Our Hero’s Journey
2020 - 2021
A moment of pause and reflection to connect our journey and growth on Our Hero’s Journey, as we are all heroes and heroines that have overcome many obstacles to be present to this time. This keynote will invigorate and help us reclaim ourselves as educators, and guide us to define our practice.
The Inspiration of ALL
June 25, 2020 - Closing Keynote National Association for Music Education National AssemblyI believe in lifelong learning and music education for ALL students.
I believe in casting the educational net wide so all humans can find themselves in and thru music.
I believe and KNOW that music is a creative, rigorous academic subject. And with creativity and critical thinking music improves the human condition through a personal expression that defines our own humanity and culture.
And I believe in All Voices All People All Music
This is a call to action.
To open music to ALL students and ALL music while embracing the hope of infinite possibilities and to connect to past and to current and relevant culture.
So that we model that everything we teach is open to all – and that WE are open. Because what we teach and how we teach shows everyone what we believe.
This is a call to action to erase the word ‘other’ and ‘alternative‘, ‘non-traditional’, ‘those’ or ‘them’ . To name what needs to be named, say what needs to be said. Not to throw out what we have taught or how we have taught, but to expand and be intentionally inclusive so that in every action, every word, every piece or song, every student can find and see themselves.
The time is now for our collective work – because each of you are inspiring educators - the movers and shakers of music education that care deeply about students and the rich culture of music in our country.
Today we are finding ourselves - in multiple intersections – with infinite intersectionalities of who we are – and how we address these will either throw us forward to thrive, or pull us back to our eventual demise.
Some of the intersections that we are in - were a result of the pandemic and the shift in how we taught and the expanded curriculum.
And many of the intersections are a result of the horrific murder of George Floyd that is effecting real change.
Because of the pandemic we were given the gift of time – to panic, to worry – and to learn how to teach all over again. How fascinating that an invisible virus (while tragic) created the most radical and fastest shift in education of all time - a teachers’ union would have never approved this timeline.
The change curve was real – but music teachers jumped in – and a collective push began to expand the definition of music education in less than 3 months. To include the AND in music – compose, create, make music in new ways, and give students voice and choice, express emotions, and create personal reflective connections to the real world because the school walls were erased. Bravo!
And now the moment beyond the pandemic - the murder of George Floyd. And I submit to you that we were submersed in all that we needed to see, feel, hear, and live with, in his death, because of the pandemic. It was a perfect moment in time where all life, as we knew it, stood still, and no other noise covered the need for justice and true freedom, and it allowed everyone to look at every connecting dot that lead to his death, because nothing stands in isolation.
We need to look at all of the implications of this and its roots into education and how this plays out for each of us and in our systems and programs. Some in small ways that might not be seen, but only felt, and some in other areas that we can see and feel overtly.
The defining question to ask ourselves – the most important question – that can move us forward is..
Do we - do you - believe in teaching for
All Voices, All People, All Music?
IF we don’t believe this, is this out of change or fear? Or the implications of what we will have to do or learn?
If we do believe that music education is for all students – then we have to ask ourselves a few questions:
1. In all that I think – do I envision and model - all voices, all people, all music – so that every student can find themselves in music?
2. In all that I say – do I encourage, speak, and model - all voices, all people, all music – for every student to find themselves in music?
3. In all that I do – do I act, build, and model – for all voices, all people, all music?
4. In all that we play and perform – are all voices, all music, all people represented?
We have been advocating for music education to save what exists – the programs and teachers, to save music for the students. Advocating – telling our story, our students’ stories. But that’s just the inner circle’s story. What about those outside of the circle and not even in the door? Those are the needed and most revealing stories that can change the trajectory of music education.
The voices of students who have not been heard or yet seen in what should be THEIR program. Their program – because school is for students. These are the most telling voices . Why aren’t all students with us? What are the experiences that holds a person from entering the door or pushes a person out?
How can we find the silent voices? Their stories are our stories to know and tell.
Are we listening to what is happening around us – do we hear the world of music that is playing in every one’s ear. Are we listening to the quiet or silent voices ?
As musicians we are skilled listeners – we have superhero listening skills - can we transfer our listening skills to hear the ensemble of ALL? Our world is filled with overtones/undertones/fundamentals that create a larger sonic space than a single melody……larger than a single person. And the richness of the sound is prolific, just as the richness of humanity is. This represents the intersectionalities of who we are.
And… Just like every note and person counts in a sonic soundscape – so does every single silence – Because it is the silence that frames the sound –
Are we listening – and watching – through a broader perspective than our past experiences? Manny Scott, one of the original Freedom Writers said: “Everything you do is culturally central to you.” We need to remember that our norm is not someone else’s.
So how do we craft our students’ experiences to be larger than who we are?
We talk to the students not in music programs and ask them why. Get to know what music and instruments/tools are wanted, and how they want to play it – and offer this. We look at how we are teaching and focus on learner-centered classrooms guided by our support. We learn with them and show that we are lifelong learners. We expand what currently exists and we integrate and teach to and for the whole musician. We connect sound to sentient humans.
