Yes

Music for Life

More about Education Through Music...ETM partners with inner-city schools to provide music as a core subject for all children, and utilizes music education as a catalyst to improve academic achievement, motivation for school, and self-confidence.

ETM (Education through Music) Documentary Trailer

Beginning in in August 2006, a group of young New York City-based filmmakers began filming a documentary about ETM's programming in inner-city schools. The filmmakers followed a group of teaching artists and their students during the academic year, depicting the struggles of being an artist in New York and the challenges and joys of teaching in New York's most disadvantaged schools. Not sure if the final film was ever completed...but this is a nice "teaser" to drum up interest on it.

Education Through Music was founded to promote the integration of music into the curricula of disadvantaged schools in order to enhance students' academic performance and general development. - Visit ETM website

Barack Obama on Music Education

"Part of what art education does is that it teaches people to see each other through each other's eyes. It teaches us to respect and understand people who are not like us. And that makes us better citizens and makes our democracy work better."

-- Barack Obama, 2008

Why Music Matters - "Blind" Willie Johnson

"Blind" Willie Johnson (1897 – 1945) was a gospel blues singer and guitarist. Several of Blind Willie Johnson's songs have been interpreted by other musicians, including "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed", "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine", "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground", "John the Revelator", "You'll Need Somebody on Your Bond", and "Soul of a Man"."Dark Was the Night" was also included on the Voyager Golden Record, copies of which were mounted on both of the Voyager Project unmanned space probes. Voyager 1 has left the solar system and entered interstellar space, which Voyager 2 is expected to do around 2016 -- from Wikipedia

-- video uploaded by Why Music Matters

Education is broken

"We can't just improve schools, we have to radically transform them."

-- Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson tells CNN  that the education system is based on models of mass production and conformity that actually prevent kids from finding their passions and succeeding.
> read article on CNN Opinion

Mr. Holland's Opus

Mr. Holland's Opus is a 1995 American drama film directed by Stephen Herek. It stars Richard Dreyfuss in the title role, and the cast includes Glenne Headly, Olympia Dukakis, William H. Macy and Jay Thomas.
Have a look at this clip, the issues at stake are the same...

Herbert Read: Art education and citizenship

"That is why I believe that art is so much more significant than either economics or philosophy. It is the direct measure of man's spiritual vision"

-- Herbert Read (1893–1968)

We found an interesting post about Herbert Read, an English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art. In his 1943 book "Education through Art", Read argued that art should be the basis of education, and his ideas were taken forward by other educators in the post-war period.

"Read believed that no other subject could give the child an instinctive knowledge of the laws of the universe, and enable them to behave in harmony with nature...Read built on this by describing the aim of education as the creation of artists. He identified the artist as the ideal type of citizen, giving a broad definition of artists as people who are efficient in the various modes of expression and saying that every man is a special kind of artist with their own moments of spontaneous development or originating activity...Read stated that art is central to the processes of perception, thought and bodily action, and provides a governing mechanism for life and civilisation, saying that life itself is aesthetic..." -- read full post on Pictures for Schools blog HERE

The World We Explore - Sir Ken Robinson

"The question is not how creative are you; it's how are you creative. If we can flip our education to get to a better sense of human capacity, then I think we'll have a better chance of understanding and making sense of the world within us and the world around us...there is a wonderful quote from H.G. Wells, the science fiction writer in the early '20s, he said, "Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe". Now, it may or may not be the case, but what we do know is that -- that the great bridge between the two worlds that we live in is education. And I think that we have to rebuild it so we can build a bridge to the future".

Another inspiring and quite entertaining talk by Sir Ken Robinson at Zeitgeist Americas 2012.
Once again he stresses the fact that imagination is the source of every form of human achievement, but is also systematically jeopardized in the way we educate our children and ourselves.
"If we're serious about exploring the world around us, we have to explore the world within us. We do that by looking again at the broad structure of education, we need to restore arts programs, sports programs, we need to re-professionalize the teaching profession. Above all, we have to personalize education to every child in the system".



A more condensed and visual version (by Maximilian Journey) below:

The Wisdom of Elliot W Eisner

Nice animation inspired by "The Arts and the Creation of Mind" (2002) by Elliot W Eisner, professor of Art and Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education (1933-2014).
His argument is that learning in and through the arts can develop complex and subtle aspects of the mind.

What can education learn from the arts about the practice of education?

"We live at time that puts a premium on the measurement of outcomes, on the ability to predict them, and on the need to be absolutely clear about what we want to accomplish. To aspire for less is to court professional irresponsibility. We like our data hard and our methods stiff—we call it rigor". 

"What we are now doing is creating an industrial culture in our schools, one whose values are brittle and whose conception of what’s important narrow. We flirt with payment by results, we pay practically no attention to the idea that engagement in school can and should provide intrinsic satisfactions, and we exacerbate the importance of extrinsic rewards by creating policies that encourage children to become point collectors. Achievement has triumphed over inquiry. I think our children deserve more". 

