One of the things I love most about teaching Music Together is the concept that each person absorbs and processes music in their own way.
Some children — and some adults, too — like to sit still while they soak up the sights and sounds swirling around them.
Others like to move their bodies — swaying, clapping, tapping their toes, nodding their heads, or even jumping up to dance in the center of the circle.
Still others prefer to wander around the room, seemingly oblivious to the musical activity unfolding all around them.
And yet these same children will often start singing their own versions of the songs as soon as they leave class…
I love the respect for different learning styles that is baked into the Music Together pedagogy.
As long as no one is hurting themselves or distracting the rest of the class, whatever she or he wants to do in class is OK.
At times this can make for a somewhat chaotic classroom experience.
But if the teacher and a majority of the adults are able to keep participating — singing, moving, chanting, drumming, dancing, marching, and so forth — the class flows on.
The children copy their accompanying grown up, the teacher, the other grown ups, and the other children.
And I am always looking for movements and ideas from the children and grownups in the class which I can mirror, highlight, and somehow incorporate into the flow of my lesson plan.
It can become a very rich — and fun — environment of “monkey see, monkey do” feedback loops.
I wrote the song at the top of this page, “I’m A Baby Monkey,” before I became a Music Together teacher.
One of the truly magical aspects of a musical life on planet earth in the 21st century is how widely one can share one’s songs if one has access to the internet.
After Bobbi Carrey, Doug Hammer and I — with lots of help from Mike Callahan, Jonathan Wyner, and guest musicians — recorded our CD “If I Loved You,” we heard from family, friends AND folks whom we had never met.
One listener included our version of the David Friedman ballad “I’ll Be Here With You” (which you can hear by clicking on the right hand sidebar of this page) on a CD she sent to her fiance who was serving in the US military overseas.
Another fan — who had been given our CD by a friend — tracked us down and told us that she listened to our music each morning while she worked out. When her husband died, she asked us to sing at his memorial service.
And I recently learned — in a reply to my blog post about music and spontaneity — that a CD of my “Will Loves Steve” show (which features songs written by people named Stephen, Steven, Stevie or Steve) had traveled from Massachusetts to Argentina, where it helped lift the spirits of someone who was feeling very low.
Here’s a selection from that show — “Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder…
Steve Heck — a wonderful local pro — is playing the grand piano, and I am singing “Over The Rainbow.”
Harold Arlen
It is one of the songs in a new show about Harold Arlen which I have recently begun performing with pianist Joe Reid.
After Steve takes a piano solo, I re-enter at the bridge of the song (“Some day I’ll wish upon a star…”) and then I hear elevator doors opening behind me.
Three women — friends of Steve Heck, I later learn — appear on stage with me.
They did not realize that the elevator would deposit them there.
I turn and — still singing — welcome them so that I can escort them across the stage and down into the audience.
But as I do this, I realize that they probably love music and very likely know the words to “Over The Rainbow;” so I encourage them to stay with me onstage and sing — which they happily do.
One woman in particular catches my attention because she is adding a beautiful harmony in a great big, belting voice.
We make eye contact as the song builds to a dramatic climax of “Why oh why can’t I?” — each of us singing at the top of our lungs, my microphone completely unnecessary.
The entire series of events lasts less than a minute, and the entire room is happily caught up in the moment.
Afterwards, during a break period, I am asked how I managed to time their arrival so perfectly.
I explain that I had never met them before and that the entire experience was utterly spontaneous — unfolding moment by moment with no guidance other than the lyrics of the song, Steve Heck’s solid accompaniment, and our shared love of music.
Ahh, music!
Ahh, spontaneity!
Joe Reid
I have been experiencing a lot of spontaneous musical moments in the past few months.
Joe Reid and I put together our hour-long Harold Arlen program in one rehearsal that lasted about two hours.
He is a jazz pianist who is very comfortable making music in the here and now.
I brought a bunch of Arlen sheet music to his house plus a rough idea of a song run order.
We double-checked the keys for all the songs, played each one through once or twice, and Joe was ready to take it public.
