Airport Scott and Different Points of View

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Airport Scott and Different Points of View

My family does not like to travel with me. They really don't. 

When we go on trips, they openly encourage me to take a different flight to our destination. I used to think they were just kidding, but it turns out they are not. Apparently, I am not the easiest person to travel with. If you are to believe my family (and you shouldn't), as soon as I hit the economy lot at the airport, I become a different person. 

My family calls him "Airport Scott."

Airport Scott doesn't mean to be unpleasant or difficult. And he GENUINELY apologizes when he leaves the family behind at security with all of the luggage. Airport Scott doesn't mean to roll his eyes at people who don't understand that traffic flow in a concourse is the same as the freeway, slow people to the right. He tries not to mock his children as they peruse the gift stores or fall prey to the $4.00 bottles of water. 

Sure, he mumbles under his breath about people who think their children should fly free as therapy animals, but in his defense, he does it quietly. And yes, he REALLY DOES TRY be tolerant when the person ahead of him in the security line asks, "Can I bring this water through here?" To which he WANTS to respond, "NOT FOR THE PAST TWENTY-TWO YEARS!"

Yes, Airport Scott can be intolerant. It's not because he wants to be; it's just that he and his family have fundamentally different perspectives when it comes to travel. My wife and two boys see it as a leisurely activity full of fun and adventure, whereas I see it as an unpleasant byproduct of doing the job I love. I am working. They are vacationing. 

Same activity. Different perspectives.

I wonder if the same might be said for music: same activity, different perspectives.

As life-long music educators, our goal is to create life-long music makers. We work at it; it's our job. Our extensive training and daily regimen ensure that we correct every wrong note and right every wrong rhythm. We focus on every musical detail and try to deliver instruction in a nuanced way. Hours are spent reviewing literature, and concepts are taught using the latest pedagogical practices. Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, we try to up our game and advance our ensembles.

This is our life's work, and we see it as more than a profession but our passion and purpose. There is no time to dawdle, see the sights, or consider that those we share our space and our lives with might have a different point of view.

As a teacher, more times than not, I was Airport Scott. 

There is nothing wrong with high standards and energy. Efficiency and efficacy are essential. And there is something beautiful and admirable about a well-run classroom. But, it is worth considering that people travel with different baggage and operate at different speeds. They have other destinations and are not always interested in shorter trips or non-stop flights.

Te reasons students participate in music are as varied as the students themselves. And, before you ask that question, you have to decide that whatever their answer is, it is the correct one for them. The is a place in music for those who are studious and can see themselves in music beyond high school. But, there needs to also be a place for someone with less musical aspirations or skills. A place for someone like... me.

Yes, all of your students will end up in the same place, eventually. They just might not get there at the same time or via the same route. For some, music is a calling and or profession. For others, it's a fun-filled leisurely activity.

Trust me. I know it can be frustrating traveling with those who do not share your vision, plan, or sense of purpose. But my family would tell you that it is even MORE frustrating traveling with someone who has no patience or empathy for those who do not see the airport as I do.


Take it from me, regardless of your perspective, it is better to travel with those who are different, than to travel alone. 

Have a great week, and remember to enjoy the journey.

- Scott



p.s. Yes, Airport Scott is not a lot of fun, but Martini Scott is a blast!



Coding, Music, & My Big Mouth

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I was not a "problem child" per se. I was not defiant with my parents; that was the province of my older brother, Johnny. I did not throw large and unsupervised parties; that was the specialty of my younger brother, Kevin. By all accounts and my memory, I was relatively compliant and followed most household rules. This is why I was, and will always be, my mother's favorite (suck it, Johnny and Kevin)!

That does not by any means mean I was an easy child. As I was not. I had a big mouth, lots of opinions, and a pension for sharing them. I did so even when they were not required, relevant, or even wanted. (Editor's note: I know this is shocking for all of the readers.)

I may have been imperfect and had some shortcomings. But, like most of us, as I matured, I was able to turn my deficits into our assets. This is true for me as a person and as a professional. 

What was inappropriate as a child can have a great deal of value as an adult and vice-versa.

As schools begin to re-open and things return to normal, music educators will face a host of new and familiar problems. Decreased enrollment, need for remediation, financial issues, and staffing constraints are just a few of the less than delightful conversations that music teachers and their supervisors will have. I have a convenient, concise, and easy to remember answer for all of these legitimate concerns and queries.

"(Insert name of supervisor), I understand and appreciate your concerns, but you're wrong." I mean, sure, say it in the nicest possible way. Couch it in lovely prose, but let there be no misunderstanding about the last two words. YOU'RE WRONG.

With the recent pandemic, there has been an increased import on science and technology. Even though leaders, titans of industry, and our political and financial worlds can't operate a Zoom call without incorrectly using the mute button, they love to pontificate on the importance of STEM and the belief that in a world where technology is omnipresent, children should learn to code. 

