So...how's everybody doing?
Not that anyone wants to talk about it, but, here we are.
A month ago today, I had my last normal day. I was already pretty worried. I dropped off my kid at her pre-K. I went to my school, put in my grades, sat at my desk with low lights on, and waited. I went in to Walgreen’s to grab a St. Patrick’s Day gift for my kid’s teachers because they’re absolutely wonderful. I think we grabbed some food, maybe some nuggets & a chicken sandwich at PDQ. I am having a hard time remembering that full day.
I have developed a habit over the past several years of staying in at night, holing up in my room, interacting with Twitter for hours on end. It’s how I get most of my news* — that and my NPR updates for important things throughout the day. The night before, March 12th, was the day that many say changed everything. We officially seemed to recognize the Coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. Broadway went dark. The NBA cancelled their season. Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson revealed that they had contracted Coronavirus in Australia. Suffice to say, I was nervous at being out on the 13th. It was our last designated “work day” before Spring Break. Students were already out of school.
I had told friends & colleagues that I seriously doubted we’d come back from Spring Break on time. Some of them really did not believe me. I saw a first grade teacher from my school in Walgreen’s & told her the same. Districts in South Florida, including my former homes of Broward & Palm Beach counties, were cancelling school for at least a week or two as of March 13th. I joked that Orange County would wait on postponing the return from Spring Break until the absolute latest moment. A few hours later that day, as I was headed for a stock up Publix run, the Governor of Florida cancelled school until the end of the month.
I’ve left my home in my vehicle about five days since then. Maybe only four? We have been practicing our social distancing for a solid month now. On March 13th, my in-laws moved across the state to be closer to us (and the grandkid), and we haven’t seen them since. I’ve made three trips to Publix, counting the first trip on 3/13. I had a convoluted order delivered to the trunk of my car at the downtown Target (that actually required two trips…not fun). I’ve made one Home Depot run.
I participated with my daughter in a Car Parade for my school, which surprisingly, did not just involve us waving at students. The kids were out on the sidewalks in full force with their families the day before Orange County’s Stay-at-Home order went into place. They were holding up signs for us, running after our slow moving cars and waving with overjoyed looks on their faces. They videotaped everyone as we moved by and I was a little overcome with emotion. I’d doubted going, but I was glad that I did.
As of today, our dear Governor seems to believe that two weeks back in school would do some good, but I believe he is dead wrong. The only way to genuinely flatten the curve is to keep doing what we’re doing. I genuinely believe that we will not be returning to school this year. I am hoping upon hoping, praying upon praying, that we start next school year on time, give or take at least a couple of weeks. I have a kindergartener waiting to begin. I am a decent teacher and a terrible homeschooler.
We’ve gotten some take-out & delivery, trying to support beloved local businesses, taking precautions, and ramping up the hand washing (and plowing through my hand lotion supply to keep up with the subsequent dryness & irritation). We’re very lucky to be near a beautiful urban lake park, and have tried to take plenty of walks. It’s easy to say that you can just stay inside & get what you need, but now, on Day 31 of the #sequestersemester, I can tell that my muscles are starting to atrophy a little. I’m grateful to get outside when I can. I am horrified at the situation we’re all in, but very thankful for my circumstances.
And very grateful for The Who Gives a Crap? company, keeping us well-stocked in TP. We got a bulk order in just under the gun.
The big story, it seems, is catastrophe distance learning. That’s what it should be called, because that’s what it is. I personally feel that calling most of what is happening now “homeschooling” is an insult to homeschoolers & to the teachers who are busting their rears trying to design curriculum & keep open lines of communication. Sure, some parents have turned to individual schooling or legit homeschooling, but for most families & schools, we’re working within this entirely untested paradigm. It feels like we’re walking through the dark without any training, bumping into things along the way, with the course seemingly changing at every turn. For many of my music education brethren, our best laid plans have either stopped short or burnt out. Some of us have been told to back off, to stand down. I saw so many videos of heroic music teachers sanitarily delivering instruments to kids over the last three weeks. Many of those instruments are collecting dust while students are being called upon to fulfill family duties, experiencing increased levels of anxiety or depression, or dealing with grief resultant from family loss at this time.
I might sound pessimistic when I say this, but traditional band, choral, or orchestra music curriculum design was not made for these times. Hopefully we’ve all learned by now to leave the virtual choirs up to Eric Whitacre. Leonard Bernstein would tell us to make music more passionately, but as much as I appreciate Bernstein’s legacy, at some point, you have to take a stand rather than keep practicing.
So what do we do instead?
First thing’s first: we back off indeed. We demonstrate gratitude that kids are being creative at all. Yes, music can be a salve & a balm, as it has been for me my whole life. But although great pain can produce great art, it is incredibly difficult to create under duress.
I will say that when my kids submit amazing assignments, I get teary & emotional. But for most of them, it’s hard. I’m incredibly grateful that I got to be a Trailblazer & got Google Certified via Palm Beach County in 2017, as the use of Google Classroom and related programs has helped so much in this time.