Elliot Eisner was a professor of Art and Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, and one of the United States' leading academic minds. He argues that "the distinctive forms of thinking needed to create artistically crafted work are relevant not only to what students do, they are relevant to virtually all aspects of what we do, from the design of curricula, to the practice of teaching, to the features of the environment in which students and teachers live".
This lecture is truly enlightening, a MUST READ if you want to educate yourself on the values of an art centered education. It explains you why the current educational system still relies on values and visions that belong to the past and has in many cases not adapted to the needs and the knowledge of the modern times. It goes on explaining 6 artistically rooted qualitative forms of intelligence, arguing that "the forms of thinking the arts stimulate and develop are far more appropriate for the real world we live in than the tidy right angled boxes we employ in our schools in the name of school improvement. He wishes for: "a culture of schooling in which more importance is placed on exploration than on discovery, more value is assigned to surprise than to control, more attention is devoted to what is distinctive than to what is standard, more interest is related to what is metaphorical than to what is literal. It is an educational culture that has a greater focus on becoming than on being, places more value on the imaginative than on the factual, assigns greater priority to valuing than to measuring, and regards the quality of the journey as more educationally significant than the speed at which the destination is reached. I am talking about a new vision of what education might become and what schools are for".
However, he concludes: "..Visions, no matter how grand, need to be acted upon to become real. Ideas, clearly, are important. Without them change has no rudder. But change also needs wind and a sail to catch it. Without them there is no movement..."

"We need to sail against the tide. Our destination is to change the social vision of what schools can be. It will not be an easy journey but when the seas seem too treacherous to travel and the stars too distant to touch we should remember Robert Browning’s observation that "A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for."

"Imagination is no mere ornament, nor is art. Together they can liberate us from our indurated habits. They might help us restore decent purpose to our efforts and help us create the kind of schools our children deserve and our culture needs. Those aspirations, my friends, are stars worth stretching for".

-- read all here [Originally given as the John Dewey Lecture for 2002, Stanford University.]

More about Finland

Finland: Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education.
Key factor is maintaining a strongly supportive school system in which teachers and students share responsibility for results. Finland has one of the world’s best performing education systems. One reason for Finland’s success is the high degree of personal responsibility conferred on both teachers and students. In the 1970s and 1980s, management of Finland’s school system was decentralized and traditional academic structures in upper secondary schools were replaced by flexible modular structures, giving pupils more choice in what they study. Teachers were given freedom to design their curriculum and choose textbooks.
-- read more here

This is indeed beautiful

PS22 Chorus "Say Something" A Great Big World ft. Christina Aguilera
Listen to what the artists say of the children at the end...

Children singing are just beautiful

"Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
And can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Oh oh I don't know, oh I don't know" -- Landslide, Fleetwood Mac



"But I see your true colors 
Shining through 
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors 
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow" -- True colors, Cyndi Lauper



-- videos uploaded by PS22 Chorus

Interesting facts about art education

"My husband and I believe that arts education is essential for building innovative thinkers who will be our nation's leaders for tomorrow"

-- Michelle Obama

So..if your school does not value art education, then educate your school !!!
-- video uploaded by saveartsed

Oh now that is cool

Who said that the arts don't intersect and that are not part of a bigger picture?
Funny TED talk by Akala, an English rapper, poet, and journalist. Originally from Kentish Town, Camden, London. In 2006, he was voted the Best Hip Hop Act at the MOBO Awards.
Akala demonstrates and explores the connections between Shakespeare and Hip-Hop, and the wider cultural debate around language and it's power. In 2009, Akala launched the "The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company", a hotly-tipped music theatre production enterprise which has sparked worldwide media interest since its inception.

So many people believe in music education

If ordinary people spend their time and energy to advocate for music and the arts, why people in power should not take the time to listen?

One kid's poem about music - grade 5

"Music is everywhere,from the sound of the forest,
to the cracking of lightening,
and from the chirping of birds,
to the roaring of the waves.

Music fills my body with passion and feelings,
sometimes sadness, and sometimes joy and playfulness.

Music flows through my heart,
like the waves through the ocean,
and the rivers through the valleys,
and sometimes it also warms
my heart with emotions and satisfaction.

When I close my eyes and concentrate,
music can lure me into another dimension
in which only peace and tranquility exists.

Music is everywhere,
from the sound of the forest,
to the cracking of lightening,
and from the chirping of birds,
to the roaring of the waves.

Sometimes music is as calm 
as a valley of green trees and fields
shining under the bright moon of dark winter nights.

Sometimes is as crashing as thumping
as thunder and lightening that crack the sky in two.