We recruit to expand our offerings because we want the greatness of our collective communities to be heard, not a repeat of history that has traditionally not reflected the ‘ALL’. When we make this shift at the elementary and secondary level, we will begin to see diverse music education programs – if the universities are willing to expand beyond a mold. Many are beginning. Remember - EVERY human is bio-genetically predisposed to make, create, and find joy in music, not just a select group.
We must step into it – like we do music – and make it happen – like improvisation. But wait, you say – ‘I wasn’t taught to improvise’ – ah, ha! That should change in music education as well! Self-expression is fundamental to music – so now is our chance - it’s safe – you’re on mute!
I commissioned a piece by one of my students, Maxwell Dotts, who is now studying composition at Berklee College of Music – just for this moment today. I asked him to compose a piece with his incredible throat singing skills – so we could be immersed in overtones, yet improvise our own melody, harmony, and rhythm with it. So we can create something over it that isn’t in the piece.
In a moment, the piece will play - and as you listen – I invite you to create a complementary rhythm that doesn’t exist in the recording and clap it – and think of those students who aren’t in music right now but who could contribute a new layer. Add a new harmony or melody that isn’t in the recording that could create a richer texture - just like a new person entering music can add more to the class. Here is our one minute of music making and improvisation with the piece, “Along for the Ride”. (Click to here to listen to the composition.)
We have created a rich history of music education that has celebrated life and created a defining musical culture – and now we must look towards one another, inside each of ourselves, and make the space to listen and add more.
The truth lies in the work that that we do. The words and actions to expand and include ALL.
Believe and demonstrate that every student can find themselves in their programs (their programs – not ours) and Reach to Teach ALL.
“All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. For we are the ones we have been waiting for.” - Margaret Wheatley
We – each of you - are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
I invite you - To speak, act, and model that music education is for ALL.
So, say ‘Yes, AND’. Small steps, lean in, grow, layer a new melody, add a new rhythm, because the soundscapes of the world are waiting to be heard from…...
All Voices All People All Music
© 2020 Anne M. Fennell
An Opportunity
May 9, 2020
We have an opportunity. Right here, right now, to reimagine music education into what it can be and capitalize on the time given to us to learn, grow, and open ourselves to the next unknown. Tradition and history have repeatedly demonstrated that the norm in music education included large performance ensembles, and while we honor this and the past, we now have an opportunity to leap into our next unknown that is calling us to reimagine all that is possible.
How we have made music in public schools is important, but in the end, when all is said and done, how do those experiences support a trajectory towards lifelong music making and incorporate how each individual learns? What if how we make music in public education takes the best from the past, grows with what they are learning now, and burgeons into something larger than anything we could imagine? I don’t know what is next or all that is possible, just like I never knew an invisible virus could compress educational panic, change, and reform into a four-week crash course.
With this new moment and time we get to model learning and growing and support students to become lifelong musicians while we empower them to learn and create on their own. Our students are in the midst of new possibilities that could lead them, and all of us, into a new cultural expansion because we are modeling the endless possibilities that are greater than any single teacher or any single ensemble experience. These are lifelong skills that no one can ever take away from a person and they become an integral part of a person’s humanity, cultural experience, and their creative and developmental growth.
Now, as we coach and cheer through a computer screen and tell each student that we believe in them, we are modeling that every student counts. I’m writing this again: when we tell each student that we believe in them, we are also modeling that every student counts. We’ve never had so much time to support, see, and listen to individuals, but now very student has the opportunity to be seen and heard.
The collective whole of large ensembles created beautiful outcomes with lifelong memories, and were/are culturally significant and important. However, if we choose to only focus on what was and continue to mourn how music was created, we will lose this opportunity and moment in time to focus on student-centered work. So let’s not hold student learning hostage.
What if music education isn’t about the largest ensemble, the next competition, or the marching band? What if music education is about the individual student - an independent learner that can reflect with guidance, while creating and responding to music and making connections that we previously didn’t take time to teach? What if music education is a continual growth that contributes to the culture and well-being of individuals, and to our nation, through a lifelong process that expands as every music human ages and grows on a continuum of learning?
Let me be perfectly clear when I say that an individual’s growth can only be beneficial to music education programs and ensembles. I have never heard of an ensemble weaken because its members were independent and confident learners. In fact, I can only imagine exponential growth with this.
Right now, we get to take advantage of the circumstances to truly transform music to all that it can be. Let us demonstrate that music creates transformative value as we activate students to create an uplifting change for individuals and our collective society. And in every action and word, may we demonstrate to our students that how they create music is valid and what music they create is AS important as any other music.
For years, the larger and progressive institutions of education have begged to make learning relevant and to reach beyond school walls. Well, here we are – literally - outside of the school walls. Now we must run with it! Don’t let a computer screen determine the amount of growth or the potential of what each human can create and learn. Let’s support learners to explore their relevant and vast world as they explore their interests and how they choose to learn and make music. Students will see themselves as we frame them, so let that frame and guidance be student-centered so they can see their brilliance.
