Cook the Meal!

Every class, every workshop, is an opportunity to clarify vision, to craft yet more meticulous how to unleash the miraculous, to speak more eloquently about what’s at the center and what’s mere dross. Feeling on fire here at the Mini-Conference, both modeling and speaking what lies behind this work. Reminding teachers that details are important, but not without the narrative that sustains them and brings Soul into the room.   I’m noticing on Facebook many teachers asking about which curriculum they should follow and spending hours both choosing and then figuring out how to implement it all. I’m finding myself more and more impatient with this short-sighted, box-like, mechanical thinking, so I answered one of the inquiries like this:   Curriculum can be useful as a place to hang your hat and coat. This goes on this hook and that generally goes on that. But the long lists of skills and knowledge to check off, in my experience, is not how the human mind works and certainly not how the artistic imagination flowers.    In the back of my Play, Sing & Dance book, I offer a sample curriculum from 1st through 8th grade via the Orff Approach, which mostly centers on melodic harmonic development in the Orff Ensemble that tries to follow the child's developmental stages and proceeds from one understanding to the next that builds from it. As simple as 1st—do pentatonic in the key of C, la and re modes in 2nd, transposition to F and G (with accompanying modes) in 3rd and introduction of recorder, diatonic modes in 4th, more in 5th and intro. to functional harmony. Middle school cycles through the whole progression again with a historical/ stylistic focus—"World music" in 6th, the art of composition (mostly European classical music) in 7th, the art of improvisation (Jazz) in 8th.    That's it. Simple enough to help focus choice of materials and at the same time, create a wider cultural base. Nothing to be proved or micro-manage or over-assess, simply a way to get to the real deal—which is inspired music-making and dance, acute alertness to the students' gifts and challenges and response to them, imaginative flowering by constantly asking "How else can we do this?" In short, an ARTISTIC approach to the teaching of an art form rather than the business model of spreadsheets and check-lists and proof of profit. My suggestion is to spend less time worrying about creating the fantasy "perfect curriculum" (who cares? not the kids!) and more time sharing music you love that fits your particular group of kids (not meaning their favorite pop songs, but their ability to express themselves in ways they themselves couldn't previously imagine).    Think about it like this. A curriculum can be a useful recipe but means nothing until you get in the kitchen and cook the meal with the ingredients you have at hand and to your taste. Then you have to learn how to serve it graciously to your family (your students) and see how they like it. If they don’t at first, don’t give up and go back to Burger King. Adjust as needed and help them develop a taste for it.    In short, when people come to your house for dinner, no one wants to sit down with printed out recipes in front of them. The children don’t care about the curriculum nor should they. The way you artfully lead them from one understanding to the next is all the curriculum you need—and the meal needs to be tasty. Get in the kitchen and start cooking!