Music, Cricket, and Rock 'n' Roll.

Thursday

It’s only been early days in the year, and some interesting things have been occurring in relation to music. What was even more surprising was that these things were brought to light yesterday (25/2/09).

Musicorp, it seems, have lost their hold somewhat to be a force within the Coffs Coast and the mid-north coast. With a lot of their teaching work hanging upon one staff member in the region, time would only tell if the amount of work was going to become a strain. The one massive criticism I have of the company is the fact that they do employ instrumental teachers that teach everything, making them quite questionable in terms of whether they do specialise in instruments or not. I am all for music education being made available and accessible for all students, but the questions of quality and the ongoing education do have to be raised.

The school I attended for most of my primary years, Boambee Primary School, decided in a meeting yesterday afternoon that Musicorp would indeed be dropped from their program. It seems the issues of lack of communication with staff and students took its toll, and enough was enough. Students missed out on a combined schools opportunity last year as part of a Musicorp workshop, and it wasn’t one or two either. All of the students involved with the school program missed out, resulting in a lot of unhappy children and, in particular, parents. Even the staff member stationed knew nothing about the workshop. I can confirm that I was contacted by the Queensland branch of Musicorp last week and was offered to work in Boambee Primary School as part of their program. I politely rejected the offer, informing them that I had been rejected by their company in the first place for being a specialist tutor and not someone that could teach all instruments (including brass and strings).

At the end of last year, a couple of the schools under Musicorp control were dropped and taken on by private tutor Natalie Keft. After Natalie’s work with some of the Coffs Coast schools last year, culminating in a combined performance with the Coffs City Orchestra, I am quite interested to see what will be planned for 2009. One of the rumours I have heard is that only the schools taken on by Keft will be combined to form a large ensemble. If this is the case, there will be a division of the public schools all along the coast. If anything, we should be looking at giving as many of the public schools along the coast the chance to combine their efforts to form a mixed school ensemble that we can proudly state belongs to and is produced by the talented teachers and students of the mid-north coast. I said it last year in a Facebook note that realistically, the mid-north coast has the talent to put together two orchestras and two symphonic wind bands (both a junior/emerging and a main ensemble). I am still adamant that this can be achieved.

If this is going to be realistically achievable, we need to start having the tutors in the region network and communicate with each other. If there is to be any chance or opportunity to have the schools combine to form a regional ensemble it needs to be taken up now. I don’t believe there is one public school alone in the region that could raise its hand and state it could produce a concert band of sufficient quality independently. I think it is difficult for any primary school in general, except maybe for performing arts or metropolitan schools. However, combine the talent into a sixty-piece ensemble and you would have a powerhouse primary schools ensemble on the mid-north coast. I would even say it could rival the annual North Coast primary band camp ensemble held at Lake Ainsworth each year.

While on the topic of North Coast band camp ensembles being rivalled, I had the pleasure of observing the Bellingen High School concert band yesterday morning. I mentioned in an earlier blog entry my criticisms of the North Coast regional band camp for applying a lowering standard of their charts and not challenging the kids musically. Because Bellingen are willing to challenge and increase the standard of their students, the school is able to take on charts including Acclamation, In Flight by Hazo, and a highlights package of Lord of the Rings by de Meij. Not an easy feat by any means, especially with some bass instruments lacking. These students are embracing the opportunity and are refusing to back down from it. This ensemble could go so much further, and not just the standout individual musicians, but the support from the North Coast region is found wanting unfortunately. Hopefully this is something that can be turned around for the present and future musicians emerging in a “dead sub-region” of the North Coast. This is a glimmer of hope yet for the Mid-North Coast, we just need some of the higher powers that run this region to realise it as well. The people out west can, but for some reason there are some people along the coast that refuse to acknowledge the talent.