So far we have performed at two retirement communities with very enthusiastic audiences (and we did get together for another hour-long rehearsal between our first and second performances…)
I also spent many additional hours making sure I knew exactly how the song was originally written, reading several books about Arlen I ordered from my local library, recording practice piano tracks with Doug Hammer, memorizing lyrics, and writing the “patter” to lead from one song to the next.
All of this preparation helps me to surrender to the moment when we are performing these wonderful songs.
Me and one of my favorite MT participants of all time!
I have also begun leadingMusic Together (MT) classes in Arlington and Belmont (a neighboring town where Mitt and Ann Romney used to live).
MT is a very-well-researched and very-well-planned program to introduce small children — along with their caregivers — to the joy and fun of active music-making.
Although participants are encouraged to learn 30 new songs accurately — each one carefully selected to include a wide variety of keys and rhythms — per semester, we teachers are given free rein to be spontaneous and improvisatory during class.
I am sure my training during the past six months to become a MT teacher helped me to go with the flow at the BACA open mic when those three women appeared onstage.
And I have experienced many moments of musical connection with children and caregivers during my first two weeks of MT classes which have given me a similar jolt of delight.
I think this might be what I am supposed to be doing here on planet earth…
The song in the player at the beginning of this blog post is a Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer classic called “Accentuate the Positive” which I recorded with pianist Doug Hammer during a rehearsal for the “Mostly Mercer” show that singer Bobbi Carrey and I created last year.
I started playing the ukulele three years ago after attending a class in Harvard Square led by the marvelous Danno Sullivan.
Danno Sullivan
Not only is Danno an inspiring teacher, he also has a terrific sense of humor — sprinkling his classes with droll asides and insights.
Since then I have been strumming on a regular basis — thanks to Danno’s handouts, the wonderful Daily Ukulele songbook, and the amazing group mind of the internet (where one can find chords and lyrics for almost every song under the sun).
Soon after discovering the chords for Coldplay’s song “Viva La Vida” on line, I realized that many of my favorite pop songs have a surprisingly simple structure — four chords.
And some do fine with just three chords — as in the case of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
And thus my life as a budding songwriter took root…
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
I had written lyrics in the past with a friend, pianist/composer Steve Sweeting (and you can listen to one of the songs we created together called “Stuff” by clicking here if you are curious).
I had also collaborated on a couple of songs with a guitarist friend (again as a lyricist).
And I had co-written a couple of songs with bandmates in a pop/rock band.
But until I picked up a ukulele, my songwriting efforts had been restricted to what I could cobble together using Apple’s blessed GarageBand program — songs consisting of my vocals plus various loops and samples from the GarageBand library.
Now, in the past three years, I have written a bunch of ukulele-based songs.
And in the past month I have attended three singer-songwriter open mics — accompanying myself (solidly but not very gracefully) on the ‘uke.
In addition to helping me write songs, the ukulele has also given me a new way to hang out with my mom, with my dad, and with other friends and family members.
All I have to do is pick up a ‘uke, open up a songbook, and start strumming.
Almost invariably the mood in the room shifts to something lighter and (literally) more harmonious as everyone starts to hum and sing along.
I find this to be somewhat magical and amazing.
And it inspired me to write the song featured at the beginning of this blog post — a version which I recorded with Doug Hammer playing a shaker egg and his Schimmel grand piano — as well as a GarageBand version I recorded by myself using my Apple laptop (which I have included below.
I highly recommend that anyone reading this blog post consider buying a decent (but inexpensive) ukulele.
Then you can check out all sorts of fun, free, instructional videos on YouTube AND start attending a wonderful, welcoming ukulele Meetup gathering near you.
They happen all across the USA — and in many other countries around the world.
And the sound of many ukuleles being strummed together is quite heavenly.
Me and my first ukulele (Photo by Stephen C. Fischer)
Thank you, too, to Danno Sullivan for his excellent instruction and ongoing inspiration.
Thank you as well to the Cambridge Center for Adult Education for offering ukulele classes with Danno (and to Michael Cicone — then head of educational programming at CCAE — for hiring Danno in the first place).
Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for his fun — and very patient — photography sessions.
amusicalifeonplanetearth 