Dennis Frayne Arts, Music, & Education

 CHAPTER 5: DATA & ANALYSIS II

In Their Own Words

(featurette)

FADE IN:

INT. EDEN’S PIANO STUDIO - DAY

Piano music softly PLAYS.

EDEN, late 40’s, sits at a piano, facing away.

EDEN

I think justice in music has to do with making things right. When I think of that I think of the long history that musicians and music teachers have of normalizing certain sorts of music over other music to the exclusion of having students have a broader experience of music. Whether that experience is playing the music, encountering the music, whether it’s their own culture that has been underrepresented, or that of another person. So, I think justice in music would have to do with making those things right, and flipping it so we stopped normalizing Western music or Western education as being the norm, or the “right way.” Part of working in a Quaker school and being an anthropologist – this is the work of an anthropologist: everything I do is about cultural relativism, the idea that everything you learn and everything you study is in the context that there is no right, there is no wrong, it’s all relative to the way you experience things. So very early on I made a real effort to speak about music in very specific ways. I have no problem admitting that much of the piano tradition is rooted in Western classical music. But I tell the children that right now we’re playing music from a country called Germany. Let’s look at the globe and find it. But then I’ll say, there’s lots of other music going on in the world, at the same time, and those traditions look like this, or these are the instruments that were played, or whatever it is. I mean, I recognize piano, and I don’t want to deny it, but I also don’t want to normalize it, as though other things aren’t happening. Within the context of my studio, I try to be very sensitive about making sure every child has music written by women, music that’s outside of what I learned growing up. And I had great teachers who really tried to broaden my experience. I have a student right now who’s fascinated with Japan, and almost every piece we’re playing right now is either from Japan, Korea, or China. And she’s not getting the German, Austrian tradition. So, she “should” be playing musettes, and she “should” be playing from Anna Magdalena. And I really had to shift that, like, well, you can learn sixteenth notes, and you can learn this technique, or you can learn rotation in music that doesn’t look like this. So just broadening my goal for her. What is my goal for her? My goal is to connect her with the music, to have cultural understanding, and to have specific artistic or technical things, and then to find the music that appeals to her. I try really hard to connect the music with the culture. Like, we have all these rules in Western music about the way phrasing should be, and it’s all based in Western vocal stuff, and even though some of those traditions have been adopted by other continents at this point, they’re not actually natural. I’ll try to convey to my student, “This is Japanese music, let’s listen to the language, and let’s look at the dance styles of Japan. You’re probably not going to experience the same dramatic range over here; maybe this piece will have a range like this because it’s supposed to be a calmer piece.” But I want to do it better, you know, there’s a lot of stuff out there that I just don’t know about.

INT. SARAH’S MUSIC ROOM - DAY

SARAH, 20’s, sits at her desk in the empty music room.

SARAH

I like to teach an appreciation of music, and of different types of music. We talk about the importance of accepting others’ opinions and styles, we have a lot of discussions, I try to give them more critical thinking tools, and things they can bring into the real world – my seventh and eighth graders are going into high school. With my younger, pre-K through sixth grade, I do a lot more with the state standards. Right now, currently, I am filling the gap of no music for an entire year, so this is a lot different than other year’s I’ve taught. I am mainly a Kodaly-based instructional teacher, I’m not Kodaly certified, though. But I definitely focus on appreciation, and I try to branch out into other content areas, to make content cross-curricular. When I’m talking to my students, I try to tell them that I as a student had similar life experiences as the ones in my classroom. I’m at a 100% free-reduced lunch school, I’m in the heart of the city, so I tell them, “I get it, my school wasn’t as bad.” My whole life was probably a little equivalent, but I try to tell them that “I’ve been in your shoes,” and that there’s a way out of all this, if you just put your head down and work really hard, and speak up when you know you have something truly important to say that can change the world, so. I also did my student teaching in a low SES school; I tend to gravitate towards schools with poverty; I kind of enjoy not only the challenge of trying to bring in stuff, but also, I’m actually helping kids that I think truly need it. And being with those that I feel I can connect more with.

INT. BOB’S MUSIC STUDIO - NIGHT

70’s rock music loudly PLAYS.

BOB, mid 50’s, sits at his desk. Guitars, keyboards, and other rock-band-style instruments, plus stage and recording equipment, glisten in the background.

BOB

Our 80’s hair band toured the Midwest – fourteen different states, 300 shows a year, for nearly four years – in the early 90’s. And then Nirvana came and destroyed the entire club circuit. So, I went back to get my bachelor’s in music, and then begrudgingly at my wife’s “suggestion,” my teaching certificate.

