the 2024 GRAMMYs . In recognition of Black History Month, the GRAMMY Museum proudly honors the indelible impact of Black music on America and the fabric of global pop culture. 

This programming is a testament to the rich heritage and profound influence of Black artists, whose creativity and resilience have shaped the foundation of American music. Through a series of thoughtfully curated events — including educational workshops, family programs, special screenings, and intimate conversations — the Museum aims to illuminate the vibrant legacy and ongoing evolution of Black music. 

From a workshop on the rhythmic storytelling of hip-hop following its 50th anniversary and the soulful echoes of Bill Withers ' classics, to the groundbreaking contributions of James Brown and the visionary reimagination of "The Wiz," these GRAMMY Museum programs encapsulate the enduring legacy and dynamic future of Black music.

The GRAMMY Museum invites audiences to delve into the stories, sounds, and souls that have woven Black music into the tapestry of our shared human experience. Through this journey, the Museum and the Recording Academy honor the artists, visionaries, and pioneers whose talents have forever altered the landscape of music and culture. 

Read on for additional information on the GRAMMY Museum's month-long tribute that explores, appreciates and celebrates the invaluable contributions of Black music to our world.

Thurs., Feb. 8

History of Hip-Hop Education Workshop

WHAT: In celebration of the 50 years of hip-hop, this workshop examines the unique evolution of Hip Hop from its origin to where the genre is today. Highlighting the golden age of Hip Hop, this lesson will provide students with a greater understanding of the struggles and triumphs of the genre.

WHEN: 11 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 

REGISTER: Click here .

Sat., Feb. 10

Family Time: Grandma’s Hands

WHAT: Join us for a very special family program celebrating the recently released children’s book Grandma’s Hands based on one of Bill Withers’ most beloved songs. Bill’s wife, Marcia, and daughter, Kori, will participate in a book reading, conversation, audience Q&A, and performance, followed by a book signing. The program is free (4 tickets per household.)

WHEN: 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. 

Mon., Feb. 12

Celebrating James Brown: Say It Loud

WHAT: The GRAMMY Museum hosts a special evening on the life and music of the late "Godfather of Soul" James Brown. The program features exclusive clips from A&E's forthcoming documentary James Brown: Say It Loud , produced in association with Polygram Entertainment, Mick Jagger ’s Jagged Films and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson ’s Two One Five Entertainment, followed by a conversation with Director Deborah Riley Draper, superstar Producer Jimmy Jam , and some surprises.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.  

REGISTER: Click here.

Sat., Feb. 17

Backstage Pass: " The Wiz "

WHAT: Presented in partnership with the African American Film Critics Association, join us for an afternoon spotlighting the famed Broadway Musical, " The Wiz, " with the producers and creative team responsible for the Broadway bound reboot. The program will feature a lively conversation, followed by an audience Q&A in the Museum’s Clive Davis Theater, and will be hosted by AAFCA President, Gil Robertson, and GRAMMY Museum Education & Community Engagement Manager, Schyler O’Neal. The program is free (four tickets per household).

WHEN: 1 p.m.

Thurs., Feb. 22

Reel To Reel: A Hip Hop Story

WHAT: In conjunction with the GRAMMY Museum's exhibit, Hip-Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit , the GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to host a special screening of A Hip Hop Story with a post-screening conversation featuring Affion Crockett to follow.

WHEN: 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.  

Sun., Feb. 25

Lunar New Year Celebration

WHAT: Join us for a special program celebrating Lunar New Year as we usher in the Year of the Dragon with a performance by the South Coast Chinese Orchestra. The orchestra is from Orange County and uses both traditional Chinese instruments and western string instruments. It is led by Music Director, Jiangli Yu, Conductor, Bin He, and Executive Director, Yulan Chung. The program will take place in the Clive Davis Theater. This program is made possible by the generous support of Preferred Bank. The program is free (four tickets per household).

WHEN: 1:30 p.m.

Tues., Feb. 27

A Conversation With Nicole Avant

WHAT: The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to welcome best-selling author, award-winning film producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Ambassador Nicole Avant to the museum’s intimate 200-seat Clive Davis Theater for a conversation moderated by Jimmy Jam about her new memoir Think You’ll Be Happy – Moving Through Grief with Grit, Grace and Gratitude . All ticket buyers will receive a signed copy of the book.

GRAMMY.com’s 50th Anniversary Of Hip-Hop Coverage: A Recap

Photo: Anna Webber / Getty Images

Inside The Inaugural Gold Music Alliance GRAMMY Week Reception, Highlighting Growth And Visibility Within The Music Industry

The Recording Academy's new GRAMMY Week event, presented in collaboration with Gold House and Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation, celebrated Pan-Asian contributions to the music industry and beyond.

In the midst of GRAMMY Week, The Recording Academy, Gold House and Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation came together for the first-ever Gold Music Alliance reception — an intimate, yet powerful celebration of the Pan-Asian community's vast contributions to the music industry.

"This is the first gathering, but it's definitely not going to be the last," promised Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, in opening remarks at the Jan. 31 event, which was held at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, California. "We're going to continue to grow, we're going to continue to evolve. This organization and this group of constituents, music makers — it's going to be a powerful platform to make a difference. The importance of this group is so the Academy can listen and learn and understand."

As the son of Harvey Mason Sr. — the acclaimed jazz drummer from Fourplay and original drummer of Herbie Hancock 's The Headhunters — Mason jr.'s entire life has revolved around music. Even though he's always been immersed in sound, Mason jr. understands that he needs to keep his ears open to other perspectives within the industry.

"We don't know everything that's going on in every group of music makers or music people," he said, "so having different groups being able to get together, have insight and give us feedback — how can we serve better? How can we represent your group, your constituency, your community better? We need to understand what's missing, what's lacking, how can we get it better?"

Harvey Mason jr. speaking with guests at the Gold Music Alliance Reception on Jan. 31, 2024 | Anna Webber / Getty Images

"Thank you, Harvey, for listening," said Jonathan Yip , who is currently serving as a Trustee, and is the first AAPI+ Trustee elected to the Recording Academy's National Board of Trustees from the Los Angeles Chapter. "You nailed it! That is exactly what we need. We need allies and, with you and the Recording Academy backing us and what we're trying to do here, it means everything to us. So thank you very much for that.

