Loving her work, thinking about creativity
Archive for July, 2011
ROY G BIV
July 14, 2011COLOR
There are many online resources on color. Color is a great topic to make connections with Visual Art and Science. Here is a site that has a virtual pinboard to use in numerous ways yourself or with your students http://pinterest.com/about/. That link tells you about the site and of course drop the about and you can see the variety of links to connections including Photography, Film+Music+Books, Science+Nature, to name a few. This is a link to potential art lessons on the site http://pinterest.com/kortneyb/potential-art-lessons/.
And a YouTube on ROY G BIV…
John Jacobson
July 13, 2011An interview…
As a follow up to John Jacobson’s visit to Maine for the Maine Music Educators Association All-State Conference at USM he agreed to an interview. I was very impressed when I watched and listened to him with the choral students at All-State. He is a very busy person, as you will read in this post, so I am grateful for his time in answering the questions.
Please tell us about then work you are doing now.
Like most people involved in the arts I am involved in a lot of things that are at different stages of development. Some are just completed,others are just starting to germinate and still others have you in the thick of it. Consequently, I have just finished several exciting writing projects, five new musicals: Squirm!, Flakes, A Pirates Christmas, Harmony High and one I’m particularly excited about, a musical version of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I wrote a book called Double Dream Hands: Living A Life Of Glee Harmony and, Oh Yes….Jazz Hands, produced a workout video called Double Dream Hands: Songs For Fun And Fitness ! And another book about classroom management called Order From Chaos. I also just finished a new commercial sponsored by SPRINT encouraging people to turn off their cell phones and PDA ‘s in movie theaters, worked hard to get John Jacobson’s Music Express Magazine to go digital (which it is), and most importantly, welcomed a new grand niece into the world… her name is Lucy. How cool is that?
As far as things that I’m in the thick of…
I am now in the middle of my 20 city tour of summer teacher workshops, just shot a new commercial for SPRINT which I have not seen yet, am working on a pilot for a new television show, writing a new collection of STOMP style songs about character development and a new book about rediscovering the artist that has been neglected inside many a music teacher.
Germinating? I’ll be teaching this year in Shanghai, China, Danstadt, Germany, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, and many exotic cities in between. That’s all very exciting. But did I tell you about my new grand niece Lucy?
What opportunities have music provided for you?
Well, I hope that my answer to the first question would make some of this obvious. Music and the arts have been my ticket to go from a small town boy with a dream to a small town boy with a relatively big life. The arts have been the thing that have helped me find ME. The places I get to go, the people I get to spend my life around are all a result of a life centered in the arts, and better yet, centered around artists. I might be the luckiest guy in the world. Mediocre talent at best, but a life of music, dance, teachers and kids. I pinch myself everyday…….not too hard mind you.
What are the biggest challenges in your life and how do you meet them?
I suppose upgrades don’t count. Oh well. Kidding aside, travel is both rewarding and difficult. I spend a lot of time getting from one place to the other and that is not always fun. I miss my family. I miss “normal” life a lot. This summer I am missing a niece’s wedding to do a long standing choreography workshop. Do I have my priorities straight? I struggle with that. Another thing I struggle with everyday is wondering if what I’m doing is really what the great Creator really had in mind for me.
But then I meet a teacher or a child who tells me I made a difference in their life and I think, my niece would understand and God wants me to teach and dance and write my little songs.
What messages do you have for young people about music and the arts in their lives?
Find the joy. Find your bliss. This is the stuff of life. I once wrote a song that said “God put a song in me. It’s never too high or too low. It’s never too loud or too soft, It travels with me wherever I go. God put a song in me.” We all have a song inside of us. It may be music. it may be dance. it may be painting or sculpture, literature or something else. indeed your song might be sports, or auto mechanics, computers or home making, flying airplanes or mowing lawns. Whatever it is that makes you tick, embrace it. Do not be afraid. Find the song that is uniquely you and then, sing it. If you’re worried about making a living, you know, I believe most people think they need more money than they do. Find the joy…that’s the answer.
What advice would you give to teachers about engaging young people in their education?