And sometimes music is as sparkly and light
as floating soapy bubbles and the dancing colorful raindrops that make up the rainbow in the sky.

Music is everywhere,
from the sound of the forest,
to the cracking of lightening,
and from the chirping of birds,
to the roaring of the waves.

And no matter if the music comes from my piano 
or the whispering winds,
music will always be part of my life..."

An unusual video animation advocating for the arts

'An important message about the arts' - an animated video by artist David Shrigley 
-- find out more at Save the Arts
-- video uploaded by Southbank Centre

Reimagining Arts Education - interesting point of view

"We need to expand our view of education to support the diverse range of our intelligences; to offer rich, interconnected learning experiences; and above all, to nurture creativity. I believe the arts are the key to that transformation and that they need to be placed squarely in the center of a student’s educational experience from preschool through college".

"We need to move beyond education systems that are organized into sequences of steps that lead to a singular destination. We don’t experience the world in a linear fashion and we shouldn’t organize our learning that way".

-- Edward Bilous

On April 18, 2012, Edward Bilous, the William Schuman Scholar's Chair, delivered this lecture about the future of arts education and its importance in the school system. Utterly inspiring.

-- video uploaded by The Juilliard School
-- read all speech here

Why Music Matters - Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong (1901 – 1971), nicknamed Satchmo (For "satchel-mouth) or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana. This is an inspiring video uploaded by Why Music Matters

Why Music Matters - Nina Simone

Nina Simone (1933 – 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. A keen advocate of the Civil Rights Movement, Simone used her music as a powerful force for social change. "Collaborating with Illustrator Laura Dockrill, we were inspired by Simone’s story to create a narrative that was honest and evocative. Innocent illustrations on coloured paper clash and tear to tell the tale of a poor, child prodigy’s journey to become The High Priestess of Soul" -- video uploaded by Ali Assaf

-- Why Music Matters Youtube channel


Music Matters: Nina Simone from Ali Assaf on Vimeo.

Let's hear it from some of the artists...

Music Matters at Manchester Rocks!
Favourite quote: "Music is like the language that the whole world understand...music is deep..is coming from the heart..it is how I feel and everyone relates to it.." -- Tinchy Stryder

-- Manchester Rocks' website
-- video uploaded by Why Music Matters

The Value of Music Education

"The very things that promote literacy and numeracy are the arts, beginning with serious arts education in the early years."

-- Richard Gill

Music educator Richard Gill argues the case for igniting the imagination through music and for making our own music. In this talk, he leads the TEDxSydney audience through some surprising illustrations of the relationship between music and our imagination. Currently the Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony's Education Program, Richard has frequently conducted for Opera Australia and OzOpera, Meet the Music (SSO), Discovery concerts (Sydney Sinfonia); Ears Wide Open (MSO), and Canberra, Queensland and Tasmanian symphony orchestras.
-- visit his blog
-- read article on Limelight 

Music can inspire our kids

"The ultimate language of love is music..it's the ultimate connector"

-- Garrett Borns

Check this young guy, another one that found in music his inspiration for life.
Garrett Borns is a gifted 19-year-old singer/songwriter from West Michigan. He is currently studying classical piano and music theory at Grand Rapids Community College. He is an official storyteller for Focus the Nation, a sustainable energy organization that approached Garrett to create inspirational songs for their campaign to promote a clean energy future. Finding inspiration for music and lyrics from within and around the world, singer/songwriter Garrett Borns performs his eclectic fusion of sound, story and wordplay.

-- Garrett's website

Just for fun...

Check this out..but you need to have CHROME installed
PLINK by DinahMoe
Plink is a multiplayer music experience with a super intuitive user interface. Simply by clicking and moving your mouse you create music in real time. You can play by yourself or together with three friends (or strangers). No hassle, just plain fun music creation.
> read here

The Beatles - Why Music Matters

Since they first started recording in 1960's Liverpool, The Beatles have inspired thousands of artists. More than 50 years later, their music still has the power to unite millions of fans all over the world.The Beatles bring us together and show why Music Matters (film was animated by Lee Gingold and friends).
Launched in March 2010, Music Matters allows the music to speak for itself through a series of short animated films about inspirational artists who have dedicated their lives to music and contributed to our cultural landscape. In 2011, the Beatles added their voice to the campaign, joining Kate Bush, Elbow, JLS, Paloma Faith, Sigur Ros and many others in telling us why they love music and what it means to them.

-- video uploaded by Why Music Matters
-- visit Why Music Matters 

Wisdom from the past

Brilliant as only Sir Winston could !
-- image from Human - durf te denken

Jeffery Kimpton - Innovate: Art

"Our ability to innovate is directly tied to our ability to be creative.."

"I find it an interesting oxymoron that in this period of time when we have the greatest access to the arts, we really are thinking that we might take the arts out of our schools.."