However, there's not much, if any, connection between coding and today's point-and-click environment and student success. Almost nobody in business, for example, requires much programming skill beyond, say, creating a spreadsheet. I have a couple of business and can run them pretty efficiently with a simple calculator. The underlying principle is that somehow teaching kids to code improves math and language skills.

But (say it with me now), "You're wrong."

A December 2020 study conducted at MIT found that: "Understanding computer code seems to be its own thing. It's not the same as language, and it's not the same as math and logic."

A January 2021 study conducted at the University of Zürich and published in The Journal of Neuroscience stated that "What does increase other skills and brainpower is teaching kids to play a musical instrument."

A summary of the research (which involved scanning the brains of both musicians and non-musicians) explains that: "Musicians' brains were vastly more structurally and functionally connected than non-musicians, especially in areas of the brain responsible for speech and sound (especially the auditory cortices of both hemispheres). The musical group also showed stronger connections from the auditory cortices to other brain areas in the frontal, parietal, and temporal cortex. They are known to be involved in controlling higher cognitive functions like memory, working memory, and executive functions.

This increase in brainpower and functionality remains even if the child does not continue to play the instrument. "The earlier the musicians had started with musical practice, the stronger these connectivities," says professor Simon Leipold, a co-author of the study.

In short, if you want your kids to be smarter, you're better off having them learn a musical instrument or take music education in school, rather than teaching them to code.

Anyone who believes otherwise is wrong. 

This does not make them bad people intent on hurting children; it makes them ill-informed and making short-sighted decisions.

But oftentimes, we as music educators stand compliant and silent, acting as an accomplice, allowing it to take place.

Why are we being so subservient? Why are we so compliant? Why do we allow important decisions to be made without our voices and objections being heard? Why do we allow our programs to take a back seat to less beneficial activities for kids? Why do we sit in silence while decision-makers ignore data and science?

If you want what's best for kids. 
If you want a building and campus that operates at a higher level. 
If you truly believe in science and math.
If you're going to develop the whole child and prepare them for life after academia. 

Then you have NO CHOICE but to enroll every child in the pursuit of making music.

I will say it whenever, wherever and to whomever I can. I will do so unapologetically, even when it is not required, relevant, or even wanted. 

Because that is who I was born to be. What about you?

- Scott 

My Mafia and Herd Immunity

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Editor's note: Please accept my apologies in advance as this is an unapologetic love letter to Scott's Bills brethren. He does make a semi-interesting point at the end.

Scott,

The Bills "Mafia" (which means family) is a moniker applied to the Buffalo Bills fan long-standing and loyal fan base. This is not a name bestowed upon them by the organization, which preferred the "12th man," but the Mafia would have nothing to do with it. They chose this name because it reflected what they saw in themselves: a unique, rough, and rugged band of brothers (and sisters) that thought of themselves as a family. 

Pre-game tailgating at the Bills stadium is as epic as anywhere in the NFL. Whether it's table slamming , ketchup dousing, or just sampling from one of the most outrageous tailgating set-ups you have ever seen, a game day trip to 1 Bills Drive is not something likely to be replicated anywhere else.

As you can see, the Bills Mafia are serious (and a little crazy) about their Buffalo Bills.

Keep in mind that the Mafia are not people who sit in luxury skyboxes, as the Bills Stadium doesn't have any. They do not enjoy sipping chilled drinks under the confines of a climate-controlled dome. Their beverages come pre-chilled by the coldest, snowiest, and oldest open-aired stadium in the NFL. Adding insult to injury, the Bills lack of off-field amenities is surpassed only by their lack of on-field success. And yet, there they are, showing up every week, 80,000 strong. 

This team, and their fan base, know pain, sacrifice, and suffering. These are blue-collar, hard-working people supporting their small-market team, with little to no national fan-base or the additional revenue that comes with it. 

The City of Buffalo embodies and embraces its Bills in good and bad times. And the players embrace and embody their city. Even after retiring or being traded, many Bills return to live out their days in this weather-worn but welcoming city.

On the field, the Bill's are fierce, loyal, and unflinching. Off the field, their Mafia are supportive, kind, and generous. Even towards their opponents.

In 2018, after a seventeen-year playoff drought, first-year head coach Sean McDermott led the team to the playoffs. The Bills were 9-7 and in a tie-breaking scenario. Their playoff appearance was made possible by a last-second and miraculous comeback by Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals over the Baltimore Ravens.

The fans were so appreciative of ending their seventeen-year playoff drought, the fans donated over $400,000 to Andy Dalton's charity, the majority of which came in $17 increments. Word of the unique act of gratitude made news through the NFL and across professional sports. Andy Dalton responded in kind by giving a sizable donation to Buffalo's Roswell Park Comprehensive Pediatric Cancer Center, where my brother Todd was treated from 1971-73. The act of generosity was both kind and clever but would not be singular.