"When I first moved out to LA in 2001, I worked at a couple different record labels, and when I would go in there, I didn't see anybody that looked like me," Yip, a two-time GRAMMY winner for his producing work as part of Stereotypes on "That's What I Like" by Bruno Mars , which took home golden gramophones for Song Of The Year and Best R&B Song in 2018, added. "But, what I did notice 20 years forward, I see a lot, and I think the growth of our community within the music industry is something to be proud of."

Yip acknowledged how important it is to have the Recording Academy's support in pushing the Gold Music Alliance initiative, which he said will "help bridge the gaps in the future and the younger people in our community to give them opportunities to be creative." And the GRAMMY Week reception wasn't just impactful because of the promise in the room, but because it's a moment that the community has long hoped for. 

"We've all been in the music industry where we've always wanted a voice, we've always wanted that visibility," Yip noted. "So for us to be here, to be able to reach out to the community and let them know that it's accessible, that we're here and we have a voice — that to me is a huge moment."

With its mission grounded in lifting Asian founders, creative voices, and leaders, Gold House has played a pivotal role in working with major media companies to help reshape screens in TV and film, with successes like Beef and Everything Everywhere All at Once . Now, the nonprofit organization is bringing its passion to the music business by sponsoring the Inaugural Gold Music Alliance GRAMMY Week reception. "We all know that awards are so critically important to all of our creative industries, and voting bodies have historically looked very singular," noted Gold House CEO Bing Chen. "So we are so excited to be able to diversify, not just for representation, but for creative excellence, the next waves of artists, producers, musicians and companies."

DJ Virman at the Gold Music Alliance Reception on Jan. 31, 2024 | Anna Webber / Getty Images

As Frankie Yaptinchay, Amazon Music's Senior Product Manager, Audience Development & Creative Partnerships,  added, the hope and vision of the Gold Music Alliance is that it will be around for generations to come. "I think the big thing the Gold Music Alliance is doing is we want to build accessibility," said Yaptinchay, who also serves as governor of the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Recording Academy. "We want to build accessibility, for not only us and the creators, and executives, but for the next generation. We want to use the vehicle that the Recording Academy has built and the prestige and share that with our community. I think this is our time to be visible, our time to speak up, and I'm really really excited we can do this.”

"We are all about uplifting the next generation in music," agreed Annie Lam, executive director of Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation. The nonprofit was founded by Far East Movement, the first Asian-American group to top the Billboard Hot 100 charts with their 2010 party hit "Like a G6". The group's Kev Nish is integrated in every aspect of the event, serving as PBA's Chair of the Board and founder, a Gold House board member, and the Recording Academy's Los Angeles Chapter Governor; his bandmate DJ Virman provided the musical accompaniment for the reception. "The work that we do is really shaped by their journey and experiences," Lam continued, highlighting some of their programs, including The Bridging Arts Talk, which features GRAMMY nominees, GRAMMY winners and music executives. "We are so proud that all of these leaders are part of our network to give back, because we know the value of mentorship and how important they are and we are working step by step to knock down those barriers. We're still fighting the good fight and hope that you will continue to work with us to keep up with the movement." Before the event came to a close, Grace Jun Baca, Recording Academy Director of Governance, Member & Industry Relations, expressed her thanks for those who helped make the event a success. "Tonight was made possible because of the support of Ryan Butler, VP DEI and DEI's DREAM (Diversity Reimagined by Engaging All Musicmakers) Initiative, serving underrepresented groups at the Academy, and of course the ultimate green light from CEO Harvey Mason, jr. Like Harvey said, this is only the beginning. There's much more to come!"

The Recording Academy's Los Angeles Chapter Honored Its Musical Family At 2024 GRAMMY Nominee Celebration

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With teaching program, students put a new spin on music education.

It’s the final class of “American Opera Today: Explorations of a Burgeoning Industry.” A dozen students are munching on German Christmas cookies, courtesy of Professor Gundula Kreuzer, while taking turns presenting overviews of their final papers.

Their topics make it immediately clear that the new course, in Yale’s Department of Music, introduced during the fall semester, took students well beyond traditional operatic material.

One student’s paper is a deep dive into OperaCréole, a New Orleans-based opera company that searches out little-known works by composers of African descent.

Another is an analysis of the Metropolitan Opera’s recent Afro-futurism take on Anthony Davis’s “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” a production the class traveled to New York together to see.

And there is a comparison of the biography operas “Doctor Atomic,” about the main players in the Manhattan Project, and “Einstein on the Beach,” a five-hour opera composed by Phillip Glass.

Once the presentations have concluded, Kreuzer and her teaching partner, Allison Chu, a Ph.D. candidate in music history, invite the students to share how the course influenced their thinking about opera. Nearly all say they had no idea that the industry has come to embrace so much more variety and diversity.

“ I came in knowing almost nothing about opera and I feel like now I know less about opera, but in a very good way,” said José Sarmiento, a Yale College junior, jokingly. “I had a certain preconceived notion of what opera was just based on its cultural significance. I did not think that by the end of the course I’d be seeing an experimental bio-opera of Malcolm X that takes place in a spaceship.”

This perception-altering seminar is one of three new undergraduate music courses approved through Yale’s Associates in Teaching (AT) program for the 2023-24 academic year. The competitive AT program, a collaboration between the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, provides an opportunity for Ph.D. students at Yale to collaborate with a faculty member to design an undergraduate course and teach it together.

Kreuzer, the acting chair of the music department in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said their success at getting three courses approved for this academic year (an unusual occurrence) is a testament to the department’s open and welcoming culture.

It shows the commitment of both faculty and graduate students to work together, to think collaboratively, to take risks and embrace the challenges, as well as the joys, that inevitably come when developing a new class and stepping into a new co-teaching situation,” she said.

Indeed, that is the purpose of AT — to provide an opportunity to think about teaching “as an ongoing conversation,” said Gina Hurley, who coordinates the program as Poorvu’s associate director of teaching development and initiatives. “A real strength of the program is that the graduate student receives mentorship, and the faculty member receives this incredible opportunity to revisit their curriculum and their teaching practices.”

Faculty members often benefit “from graduate student expertise that they may not share, which opens up the classroom to new perspectives,” said Pamela Schirmeister, deputy dean of Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. “And undergraduates benefit from having two teachers, each with different pedagogical styles and knowledge sets.”

Since its introduction, during the 2011-12 academic year, the program has typically received 15 to 25 applications a year from prospective co-teaching teams; they accept a dozen to 20, depending on the quality of the applications, as evaluated by a committee comprised primarily of faculty members who have previously taught an AT course.

