Beyond Baby Mozart, Students Who Rock By: David Bornstein | September 8, 2011 With school underway, I asked my eight-year-old son this week if he had any interest in learning guitar. He said he’d prefer the piano. I was pleased, but hesi- tant. I had my own stint with after-school piano lessons at age eight — plinking out notes from classical pieces that were for- eign to me. My progress was agonizingly slow and I gave up within months. Music education hasn’t changed funda- mentally since the 1970s. Students are still taught to read notation so they can recite compositions that they would never lis- ten to on their MP3 players or play with friends. The four “streams” in music educa- Photo courtesy of Brian Gellerstein tion — orchestra, chorus, marching band The experience of an organization Melanie Faulkner, supervisor of and jazz band — have remained constant called Little Kids Rock suggests elementary music for Hillsbor- for four decades, while a third generation the answer is a resounding yes — ough County Public Schools, in is growing up listening to rock and pop provided we change the way mu- Tampa, Fla., where 14,000 stu- music. And my experience as an eight- sic is taught. Little Kids Rock has dents in 83 schools are served by year-old is all too common. Many children helped revitalize music programs the program. “The children feel quit before making progress with an in- in over a thousand public schools like they’re right there making real strument, then regret it as adults. Others and served 150,000 children, most music. And the success spills over play violin or trumpet for the school or- of them from low-income families. into other areas of school.” chestra or band, then drop the instrument The organization has distributed after graduating from high school. 30,000 free instruments, primarily The key to Little Kids Rock is that guitars, and trained 1,500 teachers it teaches children to play music This is a loss for all. Playing music enriches to run music classes in which stu- the way many musicians learn to life. That’s why so many adults wish that dents quickly experience the joys play it — not by notation, but by they could play an instrument, particularly of playing their favorite songs, per- listening, imitation and meaning- guitar or piano, which are ideally suited for forming in bands, and composing ful experimentation. “The knowl- playing with others. The question is: Why their own music. Along the way, edge you need to get started play- do schools teach music in a way that turns the organization is working to in- ing rock music is very limited,” off so many young people rather than ig- stitute a fifth stream in American explains Dave Wish, the found- niting their imagination? Adolescents and music education: popular music er of Little Kids Rock. “In high teenagers are crazy about popular music. — or what it calls “contemporary school, my friend Paul taught me At a time when educators are desperate b an d .” a couple of chords and, boom, my to engage students and improve school life was changed forever.” cultures, can we do a better job of harness- “Students truly experience ing the power of music to get kids excited just about immediate success “Making music is as much a physi- about school? in Little Kids Rock,” explained cal act as it is a cognitive act,” he He decided to start an after-school paper, and five minutes free time, guitar program. He got instruments they’re going to make art,” he adds. donated and started one afternoon “Teaching a few chords is just like a week. Within a year, he was giving giving a kid a musical crayon. If you classes before and after school, five give them time, they will start to days a week, and still had to turn compose their own songs.” away children for lack of space. That There is one barrier to overcome. bothered him, so he got the idea to Every art teacher has drawn a pic- recruit some of his musician friends ture, but many music instructors to teach additional classes. “That idea have never composed a song, so failed miserably because they had no they may have no clue how to teach classroom management skills,” he children to do it; they may not even recalled. That’s when he saw that it believe their students can do it. In would work better if he focused on trainings, therefore, every teacher training experienced teachers. has to write a song, perform it, and Like many nonprofit organizations, record it for the other teachers in the Little Kids Rock’s main constraint is room — all in 30 minutes. resources. Significantly, one problem There are tricks to jump start the the organization doesn’t face is draw- process. You can start by making a Photo courtesy of Brian Gellerstein ing teachers. Its trainings frequently list of pairs of words that rhyme. You adds. “We don’t begin with theory attract many more applicants than can pick a song you like, write down when we want to teach a child to available slots. Teachers volunteer the chords, scramble them, then play tee-ball. We just bring the kid their time to attend trainings, which play the chords in the new order, up to the tee, give them a bat, and let are often held over weekends. The while saying words over them. It will them swing.” trainings are popular because they help in making up a little melody. provide simple and practical meth- “What you find is that it’s actually On the first day of class, Little Kids ods to get high levels of participation remarkably simple,” says Wish. “You Rock teachers place guitars in the from students. need to be given permission and a hands of their students and get them Little Kids Rock bears similarity forum and a few basic tips, but most practicing chords that will enable people are never given any of those.” them to play thousands of songs. to the Suzuki method, which also (Many simple lessons are freely stresses learning by ear (initially) For improvisation, every teacher is available online here.) The kids de- over reading musical notation. Wish also asked to play a Jimi Hendrix- cide what songs they want to learn also draws from language acquisi- style guitar solo, a novel experience and the class is off and running. tion theory and applies it to music for many. Kids think solos are very Their progress is remarkable. Within (as he explains in this talk). But the cool, and Little Kids Rock gives them a year, eight- and nine-year-olds are big distinction is that Little Kids shortcuts so they can learn how to playing electric guitar, bass guitar, Rock places a lot of emphasis on im- play them, literally, in minutes. “I drums and keyboards, and giving provisation and composing, which have kids who learn one scale, or concerts, even performing their own are rarely encouraged in tradition- even two notes, and will play solos songs. And the effect is predictable: al music education. If you wander all afternoon,” explained Allan Ad- the children can’t get enough of it. around a public school, for example, kison, a Little Kids Rock instructor you will find the walls adorned with at Lola Rodriguez De Tio Acade- Before launching Little Kids Rock in paintings, drawings, poetry, essays, my of Future Technology, a middle 2002, Wish spent 10 years as a first even math problems — all done by school in the Mott Haven section and second grade teacher in public children. “What’s notoriously ab- of the Bronx. “When they start to schools in low-income communities sent?” asks Wish. “Where’s the music express themselves and start to hear in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many the kids created?” it, you see them become free.” of his students had little structure or supervision out of school, and “If you put a bunch of kids at a table, It’s not just the children who have they would often get into trouble. and give them a box of crayons and this experience. Wish recalled that one music teacher of 20 years start- ing to three chord songs their whole things is that the teachers discover a ed to cry after performing a solo lives. “When I taught kids to read Dr. new side of their students. They see in a training program. “She’d been Seuss books,” says Wish, “I didn’t go kids become successful who weren’t playing music most of her life but home and say, ‘Oh man, when they b e fore .” never thought she had the ability to grow up, they’re only going to want improvise,” he recalled. “I’ve heard to read rhyming books.’” And the connection the kids make that from a lot of people. I think the seems to last. Erik Herndon, a Lit- biggest thing that teachers leave the If children make a durable connec- tle Kids Rock instructor at the Jean training with is the notion that they tion with music, it’s more likely that Childs Young Middle School in At- themselves have great untapped res- over time, their musical tastes will lanta, told me: “I’m just starting to ervoirs of musical potential.” evolve. “I don’t listen to the same see kids go on to college and a lot of music I listened to in high school,” them are sticking with it. One kid We do a disservice to children when adds Wish.