When quarterback Josh Allen's grandmother passed away earlier this season, the Mafia donated over $1,000,000 to her favorite charity, the Oishei Children's Hospital in Buffalo. After that, Bills fans donated $440,000 to cornerback Josh Norman's charity, Starz 24, which helps small Buffalo businesses in need.

Just last week, after Raven's quarterback Lamar Jackson left the game with a concussion, Bills fans answered the call again by donating over $445,000 to his favorite charity, Backpacks Full of Food. The Mafia challenged the Chiefs fans to match their donation.

Like many of you, I am proud of my team and passionate about their success. But more than anything, I am amazed by the sense of community the Mafia has built and how they have actioned it for good. I appreciate how vehemently they will cheer against an opponent and how generous they will give to that same person when the game is over. They remind me that riches can come in increments of $17 and that as our nation deals with herd immunity, the Mafia rallies to help as a herd community. 

Music education is a mafia unto itself. Similar to the NFL, we are located in many locations and have different passions, but we bonded by the same cause. Whether you build an instrument, sell sheet music, fabricate reeds, teach a pre-school music class, or prepare future music educators, we all want more people to experience the benefits of making music.

Yes, we may live in different locales, teach different levels, and content areas, but we need to be reminded that after the school bell rings, the store closes, and the plants shut down, we are all rooting for the same thing, MUSIC.

The lesson learned from the Bills Mafia is one that should resonate with all of us: as our profession and country deal with herd immunity, it is vital that we also remain a herd community.

After all, our Music Education Mafia understands that the herd's word tells us that to have any national credibility, we must first be in lockstep as a community.

Thanks for indulging me. We'll be back next year. I BILLIEVE! 

Have a great week.

- Scott 
Proud Member of the Bills & Music Ed Mafia


p.s. After losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, at 2:00 a.m., over 1,000 fans met the team at the Buffalo Airport, where it was five degrees out.


p.p.s p.p.s. I will be hosting a webinar next week called Recruitment Roadmap. You won't believe the amount of work we have put into it and what we have built for you. This is a 30-minute webinar that you won't want to miss. In 24 hours we have already had over 600 registrations.

Today We Celebrate MUSIC!

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In just a few short hours, our country will be ushering in a new administration and our 45th peaceful transition of power. Even given recent events (the Capital riots coupled with pandemic and security restrictions), the day will still be filled with grandeur, majesty and... MUSIC!

Today is not just a political celebration, but it is a cultural one as well. Today is a day that celebrates the role that music and music education play in our cultural landscape and national history.

For the next twenty-four hours, our nation's capital will be filled with MUSIC as we welcome our nation's 46th president. The stage will feature some of our best and brightest stars including Lady Gaga, J.Lo, Demi Lavato, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, Ant Clemons, Jon Bon Jovi, John Legend, the Foo Fighters, and my personal favorite, The President's Own.

With this momentous event comes a unique opportunity to talk with your students about music education and the vital role it has played in our history and our national culture.

What is equally noteworthy is who and what will be absent from the event.

On dais, you will not see athletes or the teams they play for. You won't see or hear from preeminent mathematicians or scholars. There will be no demonstrations of technical prowess or scientific achievement. These things are vitally important, but for today, they will be less important than MUSIC.

From your television screen, you will hear the herald trumpets sound, see the choirs sing, and experience the President's Own usher in a new era of leadership with the time-honored tradition of playing Hail to the Chief.

In more normal times, the music would continue on with parties, parades, and eleven separate music-filled galas. But these are not normal times. And despite the logistical challenges, on this most important of occasions, music will be front and center as a core component to our nation's grandest of events; the Inauguration of the President of the United States. 

While others bemoan the state of the arts, I say we celebrate it! But how...

As a way of honoring our profession on this very momentous day, let us seize this teachable moment to give our students a little perspective about this activity and its role in our society. 

What should we talk about? How about:

As a part of this discussion, you can point out that in our brightest and darkest hours, music can move people in meaningful ways. You can discuss how music has affected you and your life. You can point out that every significant moment in our country's history has been marked by song. Just for one day, TALK more and play less. 

The Da Capo to this tune isn't coming back for four more years, so today, perhaps we might be educators of music more so than music educators. 

Just a thought. Have a GREAT week.

- Scott

A STAND FOR SOMETHING NOBLE – A LETTER FROM ME TO YOU!

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In 1948 General Dwight D. Eisenhower released a memoir detailing his experiences as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II. In this brutally honest biography, he accounted for the sacrifices made, lives lost, and the bitter totality of what the world had just endured. He wrote about the immeasurable sorrow he caused, justified his decisions, and took responsibility for his actions in great personal detail.

Eisenhower titled the book Crusade in Europe. He chose the title after careful and deliberate consideration in hopes that the country would see the totality of the war and not just the atrocity. In other words, he believed that hidden in the horror of Hitler's wake was some good. 

According to James Carville, Eisenhower selected the title because, "He wanted to declare to America that what they had just done—the stand they took together against evil, despite any internal divisions—was something much more elegant and profound than could be carried by the word "war." It was something noble."