"..The arts, innovation and education are deeply linked together to who we are right now.."

Why Art Matters. If innovation is the new currency, then the arts are essential to the creative environment that leads to innovation. The question is: who and how will the arts matter in our future? If you have time and you are interested in this subject this is a very informative and persuasive talk about the need to include the arts as main component in the process for innovation. If you don't have too much time then just watch from min 16 when 3 students talk about their music and then play a great piece of Jazz.

Jeffrey Kimpton, president of Interlochen Center for the Arts, leads a distinguished portfolio of programs in arts education, public broadcasting and presentations. A lifelong arts educator and administration, Kimpton has brought leadership and innovation to positions in teaching and administration in K-12 and higher education, for- and non-profit arts organizations, private philanthropy and arts administration.

Live for Music - Shaun Canon

KEEP MUSIC IN SCHOOLS!!!

Shaun Canon is a soulful singer, hard-hitting pianoman and an innovative songwriter with engaging, cinematic videos. Shaun's current project involves advocacy of Music Education. Bringing attention to music programs in schools allows him the opportunity to connect with students at national stadiums and major events for Drum Corps International, NAMM, Music for All, Fame Showchoirs, and others. Thus far, he has raised over $300,000 for music programs in schools!
-- visit Shaun's website
-- Shaun's Youtube channel
-- read article
-- go to Keep Music in Schools

The Importance of Music - Leonard Slatkin

"We need to demand that the arts become an integral part of the learning experience"

"..It is not about what the people tell you to listen to, it is about what you feel on the inside"

Leonard Slatkin is Music Director of both the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de Lyon, France. He gives a passionate and interesting talk about the importance of music in education at TEDxDetroit in 2011.

-- visit Slatkin's website

Why Music Education Belongs in Public Schools

Roger H. Brown, President of Berklee College of Music, gives a passionate defense of music education and the importance of encouraging every possible student to participate in a music-related school activity.
-- video uploaded by Artists House Music, a non-profit website which exists to educate the musician and entreprenuer in the music industry

Jason Mraz on Music Education

"...in music you are really practicing harmony, you are practicing working together, listening to what the other student is doing..."

"...even if you don't become a musician (music) is a dance that you can do between your friends and family that will enlighten everyone including yourself when you are alone..."

-- Jason Mraz

Jason Mraz talks about the value of music education as a means of learning self-expression.

-- video uploaded by Taylor Guitars

Remind me again why music shouldn't be in public school?

Nice video, originally posted by Collette Plantz, reposted here

Why Music Matters

Dr. Jack Stamp explains why music education is so important and belongs in our schools..
He is Professor of Music, Chairperson of the Music Department and Director of Band Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and teaches courses in graduate conducting.
-- visit Jack Stamp's website

TAC Arts Education Advocacy

The Tennessee Arts Commission aims at stimulating and encouraging the presentation of performing, visual and literary arts throughout the state and to encourage public interest in the cultural heritage of Tennessee. Through a variety of programs, the Commission has encouraged excellence in artistic expression through the state's artists and arts organizations. That commitment has continued to expand through the years to ensure that the citizens of Tennessee have access to, and the opportunity to participate in the arts.

OrchKids at TEDxBaltimore 2013

Nice performances...

More about the ORCHkids

We already talked about them...
OrchKids, a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra program, is a year-round during- and after-school music initiative designed to create social change and nurture promising futures for youth in Baltimore City neighborhoods. It provides music education, instruments, and meals at no cost to nearly 600 children from Pre-Kindergarten through the 7th grade.
-- go to OrchKids' website

Interesting point of view

Sir Ken Robinson mentioned Finland in one of his TED talks - this is worth listening to...
"Finland's educational system. Fascinating thing about three decades ago Finland has an educational system that is doing terribly and they look around and they go okay what are we going to do about this, we gotta revamp the whole thing." Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss the revolutionary educational system Finland has instituted and the results of that system on the education of their children.
-- video uploaded by "The Young Turks"
-- read article

Let's hear it from them again - Nikhil Goyal

Nikhil Goyal, 17, a senior at Syosset High School in New York, wants to change public education in America and he has more than a few ideas on where to start. Goyal is the author of the new book, "One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student's Assessment of School" in which he builds a case against standardized testing and advocates for a twenty-first century revolution in education.
-- check Nikhil's website
-- read about his book "One Size Does Not Fit All"

A joke’s a very serious thing (C. Churchill)

"I go to school, but I never learn what I want to know."

-- Calvin & Hobbes, Bill Watterson

What has happened to our conviction?

"I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you, I challenge you: To speak with conviction. To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks the determination with which you believe it. Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker, it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY. You have to speak with it, too."