A host of factors are considered during the rigorous selection process.

“ Is this an opportunity for the graduate student to develop professionally? To what degree are the two partners really committed to co-teaching?” Hurley said. “And what are the key curricular gaps this might be filling, and what is this offering that our undergraduates can’t get without it?”

Striking a chord

Frequently, the inspiration for an AT course emerges from an unexpected intersection between two peoples’ interests or research focuses, Hurley said. That’s exactly how “Power Chords: The Music and the Myth of Heavy Metal,” another of this year’s AT classes, came about.

While working with Hallie Voulgaris on their Ph.D. qualifying examination a few summers ago, Jessica Peritz, an assistant professor of music, discovered they shared a love of heavy metal bands.

“ Hallie shared a playlist they had made of metal covers of pop songs, and we were both so delighted by how easily anything could be turned into metal with just a few tweaks,” Peritz said. “We started joking about how to use songs from the playlist to teach students about genre and style, and the idea of the class was born.”

Their different areas of expertise complement each other for this course, she said. Voulgaris has experience teaching pop music analysis to explain the music theory behind songs, and Peritz, a cultural historian of music, brings experience connecting music to broader cultural questions.

“ With the two of us collaborating on every class session,” she said, “students get to dig deeply into the music and expand outwards to think about the bigger implications of that music.”

One afternoon last month, Voulgaris stood before the class leading a discussion on the ways in which heavy metal artists often draw on medievalism. Chants, troubadour songs, demonic references, references to Dante’s “Inferno.” Voulgaris and Peritz each offered insights into what recorded materials likely influenced metal musicians as they incorporated medieval references. And they slipped in a funny YouTube video: “Medieval Metal in 3 Steps.”

One of the students, Jonathan Weiss, a Yale senior, said he took the class with no prior knowledge of heavy metal. A music major and composer with an avid interest in music history, Weiss said he is enjoying learning about where metal came from and why it sounds the way it does. The subject matter has attracted students from a broader array of disciplines than a more traditional music class, he said.

“ I’ve never seen a music class full of mostly non-music majors, mostly people who don’t have a musicological background,” he said.

One of the course’s primary aims is to debunk and move beyond stereotypes about the metal audience to explore topics like queerness and camp in metal, and the multiplicitous global communities of metal fandom.

“ I’ve found that metal is usually unrepresented in courses on rock and popular music,” Voulgaris said. “I wanted to expand the presence of alternative popular music genres within our curriculum, with the goal of serving students like me who might not otherwise find their preferred music explicitly addressed.”

‘ The perfect steppingstone’

The third AT music class, “Latin Jazz and Pacific Pop,” is structured around the personal record collections of the instructors, Brian Kane, an associate professor of music, and Jade Conlee, a Ph.D. candidate in the department.

Specifically, the course explores Pacific and Caribbean influences on American popular music and jazz amid the Cold War. During a recent afternoon, students considered how Cold War politics and expanding international tourism showed up in a series of mood music LPS put out in the 1950s.

They considered an album of music for dining, one for “gracious living,” music for an Italian dinner at home, music for a honeymoon in Mexico. The art on the album covers was rife with ethnic and gender stereotypes, as well as images of blissful domesticity, and the class discussion was robust.

By teaming up for this course, Kane and Conlee were able to tap both of their record collections to provide students with a hands-on archive of midcentury LPs. And that is proving popular.

“ We often do small group activities where students can work with liner notes and cover images and play the LPs on historical sound equipment,” Conlee said. “They often leave class remarking that they’re having lots of fun. They can tell that we are really interested in the material, that it’s fresh material for us too, and that we’re all trying something new together.”

Conlee, who is in her final year as a student, said she’s grateful to have had the experience of creating a syllabus “from scratch” with an experienced professor before moving on to become a professor herself. Graduate students in music do have opportunities to lead discussion sections or be acting instructors for music theory courses, but the syllabus is set beforehand in those cases, she said.

The AT experience, she added, “is the perfect steppingstone between being a graduate student and a professor.”

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How Music Primes the Brain for Learning

To reap the benefits of music on learning, kids need consistent and abundant musical practice, according to the latest cognitive research.

Ten years ago, musician Angélica Durrell began teaching a small group of Connecticut high school students how to play different percussion instruments, including the charango and toyos —musical instruments native to Central and South America, where many of the students had recently immigrated from. They learned to play Pachelbel’s Canon and then moved on to master “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” the sixties doo-wop hit by The Shirelles, singing the lyrics in both English and Spanish.

Within a few years, the after-school music program—aimed at Latino students, many of whom were struggling academically—became renowned in the school district, recast from a “nice-to-have” extracurricular into a strategic tool for addressing some of the district’s persistent challenges. Durrell’s students, teachers and school leaders noticed, were attending school more consistently, their English was improving, and they seemed increasingly comfortable making friends.

Today, Durrell’s non-profit program Intempo serves more than 3,000 students each year in Stamford and Norwalk schools, underscoring music’s profound impact on learning from both a cognitive and a social and emotional learning (SEL) vantage point. “We went from approaching it from a music perspective,” Durrell says, “to approaching it from an immigrant inclusion, language acquisition, and grade-level reading-acquisition perspective.”

Consistent exposure to music, like learning to play a musical instrument, or taking voice lessons, strengthens a particular set of academic and social-emotional skills that are essential to learning. In ways that are unmatched by other pursuits, like athletics for instance, learning music powerfully reinforces language skills, builds and improves reading ability, and strengthens memory and attention, according to the latest research on the cognitive neuroscience of music.

Experts are hoping this body of evidence might alter the current state of music education in schools—which is extremely uneven and, in some places, downright nonexistent. In a 2014 survey from Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit advocacy organization, teachers reported that 1.3 million elementary students didn’t have music classes in their schools, and nearly 4 million didn’t have a visual arts class. More recently, data from the 2016 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed improvements in some areas, though arts participation and access varied greatly by region . For example, while 68 percent of eighth-graders had music class in 2016, students in the Northeast were twice as likely to attend music class compared with students in the South and the West, where only one-third of students had access to music classes.

Now, following months of pandemic-related learning disruptions, organizations that track arts education like the federally-funded Arts Education Partnership say it’s difficult to even get a handle on who’s learning music at school.