Friday

It is the end of another busy work week, and the weekend is to arrive. In fact, it is Saturday morning as I write this. I’ve only had six hours of sleep, but it was worth it. Apart from music being one of my first loves, sport would almost have to go hand in hand with it. Being a cricket tragic, I received a good 8.5 hour hit last night. I’ll discuss this in a moment.

Prior to the cricket I had teaching in the afternoon at the Clarence Valley Con. The clarinet ensemble that I am taking has started to grow. We had five clarinettists, with three primary and two secondary students. Age diversity, big difference. The skill level between the players is a bit spread out, especially in ensemble playing. At the end of forty-five minutes I was rather pleased with how the students performed. We had played through four short pieces, and sight read a Menuetto by Mozart. The Menuetto was fairly challenging ensemble-wise, being slowed down to about half the tempo of what it should be. I’m feeling excited for this ensemble, and I think the musicians playing are enjoying playing in a small group dedicated to the instrument they play. It would be nice to have a few more clarinets, especially a bass clarinet. We really need the bass instrument to round out the ensemble.

Just quickly, there are schools these days that talk about balance between education and activities outside of school. Schools keep this in focus, but I do wonder about some of the schools that are heavily “pro-education” with little regard for activities or even professions outside of school. I had one student that has six assignments on the run, including one that is meant to be three assignments rolled into one. Potentially, this student has up to eight assignments! This student is not lazy. In fact I would say they are quite diligent in staying on top of school work, completing music practice, and still having time to do as they please. This student missed their lesson earlier in the week, but when they came for their catch up lesson at the end of the week they were burnt out, exhausted and felt sick. Their music practice for the week suffered, but not as much as their health. What school in their right mind would heap eight assignments within a week onto their students?! I don’t think university even does that with any of their degrees or courses. If schools are going to talk about “balance”, perhaps they could address the issue as well and enforce a fair balance between study and extracurricular activities.

After the music teaching was completed for the week, I went over to watch the Thirty30 cricket while I was still in Grafton. It was the final between the local Brothers side against the visiting Coffs Colts. It was the first time a Coffs Harbour side entered this competition run by the Clarence River Cricket Association (CRCA), and I think it brought a new flavour to the comp. Some of the players from the Colts side are still in high school or their late teens, so to have the experience of playing night cricket under lights would have been special. The fielding and discipline presented by both of the sides was quite exceptional, especially from the younger talent. The bowling from both sides was tight, but the batting was the real highlight with brilliant ground strokes and terrific shots through the air keeping the crowd entertained and at times captivated (especially for the home side). It was a tight game with the Colts winning by eight runs with three balls to spare.

However, the event was soured much to several people’s disdain. The issue of alcohol, yet again, comes up in sport. Abuse from drunken spectators was hurled at the winning players as they went into their dressing room. Other spectators and even the umpires had to hold drunk louts back from trying to get into physical confrontations with players. I do realise there is a little bit of history between some certain people in Grafton, but for heaven’s sake why does it have to be brought up at a local event where families are in attendance? What sickens me even further is the fact that a group of these drunken clowns tried to incite violence against a family from Coffs by threatening to sexually abuse the wife of a husband in attendance. And yes, both were in attendance to watch their son play while they had to endure this. Suffice to say, the family was quite distressed afterwards. And what is just as appalling is seeing a father, a grown man, carrying on with drunken ranting and raving about Colts players and how they don’t belong in the competition with his son (I assume in his mid-late teenage years) carrying on in a similar manner as well. And yes, people had to hold this grown man displaying childish antics back as well, including someone who could have been his daughter of about late primary school age. There was no chance that I could leave until the drunks had left, or the police arrived. The drunks did indeed leave, and the police arrived about five minutes later (including detectives in hand).