Since Eisenhower's days and the parallel beginnings of public music education, we as educators have never experienced a moment so dire or requiring this much gravitas. The current Pandemic has brought sickness to our industry, infected our programs, and endangered our lives. It taxes us all mentally, emotionally, and, yes, physically.

But it is doing so much more than that.

The COVID-19 Pandemic provides our profession with an unwelcome but vital opportunity to put actions behind our words and show that our beliefs about the power of music are more than poetic rhetoric. This moment in time has given us the chance to rise up, stand together, fight a common enemy, and defeat it with unanimity. I believe that 2020 will be the time our profession remembers forever and remembers with pride. We set our differences aside, banded arm in arm, and charged towards the virtual abyss.

As we leave 2020 behind and look at 2021, there will be many who will mourn the train wreck that was the past three hundred and sixty-five days. Like Eisenhower, they will speak of the sorrow caused, lives lost, and the destruction left in the Pandemic's wake. They will be right to do so.

But will they also speak of the nobility of the moment?

If there was anything good to come from 2020, it's that among the unimaginable sacrifice, millions of students and parents stood up and said, "Music matters! And we are doing what it takes to keep it in our lives." Teachers created classrooms in their garage and learned new software while students banded together to make music in new and virtual ways.

To truly believe in something means you have to be willing to fight for it. For most of my life, I have not had to do so. Yes, I would wage the occasional battle for new instruments or a larger budget. I might even lobby for a better schedule or access to facilities. But, NEVER did I have to fight for my program's very existence. But this is where we are. And it's painfully hard.

I know it isn't easy to find hope in this remote and distant environment. As the new year dawns, we find the climate, political and otherwise, feeling dark and gloomy. You miss your students, your classroom, and your way of life. We awake to find our nation and our industry fighting the same war, with a virus, our history, and at times with ourselves. Literally and figuratively, these are dark days that re-appear time and time again like a Groundhog's Day dark comedy.

But these days are not funny and are not a movie.

I do not relish this moment. I wish it had never occurred. And as a parent, professional, and person, I have witnessed firsthand its tragic impact. But it is here, and fight for our lives we did. And there is something valiant about that. And it shouldn't be forgotten, overlooked, or undervalued.

Please know that the light is coming, and the end is near. We will soon look back at our darkest hours and see them for what they were... Our finest hour. Why?

Because we fought for something noble, we fought for music education and the children it serves. 

You are hitting it out of the park and I am so very proud of YOU!

- Scott

CARES 2, FEDERAL STIMULUS & MY MERRR

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Editors note: This email has no political intent or agenda. It is just a useful 
analogy for discussing a pathway forward.

Wife's friendly tip: Brevity is not Scott's strong suit. There is a lot to digest here. Don't be overwhelmed by it. Just process through it and use what is doable and useful. Or, do we do at home, just pretend you are interested while you think about other things, like when was the last time you flossed the dog's teeth or are your car's tires inflated to the correct pressure?

As we speak, a second stimulus bill is being debated in the halls of Congress. "CARES 2" is designed to blunt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, support those businesses and individuals who have been adversely impacted, and bolster our nation's economy at a critical time.

The concept of substantive federal intervention during a crisis is not new and stems from lessons learned during the Great Depression nearly one hundred years ago.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was the first implementation of the concept to respond to an unparalleled economic meltdown. The intervention by the federal government expenditures aimed at countering the job losses associated with the 2008 recession.

While the bill's final price tag of $787 billion pales in comparison to the $2.2 trillion spent on the 2020 CARES Act, the underlying purpose was fundamentally the same: take bold, decisive actions to dull the impact and minimize the damage.

Leading outside analysts, and a broad spectrum of politicians, agree that in times of crisis, inaction is not an option and will further the disaster's impact.
This is as true for music education as it is for our economy.

So today, in response to the current pandemic, I am announcing my stimulus bill, the Music Education Recover, Recruit, and Reinvestment Act of 2021. 

Like its 2.2 trillion dollar federal counterpart, the 2021 MERRR Act (I needed a cooler name) is designed to lessen the impact and provide relief where needed. My bill contains three distinct, sequential, and equal parts.

Recover: (December-January)

  1. Create a detailed list of the entirety of the impact on your program's musical, financial, and instructional operations.

  2. Include important data such as number of missed experiences/performances, lost instructional minutes (per student and cumulative), impacted facilities, enrollment changes, missed honor band/all-state qualifiers, staffing, parent volunteer hours, appearances at athletic & community events, community service hours, leadership opportunities, etc.

  3. Create a summative document/spreadsheet which quantifies and formalizes your loss comprehensively and understandably.

You can't begin the recovery until you know what is lost!