-- from "Totally like whatever, you know?" by Taylor Mali, 2005

Taylor Mali is one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the few people in the world to have no job other than that of poet. "Mali is a vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, having himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching English, history, math and SAT test preparation. He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world, and his New Teacher Project has a goal of creating 1,000 new teachers through 'poetry, persuasion and perseverance.'
-- Taylor's website
-- Taylor's profile on TED
-- read all poem here

How to Change Education - Ken Robinson

"We have to think different about human capacity. We have to get over this old conception of academic, non academic. Abstract, theoretical, vocational and see it for what it is: a Myth"

Yes, we really like this guy...
Sir Ken Robinson addresses the fundamental economic, cultural, social and personal purposes of education. He argues that education should be personalised to every student's talent, passion, and learning styles, and that creativity should be embedded in the culture of every single school.

Good teachers make the difference

"What Teachers Make," by TAYLOR MALI 

Performed at the very first Page Meets Stage pairing at the Bowery Poetry Club 2005

The Future of Learning

"Design is a form of activism. We imagine the future we want, then pick up the tools to start building it."

2Revolutions is partnering with forward-thinking governments, funders, nonprofits and entrepreneurs to innovate across the human capital continuum - to ensure that each learner can be successful on the path he or she chooses. They design and launch Future of Learning models, and help catalyze the conditions within which they can thrive.
-- check out 2Revolutions

Why I Hate School But Love Education | Spoken Word

"Education is about inspiring one's mind, Not just filling their head.."

"Because if education is the key, School is the lock, Because it rarely ever develops your mind to the point where it can perceive red as green and continue to go when someone else said stop..."
"..Now, I'm not saying that school is evil and there's nothing to gain, All I'm saying is: understand your morals and re-assess your aims.."
"Redefine how you view education, Understand it's true meaning, Education is not just about regurgitating facts from a book, Or someone else's opinion on a subject to pass an exam.."
"I once saw David Beckham take a free kick I watched as the side of his Adidas-sponsored boot hit the patent leather of the ball at an angle, Which caused it to travel towards the skies as though it was destined for the heavens, And then as it reached the peek of it's momentum, As though it changed it's mind, It switched directions. I watched as the goalkeeper froze, As though reciting to himself the laws of physics, And as though his brain was negotiating with his eyes, That was indeed witnessing the spectacle that was the leather swan that was swooping towards it, And then reacted, Though only a fraction of a millisecond too late, And before the net of the goal, Embraced the Fifa-Sponsored ball as though it was the prodigal son returning home, And the country, that I live in, Erupted into cheers, I looked at the play and thought, Damn, Looking at David Beckham...There's more than one way in this world to be
-- who is Suli Breaks

Now...let's talk about test scores

I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate | Spoken Word 

Suli Breaks,Vanity Fair, 2009

"I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate" picks up on the education topic but takes a different stance and angle from "Why I Hate School But Love Education". This poem talks about how we have been made to think about how education and getting university degrees can give us opportunities to have a better chance in making our dream careers a reality. It also touches on how as individuals we are judged and tested by how well we perform on exams, but not all people perform well in exams so why are they made out to feel like they're dumb? The inconsistencies of the education system are really peeled open to reveal a deep problem that needs to be addressed and how society's needs have changed to make this even more apparent. When it boils down to it, why are we misled into thinking that education is the only way forward for successful means in our work and career lives? We need to open our minds and educate ourselves that exam results aren't the barometer of success and that we can't let them decide our fate. We are in charge of our own destinies! 
-- who is Suli Breaks
-- Suli Breaks youtube channel
-- 80 days around the world
-- Spoken Word

Royal Gazette - New Education Board named

A new, 17-member Board of Education has been announced by Education Minister Dame Jennifer Smith. On the agenda for the board’s first meeting yesterday was a discussion of the latest test scores, new chairman Curtis Dickinson said...

Josh Groban - A singer who made it from ART SCHOOL

Josh Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in the nation.To date, he has sold over 25 million records worldwide.Groban originally studied acting, but moved to singing as his voice developed. Groban attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, a free public school on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles, where students receive a conservatory-style education...
> read more on wikipedia

In July 2011 Josh announced the creation of his new Find Your Light Foundation. Dedicated to enriching the lives of young people through arts, education and cultural awareness, the foundation is launching its first partnership with Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education. Through this partnership, Find Your Light and Americans for the Arts will be working together to help ensure that every child has the opportunity to experience a quality arts education - from FYLF news
> click HERE for more

Why Art Matters: Dr. Linda F. Nathan at TEDxTheCalhounSchool

Another brilliant talk about why art matters...
An internationally recognized teacher, author, and speaker on school reform, Linda Nathan is the founding headmaster of Boston Arts Academy, Boston's first public high school for the visual and performing arts. Under her guidance, BAA has won state, national and international awards and recognitions, and consistently sends over 94% of its graduates on to college. Dr. Nathan is the author of the book, The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School, and is currently executive director of BAA's Center for Arts in Education. In this talk, she explores the importance of the arts as key to a complete educational experience.

