This is well worth a look, Musicthoughts.com click here. Plenty of good advice and wisdom.
Tag Archives: music education
Paul Desmond, a master mind and wit: some thoughts for a New Year
A poet of the music, Paul Desmond was both self-deprecating and deeply insightful. This medley of quotes might tickle and provoke us…
“I tried practicing for a few weeks and ended up playing too fast… I have won several prizes as the world’s slowest alto player, as well as a special award in 1961 for quietness”.
Regarding his tone:“I honestly don’t know! It has something to do with the fact that I play illegally.”
On why he changed his name: “Breitenfeld sounded too Irish.”
More seriously, Paul Desmond challenges students and teachers of the music: “Complexity can be a trap. You can have a ball developing a phrase, inverting it, playing it in different keys and times and all. But it’s really more introspective than communicative. Like a crossword puzzle compared to a poem.”
And most telling… “Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can’t be taught.”
Sadly his perception about the jazz audience appears to remain pretty much spot on…”Our basic audience begins with creaking elderly types of twenty-three and above.”
For more Paul Desmond, click here:
www.jazzquotations.com/2010/05/paul-desmond-quotes_24.html
thinkexist.com/quotes/paul_desmond/
www.gandalfe.net/paul_desmond.htm
For a transcription of Paul Desmond’s solo on “Samba with some Bar-B-Q” click here…
The Improvisational Brain – new article
Musicians and students are prone to a bit ranting as to how improvisation occurs and whether or not the analogy with language acquisition is appropriate. In supervising students’ (and their own) personal practice, teachers of improvisation can encounter blocks to progression and development, spending a lot of time untangling a student’s perception of their learning experience.
Those moments hit us all!
While Improvising is fun, once studied or practiced, it is my experience that inexperienced students and some seasoned musicians can mistake the sensations associated with play or the “flow state” with the slower and “creaky” mind that learns the initial stages of concrete skills. You might say confusing the self-expressive state is confused with the learning state.
“Watching a musician in the throes of an improvisational solo can be like witnessing an act of divine intervention, but embedded memories and conspiring brain regions, scientists now believe, are the source of ad-hoc creativity” So suggests Amanda Rose Martinez … see her article in SEED MAGAZINE – click here.
I suggest that our experiences as students of improvisation will be easier if we undertstand the learning process, so thank you Ms Rose… but now the community of jazz educators will be well advised to consider precisely how the research can be applied to enhance schemes of work, learning strategies and practice in general – and to be fair, the findings of this research have been alluded to for at least 30 years through applied (as distinct to cognitive) psychology. This is where the work of figures such as Guy Claxton et al, George Odam and the tried and tested Inner Game authors is useful.
What’s stopping us?
The Curriculum – all that is taught and learnt…
The Curriculum – all that is taught and learnt…
Core and hidden…
Planned and received…
Formal and informal…
Can we have an informed debate please?
We find ourselves in an historic time when education is about to the redefined by the course of political determination, we would be well advised to be mindful of the purpose of education and how teaching and learning occurs. While the nature and content of learning experiences have already changed due to the technological revolution, for whatever reason and whatever political persuasion suits you or I, the presence and provision for a range of subjects and learning processes are possibly about to change through a course of action that will be described as progressive, radical, essential, urgent… or reactive, dangerous and without educational rationale – depending upon your perspective.
Would it not be prudent to be informed? Even if a radical reassessment is necessary, all parties would be better served through deep consideration and evidence-based understanding of the core issues. Vic Kelly understood the curriculum and engages us in a thorough consideration of the psychological, philosophical, political and operational drivers that form the learning culture of schools and colleges. Derived form a latin word referring to a race track, perhaps we should prefer curriculum is less of a race to acquire information, and more a consideration of “all that is taught and learnt”, built upon values as much as operational mechanics and transient values.
A.V.Kelly’s “The Curriculum: Theory and Practice” – click here.
University College Union comment on national demonstration against education cuts
Commenting on the national demonstration against education cuts, UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: ‘The actions of a mindless and totally unrepresentative minority should not distract from today’s message. The overwhelming majority of staff and students on the march came here to send a clear and peaceful message to the politicians.’
- Historic demonstration against Cuts in Higher Education
50,000 in stunning march against government cuts
An absolutely extraordinary 50,000 students and staff from UCU and NUS thronged the streets of central London on Wednesday in the biggest education march for generations. The massive turnout was a stinging rebuke to the Coalition government’s plans to cut to education funding and shift the burden of costs of universities firmly onto students. A big thank you to everyone who marched in defence of education.
At the rally outside Tate Britain, UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said, “it isn’t fair to make our public universities the most expensive in the world. It isn’t progressive to discourage young people from going to college. And it isn’t just to ask the next generation to pay for others’ mistakes. Over the next four years while college grants are cut and tuition fees triple, big business will get £8bn in tax giveaways from the government.”