Recruit: (January-February)

Students are the currency of the educational process, for you and your school. Simply put, fewer students means fewer dollars,, but it also has a musical impact. More students making music can also have a very real and quantifiable impact on your school's bottom line, academic achievement, and school culture. Therefore, recruiting and retaining students should be your and your school's number one priority moving into the new year. 

  1. Create an Office of Recruitment and Retention and appoint an R&R (student) Czar. Sure, it's a little over the top, but have some fun with titles and give them a practice room as an office. Have them build a team and contact every parent, student, and friend on multiple occasions using multiple platforms about being a part of your group.

  2. Blanket social media, target non-musical best friends, re-connect with students who left years ago, stop by the study hall, visit with the counseling staff, cross-recruit with your sister music programs, start a rock band, and ask for a list of students with release periods.

  3. Have your Czar create a centralized spreadsheet where you can track and monitor every student in real-time. They will get a huge kick out of watching your group grow, literally!

  4. Don't forget to re-recruit your current students. They need some love too.

  5. AND DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER.

You are doing this for more than self-interest. There are "lost" students who need to be "found," and it is in your and your school's best interest to find them. Be sure to have your R&R team, meet with your administration and guidance department, to share what they are doing. 

Reinvestment: (February-March)

Basic economics says that a down market represents a buying opportunity. Now is the time to create a list of needed assets and make a concerted effort to address both long-term and short-term instructional and instrumentational (yes, I made that word up) needs. 

  1. Designate a Development Officer (parent) who is savvy and dependable, put together a needs assessment, and have it ready for the February-April budgeting cycle.

  2. Set a meeting with your administration team to discuss the impact and remediation steps at the campus and district levels.

  3. Communicate and collaborate with your colleagues/peers to share ideas and workload.

  4. Research local, county, state, federal, and philanthropic resources. These types of funds are readily available and easily accessible with not a lot of effort.

  5. Finally, consider that you have a section of parents who likely have not spent much money on music or education this year and would gladly step up to fill a void.

The dollars may be tight, but the funds are there for those who can make a compelling needs-based case, present a plan, and show return on investment. With just a little effort, you now have all of the resources necessary to share with anyone who can help you Recover, Recruit, and Reinvest in your program.

Now that you have relevant data, schedule a sit down with your parents, administrators, and or student leaders to digest and decide what steps you would like to take moving forward. If nothing else, than consider this a thought exercise that will impress your administration. Heck, you could event make it a class project or leadership activity as it can all be done in person or remotely.

I don't want you to feel overwhelmed. You have enough on your plate right now. I just want to provide you with an actionable and sequential plan should you choose to use it. More than anything, know that you are not alone. You have colleagues and a vast professional network to assist you. And you have us. Got a question? Something not clear? Want to scream at someone? Call me at (480) 577-5264. I will pick up, as long as it's not too early.

You should also know that my team and I are working on a solutions-based project to help you with all of this. It will likely be a multi-stage process, but our goal is to have a beta version available to share with you in January. In the meantime, gather your team and get to work creating your Recovery, Recruitment, and Reinvestment Act!

Have a great week.

-Scott

p.s. If you have not already nominated a colleague for our At Your Best When Put to the Test Award, do it now. Three lucky winners will receive a $500.00 Music & Arts gift card, with ten additional winners receiving a $50 Amazon Gift Card.


Kitty Genovese and Lessons of Truth and Kindness

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The 1964 murder of New Yorker Kitty Genovese shocked the world and, after a half-century, remains one of the most iconic killings of the past 100 years.

What made the crime so egregious was not the brutal nature of the attack but the fact that a reported thirty-eight neighbors witnessed it, none of whom helped, called the police, or came to her defense. Her tragic death solidified for the world New York's reputation as a cold, heartless place where everyone was fundamentally alone and on their own.

The aftermath of the attack was as immediate as it was immense. Historians cite the crime as the genesis for our current Neighborhood Watch programs, the Guardian Angels, and our national 911 Emergency Response System.

The crime has been the subject of hundreds of psychological studies, several books, an opera, HBO special, and was even featured on NBC's Law & Order SVU.

Never before had a crime galvanized public outrage so intensely across our country. The story spread in newspapers across the nation and as far away as Istanbul and Moscow. Clergymen and politicians decried the events, while psychologists and everyday Americans scrambled to comprehend them.

The New York Times reported, "For more than a half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks... Not one person telephoned the police during the assault."

The inhumanity of it is unimaginable. 

Well, it is imaginable. And you would have to imagine it for it to be true because it didn't happen that way.

In the aftermath of the crime, Kitty's brother Bill embarked on a life-long quest to find out what really happened that night. He painstakingly tracked down and interviewed anyone and everyone associated with the crime and its investigation. He spoke to each of the thirty-eight "witnesses" and found that only two of them saw a scuffle, and they did call the police. He talked to a passer-by and found out that he initially chased the attacker away. He read the police report and discovered that she was re-attacked in a dark alley where there were no windows for witnesses to see. He interviewed the responding officer who was with her when she passed, not in a dark alley all alone, but in an ambulance with him by her side. Nothing he discovered matched the story that he, and the rest of the world, had been told.