Speaking of Music: Oliver Sacks

"Music uniquely among the arts is both completely abstract and profoundly emotional. It has no power to represent anything particular or external, but it has a unique power to express inner states or feelings. Music can pierce the heart directly. It needs no mediation. One does not have to know anything about Dido and Aeneas to be moved by her lament for him. [Henry Purcell's opera, from 1689] Everyone who has ever lost someone knows what Dido is expressing. And there is, finally, a deep and mysterious paradox here, for while such music makes one experience pain and grief more intensely, it brings solace and consolation at the same time".

-- Oliver Sacks in Musicophilia, p. 300
-- read more here

DeltaARTS' Master Teaching Artist Kenneth Jackson

Bring the Blues to the schools..as a springboard for learning!

-- uploaded by DeltaArts11

Kandinsky and Music

“...lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and … stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to “walk about” into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?”

-- Wassily Kandinsky (Russian painter, 1866 - 1944)

"Kandinsky was fascinated by music's emotional power. Because music expresses itself through sound and time, it allows the listener a freedom of imagination, interpretation, and emotional response that is not based on the literal or the descriptive, but rather on the abstract quality that painting, still dependent on representing the visible world, could not provide... Music can respond and appeal directly to the artist's "internal element" and express spiritual values, thus for Kandinsky it is a more advanced art...Wagner's Lohengrin, which had stirred Kandinsky to devote his life to art, had convinced him of the emotional powers of music..."
-- Excerpted from "Kandinsky: Compositions", by Magdalena Dabrowski

Our failing schools. Enough is enough!

“Why is it that when we had rotary phones, when we were having folks being crippled by polio, that we were teaching the same way then that we're doing right now?”

-- Geoffrey Canada

This talk is not specifically about arts and music. But it is a brilliant, provocative and passionate speech about the urge to say: enough is enough! Sometimes we need to be humble, courageous and visionary enough to realize that the system as is does not work and needs to be changed. Rules can be broken and replaced by better ones. After all “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original” (Sir Ken Robinson)
Of the country's failing public schools in the education system, Geoffrey Canada says, "Enough is enough. So here's a business plan that simply does not make any sense." Geoffrey Canada is an American social activist and educator and has spent decades as head of the Harlem Children’s Zone, which supports kids from birth through college in order to break the cycle of poverty.

-- read about Geoffrey Canada
-- go to the Harlem Children’s Zone website

Music in Schools is Important - again let's hear it from them...

Abby is 18 years old. She made this video for her final English project, stressing the importance of adequate funding for music and arts in schools.

Music and the Mind - Health Matters

If you have some time to spare this is extremely interesting...

What can music teach us about the mind and in turn what can brain science reveal about music? Though interest in music and the mind dates as far back as Plato, it's only the past decade that the field of music neuroscience has really begun in earnest. Not only does music gives us a window into how our brain functions, but it also has therapeutic benefits to our health. To help us understand these connections, host David Granet, MD, is joined by experts Aniruddh Patel, PhD, with The Neurosciences Institute, and Barbara Reuer, PhD, with Resounding Joy® for this fascinating look at music and the mind.
-- video uploaded by University of California Television (UCTV)

Arts & the Mind: Arts in Education - ORCHkids on PBS

Alzheimer's researchers call it a powerful tool to ward off dementia. At-risk teens use it to find meaning in the world around them—and in themselves. It offers healing to both chronically ill toddlers and veterans battling PTSD. What is this magical elixir? Art.
Arts & the Mind explores the vital role the arts play in human development during both youth and older age, and shares stories and cutting edge scientific research on how music, dance, painting, poetry and theater markedly improve well-being at both ends of life.
Hosted and narrated by Lisa Kudrow, Arts & the Mind makes the point that art is not a "luxury," but central to the development of the human brain in youth and keeping our minds sharp as we get older. "At a time in our history when arts education is being diminished in our schools, these films document how the arts positively shape young minds, and keep our minds agile as we age," host Lisa Kudrow said.

-- uploaded by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Arts & the Mind: Arts in Education

"Arts & the Mind," hosted and narrated by Lisa Kudrow, reveals the crucial impact of the arts on the human brain across our lifetimes, and explores its particularly vital role in human development during youth and older age. In this clip, learn more about the important role the arts can play in education.
-- video uploaded by tptweb

Beauty and Music according to Kant

"There are two kinds of beauty; free beauty or merely dependent beauty. The first presupposes no concept of what the object ought to be; the second does presuppose such a concept and the perfection of the object in accordance therewith. The first is called the (self-subsistent) beauty of this or that thing; the second, as dependent upon a concept (conditioned beauty), is ascribed to objects which come under the concept of a particular purpose. Flowers are free natural beauties… Many birds (such as the parrot, the humming bird, the bird of paradise), and many sea shells are beauties in themselves, which do not belong to any object determined in respect of its purpose by concepts, but please freely and in themselves...

