Here's to you, Local Educators!

So last time I told you about Silly Bus, which is more based on the toddlers years to pre-kindergarten. So what about the children entering elementary? Ever since the economy took a plunge, so have the programs in elementary schools. One of the curriculum programs that took the hit was the music program. This left teachers who love music out of a job and kids who will never get the chance to experience school plays/musicals like some us did growing up. On the not so serious side about it, they'll never be embarrassed by they're parents as they come right up to you and snap pictures like my mom did. But back to the seriousness of music education, "apparently because students tend to enjoy music and feel a sense of accomplishment when they become proficient on a musical instruments and with ensemble performances; and perhaps with gaining the people skills necessary to collaborate in a group performance." (Catterall, James S. PBSTavis Smiley. 2011. Web.) You can find out more about this at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/dudamel-conducting-a-life/the-consequences-of-curtailing-music-education/.

Youth Orchestra LA at Heart of Los Angeles

 Are parents finding other alternatives for their children to learn music or are they just letting them go by the waste side because maybe they think, it's really not a big deal. Well for anyone who thinks some type of musical education is not a big deal, tell them to come read my blog. Let's hope I can change their mind.

For one elementary school here in Chicago, Audubon Elementary they still have a music program. The only reason why I know this is because that's where I had to go vote for our Presidential Election. The way I found out about their music class is because it wasn't even in the school building, it was around the back side of the building in a small little trailer made shack. I felt bad and a bit ashamed for the teacher and kids who have to come out in the bad weather to get to their music class. But hey, at least they still have it, right? So good for them.

Dozens of schools here in Chicago lack music programs, not only here in Chicago but nationwide. I came across an archive from Oregon and in one year in Portland, Oregon's public schools had to eliminate 12 music teaching position and another school district got rid of their small orchestra program. In a previous year another district had a school that had a strings program that they had to take away from 5th graders.

Here in Chicago, there are several programs and that tend to the children who do not have a music program during school. So they go after school to The People's Music School. This is a free music school and the only one in the United States. This is an after-school music education program available to children throughout CPS (Chicago Public Schools). The school teaches music theory and and instrument classes taught by music educators and professional musicians on instruments like the piano to guitar and voice lessons to the tuba. Below is Rita Simo, the founder of The People's Music School. Take a listen and see how she got started.

Another after-school program designed to give students direct access to music education is P.A.U.S.E. brought to the children by George S. May Foundation for the Arts. Just like People's Music School, the kids here learn to read music and play instruments. "The goal is to expand to inner-city schools nationwide."(abc7. ABC Inc. 2013. Web.) The principal at Manuel Perez Jr. Elementary states, "Our students are very eager to learn about music in all forms."

Other programs include School of Rock, Girls Rock and Old Town School of Folk Music. With the help of all these music programs that tend to kids outside the classroom, they can then go online and find ways to write or make their own music. I'll tell you more about some of the music media out there later on this week.
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Until then, if you happen to know a music teacher go thank them and let them know you support their teaching programs. They help build growing minds, in the sense that kids need music understanding in their lives to grow in this world.

On the Local Side

I would like to thank those, your comments so far. If you have read So Here We Go, I talked about the brain as it begins to grow. I mentioned a program, Silly Bus, a program that focuses on the young ones by using music to stimulate the brain. This can be a help to those parents in need of an educational babysitter. Silly Bus prepares a child in making a growing difference for those under the age of five where comprehension becomes evident.  Just as well as putting headphones on a pregnant belly, the reaction to music is stimulating. SB uses different levels of music with major and minor tonality along with education.

I mentioned previously, if you let a video play with the ABC song over and over again a child will start to recognize repetition. “Repetition of patterns in songs reinforces content and retention of words and melodies. Since all children do not learn in the same way or at the same rate, much repetition using a variety of learning strategies is important.” (“Repetition and Musical Learning.” Silly Bus. Education Media Creations Company, LLC, n.d.)
Repetition not only works for children, some adults use the same strategy.

Ok, so I was really excited to start this entry Thursday night after coming home from work but sometimes work wears you out. So I wanted to spin things up for a brief minute. As you may have read my blog profile, I mentioned supporting the local music scene. On Thursday nights I spend them walking around Francesca's Forno, in Chicago's Wicker Park listening to local acoustic sets with the accompany of the patrons in the restaurant as they sit and wait for me to bring them their food. I would like to introduce you to two people whom I have only heard once before this past Thursday. 
Toward the end of their night at Forno, I approached them and introduced myself and asked if it was okay that I take some pictures to post in my blog. They were more than willing and said, "Sure takes as many pictures as you'd like." 

So I that note, here are some pictures I took and a small snippet of Emily "Honey-Brushes" Roth and Sean "Milk" Grabiner of Milk & Honey. The first time I heard Emily's voice, it reminded me of a female Ray Lamontange. Emily's voice is filled with some deep soul and emotion. I did not want to bother them too much but I did want to ask who are their influences. 

I know this snippet doesn't do wonders, so I found a video from one of my neighborhood venue where Emily and Sean perform with their entire band, Em & Them. If you would like to check out the full band, Em & Them they will be performing at the Double Door March 29th.

