On Sunday I tuned into "60 Minutes" to watch their Bruce Springsteen interview. One segment in particular caught by attention. His quote reads like one of MENC's "Why Music?" PSAs!
"I was probably one of the smartest kids in my class at the time. Except you would've never known it," Springsteen says, laughing. "You would've never known it. Because where my intelligence lay was not, wasn't able to be tapped within that particular system. And I didn't know how to do it myself until music came along and opened me up not just to the world of music but to the world period, you know, to the events of the day. To the connection between culture and society and those were things that riveted me, engaged me in life," Springsteen says. "Gave me a sense of purpose. What I wanted to do. Who I wanted to be. The way that I wanted to do it. What I thought I could accomplish through singing songs."
Today you can read the whole transcript and watch the video from the show on the CBS News Web site. Bruce's longtime friend and bandmember Steve Van Zandt, who visited MENC this summer to discuss a new music education program he's developing, is also featured in the segment.
It's a short week at MENC because of the Columbus Day holiday yesterday. Nothing is nicer than a Monday off, but it sure makes the rest of the week complicated. Among other projects, I'm working with the Student Programs department on some targetet Collegiate membership marketing this week. We want to ask all members of MENC to help us "grow" Collegiate by contacting their alma mater to encourage the music department to start a chapter. You'll be getting a message about it soon!
One more thing before signing off. Thanks to MENC research director and fellow blogger SR for this interesting link to unusual scholarship opportunities. Two I particularly like are: the Zolp Scholarship for students at Loyola University in Chicago who are Catholic and whose last name is Zolp; and the Icy Frost Bridge Scholarship at DePauw University for female music students who can sing or play the national anthem with sincerity.
Onward! EWL