Almost forty years after the fact, The New York Times admitted that they got almost everything wrong that day.

It turns out that despite the errant reporting, people are good. They are caring and want to help. They are even willing to put themselves in harm's way to come to the aid of a stranger. This is as true in 2020 as it was in 1964.

A global pandemic, hybrid learning, and a brutal political season have left most of us feeling jaded, frustrated, and isolated. The headlines and news reports confirm as much. But just as with the case of Kitty Genovese, there is a different story to be told. Despite the doom and gloom of daily reporting, when you look at what is REALLY happening in our profession and our world, you find:

And STILL finding time and energy to help each other.

In the coming days, we will be releasing the results of our State of Music Education Survey. The data is as overwhelming as it is interesting. One of the most compelling pieces came under the question of, "What person/organization/association/company has been the most helpful during the pandemic?"

Among the most often cited answer... MY COLLEAGUES!

YES, YOU!

I know it doesn't feel that way, but you are killing it. You are helping your students and each other. When put to the test, you showed your best (that's foreshadowing for something to come). Canceled in-services, unscheduled events, conventions called off, and you STILL found a way to share, support, and care for one another.

It took fifty years to get Kitty's story right; let's not make the same mistake here. Today's headline is MUSIC TEACHERS ROCK - Making the Best of it During the Worst of Times!

That's the truth.

Have a great week.

-Scott

p.s. In the coming days we will be releasing all of the survey data. I think you will find the results as interesting as it is informative.

Gratitude Month and the Next Four Emails

Gratitude Month and the Next Four Emails

Hey friends:

In the Spring and Summer, I sent out pre-written emails for you to use. I do this in part to save you time and effort, but also to provide a gentle reminder to show gratitude for the people and events that enrich your life. 

As always, these are templates. You can copy and paste as is, or modify to suit your individual situation better. READ TILL THE END

I hope this helps in some small way.

EMAIL #1: To site administrators: (Send to all admin including district officials)

Dear Admin Team: 

November is National Gratitude Month, and I just wanted to drop you a quick note to tell you how much I appreciate you and your daily efforts on our behalf. The last eight months have been among the most challenging of your career, but you have steered the school through this time with intelligence, grace, and compassion. This year has been filled with many personal and professional challenges for most of us as we work twice as hard and yet experience half of the joy. 

Through it all, you were there in the trenches with us and working hard to ensure that WE were experiencing some success. As we approach the season of giving thanks, please know that I appreciate each one of you. 

The battle is not over, and we will continue to face new and unprecedented challenges. Still, with your leadership, this faculty, and our tremendous students, I know we will come out on the other side triumphant and proud of what we have achieved. And while our students will return, it will likely be under very different circumstances.

I am an employee and a member of this faculty. I am also a human being who just wanted to say, "Thanks."

Sincerely, 

(insert name) 
(title)

EMAIL #2: Email to Parents/Guardians

Dear Parents, Guardians, Friends, and Families:

I hope this email finds you happy, healthy, and SANE! Being cooped up in a small space with a teen is tricky at best and a nightmare at worst. Just know that I would GLADLY take your kids off your hands more frequently if I could.

In case you were unaware, November is National Gratitude Month. You know how much I appreciate all of your continued support. The instruments, the lessons, carpool, reeds, sticks, etc... You do so much for your children, and I am confident that it seems underappreciated and overlooked, but I assure you it is not. 

I usually am able to acknowledge and thank you at parent meetings, concerts, in the parking lot, and at events. But, these are not normal times, and words of appreciation have remained mostly unsaid. So, let me say them here and now.

I appreciate you. For the things I see you do and the things I don't. I appreciate your support, patience, and understanding. I appreciate your willingness to allow, encourage, and insist that music be a part of your child's life. It will be worth it in the end, for you and your children.

At some point, this will end, and we will return to normal and I will once again shake your hand, look you in the eye and show you the appreciation you deserve. Until then, please let this email serve as my personal, "Thank you" and acknowledgement of our National Month of Gratitude.

Sincerely,

(insert name)
(title)

Email #3: Email to Your Governing Board/Superintendent

Dear Board Member/Superintendent (Insert name):

The last eight months have shown us that running a school without students in normal workflow is twice the work and half of the fun. As we approach the end of the semester and the Thanksgiving Season, I wanted to let you know that I appreciate you and the work you are doing to ensure student safety and instructional continuity.

I want you to know that I believe that music is more important than ever for our students. Music and the arts are not just creative outlets; they are safe spaces and facilitators for social-emotional learning. Our students have gaps in their academic knowledge and emotional growth, and every study known shows that music can help with both areas.

As you continue to make the hard decisions regarding student safety and instructional delivery, please know that your support of our arts and music programs has played a vital role in helping students cope with emotional issues related to the ongoing pandemic.