The Clarence River and Coffs Harbour representative sides are meant to be playing in the final of an inter-district competition this Sunday in Grafton. Already, some of the players from Coffs Harbour have said they refuse to play after the uncivilised scenes of Friday night. It didn’t help on the night having the person on the PA system, someone from the CRCA, continually refer to the Coffs Colts side as “Coffs Harbour” throughout the game. They could address the Brothers side obviously as they were, but why couldn’t they call the Coffs side “Colts” or “Coffs Colts”? They weren’t representing the district of Coffs Harbour, they were representing their own cricket club. It didn’t help either with the local paper essentially stating that local pride was on the line with a Grafton club trying to keep the shield within the district. These polarisations, in my opinion, did play a role in affecting crowd behaviour by subliminally inciting anti-social behaviour.

Afterwards, I had the one hour drive back home again. I listened to the second day of the first test between Australia and South Africa, then listened to it until 2:30 the next morning on the computer at home. The test is certainly quite gripping and exciting from an Australian perspective, with North making a hundred on debut, and Johnson not quite getting his ton falling four runs short.

Summer ends at midnight, and Autumn will arrive. May the weather cool down and remain consistent, and the band camps that commence become successes.

Bummer! No Bello!

Today was the first day I have had to cancel teaching music lessons for this year. Normally I would cancel a lesson due to illness or other events that I had been booked for, but today would have to be unique (and I can be sure that this won’t be the last time either!)

Having taken up some tuition work in Bellingen, there is a new front that I need to take on. No, it’s not other tutors or lack of music productivity, or the lack of musical interest (which all happen to be the complete opposite in this town). It can treat me kindly, or it can quite literally wash away plans I had in mind.

The weather.

With the bushfires in Victoria and the floods in Queensland, I guess NSW had to get caught somewhere in the middle and receive a dose of both. In either circumstance, it is rather unfortunate to be caught up amongst it all. A friend of mine is currently completing his first internship out at Bourke, and he certainly experienced the floods out there with rainfall being greater than what it had been in about 120 years. Thankfully his house wasn’t one of the several to go under water, with only the driveway becoming flooded. From what I gathered after speaking with him on the phone, the floods sound fairly minor compared with his current teaching experiences.
        The mid-north coast has been one of the areas hit by heavy rain. Normally gauge the damage done by looking outside, and then finding out if Bellingen is still afloat either on the radio or by the internet. After waking up at 6:30 this morning, getting showered and dressed, hair done up and invoices completed for the students, I was all set before 7:00. Come the hour and I receive a phone call from the high school music teacher. ‘Don’t bother coming in today, Peter. Otherwise you won’t be able to get out if you do,’ were her words as I suddenly flashed back to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory books. “Nobody ever comes in, and nobody ever comes out!” It wouldn’t be that bad being trapped out there in my opinion. To be surrounded by other artists in their different fields in the lush green environment out there, it would be bliss. Even driving out to Bellingen brings about a feeling of calm and relaxation being removed from the coastal hustle and bustle, and all of the marketing that takes place. The thoughts of being able to drive out there were dashed by 7:45 as the RTA website announced that Bellingen was inaccessible. The only way I could get to Bellingen now would be by glass elevator.

So with no teaching work today and my wife attending a meeting down south tonight, it looks like I’ll be doing some prep work for my students. Apart from organising students for exams I’m getting figuring out what books and pieces of music they will need. For a young one I’m teaching in Coffs, I need to find the Spiderman theme from the old television series. I don’t think I’ll find a copy of the music, so I might have to do a transcription from the opening of an episode (and I found it too!).

By the end of tonight, I am going to be sick of Spiderman. But it’ll be worth it.

Aspire to Inspire

(This entry was commenced on the 31st of January, just to help avoid the confusion of some of the dates listed).