The Cognitive Benefits of Music

The key to understanding music’s advantages, researchers say, lies in how the brain processes sound, the raw material of music, language, and—perhaps counterintuitively—learning to read. The sounds that come in through our ears travel along an anatomically complex “auditory pathway” that’s deeply connected to parts of the brain that determine how humans move, how we think and speak, what we know, and what we pay attention to. “The hearing brain is vast,” explains neuroscientist Nina Kraus, author of the new book  Of Sound Mind , in an interview with Edutopia . “People think of the hearing brain as being a silo within the brain. In fact, our hearing engages our cognitive, sensory, motor, and reward systems. That’s huge. From an evolutionary perspective, being able to make sense of sound is ancient and has engaged all these different perspectives.”

What makes music learning so powerful is how it engages all those different systems in a single activity. To play the violin, for example, a student needs to coordinate their motor, cognitive, and sensory systems to be able to put their fingers on the correct strings and move the bow at the right time; to read musical notes on a sheet of music and know what sounds they represent; and to hear if the pitches and rhythms are correct and coordinating with other players at the right time. Then there’s how the sound of music makes the student feel, which lights up the brain’s reward system. Engaging all these different systems makes learning how to play music one of the richest and deepest brain activities that humans perform. “Teachers resoundingly tell me that children who play music also do better in school,” Kraus writes. Young musicians also tend to have stronger language and reading skills than non-musicians because their brains have spent more time actively “engaging with sound.”

The type of instrument doesn’t matter: flute, violin, accordion, piano, voice—even abundant exposure to music can make an impact. “What is important is that engaging with sound changes and strengthens how the brain responds to sound,” Kraus says.

Music as Academic Strength Training

At Durban Avenue School in Sussex County, New Jersey, music teacher Shawna Longo calls out a particular rhythm, and then her kindergarteners play it on their Boomwhackers , tuned percussion tubes that come in different sizes and colors to symbolize different pitches. “Now only the red ones! Do ‘I like pepperoni pizza,’” she calls out, and the children play ta-ta-tee-tee-tee-tee-ta-ta. “They can only play when I hold up their color,” she says. “They have to learn when to wait, and when to play.”

The ability to keep a steady beat and anticipate the next beat, research has shown , are reliable indicators that a child is ready to learn to read. But keeping rhythm isn’t the only musical skill that paves the way for language development and reading, notes education researcher Anita Collins in her new book, The Music Advantage .

Learning to read music—decoding musical notation and connecting it to sounds—activates the same “phonological loop” in the brain as when kids learn to read words, deepening sound-word connections. Collins describes the process in her book:

• The eye sees a symbol on the page, whether it’s an eighth note D or a letter t at the start of a word

• The brain hears the sound, pulling it from the memory of music and speech sounds all brains possess

• The brain instructs the body to make that sound, whether it’s hands playing an instrument or the mouth shaped to make the t sound

• The brain listens to be sure the correct sound was made, and then makes adjustments

(From page 54 of The Music Advantage )

Processing sound strengthens the same areas of the brain that are responsible for learning language and learning to read—and while neuroscientists are still teasing out the how and the why, Collins writes that the latest research indicates that “music and reading may well be complementary learning activities,” with music functioning as a robust tool to improve language learning.

The Sound of Social Cohesion

When Covid-19 lockdowns first spread across the globe in March 2020, multiple videos showed people in Italy singing together from their balconies. At a time of extreme stress and isolation, Italians turned to music to connect with their neighbors.

Music and song are among the most basic ways humans have connected with one another for thousands of years. “Music lives in the oldest part of our brain,” Collins tells  Edutopia . “Music and song are at least as old as language and the spoken word.”

In a landmark 2018 study , researchers from the University of Toronto found that an adult singing and moving to a musical beat with a one-year-old child in tow increased social cohesion: the child was more likely to help when the adult later “accidentally” dropped an item. The study has been replicated many times, Collins writes, and shows how music taps into a primal bond that may encourage prosocial behavior like empathy and helping—the very behaviors that adults want children to develop as they grow, and behaviors schools strive to teach using the tenets of social and emotional learning.

When students belt out the school song at basketball games, or sing the clean-up song in kindergarten, it’s a potent practice for strengthening basic human social bonds. “Singing is a very powerful tool to make children feel in community,” says Kelly Green, vice president of education at Kindermusik, which creates research-based music curriculum for early childhood learners. “It’s deep SEL.”

Like Italy’s balcony singers during lockdown, social singing and music-making might be especially helpful to students now, when loneliness, anxiety, and depression are skyrocketing among young people. But Green says that kids in school sing a lot less than they used to. We tend to think “that learning music is only to develop as a musician,” Collins remarks. “People don’t feel confident to sing anymore. The fear that sits under ‘I can’t sing, I’m not musical’ is incredibly deep. When I start singing with students, they often realize singing is just a practiced skill. All these things start happening. They feel this sense of euphoria.”

Kids Benefit From Deep and Consistent Engagement

Facing limited budgets, increased academic expectations and testing , and a music teacher shortage , some schools and districts are increasingly looking to nonprofit organizations and community partners for help. Groups like Save the Music Foundation provide grants for schools to purchase student instruments and provide teacher training. The Harmony Project brings intensive music training and support to underserved students in the Los Angeles area. The Soulsville Charter School, a music-influenced middle and high school in Memphis, Tennessee, taps into the birthplace of American soul music and legendary Stax Records with the support of the Soulsville Foundation .

“You have to be willing to say, ‘We can’t do this alone,’” says Tamu Lucero, superintendent of Stamford Public Schools, where Durrell’s Intempo program is now a critical component of the district’s new-arrivals program. Even though Stamford schools already offered regular music programming, Lucero says, “we were willing to be open to the idea of how we could use an outside partner to enrich the learning environment for students.”

Researchers will continue to untangle some of the reasons behind why music learning is so beneficial to students—but know enough to conclude that listening to music or writing a song for a class project only begins to scratch the surface. To get maximal brain benefits, students should actively engage with music by learning to play an instrument or studying voice, preferably in a group setting. The evidence is strong enough to recommend music education as a discrete class for all kids—and across the grade levels—as a critically important investment.

Or as Nina Kraus states, “Music should be a part of every child’s education. Period.”

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News Update

Music education may make students more hopeful about their futures.

Wednesday January 18, 2023 7:55 am

State board of education, november 11, 2020.