November is National Gratitude Month, and so it seems appropriate to end this email with a simple, "Thank you!"

With great sincerity,

(insert name)
(title)

(I have a student activity for this coming early next week)

Email #4 to YOU...YES, YOU!

Dear Scott, ,

How odd is it that this upside-down world is starting to seem normal? What was once considered unimaginable has become almost mundane. You have taught from a cloud, from a classroom, from home, and just about every other place where you could find good wi-fi. Whatever it took, you never stopped TEACHING.

This is not what you trained for, planned for, or wanted. You lacked the training, equipment, curricula, and space to do this on a meaningful level, but that did not deter you. You changed everything at a moment's notice and never stopped looking for teachable moments that would impact. More important than WHAT you taught, you showed the students HOW to behave in a crisis.

I am confident that if your camera were on 10 minutes before class and 10 minutes after, we would have seen our share of tears, fears, frustration, and desperation. How could we not? You are human and have limits as to what you can take. But, when that camera came on, you hid it all, lit up the room, and became the Super Hero our students needed you to be, a confident, fearless, and tireless advocate for kids.

November is National Gratitude Month, and I can not think of someone who is worthy of my gratitude more than you. You are a role model, and will be remembered by one and all as someone who "ran towards the fire." 

This is NOT our finé. It is just a brief intermission. We will see each other face to face again, and when we do, I will simply say, " Thank you!" 

Your former colleague and current fan,

- Scott

p.s. We had 1200 respondents to our survey in just 8 hours. It's not too late to make your voice heard. Just click the button below.

Empty Chairs, Empty Tables, & Being Les Misérables!

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For the past week or so, I have been making a concerted effort to reach out individually to clients, colleagues, and friends. I wanted to check-in and see how they are doing. Motivated in part by last week's e-zine, I felt like it was essential to connect on a more personal level. I wanted to hear their voices, see their faces, and learn their pandemic stories. 

Some connections were by phone, some by email, and others by video chat. The conversations were as enlightening as they were entertaining. 

Interestingly, regardless of the age group (HS/MS/ES), or content area (B/C/O), the same sentiments came through time and time again: sadness, frustration, exhaustion, and futility.

In short, they were all Les' Misérables!

Because of the pandemic, everyone is doing more with less, working harder, and not necessarily smarter. More time spent in front of a screen time means less time making music. They are teaching harder, but students are learning less. Full Zoom rooms mean Empty Chairs and Empty Tables, daily finding themselves wondering, "Am I On My Own, or have I just Dreamed a Dream?" 

Sound familiar? Feel familiar? Well, it should, because we are all feeling it. 

Yes, ALL! You are not alone. Not even close. Yes, all of the positive posts on social media by your colleagues about how happy they are to be back are a ruse. They are putting on a fake smile and masquerade what they are REALLY feeling, which is like crud. 

It's okay to feel like crud. We are living in a cruddy time. Have you ever heard of a pandemic during good times? Nope, pandemic defined means "default to crud." (Editors note: That is not true; he just made it up.) And, the natural result of being in cruddy times is that people feel like crud. 

And to be clear, the election isn't exactly picking up anybody's spirits. After a day of remote learning, we all Look Down and ask ourselves, "Who Am I?" and "What am I doing?"

Your personal and mental health are critical and need to be considered in all of this madness. It's okay to feel mad. It's normal to feel frustrated and overwhelmed. It is expected that you will feel sad. What is not okay is to feel those things and do nothing about it.

Last week, I wrote about the importance of connectivity, and as early as last June, I sounded the alarm on persona/professional mental when I wrote an Industry in Grief and Finding Meaning. 

At the End of the Day, none of us are feeling good. No one ends a Google Classroom session thinking, "Now THAT was a kick-butt rehearsal." No one is editing a virtual ensemble thinking, "This is what I was dreaming of when I got my music degree!"

In My Life, I never thought I would see something like this. Kids in masks spread six feet apart, or worse, kids on screens spread six miles apart. But, it seems like I have been saying, "I never thought I would see something like this," a lot lately.

While these are not normal times, these feelings are perfectly normal. It does not matter where you went to school or how long you have been teaching; you weren't trained for THIS!

In fact, we were trained for the exact opposite of this!

Our profession (music education) has clearly and repeatedly reaffirmed the notion that if we want more — we need to do more. More drill, more music, more choreography, more notes, more performances, more contests, more staff, more meetings, more money, more, MORE, MORE!

But what we're discovering is that in this pandemic and life, the answer to getting more of what we want isn't addition at all, but subtraction. The Harvard Business Review article: Want to Be More Productive? Try Doing Less helps us discover that we might all be better off if we just stopped, took a break, and aspired to do less. (I've been trying that. It's not working, and I'm too lazy to try harder…)

Recent evidence shows that if we want to increase both our productivity and satisfaction level, we should actually be doing less. David Rock, the author of Your Brain at Work, found that "When you stop doing the things that make you feel busy but aren't getting you results (and are draining you of energy), then you end up with a sense of peace and spaciousness that you are seeking."