So Here We Go

I would like to say, "hey to everyone" out loud.
Let's start by getting into the head of the human brain and how soon after someone is born does their brain begin to grow. Human brains do most of their growing in the first five years of life, quadrupling from birth to 95 percent of adult size. (source: American Museum of Natural History)
So early teaching is most important to the parent(s) of the child, as they begin to grow into their adolescent years.
What happens to some children once they are born? Some parents (not all) position them in front of a screen and turn on the television and go about their business around the house. As the child sits there, they don't really understand what is going on or words being said. What if you put on a video that had the ABC song played over and over in front of them, then what? According the Kim Gorenflo, Founder of Ready, Set, Read tells parents all the time they need to expose kids to words. So for the youngsters not old enough to enter kindergarten there are musical programs for them too. Partnered with Ready, Set, Read. Silly Bus has music videos that feature the ABC's. The child begins the grasp something about the video, only because it is the ABC song over and over. What happens when children listen to educational music? Judith Hennenberger, Elementary Educator and the author of Stepping Stones said, "They develop their rhythmic and motor coordination, their attention spans and socialization skills. If you have ever seen a little one dance around, I do have to say it so cute. So there is their so-called coordination skills beginning to develop. The capacity for learning is greatest when we are just mere toddlers. So you may be asking what is Silly Bus, then? Well, Silly Bus is a member of the NARAS, a grammy award winner for children's education through music media.

Respected Music Educator and Admired Opera Conductor

I last spoke briefly about what I will begin to discuss and I mentioned to you the Northwestern University researchers. If you made have had trouble viewing the site here it is again. www.soc.northwestern.edu/brainvolts/. There, they show you that the brain is engaged in many different ways through music. A person learns to read music, which is stimulated by a different part of the brain as then of memory. Through music training, depending on what your focus may be, your brain focuses on one specific area than another. 

Northwestern researchers recognized that musicians can encode speech better than non musicians. They show a graph where musicians are better at hearing speech in noise over a number of years. So the longer you are musically inclined the better off you are hearing a conversation in a crowd? Slideshow 13 shows the difference of a musician and a non musician when it comes to processing speech in noise. The way it looks like, I could have a conversation with another musician at a rock concert more than I could with someone who has no musical knowledge at all. 

With musical training your brain begins to grow and strengthen with different characteristics than that of someone who is not a musician or musically incline. This is the difference between a passive music listener and a active or critical listener (as a music engineers should be). The brain continues to grow even after one stops playing music due to the fact that they have the knowledge of music within them. Even though the body may not be involved with music, as in playing an instrument throughout their lifetime, the brain can still determine a sense of direction from where an instrument may be placed in a song.

Near the end of the Northwestern University auditory neuroscience lab slideshow, it displays the breakdown of ages that musical training and brain development have been tested and the outcomes learned through music. 

Below is Richard Gill, is an Australian Music Director specializing in Opera music and vocal and choral training. He is also a music educator. This video is a seminar he does around the world explaining his point to adults of why their young children need to be taught music in their growing minds and why music can help them focus.

The Universal Language

As you have read the intro to my blog, you may have caught on to my point and interest and hopefully yours as well about music and education. Instead of telling you at first what I am going to do, I thought I would give you an up front explanation of what has become of the children of today and how they are growing up without music and why it is important that the value of music education can help open the minds of the youth and grow into something extraordinary.
I have began to tell you of things I have heard, read and personally seen about music and the reaction it has on the fetus. As this blog grows so will the growth of the human mind. I will provide you with some research to help you as you take a look for yourself on how experts have shown us what music does to us.
Meanwhile, as the brain becomes more educated and starting its elementary years, why they should have the access to a music program.
So let me start out by telling you that local researchers from Northwestern University, the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory have done some investigating themselves to see how the brain perceives sound and music. You can check it out for yourself at http.www.soc.northwestern.edu/brainvolts/index.php, I think you may come across some really interested stuff. I know I did. When you get to it, go to "lab projects" click on the slideshow and it will take you on an interesting journey of how, musical training changes sound processing in the brain (soc.northwestern.edu/brainvolts/slideshows/music/index.php)
Later this week, I will introduce you to Richard Gill, an Opera Director and show you one of his seminars and why he believes that children need to have an education in music.
I once read an article that English is the universal language but I have to say I disagree.
Music is the universal language, it can translate to many around the world. People of all sorts come together as one, to listen to their favorite song.

Sound Before Birth

From the time a person is still inside the womb, they hear sound. Mothers are known to place headphones on their bellies to calm their unborn. Doctors do not have the correct answer on why or how exactly the sound of music may have on an unborn child. This is due to, the ability of observation and medical professionals do not have the ability to observe the fetus as they would an actual child. Even though some believe that if you play classical music for the fetus, that the child will come out smarter or musically incline. There is no medical research found that supports this belief.
Even after birth a child continues to hear music. There are research-based programs out there that help elementary children grow and develop a special skill that is only learned through music. The benefits of music education increases the creative mind and enhances a new skill with hand and eye coordination. There have been studies on children who have music education compared to those whom do not and those with music in their lives have an enhancement in brain responses when it comes to complex sound. Without a child knowing exactly what it means but it gives them the ability to recognize the fundamental frequency of a sound. Music stimulates growth in the brain and helps with motor skills. This is done by learning how to play a musical instrument.
With a little bit of music in a young child's life can go a long way.