Dear Mr Potts,
I'm afraid my experience with public schooling wasnt the greatest... However, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.
1) How did you get interested in music?
I'd say that it was my parents who first got me going-
My mother is quite a good piano player, and taught piano
at home until I was about 12 or so; my sister Jan played
in piano competitions and such, my sister Andrea had a
spanish-style guitar that I messed around with, and my
dad had early ambitions to be a concert violinist before
wars and other trivial events led him into Political
Science.
My parents and Jan used to play trios (Jan also played
the cello), and sometimes they'd have friends come over
to play quartets and stuff.
My folks always had classical music and such playing
around the house, especially at dinner.
I started "writing songs" in school, essentially making
up new lyrics to pre-existing songs, usually of a pretty
rude nature- mischievous little ditties about the 4th- grade teacher's nose or something. I took up the bass
because it seemed easy, and noone else seemed to want
to play it.
2) What role, if any, did the public school system do
to build upon or extend your musical interest?
Sad to say, none, really. There was a very good choir
teacher by the name of Carol Kyser at my junior high
school, but she got so disgusted by the bureaucracy
even then that she resigned in noisy protest. (About
the same time as my favorite English teacher)
By the same token, though, I know several incredible
musicians who had a great experience at Hamilton
High School in Hollywood--Abe Laboriel, Jr., Julian
Coryell, Mike Elizondo, and numerous others, and they
had a great experience with the teachers there, so it's
probably kind of on a by-the-school sort of thing. I
suspect it depends to a large extent on parents getting
directly involved with the programs.
3) If you had a child in the public school system what
would you want him/her to get out of the music program?
A basic understanding of the principles of harmony:
modes, intervals, ear-training, etc... The ability
to write rhythm charts. Basic piano and one other
instrument. Small ensemble experience. More import
ant than all of the above, though, a sense of possi-
bility, of freedom, and of the simple joy of creation.
4) How has music changed culturally since you started
in the business?
Well, that is a very complex question, that I could
probably devote an entire book to. However, I'll
try to do my best.
It changes very quickly, so predictions are rarely
very accurate, but at the moment, and certainly in
the near future, pop music is dominated by the
sort of 50's era paradigm of canny management,
professional songwriters and producers, and eager
young faces desperate for stardom. It's become
an extremely specialised field, far more so than
when I started out. Singers dance and sometimes,
they sing. Writers write and co-write,
producers produce, and managers manage. Record
companies market. Publicists publicise.
Talent is developed outside
the company matrix, by producers, writers, and
management, and then marketed by the label.
It's gotten very cold-blooded, more so than I
can remember. The labels might be verging on
obsolescence, and that, as one might imagine,
makes them very jumpy, and single and fear-
driven.
Kids are very smart, and they become quite
rightly cynical, at earlier and earlier ages.
Attention deficit disorder is rampant, to
the extent that some of John Cage's ideas of
multiple/simultaneous musics seem to have
come of age. It's a brave new world, with
soma around the corner.
5) Are there any artists or performers that you feel
it is vital for Elementary students to be
familiar with?
Woody Guthrie, Duke Ellington, Mozart, Miles
Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Charlie Parker, Louis
Armstrong, Stravinsky, (try Fantasia) Bob
Dylan, the Beatles, Charles Mingus, Joni
Mitchell, Fats Waller, Django Reinhardt,
I don't know, that ought to be a start.
Hope this is of assistance,
yrs,
David Baerwald
Schools and Music
B
Baerwald
(view)
Dear Mr Potts,
I'm afraid my experience with public schooling wasnt the greatest... However, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.
1) How did you get interested in music?
I'd say that it was my parents who first got me going-
My mother is quite a good piano player, and taught piano
at home until I was about 12 or so; my sister Jan played
in piano competitions and such, my sister Andrea had a
spanish-style guitar that I messed around with, and my
dad had early ambitions to be a concert violinist before
wars and other trivial events led him into Political
Science.
My parents and Jan used to play trios (Jan also played
the cello), and sometimes they'd have friends come over
to play quartets and stuff.
My folks always had classical music and such playing
around the house, especially at dinner.
I started "writing songs" in school, essentially making
up new lyrics to pre-existing songs, usually of a pretty
rude nature- mischievous little ditties about the 4th- grade teacher's nose or something. I took up the bass
because it seemed easy, and noone else seemed to want
to play it.
2) What role, if any, did the public school system do
to build upon or extend your musical interest?
Sad to say, none, really. There was a very good choir
teacher by the name of Carol Kyser at my junior high
school, but she got so disgusted by the bureaucracy
even then that she resigned in noisy protest. (About
the same time as my favorite English teacher)
By the same token, though, I know several incredible
musicians who had a great experience at Hamilton
High School in Hollywood--Abe Laboriel, Jr., Julian
Coryell, Mike Elizondo, and numerous others, and they
had a great experience with the teachers there, so it's
probably kind of on a by-the-school sort of thing. I
suspect it depends to a large extent on parents getting
directly involved with the programs.
3) If you had a child in the public school system what
would you want him/her to get out of the music program?