This is a time to demonstrate resilience and nimbleness to improve and adapt the how of teaching and expand the what of music education so that students can experience all that is possible. This is a time to model to our learners that we believe in them to go beyond the closed doors of the traditional walls. The survival of education is crucial to our country’s success and the development of our collective culture. But survival, predicated on ‘how we used to do things’ is living in a past that breeds comfort and misses the possibility of growth. Let’s take our knowledge and expand.
Let’s rise above the average person lamenting and demonstrate to everyone what music education is and can be. We must do more than what we have done in the past to arrive at our new destination. We must approach it differently because the lens through which we see and hear music is changing.
So when the moment arrives and you can finally reunite with your students, know that you were the contributing factor to these creative musicians and new learners who think independently and who have ideas to share. Know that you supported each person to rise with resilience, with empathy and self-reflection, and that you encouraged each person to connect and interact to the world of making music in all the ways possible. Know that you as a music educator ennobled and empowered all to grow, and in turn created a cultural explosion of learning and music that contributed to the expansion of our collective culture. Know that you helped create a whole musician, who has a deep understanding, ownership, and application of all facets and connections of and to music, defining a new human and learner. Know that you were, and are, the foundation to a new music education.
The success of the ensembles, students, and music education programs will be determined by the nimbleness and expanding mindset of the music educator. So, believe passionately in the student, the opportunity, and our next unknown, and resolve to say:
- YES to all students as independent learners
- YES to small ensembles and chamber music
- YES to large ensembles reimagined
- YES to student choice and questioning
- YES to composition and creating music
- YES to reading, writing, and speaking about music
- YES to music connections beyond the school walls
- YES to discovery of past, current, and future music and composers
- YES to connecting to the true and relevant WORLD of music
- YES to students discovering new music, groups, and possibilities
- Yes, and YEs, and YES!
May We Remember
April 22, 2020
We texted, we called, we made jokes, we became angry and defiant, and then we paused and realized it wasn’t a game. It was real. The classroom and traditional education as we knew it, was stopping - at least in person. We were stepping into a pandemic and this was no snow day. We were angry, in denial, and ran forward and backwards through the stages of grief. In the panic of it all, some jumped in and blindly grabbed at the onslaught of free online technology to provide some semblance of order or to at least feel like we were moving in the right direction, and others retreated – not to be seen or heard from, in weeks – and some just stood in a daze and watched it all wash over them, absolutely frozen and overwhelmed.
Pain came in texts, memes, through anger, and swear words, “What do I f-ing do NOW?” “It can’t be done.” “If I can’t teach in the same room, I’m not going to teach at all.” “The students don’t know what to do.” “This is pointless.” And in the midst of the denial began millions of YouTube searches, discovery of online free platforms, finding virtual spaces, adjusting with media platforms, more texts, and complaints, but people stepped INTO.IT. Knowingly, forced to learn out of an immediate deadline and need that was given to everyone, by an invisible virus.
And in this terror and new reality, many found themselves as learners – adult learners – teachers, administrators, parents, school personnel - all found themselves on a continuum of learning. New learning. New relationships. New spaces.
As humans, we are all unique and every one of us needs different support. Every single learner is the variable because no person knows the exact same information as another, nor learns in the same way. Some adult learners began negotiating technology for the first time and learning what a URL was, while others learned how to provide support for their peers and guide with words and examples of what to teach. School administrators began to negotiate how to create a sense of order, education, culture, and care, in an empty, ephemeral space outside of the school walls - found somewhere between all students’ needs, equity and access, thoughts, computer screens, questionable Wi-Fi, the need for devices, and the vast open space of the universe and the larger unknown.
Hands shaking, tears falling on keyboards, swearing, deadlines of real work, walking away, hiding on calls, terrified…..adults became learners – every day. Some days better than others, some easy, some hard. Some overwhelming. Growth Zone, Comfort Zone, Learning Zone – we danced through all zones – some kicking and screaming and some leading with shaking hands, computers crashing, websites disappearing, docs not showing up, and words that made no sense…as brave teachers quietly revealed, “I don’t know what to do.” “I don’t understand.” “I’m so sorry - I didn’t want to ask in front of everyone else. What do I do?” I feel so stupid, I’m so sorry for not understanding.” “Can you write that down for me?” “Can you show me.” We. Adults. Are in the seat. The very seats that our original/traditional students have always lived in. Every. Single. Day. We are crying their words and phrases, feeling their fear, and living through feelings of loss.
In all of this, I’m wondering if we can now see and understand why students panic and cry, run away, make-up lies to cover what they can’t do, don’t know, or are just afraid to ask.
WE are that child, that learner, that student, that human sitting in a chair with fingers shaking or anger building, wanting to scream or run away as far as possible, as fast as possible.
Learning is terrifying – not knowing is frustrating – avoidance out of fear becomes overwhelming – and we are in it. We are feeling it all.
So may this historic moment in time – albeit a blip in the timeline of the expansion of our universe – be our reminder. A reminder to stop and reflect what it is to be a learner and to promise to use this new perspective when we look at the precious learners that will once again walk into our rooms. The scared learner, the angry learner, the student who shuts down, yells, or needs extra help. May we remember.
And the next time you hear a whispering voice asking, “Can you ask me that again?” let us remember our learning moments and to kindly and simply say, ‘yes’.