Bob points to framed documents on his studio wall.

BOB (cont’d)

Those are the programs from the last three choir concerts that we did, with full rock band – with horn section – accompaniment. It was sweet; it was a blast. I finally became authentic to my true rock ’n roll self, in my choir program, and it just blew up. We were on the news twice. And then about a year and a half ago I started my own “academy of music” in my own downtown office space. And we have two teachers, seventy students, I am in retirement from project number one, or plan A, so to speak, and living out plan B, which has been just a riot. I teach drums, guitar, piano, voice, songwriting, and recording skills. I have a full-functioning recording studio here; we can record up to sixteen tracks at a time, and we have a second space across the hall which I have been using for my vocal booth. I’m busier than I ever thought I would be. But good problem to have.

INT. MARY’S COLLEGE CLASSROOM - DAY

Latin American style keyboard music PLAYS.

MARY, mid to late 20’s, sits at a keyboard – there are many lined up in rows – and noodles a little melody.

MARY

I’ve taught private piano students for half my life; I taught my first student when I was thirteen, and I’ve always done it since. Currently I’m a graduate assistant, and I teach an advanced keyboard skills class for undergraduate students, some kids, and some adult beginners. I’m also getting my master’s in piano performance, and, I mean, I would say that I kind of have a lot of self-doubt surrounding performing, because I’ve never been the prodigy winning all the competitions, but, and I guess I’m still kind of figuring out, what, like, how can this get recital gigs, because sometimes it’s because you won a competition, and then you have this year-long contract to perform or something like that. But you can always just advocate for yourself and schedule your own concerts. So, yes, I definitely want to perform, but I think teaching will always be a big part of what I do. I’m really grateful for having started teaching young and having that experience before I even got a degree in music, because I had some realistic idea – maybe some unrealistic ideas, too – but somewhat of a realistic idea of what it looked like to work as a musician, before I even started my degree. And so, for me, teaching and getting a music degree have gone hand-in-hand. And the thing that gets me really excited about teaching music isn’t necessarily even the music itself, but the fact that it helps the person, whether they’re a child or adult learning music, to discover themselves and to develop traits not just musically but as a person, as a whole person. I didn’t really think about that until starting my master’s, what self-efficacy is, and things like that. And I really want to delve more deeply into Latin American music. I might get an opportunity to study abroad in Mexico City, and I would really love that.

INT. SOPHIE’S ELEMENTARY MUSIC ROOM - NIGHT

SOPHIE, mid 20’s, sits at her desk in the empty classroom.

SOPHIE

This is my first year of teaching, so I don’t have much teaching experience yet. I teach on a military base, so I have all military-impacted children. So, I have lots of transients – it’s a highly transient population so we have kids coming and going every single week. We teach grades K-5. For student teaching, I did a little bit of elementary and a little bit of middle school and high school in rural areas – I haven’t really been in any urban settings. All my teaching experience has been during COVID, so I don’t know what it’s like outside of COVID. This is my only experience so far. As a student, I have always really enjoyed education; I always did really, really well in school. I was one of the model students, I just behaved really well, and I never really had any negative experiences. One time when I was student teaching on my own for one of the first times, I was with kindergarten, and I had some boys who were making finger guns, and I got stern with them and had them go fill out “think sheets.” And then ever since that day, if I brought up activities that happened during that class, one of them would start crying – they had that negative association with music. So, I guess my takeaway from that was to be really mindful about rewards slash punishments that you give in class, because sometimes it can be too traumatizing for certain children. Better to give them reminders and let it play out, so that way they don’t have that negative association with music class. It was really heartbreaking because one of the students really liked music, but every time we played that one game, he would just walk out. Everything in my student teaching was just like, “Hey, make sure you prepare for your lessons, so you don’t crash and burn. And make sure that you don’t let your kids talk over you, because then they’ll just keep doing it.” So.

INT. KERRIE’S HOME - NIGHT

KERRIE, early 60’s, sits at her desk. There’s a bike in the room, a bookcase against one wall, and a black acoustic guitar case leaning against it.

KERRIE

I was a saxophone player through school, got a music degree, and then became a copyist and transcriber for many years. I gave private lessons when my kid was older, but I really burned out on being gone every holiday, and every time something important was happening. I went back to school and got my teaching credential at the age of fifty. I spent some time volunteering in classrooms while I was taking art classes, and I thought, well, you know I would much rather be around these optimistic kids than crusty old musicians. So, I got my credential, and I started teaching right during the recession, there were no jobs, so I subbed a lot, and finally, after lots of pink slips, I got a job as a general music instructor here in the city and I’ve been there about six years. And I play in a band called “OK Boomer.” (laughs) So it’s exactly what you think it is! I play guitar and have a lot of fun; sing harmony stuff. Just recently I got my master’s in social Impact. I’ve got about eight more years of teaching – no golden handshakes for me, no full pension for me, I’m on my own. But I’m really still liking it, except that half my chorus today was quarantined, right before our performance, so that’s not the best. But I’m still liking it, I came into it late enough that I’m still attracted to it.