Your greatest asset is your own enthusiasm. You want students to be excited about music? YOU be excited about music. You want students to be excited about learning? YOU be excited about learning. You want your students to love Beethoven, Bach, Sondheim, The Beatles, Picasso, Monet, Stegner, Dickens? You show that you love it. They’ll be like lemmings to the sea. They’ll love what you love. They’ll find joy in what you find joy in and then they’ll finesse it to fit them. What more do you want than that?
The greatest civilizations in the history of human kind have been defined by the art they leave behind. When you become an artist or teach the arts you secure the legacy of our entire society. It’s a worthy role to play.
If you wish to learn more about John and his work please go to http://www.johnjacobson.com/
TED Talk: Suzanne Lee
July 12, 2011Fashion Designer grows her her material
Designer Suzanne Lee shares her experiments in growing a kombucha-based material that can be used like fabric or vegetable leather to make clothing. The process is fascinating, the results are beautiful (though there’s still one minor drawback …) and the potential is simply stunning.
The Kids Are Alright
July 11, 2011A local music series for local families w/ Theodore Treehouse
On Wednesday, July 13th at 12:00PM, Kids Are Alright is being debuted. The costis $3 for adults and $2 for kids, all ages are welcome. Details below.
SPACE and the Maine Academy of Modern Music debut The Kids Are Alright, a new series of Wednesday lunchtime performances by local musicians for the whole family can dig! Stop by for a break after the Farmer’s Market, or before you hit the beach for a cool hour of music by great live acts tailored for the kids. Parents and kids will be able to meet the musicians, ask them questions, and even experience an “instrument petting zoo”! Kicking off the summertime fun is Theodore Treehouse, local rock boys extraordinaire, whose album Mercury: Closest to the Sun, has fast become a favorite around here. The quartet’s jaunty, infectious rhythms and brash energy will get everybody’s feet moving.
You can purchase tickets by clicking here.
Atlantic Monthly
July 10, 2011Recently published a “Culture Special Report” in the Atlantic Monthly
Several American artists including portrait painter Chuck Close, film director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, musician Paul Simon, car designer J Mays, fashion designers Laura and Kate Mulleavy, and others were asked “to discuss the sometimes messy, frequently maddening, and almost always mysterious process of creating something new.” They discuss the first ideas that inspire, creativity, and how some ideas turn into deep, meaningful, completed works of art. I thoroughly enjoyed, not only the interviews, but the images that accompany them. You might want to take components of the piece to share in pieces with your students, parents, administrators, and others.
You can read the stories by How Genius Works.
The Telling Room
July 8, 2011Congratulations to the near Director, Heather Davis!
After a thorough search process involving staff and board members, it is with great pleasure that the Telling Room announces that Heather Davis has been chosen to be the next Executive Director. Heather brings an amazing skill set as a teacher, leader, and fundraiser to the position–skills that she honed during her time as Development Director at the TR, at the Harlem Children’s Zone and Theatre Action Project, and while co-founding Austin Bat Cave. Please join The Telling Room in welcoming her to this position!
Heather will start in her new role in mid-July, and, in the meantime, Gibson Fay-LeBlanc who leaves the director position and Heather will be working together to make the transition as smooth as possible.
The Telling Room is extremely excited about the passion, experience, and vision that Heather brings to her new role on an already talented team. And they look forward to the next five years as they continue to develop and improve on how they help kids build their confidence, strengthen their literacy skills, and bring their stories to the world.
The Telling Room is the 2011 recipient of the Imagination Intensive Community award. With funding this year from the Kennedy Center, the Maine Arts Commission, the Maine Department of Education, and Bangor Savings Bank, the Imagination Intensive Communities program is in its second year of identifying and celebrating, through an open application process, those Maine communities where schools and partnering organizations of all kinds invest in the imaginative development of children and youth.
Students Evaluating Teachers
July 7, 2011What would happen if your students graded you?
Next year in Memphis, Tennessee students will be providing feedback on their teaches which will be considered in the teachers evaluation. At the end of each term I had my students evaluate themselves and evaluate me. Not because anyone said I had to do this, it was because I wanted to. I learned more about my teaching from those evaluations and made changes to my teaching because of what my students said. How many of you give your students the opportunity to evaluate your teaching?
Read about the public schools in Memphis and their plan for next year. This is from the Ed Week blog called Teaching Now and the post is written by Francesca Duffy. Click here for the article.
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