A basic understanding of the principles of harmony:
modes, intervals, ear-training, etc... The ability
to write rhythm charts. Basic piano and one other
instrument. Small ensemble experience. More import
ant than all of the above, though, a sense of possi-
bility, of freedom, and of the simple joy of creation.
4) How has music changed culturally since you started
in the business?
Well, that is a very complex question, that I could
probably devote an entire book to. However, I'll
try to do my best.
It changes very quickly, so predictions are rarely
very accurate, but at the moment, and certainly in
the near future, pop music is dominated by the
sort of 50's era paradigm of canny management,
professional songwriters and producers, and eager
young faces desperate for stardom. It's become
an extremely specialised field, far more so than
when I started out. Singers dance and sometimes,
they sing. Writers write and co-write,
producers produce, and managers manage. Record
companies market. Publicists publicise.
Talent is developed outside
the company matrix, by producers, writers, and
management, and then marketed by the label.
It's gotten very cold-blooded, more so than I
can remember. The labels might be verging on
obsolescence, and that, as one might imagine,
makes them very jumpy, and single and fear-
driven.
Kids are very smart, and they become quite
rightly cynical, at earlier and earlier ages.
Attention deficit disorder is rampant, to
the extent that some of John Cage's ideas of
multiple/simultaneous musics seem to have
come of age. It's a brave new world, with
soma around the corner.
5) Are there any artists or performers that you feel
it is vital for Elementary students to be
familiar with?
Woody Guthrie, Duke Ellington, Mozart, Miles
Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Charlie Parker, Louis
Armstrong, Stravinsky, (try Fantasia) Bob
Dylan, the Beatles, Charles Mingus, Joni
Mitchell, Fats Waller, Django Reinhardt,
I don't know, that ought to be a start.
Hope this is of assistance,
yrs,
David Baerwald
I'm afraid my experience with public schooling wasnt the greatest... However, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.
1) How did you get interested in music?
I'd say that it was my parents who first got me going-
My mother is quite a good piano player, and taught piano
at home until I was about 12 or so; my sister Jan played
in piano competitions and such, my sister Andrea had a
spanish-style guitar that I messed around with, and my
dad had early ambitions to be a concert violinist before
wars and other trivial events led him into Political
Science.
My parents and Jan used to play trios (Jan also played
the cello), and sometimes they'd have friends come over
to play quartets and stuff.
My folks always had classical music and such playing
around the house, especially at dinner.
I started "writing songs" in school, essentially making
up new lyrics to pre-existing songs, usually of a pretty
rude nature- mischievous little ditties about the 4th- grade teacher's nose or something. I took up the bass
because it seemed easy, and noone else seemed to want
to play it.
2) What role, if any, did the public school system do
to build upon or extend your musical interest?
Sad to say, none, really. There was a very good choir
teacher by the name of Carol Kyser at my junior high
school, but she got so disgusted by the bureaucracy
even then that she resigned in noisy protest. (About
the same time as my favorite English teacher)
By the same token, though, I know several incredible
musicians who had a great experience at Hamilton
High School in Hollywood--Abe Laboriel, Jr., Julian
Coryell, Mike Elizondo, and numerous others, and they
had a great experience with the teachers there, so it's
probably kind of on a by-the-school sort of thing. I
suspect it depends to a large extent on parents getting
directly involved with the programs.
3) If you had a child in the public school system what
would you want him/her to get out of the music program?
A basic understanding of the principles of harmony:
modes, intervals, ear-training, etc... The ability
to write rhythm charts. Basic piano and one other
instrument. Small ensemble experience. More import
ant than all of the above, though, a sense of possi-
bility, of freedom, and of the simple joy of creation.
4) How has music changed culturally since you started
in the business?
Well, that is a very complex question, that I could
probably devote an entire book to. However, I'll
try to do my best.
It changes very quickly, so predictions are rarely
very accurate, but at the moment, and certainly in
the near future, pop music is dominated by the
sort of 50's era paradigm of canny management,
professional songwriters and producers, and eager
young faces desperate for stardom. It's become
an extremely specialised field, far more so than
when I started out. Singers dance and sometimes,
they sing. Writers write and co-write,
producers produce, and managers manage. Record
companies market. Publicists publicise.
Talent is developed outside
the company matrix, by producers, writers, and
management, and then marketed by the label.
It's gotten very cold-blooded, more so than I
can remember. The labels might be verging on
obsolescence, and that, as one might imagine,
makes them very jumpy, and single and fear-
driven.
Kids are very smart, and they become quite
rightly cynical, at earlier and earlier ages.
Attention deficit disorder is rampant, to
the extent that some of John Cage's ideas of
multiple/simultaneous musics seem to have
come of age. It's a brave new world, with
soma around the corner.
5) Are there any artists or performers that you feel
it is vital for Elementary students to be
familiar with?
Woody Guthrie, Duke Ellington, Mozart, Miles
Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Charlie Parker, Louis
Armstrong, Stravinsky, (try Fantasia) Bob
Dylan, the Beatles, Charles Mingus, Joni
Mitchell, Fats Waller, Django Reinhardt,
I don't know, that ought to be a start.
Hope this is of assistance,
yrs,
David Baerwald