TUC deputy general secretary Frances O’Grady slammed the coalition’s policies as creating “an American-style free market in higher education where the top universities are reserved for the privileged few and everybody else has to make do with second best”, while Aaron Porter, NUS president accused the government of “abdicating its responsibility to fund the education and skills provision we desperately need just as every other country is investing in its future.” It was an amazing turnout and a great march. You can see pictures from the day here: http://picasaweb.google.com/UCUcampaigns/FundOurFutureUCUNUSMarch10Nov10?feat=embedwebsite#
Sally Hunt’s statement on the Milbank protest
Of course, the news agenda on the day was completely captured by the incident at Millbank Tower, which distracted from the pressure being placed on the government by our magnificent march. UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt has written to all members on this and you can read her letter here: http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=4779
Colleges could lose a third of their adult funding, says research
Further education colleges could face cuts of £2.5m each as a result of the government’s spending plans, according to independent research by the House of Commons Library. The research shows that a typical college, with approximately 20,000 students, could lose out on a third of its adult skills funding. Sally Hunt said: “Cuts of this size would have a devastating effect on local provision and put many colleges in dire financial straits. Institutions would be forced to charge students more in order to plug the funding gap.” Read more here: http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6063037
Cost of studying degree has increased by more than 300%, shows UCU study
The annual cost of studying for a degree has increased by 311.5% since 1988, according to research released by UCU this week. The study, which was released on the same day thousands of staff and students took to the streets of London, showed that a shopping basket of everyday household items rose by just 127.1% in the same period – between 1988 and 2010. UCU said that if Parliament allows tuition fees to rise to £9,000, students starting university in 2012 will face a bill for the first year of their degree (tuition and maintenance loans) 101% higher than their contemporaries who started this year. Read more about this story here: http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=5109. The research was picked up by the Telegraph and the Daily Mail here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8121707/Cost-of-a-degree-has-tripled-in-20-years.html and here: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1328301/University-degree-costs-triple-decades.html.
Nick Clegg’s progressive arguments exposed
Nick Clegg’s attempts to paint the Liberal Democrats’ intervention on proposals for higher education as progressive suffered an embarrassing blow yesterday. Standing in at Prime Minister’s Questions, the deputy PM said the richest would pay most for university. However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that the rich will be better off than they would have been if ministers had adopted Lord Browne’s recommendations. UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: “The Liberal Democrats’ argument that their intervention has made for a fairer system already looked ridiculous after they reneged on their pledge to campaign against a fees rise. The findings from the IFS are cause for further embarrassment.” Read more here: http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/5354. The story was picked up by Channel 4 here: http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/tuition-fees-a-better-deal-for-the-rich/4960.
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Robert Duke – Why students don’t learn what we think we teach
I was fortunate enough to find this marvellous video at howtopractice.com (great resource) today. Robert Duke is Professor in Music and Human Learning at the University of Texas. This video/lecture could not be more important to all educators and all learners – click here if the video is not visible (and thank you to Cornell University for distributing their resources so freely).
Serious about practice? Do we really want to improve?
It seems that my work is mainly about helping students practice effectively. There’s not much to say except that if we are really serious, why not find out more about it!
Check out these indispensible web links for effective practice.
1) intentionalpractice.wordpress.com: Jonathan Harnum is a practicing musician (30+ years on trumpet, and others), and has published 3 previous music-related books. This site shares research from his current Ph.D research into practice.
2) www.howtopractice.com – website related to the above.
3) www.musiciansway.com/practice.shtml – excellent site about practice, related to the recent publication “The Musician’s Way”. See also this article about memorisation. musiciansway.com/blog/?p=2138
“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe”. H. G. Wells
“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe”, so said H. G. Wells.
Is Education no longer a human right, or a visible symptom of a mature society?
Do we want to see this?
In the face of impending and stringent cuts in education (as well as all public services), it is worth remembering that many people continue to believe that education is a human right, not a privilege:
“Education is a fundamental human right and essential for the exercise of all other human rights. It promotes individual freedom and empowerment and yields important development benefits. Yet millions of children and adults remain deprived of educational opportunities, many as a result of poverty... click here for more from the UNESCO website.
The UK Human Rights Act (1998) states:
Article 2
Right to education
“No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.” For more from the Office of Public Sector Information, click here…
For the galling face of corporate of education, see the Guardian on May 18th…click here…
See the Guardian, May 18th 2010
If you are interested in the value that great minds have placed on education, see some of these excerpts on this very accessible site, click here…
First, God created idiots. That was just for practice. Then He created school boards. Mark Twain
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. John Dewey
I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform. John Dewey
Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it. Marion Wright Edelman
There is no greater crime than to stand between a man and his development; to take any law or institution and put it around him like a collar, and fasten it there, so that as he grows and enlarges, he presses against it till he suffocates and dies. Henry Ward Beecher
Remember that our nation’s first great leaders were also our first great scholars. John F Kennedy
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela
Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. Thomas Jefferson
Education: a debt due from present to future generations. George Peabody
What are your favourite quotations about education?
Second degrees: there’s no going back – article in the Guardian
New rules on second degrees make it too expensive for most people to have a career change – see Anne Wollenberg’s article in the Guardian (Tuesday 3 November 2009). The implications here are serious for music students).
So much for lifelong learning!
Take the lid off jazz education
Take the lid of jazz education and what do you find? Thought provoking thoughts from Branford Marsalis….
Now there’s a debate brewing on Ronan Guilfoyle’s site. All jazz students and teachers should read this! Click here for Ronan, and here (for Branford’s original YouTube interview that sparked all of this).
What’s your view?
Jazz Education Research
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Why research? In brief… The Jazz Education community possesses abundant subject matter, play-alongs and an unstoppable harvest of reissues and new music available through the internet. However, while educators are better resourced, informed discourse about teaching and learning is comparatively undeveloped. Click here for more… Jazz Education Research. |
What Use is Jazz Education?
A contribution to the debate convened by the Worshipful Company of Musicians in London (October 2007). Some philosophy, facts and figures… click here… WCoM Jazz Debate