Diana Lambert

Music education can boost the emotional well-being of adolescents, according to research by the University of Southern California.

Researchers surveyed 120 students from 52 Los Angeles Unified School District middle schools online to determine the impact of music on positive youth development.

They found that students who started music education before age 8 were more hopeful about the future and that students who received musical training scored higher in areas of positive youth development, a measure of the strengths of adolescents and their potential to contribute to society developed by scholars from Tufts University in Massachusetts.

“We know that the pandemic has taken a toll on student mental health. The many narratives of learning loss that have emerged since the start of the pandemic paint a grim picture of what some call a lost generation,” said  Beatriz Ilari , an associate professor of music education at the  USC Thornton School of Music  and an author of the study. “Music might be an activity to help students develop skills and competencies, work out their emotions, engage in identity work and strengthen connections to the school and community.”

The study on the impact of music education was published in the journal Frontiers of Psychology .

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Music Education News

Check out new music education news including the new National Core Music Standards, recent Gallup Poll on public attitudes toward public schools, the adoption of the STEAM Curriculum in California, New Jersey’s pioneering support for Music and Arts Education, and a GAO Report Commission on No Child Left Behind.

Announcing the New National Core Music Standards PDK/Gallup Poll on Public Attitudes toward Public Schools New Jersey Pioneers Music and Arts Education Support California MEA Adopts STEAM Position Statement Education Committee Members Commission GAO Report on No Child Left Behind

Announcing the New National Core Music Standards: The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards has released the New National Core Music Standards after two years of inclusive writing and review involving hundreds of music educators. The new standards replace the original standards released twenty years ago, and represent a notable shift in the Coalition’s recommended approach to improving each student’s musical education experience, supporting educators with enhanced instructional strategies, and emphasizing the benefits of music education for the community at large.

Unlike national Common Core standards that have been widely criticized for narrowing student learning opportunities, the New National Core Music Standards aim to broaden and deepen learning opportunities for students.

Unlike controversial education standards mandated within other disciplines, the New National Core Music Standards were written by a team of professional music educators and vetted through a two-year inclusive public review process.

The standards were developed by the profession for the profession, with a student-centered focus that respects each professional educator’s teaching style and unique contributions. The goal of the new standards is not to impose restrictive rules governing what to do or how to teach, but to provide voluntary and pragmatic flexible processes and strategies that can be welcomed, implemented, and assessed in every American school district.

The new standards seek to instill music literacy. The standards emphasize conceptual understanding, which is a departure from the previous emphasis on knowledge and skills. The new standards reflect the actual processes in which musicians engage. The standards cultivate a student’s ability to carry out the Three Artistic Processes of Creating, Performing and Responding, presented together as steps, which enables students to understand music holistically in a way that relates to their personal life experiences.

The new standards provide teachers with frameworks that closely match the unique goals of their specialized classes. The standards are presented in a grade-by-grade sequence from pre-K through grade 8, and discrete strands address common high-school music classes, such as Ensembles and Music Composition/Theory.

Find out more at nafme.org/standards .

PDK/Gallup Poll on Public Attitudes toward Public Schools: A new poll sheds light on how Americans are feeling about national education topics. Out of those polled 81% had heard of Common Core, and 60% opposed local teachers using Common Core to guide how they teach. Interestingly, 54% of Americans say standardized testing is “Not Helpful,” including a majority of both parties (52% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats); perhaps more tellingly, that number jumps to 68% if the respondent identified as a public school parent. In addition, 32% of Americans say that lack of funding is the greatest obstacle, but there is a sharp partisan divide, with 44% of Democrats and only 21% of Republicans agreeing. To read more click HERE .

New Jersey Pioneers Music and Arts Education Support: Following the inclusion of the arts in New Jersey’s School Performance Reports released by the State Department of Education, Inside New Jersey Magazine has included the arts as one of their criteria used to rank the best high schools across the state. This is the first time the arts have been used as a qualitative measure of high schools across the state and may be seen as a model for other publishers across the nation.

In January 2014, New Jersey became the first state in the nation to include arts education measures as part of the annual School Performance Reports including information on the percentage of students enrolled in each of the four arts disciplines (Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts). In March, the New Jersey Arts Education Partnership debuted Interactive School Performance Dashboards for Arts Education based on the individual high school data from the School Performance Reports released by the New Jersey State Department of Education. Read more HERE .

To read the Inside New Jersey coverage of arts education in the School Performance Reports, go to: CLICK HERE!

To review the Inside New Jersey list of High School rankings, go to: CLICK HERE!

For more information about the School Performance Reports and information regarding arts education, visit CLICK HERE!

California MEA Adopts STEAM Position Statement: This month the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Board of Directors adopted a “STEAM ( Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math) Education Position Statement,” which it plans to distribute widely to constituents of the state via standup4music.org and other channels. “CMEA calls for music classes taught by full-time, qualified music teachers to be scheduled alongside other STEAM curricula,” the statement reads in part. “Music education is most effective when presented on its own by those with educational and musical training.” To learn more click HERE .

Education Committee Members Commission GAO Report on No Child Left Behind: Earlier this month Senator Lamar Alexander and Representative John Kline requested in a letter to the Government Accountability Office on Tuesday that the agency study the current waiver policy for No Child Left Behind. Senator Alexander is the senior Republican member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Rep. Kline is chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee. The request asks that the GAO look into several waiver issues, including the Department of Education’s process for approving and denying waivers, and the changes that states have made in order to qualify for a waiver from the department. Learn more HERE .

WINTER 2024 NEWSLETTER

The National Music Council of the United States endorses the 5 Music Rights of the International Music Council.

JOIN US IN CREATING A HISTORIC DATABASE OF PANDEMIC EXPERIENCES IN THE MUSIC COMMUNITY

The US and global music communities have suffered through two difficult years of a viral pandemic that took the lives of nearly a million of our fellow Americans, well over five million lives worldwide, and crushed the livelihoods of tens of millions more. As we know, with a music economy based upon live performance and socially close collaboration among creators, educators and business people, our industry was affected far more than most.

THANK YOU To Music Educators And Administrators For Keeping Music Alive During COVID

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Local news | lowell man accused of possessing hundreds of child porn video files, local news | umass lowell looks to expand string project music lessons for k-12 students, new director leads nationally acclaimed program, readies for dec. 19 concert.