As teachers and people, our days and lives are full: kids, careers, friends, passions, logistics, and more. How can we apply the wisdom of doing less to give ourselves more time and alleviate stress without jeopardizing our results? Change the results you are looking for. 

In a recent conversation, when I asked a director how she was doing, she replied. "I am itching to get back to normal, but I am enjoying being home more. I am enjoying the break from the grind associated with competitions. Honestly, this has been the least stressful fall of my career." That is a result I can get excited about!

Life is not something to "survive." Neither is music. For our students or us. While we would not choose to be in these circumstances, we can choose to see the good in it when possible. Our programs and our lives should be a place where we thrive and say, "YES, One Day More!" 

Will you do me (and yourself) a favor? Do less today. Prep a little less, teach a little less, work a little less, cook a little less, and let the laundry wait until tomorrow. Do something fun, indulge your inner laziness, and for one day, let the to-do list go and focus on a Heart Full of Love. Do it for yourself. Do it for your students. Just do it!

Victor Hugo reminds us that, "To love another person is to see the face of God." He just forgets to also say, you can't love someone else until you first love yourself. 

At the End of the Day, if this doesn't work, shoot me a Zoom link, and you can Drink with Me. Then we will both be a little less Les Misérables!

Have a GREAT week, everyone.

- Scott


p.s. Give me some props; I was able to get 14 of the 18 songs in this email. I stopped at Lovely Ladies and Master of the House. I didn't see that ending well for me.

CONNECTIVITY, 5G, & E.T.

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In case you missed it (and with so little going on in the news, I don't know how you could), last week NASA announced that it is planning on installing a 4G network on the moon. Yep, the moon's surface is now going to get better service than I can get here on Earth. Set aside the fact that I would have hoped that I would get at least two bars in my living room before expanding to other planets, it clearly demonstrated that E.T. really does need to phone (or FaceTime) home.

The program, called Artemis, has the stated goal of providing connectivity among astronauts circling the planet and their home base in Houston. The broader goal of the program is to build a "lunar infrastructure capable of supporting human life. In other words, by 2028, NASA wants astronauts to be able to live on the moon."

To achieve this goal, NASA is spending 370 million dollars with various private companies, including SpaceX (Elon Musk), Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos), and now Nokia, who failed to create a successful phone here on Earth. Nokia's device, and the network, gives astronauts on the moon the ability to make voice and video calls and transfer important data. It is interesting to me that among the first steps in achieving human survivability is establishing connectivity. It stresses the importance of communication in distant places and strange times. This is as true on our orbital friend as it is here on Earth.

Distant learning and strange times have shown that communication is more critical than ever before. When the pandemic started, we scrolled through Instagram as a distraction from our new reality. Recent studies have shown that we are reaching for our electronic leashes in different and essential ways.

  • Searches related to mental health & students going back to school has been 4.3 times higher over the past month.

  • Calm, the meditation app, has seen a 29% increase in downloads from March to August. 

  • Between March and May, one-third of U.S. adults reported experiencing "stress, anxiety, and great sadness that was difficult to cope with by themselves." 

And according to Adweek, "Meaningful media, or media that makes us experience a true connection, has become what people are craving.

Furthermore, the infectious germ that has invaded our nations, inflicted our communities, and infected our air has made further inroads into our lives. Now it's in our heads. According to a recent Washington Post article, there's been a bum rush on feeling bummed. "Some groups have been hit harder than others. Rates of anxiety and depression were far higher among younger adults, women, and the poor. The worse scores in young adults were especially notable, given that the virus has been more likely to kill the elderly or leave them critically ill." The article further states that approximately one-third of all Americans currently suffer from anxiety or clinical depression.

The solution to much of this centers around connectivity. The global pandemic has left our nation's young (and old) feeling isolated, alone, and filled with angst. When will it end? Will things ever return to normal? Will I, or someone I love, be impacted? There is a saying in politics and economics that states, "Americans can handle anything but uncertainty." (I am paraphrasing). And, I cannot remember a more uncertain time in my lifetime.

Yes, music matters. Perhaps now more than ever. It not only provides us with a creative outlet and a personal escape, but it gives us a chance to communicate in both musical and other meaningful ways. It is a shared experience among our peers that connects us to our normalized path and provides hope for a return to normal by connecting us with our peers in a way we once took for granted. However altered, making music, at school, with our teacher guiding us, removes some uncertainty. And that matters.

And anyone who doesn't believe this doesn't believe in science because the countries pre-eminent scientists at NASA are going to great lengths to ensure that they don't get a "CALL FAILED" message when they are 239,000 miles from home.

Here's to today's weekly connection with you. I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great week.

- Scott 

p.s. If you're an astronaut who pre-ordered the new iPhone 12, don't worry—NASA says the moon network will eventually be upgraded to 5G.