INT. DENNIS’S GARAGE “OFFICE” - DAY

DENNIS, 50’s, sits at his desk in the dim garage with a make-shift office.

DENNIS

In high school, I wasn’t taking lessons, but I played the piano for fun, nothing serious. Then in my junior year, things started to go downhill for me; I became an angry teenager. My grades took a plunge, I started to hang out with the wrong crowd, and then a church youth group – I went to church mostly because my family went to church, but sometimes I appreciated going – but anyway they decided to put on this summer musical, Godspell. I auditioned, and did pretty well, but didn’t get the part. But they knew I played piano and asked me to be the accompanist. So, I was the rehearsal pianist and also played in the band for the performances. That experience saved my life. It turned everything around for me, I met a whole different group of people, I joined choir that fall, my senior year; I was happy and enthusiastic again, and it improved every aspect of my life.

INT. MANNY’S DRAMA CLASSROOM - DAY

MANNY, 50’s, sits at his desk in the empty classroom.

MANNY

I’m a theater arts teacher, and the education part came first for me. That was my first, number one goal, since I was fifteen. I was heavily inspired by my drama teacher, and even his drama teacher, who are both mentors to me. I got my first opportunity to run a high school theater program when I was eighteen years old, actually, I was given the job of a walk-on coach, and so I got to start directing plays right away and throughout college. I’m about ten years away from retirement so it’s on the horizon, but still a ways off. So yeah, I’ve been doing this now for a really long time, though I did take a little break from it, and I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua for a couple of years, right in the middle of my teaching career, to get an opportunity to live abroad. But, yeah, I’m the theater arts teacher at a major urban high school, and I’ll stay here until I retire. I love it. Beautiful theater, beautiful performance space, huge support for the arts in my district.

INT. ELISE’S ELEMENTARY MUSIC ROOM - DAY

ELISE, 30’s, sits at her desk in the empty classroom.

ELISE

I started playing flute when I was in elementary school, and went on to get a dual degree in music education and jazz performance, with a minor in philosophy. And then I wanted to get my master’s in something that wasn’t education, so I got my master’s in jazz history and research. I’m a multi-woodwind player so I did Off-Off-Broadway and summer stock, and college musicals like The Producers and Oklahoma! and stuff like that. For the past eight years I’ve been teaching pre-K to fifth grade general music. And when I graduated with my master’s, they asked me to teach their Intro to Music course, music history for non-majors, online, so I’ve been teaching college undergraduates online, along with teaching my elementary school kids online, but back in person this year. I’m about thirty years from retirement so I’ve got a lot of teaching still ahead of me.

INT. ELIZABETH’S BAND ROOM - DAY

ELIZABETH, late 20’s, sits at her desk in the empty classroom.

ELIZABETH

For me, it was an opportunity that I thought, “Well, that’ll give me some more perspective, things that I can consider that will make me able to be a better teacher to my students.” My number one hope is that I can kind of get a better understanding of what my role needs to be for my kids. How I can serve them and be the best teacher or educator to them that I can be. And learning strategies or maybe things that I did not know that will allow me to be that person for them. I teach middle school band and choir, I’m in my fourth year, my whole career has been at my current school… Every year has been different, so it's hard to say what has been consistent the whole time, except that I’m teaching band and choir. My own experience in school was largely positive. I tended to be a perfectionist when it came to schoolwork, and especially music performances. I tend to put too much stress on myself. My college experience was extremely positive, and I did my student teaching at a school that’s considered one of the best band programs in the state. And it was pretty much the polar opposite of where I ended up in my first job. So, while my student teaching experience was good, it did not prepare me anything for what I ended up doing, teaching in a very low SES, urban district; my school is 95% African American – in the school where I student taught, there were two African American kids in the band program, and they were siblings. It was a very white farm town, and it was an extremely well-funded program – if something broke, you sent it away and it got fixed, and came back. There was never a consideration of a price tag on anything. At my school now, that’s all I think about. “How can I get this done cheaply?” “What things can I do myself?” Because I know it’s going to get rejected if I try to get it funded through the school. I always knew teaching was challenging, but this was way different than what I was mentally prepared for, going into my career.

FADE OUT