Seems there are surveys coming out of the woodwork, dancing and swirling around like Bacchae (or Sirens, as the case may be! calling me ever closer to the edge from which I will never return!) Not only the two big Eureka surveys, but now also a draft for a potential new project at MENC, as well as a draft of a survey to leadership pre-National Assembly (gathering input from staff, and pulling together past MENC surveys on various topics to create a digest of information we've collected in the past from members). And soon, I'll be sending two more surveys created by doctoral students who are researching music ed issues!
More surveys are possibly on the books for over the summer or early fall, and there is the ever present monthly on-line member survey soon due! It's great to collect information, and MENC is making a concerted effort to use the input from members to help inform decisions on national initiatives and policies....I love surveys, taking them, answering them, AND creating them, but I admit, my head is swimming! ;-}
Speaking of National Anthem project (see RF's blog of last week, Thursday Interlude)!
This weekend while out of town visiting my Mom- in- law, we were at the store, and while waiting in the car for my husband, I saw and HEARD.....a 7 year old boy transversing the parking lot, two full lengths behind his Dad.....The boy was dressed in a soccer uniform, and looked like he'd just come from his game. What made this scene unusual, the boy was SINGING, out loud! He was singing The National Anthem! Perhaps he was imagining the opening of a ball game, he was relishing every word, just kinda dancing and loping along after his Dad, lost in his own thoughts.....he knew all the words, even hit the high notes, and did not stop singing even as he opened the SUV door and climbed up into the cavernous vehicle.
I was mesmerized to see one so young, and a boy (usually it's the girls singing to themselves!), singing out loud, and then, for the song to be The National Anthem! I was sorry when he got into their car and shut the door, as I wasn't able to hear the end.....I had nearly gone over to him to say "Wow, way to go, good job, you know it!". Whoever taught him the song - or however he picked it up - it was neat to see, and I was hoping he would remember the words and not be afraid to sing it just as fearlessly and just as freely when he got older!
RESOURCES: Jazz and African music
Great interview in the Sunday May 13 Washington Post magazine, with Billy Taylor, of DC area jazz fame.
"The Last Encore" - about jazz, its place in American music and its future, or lack of it....by Wells Tower
Driving home from work Monday night, heard the BBC on our local NPR station, caught the end of a great interview/conversation with jazz star Hugh Masekela. He grew up in apartheid S. Africa, his parents listened to American Jazz; he pursued learning the trumpet, and left S. Africa at a young age and studied music in England and the U.S. To hear the interview, click here!
And to see what eight records he would take to a desert island with him, click here!
(note: BBC show, Desert Island Discs - one of Radio 4's most popular shows...Roy Plomley created in 1942; each week a guest is invited to choose the eight records they would take with them to a desert island. SEE LIST OF GUESTS FROM PAST WEEKS/year - click here!
Where I first heard Hugh Masekela back in the late 80's, GREAT GREAT show on African music:
Around the Water Cooler
The withdrawal continues as I found out this past Monday that the finale of "24" (yes, I'm a fan...have watched since season 2 - although this season was really not very good compared to previous....) and "Idol" are BOTH next week! I kinda don't care who wins Idol (yes, I do! who am I kidding? Melinda Melinda Melinda!)
And I'm looking forward to "On the Lot", the new Spielberg reality show re: aspiring filmakers....nothing like living vicariously through others who have the chutzpah to actually DO it!! (I don't think I'll get "into" the Idol "Search for American Band" thing, or "So you think you can Dance"? although that was pretty good last year.....can't completely ignore my own reality!)
I am looking forward to seeing what song was chosen as the "winner" in the AI song contest....I succumbed and did the vote, listened to all 20 submissions, but truthfully, only listened to TWO all the way through! The other 18 songs, did not (could not!) listen to completely... you could tell the song just wasn't "taking off"......some were trying SO hard to be "THE" big inspiration/"Found my Dream" song........they weren't BAD, but they just weren't anything to make you sit up and really NOTICE or want to LISTEN. Let's see if others thought the same!
See you next week! SR