LOWELL — Nicole Parks knows the value of music education. As the new director of UMass Lowell’s String Project, she wants to share the experience of learning — and teaching — music to as many people as possible.

Founded at the university in 2001, the String Project is a music program for K-12 public school students from the Merrimack Valley who might not otherwise have a chance to learn to play classical stringed instruments or perform on stage. UMass Lowell music students serve as teaching artists in the program, mentoring young musicians and conducting performance ensembles.

Participants typically perform two concerts a year for family, friends and the public.

The program’s holiday concert, a free performance for the community, will be held at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 19, at UMass Lowell’s Comley-Lane Theater inside Mahoney Hall, 870 Broadway St., on the university’s South Campus. Free parking will be available next to the venue in the Broadway/Riverview Lot.

A faculty member in UMass Lowell’s music department, Parks took over as String Project director in September. A violinist, she teaches violin and viola and leads conducting courses. She also conducts UMass Lowell’s University Orchestra. Learning music as a child made a lasting impression, and with arts education being squeezed out of public schools, she believes the String Project’s mission is more important than ever.

“Programs like this are absolutely imperative for a thriving education for children,” she said. “We hope to fill in that gap for as many students as we can and offer an education that can apply to other parts of their lives as well. If you’re learning music, you’re not just learning about the mechanics of putting a violin on your shoulder or what the notes are; it’s collaboration, listening skills, deciphering what you read on sheet music into a concept that you then try to translate into a sound, and being able to collaborate and work with your peers. Students pick up on these things really quickly in music classes, which can be transferred to their other educational pursuits.”

Participants enrolled in the String Project meet Tuesday and Thursday evenings each semester and are grouped into a variety of different ensembles, which are led by UMass Lowell music students.

Parks sees great value in the paid teaching experience UMass Lowell students receive as instructors in the program. “Most music majors will be teaching at some point in their careers, and this gives them hands-on experience that they can use to apply for jobs when they graduate,” she said.

Over time, Parks hopes to expand the range of learners and educators participating in the String Project by allowing other UMass Lowell students, who are not music majors, to become instructors. Another goal is to launch an adult beginner class for students on campus and members of the Greater Lowell area who are interested in picking up violin, viola or cello.

“Growing the program would be a wonderful thing for everyone,” she said. “With such a huge presence in the local community, UMass Lowell is in a unique place where we can offer that kind of experience to public school students at a very low fee. In doing so, we can hopefully engage students who otherwise wouldn’t have access to this outside their schools. I would love to work more alongside the public schools to figure out what their teachers are looking for and how we can collaborate.”

Since its founding at UMass Lowell, the String Project has helped educate thousands of young people, provided UMass Lowell students with valuable teaching experience and garnered national acclaim from the American String Teachers Association and National String Project Consortium. The program is a member of the consortium, along with more than 40 other String Projects at colleges and universities across the country.

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Loyalsock music department highlights composer commission series.

The music departments of the three Loyalsock area schools offered several updates during a recent school board meeting.

Middle school band director and coordinator for the music department David Tini started with a new commission initiative that will bring composers to the district to write music specifically for those students.

This year’s commission was written by Dr. Travis J. Weller, Ph.D., associate professor of music, department assistant chair and director of music education for Messiah University, and was performed by the seventh and eighth grade band during their March 27 concert.

“It’s a grade three piece, which is fairly challenging for a seventh and eighth grade band,” Tini said.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said of the piece, which traverses time signatures of seven-eight, three-four and four-four.

“We’re very excited to see the world premiere at our March concert. This will be the first time our band has done a project like this.”

At the recent middle school junior county band festival 23 seventh and eighth grade students represented Loyalsock, Tini said, making up about 25% of the ensemble. Two clarinet solos were assigned to Loyalsock students.

A highlight of the presentation was a flute solo courtesy of eighth grader Tala Zaldivar.

Zaldivar was recently awarded a $500 scholarship after writing an essay and performing an audition in front of a board of music educators.

Next up, elementary school band director Emily Brumbaugh updated the board on several exciting developments, including their very own commission, courtesy of internationally known composer, conductor and clinician, Tyler S Grant.

“Grant’s music is regularly featured on publishers’ choice repertoire lists around the world and has been performed at world renowned venues including Carnegie Hall,” Brumbaugh explained.

Schick’s family band held their first annual concert on March 21.

The Family Band includes over 50 family members of student musicians who signed up to learn an instrument along with their child to perform at the concert, Brumbaugh explained.

Additionally, “the Loyalsock Township band boosters have established their Schick Play It Forward fund to assist elementary band students with subsidies for private music lessons and summer music camp.”

The fund will allow all students, regardless of their socio-economic status, “to experience the benefits of academic achievement, a commitment to discipline, and the rewards of teamwork and collaboration that come from participating in music programs,” she said.

High school band director Jessica Hopkins informed the board that a number of students have qualified for various Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) band and choir festivals.

Students Kiersten Miller, James Neely, Gabriel Danley, Sienna Terpak, Katie Clapper will perform at the District 8 Band Festival, with Miller, Danley, Terpak and Clapper also performing at the Region IV Band Festival, and Noelle Collins performing at the District 8 Orchestra Festival.

Abigail Paz, Maria Blas, Marco Blas and Kate Richards will head to the District 8 Choir Festival, with Paz and Blas set to also perform at the Region IV Choir Festival.

Blas also qualified for All-State A Cappella, and will be performing in that state convention next week in Erie.

“This is Maria’s third year qualifying for All-State, which is a really impressive achievement for anybody, but especially at the high school level,” Brumbaugh said.

The high school jazz band recently performed at the first annual Williamsport City Jazz Orchestra Jazz Festival, where they worked with and learned from local musical professionals, and the symphonic Wind Ensemble will perform at Commonwealth University — Lock Haven’s President’s concert on April 25, Brumbaugh told the board.

“As we continue to progress through our year, we look back to our fall marching band season, where our marching band earned a silver medal at their championships for the cavalcade of bands,” Brumbaugh said. The band placed second out of 17 other bands in their division.

“There are lots of opportunities to come and hear some awesome music,” Brumbaugh said, noting that the high school band spring concert will be May 23, with the high school choir performing May 28.

“We’re thrilled to see our students flourish and grow up, and we look forward to continuing to share our music with you,” she said.

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New faculty member hired in Music Education

Dr. Amy Spears will join the School of Music faculty beginning in the fall semester as an Assistant Professor of Music Education. 