Not only is today the last day of January, but it is part of the last weekend that will cross over to February and commence the new teaching year for music. And before anyone jumps in, yes I do know that school started last week even though some of the higher powers might have said otherwise.
        This weekend I’ll be completing my final preparations for teaching. The major component of preparation has currently been for the clarinet choir that I will be running at the conservatorium this year. It’s not very often that a clarinet choir can be found, let alone established. In fact, if I was to locate the nearest clarinet ensemble I would have to travel to Armidale, or a bit further out to Tamworth. Resources have been difficult to come by, but this has been overcome with locating necessary pieces and organising arrangements of choral and piano works. The great thing about a clarinet ensemble is that it is incredibly flexible and versatile through tone, musicianship, and the different roles made available. You can listen to the ensemble as a group of clarinets, but they can also function like a vocal choir crossing several ranges, as an organ with their overwhelming sound and open tone, as a stringed instrument (similar to the role played in concert bands and wind orchestras), and even as a piano with each instrument making up a digit of the pianist’s hands. There is a motto I’ve always enjoyed using with clarinet students; “If you play the clarinet, you can do anything!” I think this is quite true.

Word of the Month for January!

in⋅spi⋅ra⋅tion [in-spuh-rey-shuh n]
–noun

Inspire
Inspiration

If there was going to be a word I heard with sufficient emphasis placed on it, it would have to be the word “inspiration”. It was a word I heard or read every now and then. Whether it was through conversations with students, past and fellow musicians, hard at work at the workshop, or mentioned through the media, this word continually provoked my attention. Why was this?
        If I had someone walk up to me and ask why the mid-north coast was suffering in music in general, the first word that would come to mind is “inspiration”. It makes a lot of sense as well with feedback and discussions with students studying and instrument, especially the more advanced students. Inspiration may have thought to have been caused by a glowing personality and an incredible talent to play an instrument or to perform. I think that is certainly influential to encourage someone to develop an interest in taking up music, but it is not the driving force to have them further their studies or interest in playing. We do have some very good music tutors in this region and neighbouring towns, but there aren’t very many that could be described as “inspirational”.
        My challenge is this; how much are you willing to do to support your students, no matter what level of playing they are up to? It’s very easy to support the advanced students because they are the “crème de la crème”, but how much information and sources are willing to pass on? And this is a very similar case with beginner students as well in terms of music, resources, and methods of teaching. I completed my first stint of music tuition in a school last year since 2002, and the challenges I found were retaining students and keeping students interested/motivated. Something I have noticed with schools over the years, in terms of music programs, is that you will have teachers or co-ordinators of programs that will seek to retain students or seek to push quality.



It is a very tough situation since you want so many students involved, yet you need the group to develop and grow musically. Plus you throw in time constraints, factoring in how many students there are, resources (which are usually very limited with school budgets and copyright laws), and even travel time for some tutors.

I believe, as tutors, we need to “aspire to inspire”. We are to have the ambition and desire to enlighten and influence. No longer is it about “winging it” or trying to teach on the cheap side. Universities will lecture through their teaching degrees that the best course of teaching for students is to set up an Individual Education Program (IEP). While this may not always be feasible in school education systems due to the size of some classes or subjects undertaken, it is the ideal opportunity for people that tutor outside of school classes. Students realise the effort we are putting in for them when we spend our resources of time, money, travel, expertise, planning, and most importantly patience. Students do feel a lot more valued when we develop an interest in their learning and progress, and they will (most of the time) display this to us. I can’t find anything more refreshing than an eager young musician running over to their music lesson location, setting up their instrument quickly and saying how they can do something new and they want to show us straight away, or perhaps accomplish something that they were struggling with before. If the students feel they are experiencing success and enjoyment, then hopefully the parents/guardians do the same for their child. What I have discovered and experienced over the time invested in teaching and learning is that a student will only put in as much effort with their studies as we put in to construct their learning. At times it can even be like watering a plant; give it little nourishment and it will starve and lose interest to grow, yet absolutely flood it with water and it may become overwhelmed. It is rare for the latter to occur, but often music tutors can be guilty (and I have been one to do this before) of not giving their student enough to progress with and stunting the growth of their musical talent and ability. This is why I stress that we need to take the time to construct and do more on our part to set up a learning program for children taking on music.

Aspire to Inspire, this is my challenge for 2009.