Students in my classes are going to make music I will never get to hear. And I get admittedly selfish with that. I want to know everything they’re doing. I want them to show me everything they’re working on, and I know (or at least I hope upon hope) that my older former students are working on a number of things right now. But in reality, if kids are making music on their own accord, it should be for themselves, not to garner my favor. If that’s how they’re making music, then I’ve succeeded immensely, even if I don’t know it.
So what if their needs are met to a certain degree and they are chomping at the bit for more musical opportunities? Thankfully, this is not 1996. You don’t need to tape music videos on VHS (if you even had cable) in order to learn how to play guitar chords. You don’t need to complete & mail back correspondence courses in order to learn. There are so many more resources present today and I’m really grateful for that.
The band director juggernaut that is Cathi Leibinger, the current president of the Florida Bandmasters Association & a professor at American Band College, has created a series of video resources to go along with her non-profit organization — The Music Mentor Network — which aims in assisting low-resourced kids to get increased musical instruction. Cathi is the best, and this website is a huge bastion of resources.
My friend Dr. David Brown also has a huge number of learning tools he’s created, one of which I reviewed, and recommend for use for anyone. (He’s also a terrific choral composer as well.)
PianoCub
I’ll be totally honest with you and say that my classical music learning resulted from an interest in popular music. Before I ever picked up an instrument on my own, I was partially raised on MTV & would obsessively read the Billboard charts each week in the Friday entertainment section of the local paper. I am very grateful for a classical education, as it has expanded my worldview and given me opportunities I’d never have had otherwise. I am sad for kids who will lose out on those kinds of opportunities, both in the here & now and the long run, as a result of what’s going on.
But there are other opportunities to be had. I will tell you that based on my experience as a band director for 12 years, about 75% of kids arrive in my room wanting to become a drummer. Pencil drumming is a widespread phenomenon in most academic classes. So why don’t we lean into that and let kids be drummers?! If you want them to work toward a better sense of internal pulse or general steady beat, body drumming (as linked below) attains that goal, right?
And when you transfer the Body Drumset to a chair?! It’s magic for kids. (And for grown-ups!)
I get a little overzealous about Little Kids Rock, but it’s a fantastic place for kids to go to learn on their own. If kids want to work up their chops on ukulele, guitar, bass, piano (comping, and otherwise!) or drums, or even just learn to play a song they love, LKR has got you covered. I feel okay supporting an organization whose stated goals are “to go out of business”, i.e. when schools are appropriately funded & high quality music education is available to every student. (That goal will get further away as a result of our current situation, but I still support the organization.) It kind of feels like #popmused was built for a moment like this.
The indomitable Kris Gilbert also guided many of us in creating a “virtual modern band ensemble” — not by wizardry of computer programming or even using Zoom once! — but by her own incorrigible devotion to editing & creating this resource. You can see me in the top corner, playing my Casiotone (while sort of painfully alone).
(A reminder that these virtual ensembles take SO LONG to make & edit & get together. They are a product and in terms of learning processes, they don’t offer much educational value. They’re a terrific experiment for educators when we’re learning how to do things, but they’re a PR thing for schools. But not like we never get asked for anything PR related, right!?)
I’m finding that so many kids (and so many families) get very caught up in ensuring that they follow directions that sometimes they are not sure how to proceed on their own. This lays bare problems with our schooling as it stands, and maybe makes us realize that we don’t emphasize creativity enough in our classrooms. These circumstances are horrendous, full of tragedy, and exposing the fault lines of our society as it stands. But the greater question is — what can we let go of as a result of these awful times? What baggage from our education past can we jettison as we revamp our systems? Most states have canceled the high stakes test for the year, even Florida, so it’s a good time to imagine: how would we teach while we’re not teaching to a test?
We did also have an APME Virtual Happy Hour on April 3rd and it was pretty terrific. There was a lot of discussion of the nature of what we do and why, and the brilliant Joe Pignato gently reminded us that “…education is not about success, it’s about building relationships.” That’s what we need to remember, especially at a time like this.
Also, if you’re feeling it, you can lean in to the way that folks are feeling, and give them an avenue in which to express themselves using existing frameworks. This is an altered choral warm-up I created, based on a famed warm-up from Dr. Judy Bowers.
Early on in my career, even when I was band supreme, I realized that the best thing we could do for our students is to give them opportunities & get out of their way. Well, we’re out of their way. What are we going to witness them doing with no boundaries? What opportunities will we create now that the walls have fallen?
Ben & Roz Zander have tried to prepare us for this moment. A moment surrounded by tragedy, prolonged by incompetence, but rife with possibility. What we will do to rise from the ashes once we’re back together? This is the question we should ask ourselves daily.
And, we’ve gotta stay positive for the babies. Not unrealistic & super shiny, but generally upbeat.