Dr. Spears holds a Ph.D. in Music Education from Arizona State University. Her dissertation, “Facilitating High School Band Students’ Aural Learning Through Informal, Student-Centered Practices,” relates to culturally responsive teaching and development of student musicianship. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Auburn University and a master’s degree in Flute Performance from the University of Alabama.

Spears has extensive collegiate-level teaching experience, including courses in instrumental methods, social justice, conducting and rock band. She also spent seven years teaching middle and high school bands in Alabama and Arizona. 

"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Spears to the School of Music faculty at Fredonia," said Dr. Christian Bernhard, who is head of Music Education. "With a wealth of K-12 and collegiate teaching experience, she is already well known and respected in professional circles. Dr. Spears is a thoughtful and engaging teacher, scholar, and musician who balances creative new directions with respect for tradition, including recent research studies in the United Kingdom, Ghana and Rwanda. We look forward to Dr. Spears' collaborations with our faculty, community and Music Education majors!" 

School of Music Dean David Stringham added, “Fredonia is known within and beyond New York State for its commitment to nurturing future music educators. As an experienced practitioner and an active scholar, Dr. Spears is well positioned to join our faculty in educating, challenging, and inspiring students as they prepare to serve in a rapidly-changing world."

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Wyatt Flores, a Rising Country Artist, Has a Superpower: Tapping Emotions

The 22-year-old singer and songwriter makes music that touches listeners deeply. But his own trauma — coupled with his rapid rise — has thrown some bumps in the road.

By Josh Crutchmer

Reporting from Nashville; Des Moines, Iowa; Tulsa, Okla.; and Stillwater, Okla.

In early February, the singer and songwriter Wyatt Flores relaxed on a green room couch in Nashville before headlining the 1,200-capacity Brooklyn Bowl for the first time. The show had sold out nearly instantly, thanks in part to “Life Lessons,” his seven-song EP filled with raw, emotional country songs that added fuel to the “blowup” — his word for the last year of his career and life.

Flores, now 22, had been playing professionally since age 16 and releasing music since 2021 when his song “Please Don’t Go” caught fire on social media in early 2023. The spare track, written by Flores as a plea to a loved one not to take their life, features a simple fingerpicked guitar arrangement, centering the song on his raw vocals. His emotion resonated with fans, helping Flores stand out among the young, stripped-down singer-songwriters that country music is rapidly embracing.

“I’ve always talked about mental health, and that’s what that song is,” Flores said, “so I made a video explaining it — me sitting there in the studio doing a little acoustic of it. Next thing you know, it just started spinning. I could not believe it. I went from doing lives on TikTok at 2 in the morning, and there’d be 24 people in there. Next thing I know, I’ve got a thousand, then 1,500.”

Suddenly, he found himself included in discussions about the future of country music. The rise left Flores, who had always struggled with anxiety, in a constant state of near panic.

Less than a week after the Nashville show, he broke down during a gig in Kansas City, Mo., telling the crowd in a lengthy address that he felt numb despite his musical dreams coming true. The next day, his managers made the call to pull him off the road.

“I had to focus on being me, and finding things that I love, and putting myself back into my own skin, honestly,” he said in March, chatting once again on a backstage couch — this one in a tiny green room at Wooly’s, a rock bar in the heart of Des Moines, Iowa. Downstairs, fans at the sold-out venue were filing in for his first club show back. During his break, Flores cut his long hair, and was now wearing it in a mop covering his eyes.

Flores sings with sincerity, and his autobiographical songwriting is often heavy with emotion. Home is his family’s ranch on the outskirts of Stillwater, Okla. Flores is native to the state, with Mexican American heritage. His father, Noe, is a welder, and Flores says if it were not for music, he would be one too. He often writes about Stillwater and that ranch. He flipped his truck into a ditch barely a mile from the house after a night of drinking, and turned the story into the song “3/13,” a cautionary tale.

Stillwater is a college town and the center of a music scene called Red Dirt, which showcases candid songwriting and simple musical arrangements that evoke Woody Guthrie, one of its inspirations. Noe, a drummer, introduced his son to the Great Divide , one of the area’s flagship bands; Scotte Lester, the group’s guitar player, became a mentor.

“What struck my first chord was sitting around campfires with my dad and Scotte, and listening to Scotte either tell a true story or one that he was making up real quick, and then playing a song that he either knew or was making up as well,” Flores said. “That was my childhood. I was always surrounded by music.”

Flores gave college a try, spending two weeks at the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology before dropping out to play music full-time — an experience he documented in the upbeat song “Life Lessons.”

When Flores was in middle school, he lost one of his closest friends to suicide. “It hurts you, because one day, they’re gone, and you can’t do nothing about it,” he recalled. “All you have are these leftover conversations.” In August 2023, while he was on tour, his maternal grandfather took his life. After that, Flores began covering the Fray’s “How to Save a Life” during shows, often using the song as a chance to discuss mental health with his audiences.

The track made it onto “Half Life,” his new EP due April 19, as its only cover. Its devastatingly personal title track, written before his grandfather’s death, includes haunting, specific lyrics reminiscing about their time together. Its single “Wish I Could Stay” is about a date Flores had — an evening spent driving around looking at Christmas lights — that he did not want to end. The song is a waltz, heavy on strings and keyboard, with Flores almost screaming the refrain in his pained twang.

Flores’s music is not always dark, but it is true to his life, and message-driven. “I wanted to create something that said, ‘Go chase your dreams. Understand that there’s going to be down spots where you’re going to hit rock bottom,’” he said of his “Life Lessons” EP. “But that’s part of it.”

“Half Life,” Flores added, is about understanding that all of that will end one day. He took inspiration from “If We Were Vampires,” a 2017 Jason Isbell song that grappled with the same topic.

“It sounds emo, but it really did open my eyes,” he said, acknowledging he thinks about death a great deal for someone just a year above drinking age. “That’s what I hope it’ll do for other people, too. Go live your life while you can.”

Flores seized his moment in late 2023 when he debuted at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium over two nights, sandwiched between the headliner Charles Wesley Godwin and the opener Cole Chaney. Godwin, 30, is a West Virginia native whose personal songwriting style is similar to that of Flores, whom he sees as a budding superstar.

“I see the potential for Wyatt to play stadiums,” Godwin said in a phone interview. “For him to already be expressing himself in the way he does, in the songs he composes and his melodies, to connect with people the way he is, the sky is literally the limit for him.”

