Staying Power

Can you remember the first music you ever heard? I've tried to do this multiple times, and I always seem to come back to the same three albums. To hear me tell it, my musical life seems to have been born from Bruce Springsteen's "Greatest Hits," Carole King's "Tapestry," and Nanci Griffith's "Other Voices, Other Rooms"- these were the albums that my parents played in the house when I was a kid. Sure, they played more than just those three, and perhaps I had been exposed to other songs and albums prior to my first meeting with Mr. Springsteen, Ms. King and Ms. Griffith, but their works are what stick in my mind as my earliest encounters with music. I remember the loud audacity of the Boss and his band, the perfect placement of each piano note on "Tapestry," and the simple, evocative sound of Griffith's voice flowing through my house, and I remember the feeling that those sounds gave me. Now, as an adult, I find that when I listen to those albums, the feeling I get hasn't changed.

Music, good music, isn't a one-time thing. It is an organic presence built upon hundreds of moments shared between sound and mind. For me, the moments I had with those three albums propelled me to more moments with a greater variety of music and sound. It motivated me to have my own moments learning to play a piano, then the drums, and from there, a guitar. These moments of discovering new musicians, or mastering new instruments, build and feed off one another so that combined, they have an undeniable presence in my life. And at the end of the day, it makes my life more complete to have this thing called music in me. So maybe I'll never be a legendary musician, and maybe I'll never make a "living" playing my guitar. But because I was exposed to music, and because that exposure took on a life of it's own within me, then doing things like playing my guitar or going to a concert gives me all the "living" I need.

I'm trying to build moments for my After-School kids to share with music, and I think it's working. For the past few weeks I've been teaching them the basics of reading notes in a measure and having them work on recognizing patterns and beats. Typically, I'll draw a few measures on the board and place a few quarter and eighth notes in them. Then I'll have a student keep a steady count of 1, 2, 3, 4 and try to clap when they see a note that matches up with their count. They took to this surprisingly quickly and lately they've become really good at recognizing patterns.

Their most difficult task so far occurred Monday when I wrote different patterns on 20 note cards and placed them in a circle on the floor. I had them walk around in a circle to some music (their preference is Michael Jackson, and who am I to argue? 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night!), and when I stopped the music, they stopped at whichever note card they were at (kind of like a cakewalk, except no cake). Then, they had to listen as I clapped a beat with my hands, and if they could recognize that the beat that I was clapping was the one written on their card, they would win a prize.

Well, a lot of them did. As I clapped some eighth notes in a four count measure and looked around the room to see all my kids following along on their note cards, I thought, "This is pretty cool." They're having moments with music, just like I did years ago, and there's no telling where it will take them. Maybe they'll be able to read the music in their hymnals at church. Maybe they'll go home and ask their parents to buy them a guitar. Maybe, years later, they'll win a Grammy and dedicate it to "those silly games Mr. Scott used to make us play." Hey, a guy can dream vicariously, can't he?

Maybe none of that will happen, and I think that music will still be worth it. It is for me, and I know it will be for these kids. During these times when music programs are being cut from schools nationwide, it's more important than ever to re-institute the presence of the arts in all our lives, and especially those of children.

This country wants something that will last, something that has staying power? Invest in music and arts education. It's worth it. Since those days of my youth when I would listen to "Thunder Road" or when I would try to memorize the lyrics of Griffith's "This Old Town," music has stayed with me, and I can only hope that through their exposure to music in our After-School program, it will stay with these kids as well.

So tell me, can you remember the first music you ever heard?



(I'd really like to start getting some instruments into the kids' hands. If anyone knows of some resources that I might try to obtain some instruments, please let me know. Maybe we'll write a song for you!)