In defense of Real Music Making

Has it really been over a year since I posted anything?  Wow!  Let's just say, I've thought about it - for a really long time - but got a bit busy.  I'm not one of those truly dedicated bloggers who post something every week or day, but when I do you can be assured that I have put a lot of thought into what I'm saying and, like I said, this one has been brewing for a long time.

A couple of years ago, I was chatting with a couple of colleagues and the topic of sound systems and such came up.  I casually commented that all I really used was a microphone to address the audience at performances or for the occasional soloist.  One of the other music teachers looked at me incredulously and asked, "Well, don't you need a sound system and monitors?"  I replied by saying that I did not use recorded music in my performances and only use recordings on occasion for movement activities in class.  She had gotten so used to the default music program that so many teachers cling to - pop-style "kidsongs" with lush accompaniment tracks an no lasting value - that I thought her eyes might pop out of her head.  She then asked, "Well, what do you DO?"  In a matter of fact tone, I explained that I played the piano and ukulele and had the students themselves play instrumental accompaniments they had learned in class.  She just couldn't seem to wrap her head around it.  I might as well have been speaking another language.  And, in a way, I was.

I am an Orff specialist.  I take great pride in saying that.  I worked very hard to be able to say that.  And I work very hard every day to make sure I can keep on calling myself one.  It would be easier to fall back on packaged musicals, prepared lessons, accompaniment tracks that don't change with the needs and whims of students aged 5-11, overuse of technology and videos, videos videos.  But then I would be teaching my students, and myself, to be dependent on tools in order to make music rather than nurturing the musician that lurks inside of them.  They would become the family in that AT&T ad who freaks out when the internet is out and has no idea of what to do without it.  It makes me want to scream at the TV, "Go outside and play!  Do a crossword puzzle!  Sing a song!  Draw a picture!  Write a story!  DO SOMETHING!"  Yeah, sure I might catch the occasional eyeroll or bored look from one of my 5th graders for not teaching the latest pop song or using all of the technology that fills the rest of their day.  But when they leave my classroom at the end of the day, even those students say "I can't get that song out of my head!"  And then they have something to do whenever the internet goes out.  Score one for Real Music Making.