Flores knows that in order to work up to his future potential, he needs to grapple with his past. When he left the road after his onstage breakdown, one of the first things he did was to seek counseling. His 2020 move from his lifelong home in Oklahoma to Nashville — and a near-constant industry buzz of writing, recording or playing shows — had left him more homesick than he realized. Last summer, his first headlining tour resumed a week after his grandfather’s funeral, leaving Flores with little time to grieve. The cumulative effect, he realized during counseling, amounted to years of pain he had been suppressing.

“Goodness, it opened up a lot of wounds,” he said. “I didn’t even know what I was experiencing was trauma until they told me. I thought I had to be abused, that it had to go that far to be considered trauma.”

Flores spent most of his break at his parents’ home in Oklahoma. He played with his dogs. He hung out with his family. After a few weeks, he picked up a spur-of-the-moment gig at a Stillwater bar called the Salty Bronc. His dad sat in on drums.

When he returned to his own stage in Des Moines, he was recharged. He played for two hours before ending with “West of Tulsa,” a song with a driving beat from “Life Lessons” about a hollow one-night stand that has become his preferred set closer. The packed house sang along: “I just wanna be somebody, oh/We just wanna be somebody, oh.”

Flores walked off first, leaving his band to jam the final few minutes, and brought his two managers in for a group hug.

“I did it!” he yelled. He was back on track.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

An earlier version of this article misstated the location of the stage Wyatt Flores returned to for a performance. It was in Des Moines, not Nashville.

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Hutton receives 2024 SCICU Excellence In Teaching Award

Christopher Hutton, professor of music, is the 2024 South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (SCICU) Excellence In Teaching Award recipient for Furman University. The honorees from each of the 21 SCICU member institutions are selected annually based on university criteria. They were recognized at an awards dinner April 9 in Columbia.

Hutton teaches applied cello, string chamber music and courses in music history and literature. As co-director of study-away programs, he has traveled with students to Belgium, England, France and Italy, and this May will mark the second time he’ll lead a program which takes students to multiple performances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

In addition to his work in the Department of Music , Hutton has been involved in Furman’s system of shared governance, chairing the May Experience Oversight Committee for four years and serving as faculty chair and faculty council chair for three years.

Outside the Furman classroom, Hutton, who performs on a c.1795 cello made by renowned English luthier John Betts, is the cellist for Greenville-based Poinsett Piano Trio . He performs regularly for South Carolina Bach and in the Greenville Symphony. His ongoing project “Reflecting Bach” has included dozens of recitals juxtaposing J.S. Bach’s “Suites for Unaccompanied Cello” with solo music by composers of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Hutton, who joined Furman’s faculty in 2003, earned a doctorate and a master’s degree in musical arts from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance from Boston University. His cello mentors were Leslie Parnas, Paul Katz and Steven Doane. Prior to joining the Furman faculty, Hutton taught at the University of Rochester, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the University of Delaware and the Eastern Music Festival.

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Gov. Josh Shapiro, state lawmakers, and education advocates announce new student teacher stipend

By Lauren Linder

Updated on: April 10, 2024 / 1:59 PM EDT / CBS Pittsburgh

HARRISBURG (KDKA) - Student teachers in Pennsylvania can apply for a new stipend program starting on Thursday morning. 

Governor Josh Shapiro along with state lawmakers, education advocates, and student teachers came together in Harrisburg on Wednesday to talk about it. 

They hope it's just the beginning of the program.

Amber Bloom is the vice president of the Student Pennsylvania State Education Association and goes to the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.

"The student-teacher support program is needed now more than ever," Bloom said.

She's one of countless people studying to become teachers who she said need more financial support in the final stage of the certification process.

"Student teachers often have to give up part-time jobs in order to give their student teaching the attention that it deserves," Bloom said.

This will change under a state law that just went into effect establishing the $10-million Educator Pipeline Support Grant Program, providing $15,000 to eligible student teachers. They'll be able to enroll at 9 a.m. Thursday on the website for the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA).

"That unique classroom experience is so important and so necessary for aspiring educators. Paying student teachers a modest stipend is a win-win," Bloom said.

Governor Josh Shapiro would like to increase the funding to $15 million dollars. Many hope the stipend will help attract more teachers to the field. Since 2011, the state has seen a more than 70 percent drop in the number of people graduating with teaching certificates. 

State Senator Wayne Fontana (D), District 42, is also on PHEAA's board of directors.

"By providing financial support to support teachers we are not only investing in the future of education, but also addressing the critical teacher shortage in this Commonwealth," Fontana said.

The program will require student teachers to commit to working in the state for at least three years when they're done, in hopes to fill the gap in school districts across the state.

"This is a moment to celebrate progress in this building, progress for our teachers, progress for students all across Pennsylvania," Shapiro said. 

Applications will begin being accepted Tuesday at 9 a.m. at this link . 

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Emancipation Day celebration brings music, fireworks and road closures to DC Sunday

Thomas Robertson | [email protected]

April 12, 2024, 4:47 PM

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Each year D.C. recognizes April 16 as Emancipation Day, since on that day 162 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District. But this year, the festivities come two days early.

D.C.’s Emancipation Day celebration will take place Sunday, with a full day of events scheduled at Freedom Plaza. A parade begins at 2 p.m., a concert headlined by Ginuwine and Kelly Price starts at 3 p.m., and a fireworks show starting at 8:30 p.m. will put the exclamation point on the celebration.

With the event comes road closures.

The following roads will be closed to traffic and posted as emergency no parking Sunday from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.:

• Pennsylvania Avenue from 12th Street to 14th Street, NW
• E Street from 13th Street to 14th Street, NW
• 13th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

The following roads will be closed to traffic and posted as emergency no parking Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.:

• 9th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
• Pennsylvania Avenue from 9th Street to 12th Street, NW
• 10th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue, NW
• 11th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
• 12th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue, NW

D.C. police said all road closures are subject to change based on traffic conditions, and directed anyone looking for timely traffic information to its D.C. Police Traffic page on the social media platform X.

• Emancipation Day celebration brings music, food, fireworks to DC

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Thomas Robertson is an Associate Producer and Web Writer/Editor at WTOP. After graduating in 2019 from James Madison University, Thomas moved away from Virginia for the first time in his life to cover the local government beat for a small daily newspaper in Zanesville, Ohio.

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