What a Difference a Year Makes – Music Returns to Fresno!
Last year at this time Fresno Unified School District had eliminated the music program. As the new school year gets into full swing the sound of music has returned to this town. Let's hope this is a trend that catches on in California! On Wednesday, the Fresno Unified school board will hear how teachers are […]
I couldn’t have said it better!
Just back from a terrific conference on the future of the arts scene here in New Jersey as well as working on our "new model" for arts education advocacy (more on that later.) At the conference there was an wonderful opening session that I was going to write about to share with all of you. […]
The Parent Trap – EP
I wrote about this earlier but was so bothered by the issue I created an EP (extended play) version for everyone! “The minute a school district is able to shift the responsibility to fund a program from the district to the parents… they will never take the responsibility back.” There is an emerging trend that, […]
How you can help!
Help Wynton Help His Hometown! Jazz great and music education ambassador Wynton Marsalis created the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Fund – which is managed by the Baton Rouge Community Foundation (since the New Orleans Community Foundation was washed away!) Wynton has been such a steadfast leader as an advocate for music education here is […]
A Global Education Revolution Leaves US Behind
Regular visitors to this blog know that I have been on a creativity rant for the past two years. My interview with Sir Ken Robinson on the topic of The Arts, Creativity, and the Modern Economy encapsulates much of what I believe to be true and the flaws with an educational system heavy on test […]
Arts Enters the NYC race for Mayor
The folks at the Alliance for the Arts in NYC asked for, and received, comments from all the candidates for Mayor about their views on arts issues… including arts education. An interesting read! Check out all the responses via the link below! The Alliance for the Arts asked candidates for City office in the 2005 […]
This News Story Makes Me Mad
"I haven't seen any concrete empirical evidence that the arts are getting cut across the board in favor of subjects that are getting tested," said Matt Gandal, executive vice president of Achieve, a Washington D.C.-based group led by governors and corporate executives that promotes rigorous standards and assessment. "All anyone has is anecdotal evidence," Gandal […]
Look Who’s a Music Advocate!
In the town that has been historically the home of American musical instrument production, Elkhart Indiana, you would expect to find lots of people who would advocate for music education. What you would not expect is this: ELKHART — What do mentoring and after-school programs, community-based initiative, and extra-curricular activities have in common? Digger Phelps. […]
What do you teach with a music degree? Reading!
New Rule: If you are hired to teach a music program… YOU MUST TEACH MUSIC! In the words of Yogi Berra "It's deja vu all over again!" When I lived in California a really good friend of mine was teaching music in Pasadena. He told me part of job was now to teach math. I […]
We’re Back!
We are back from Vermont and ready for a full agenda. This week we are launching our WearBlue: Support Music Education campaign, taking on the WhyMusicEd newsletter, opening a new online store, finalizing the survey instrument for the New Jersey Arts Education Census Project, and preparing The Sound of Silence II: The State of Music […]