We can refer to the same class what are called in music phantasies (i.e. pieces without any theme), and in fact ALL MUSIC without words"

-- Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Judgement [1892] § 16.

Schopenhauer's Metaphysics of Music

"The unutterable depth of all music by which it floats through our consciousness as the vision of a paradise firmly believed in yet ever distant from us, and by which also it is so fully understood and yet is so inexpressible, rests on the fact that it restores to us all the emotions of our inmost nature, but entirely without reality and far removed from their pain..." 

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860)

The Importance of Arts Education

A presentation created for Schools in Society, EDUC 206, at Chapman University. Students were asked to create a multimedia presentation on the topic or person of their choice in social foundations/history of education. The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are the student's own..

Speech to Sandy’s Rotary by Nicola Feldman

Nicola Feldman, Executive Director of the Coalition for the Protection of the Children gave an inspiring speech to Sandy’s Rotary last night Jan 22nd 2014.
>> CLICK HERE TO READ FULL SPEECH

"Good evening.

Eight years ago I spent a few months volunteering at a children’s home in
South Africa - living in Khaylitsha, one of the largest and most destitute
African townships. It was a life changing experience - albeit one that I had
assured myself I probably wouldn’t repeat again. Yet four years later, I
found myself back in similar impoverished conditions, living in a rural
fishing village in Northern Haiti, helping to develop a medical clinic in an
area that lacked access to health services. These two very different
experiences both had one thing in common, and one thing besides being two of
the poorest communities in the world. They both illustrated to me what it
was to be a community that cared. The people had very little in terms of
material goods and basic necessities, but their spirit and resourcefulness
in working together as a village was remarkable. The village raised the
child. The village cared.

That is the theme of what I would like to say tonight- being a community
that cares. Really cares..."

Teachers can be truly inspiring too

Every kid needs a champion (TED talk)

Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don’t like." A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

“Teachers become great actors and great actresses. … We come to work when we don't feel like it, and we're listening to policy that doesn't make sense — and we teach anyway.”-- Rita Person

Why Making Creative Schools Requires Radical Change

More wisdom from Sir Ken Robinson...

Schools are under pressure to teach creativity and conceptual thinking to students to prepare them for the 21st-century workplace. But at a recent imagination summit in Los Angeles, internationally recognized education expert Sir Ken Robinson warned against the tendency to treat creativity as something you can "add on" to the classroom -- from GOOD website

Fighting Poverty with Music Education - More about El Sistema

Tricia Tunstall, author of Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music, talks about how the music education program "El Sistema" blends music and politics.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

-- Visit the The Brian Lehrer Show page
-- Get the book

GOOD LOOK: Inspiring Inner-City Children Through Art Class

"We'll need creative thinkers to deal with the challenges of the 21st century. But the arts are being crowded out of our schools by testing and choked off by budget cuts. To help make sure the next generation has the imagination to improve the world, Inner City Arts is giving kids a canvas in Los Angeles's Skid Row neighborhood". - video uploaded by GOOD.

GOOD is a place to share creative solutions for living well and doing good.
- visit GOOD website
- GOOD youtube channel

ARTSONIA...teachers have a look!

Artsonia is the world’s largest online kids’ art museum. Come be inspired by more than 16 million pieces of artwork from students in over 120 countries!  

The story of Artsonia begins with a dream that artwork created from kids around the world can be shared and enjoyed by everyone. If kids say the darnedest things, imagine what they draw! Today, due to the passion of thousands of art teachers worldwide, that dream has come true. Please enjoy the millions of pieces of kids' artwork showcased! And if you are an art educator, please join us and submit student artwork or lesson plans.

Some Bermuda schools are already participating!!!

-- visit Artsonia website
-- visit Artsonia blog
-- FAQ teachers
-- countries participarting
 

Music in poetry

"...I listened, motionless and still; and, as I mounted up the hill, the music in my heart I bore, long after it was heard no more."

-- from The Solitary Reaper by William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850)

“...music heard so deeply, that it is not heard at all, but you are the music while the music lasts.”

-- from The Dry Salvages by TS Eliot (1888 - 1965)

Music according to Plato (428-348 BCE)

"..Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful.."

-- from The Republic by Plato, Book III (398-403)

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything; It is the essence of order,and leads to all that is good, just and beautiful, of which it is the invisible, but nevertheless dazzling, passionate, and eternal form.”

War/No More Trouble (Playing for Change)

This one is great!
"As we made our way around the world we encountered love, hate, rich and poor, black and white, and many different religious groups and ideologies. It became very clear that as a human race we need to transcend from the darkness to the light and music is our weapon of the future. This song around the world features musicians who have seen and overcome conflict and hatred with love and perseverance. We don't need more trouble, what we need is love. The spirit of Bob Marley always lives on" -- Playing for Change

Success Principles for Afterschool Arts Programs - Project Overview

Project Overview: A Wallace Arts for Young People Initiative
Report: Something to Say: Success Principles for After school Arts Programs from Urban Youth and Other Experts
The Wallace Foundation's mission is to improve learning and enrichment opportunities for children. They do this by supporting and sharing effective ideas and practices.

Wallace Foundation Youtube channel

A Something to Say Case Study

How can high-quality arts programs attract and retain low-income urban tweens? A new research report offers answers, drawing on hundreds of interviews with tweens, teens, their families and other experts nationwide -- Video produced for The Wallace Foundation by Next Level Strategic Marketing Group and Growler Visual Media, 2013

Based in New York City, The Wallace Foundation works nationally to improve education and enrichment for disadvantaged children by developing research, ideas and information.
-- read full report here

Why Arts Education Is Crucial

Extracts from article by Fran Smith contributing editor for Edutopia -- read full article

"Art does not solve problems, but makes us aware of their existence," sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz has said. Arts education, on the other hand, does solve problems. Years of research show that it's closely linked to almost everything that we as a nation say we want for our children and demand from our schools: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity..."

"..intrinsic pleasures and stimulation can connect people more deeply to the world and open them to new ways of seeing, creating the foundation to forge social bonds and community cohesion. And strong arts programming in schools helps close a gap that has left many a child behind.."

"In many districts, the arts have suffered so long that it will take years, and massive investment, to turn things around...Yet some districts have made great strides toward not only revitalizing the arts but also using them to reinvent schools. The work takes leadership, innovation, broad partnerships, and a dogged insistence that the arts are central to what we want students to learn"

"When you think about the purposes of education, there are three, we're preparing kids for jobs. We're preparing them to be citizens. And we're teaching them to be human beings who can enjoy the deeper forms of beauty. The third is as important as the other two."

(Tom Horne - Arizona superintendant of public instruction)

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

This RSA Animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.
The RSA is a 258 year-old charity devoted to driving social progress and spreading world-changing ideas. 
-- Watch this lecture in full here

The Power Of Imagination

"We have an extraordinary human power... the power of imagination"

CREDITS MUSIC: Thomas Newman - Road to Chicago - Road to Perdition
NARRATION: Sir Ken Robinson - Changing Paradigms

Art Advocacy - Let's hear it from them

From the NAEA 2008 National Convention, New Orleans
Credits: Susan Sward, Art Teacher & Wizard, and Emily Pichette, Student, Class of 2009, West Warwick High School, West Warwick, RI

Imagine (Playing for Change)

In the beginning of 2010 the Playing For Change crew began work on a new Song Around the World, John Lennon's "Imagine." It has been an amazing year of production, taking the crew from the favelas of Brazil to the shrines of southern India, from villages in Nepal to the glittering urban landscape of Tokyo and New York, and beyond...
This production is part of the Power to the People campaign. The campaign seeks to advance John Lennon's vision of peace by engaging artists and audiences to contribute to music education programs worldwide.
>> read more here

Teach the children well

You, who are on the road must have a code that you can live by.
And so become yourself because the past is just a good bye.
Teach your children well, their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams, the one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

And you, of the tender years can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth, they seek the truth before they can die.
Teach your parents well, their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams, the one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

Check Tula and Roberto's live version to the original song by Crosby Stills Nash
-- from Playing for Change


Teach Your Children | Playing For Change from Playing For Change on Vimeo.

A Better Place (Playing for Change)

On Human Rights Day 2012 Playing for Change premiered a new Song Around The World titled, "A Better Place". This video was created through a partnership between PFC and the United Nations Millenium Development Goals Achievement Fund.
"We realize that true change for the good of everyone always comes from the hearts of the people, and with music we can unite together to make the world A Better Place" 


A Better Place from Playing For Change on Vimeo.

What a Wonderful World (Playing for Change)

We will post a few videos created by Playing For Change - we find them very inspiring...
Check their website for more info.

This video "What A Wonderful World" features Grandpa Elliott with children's choirs across the globe. "In these hard times children and music bring us hope for a better future. Today we celebrate life and change the world one heart and one song at a time!"

What a Wonderful World | Playing For Change from Playing For Change on Vimeo.

Love is All (Playing For Change)

Playing For Change is a movement created to inspire and connect the world through music. The idea for this project came from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people -- from Playing for Change website

 "As a human race we come together from birth, and we come together for death. What brings us together in between is up to us. Stop and listen to the universal language of music, and bring that positive with you everywhere you go"

- Mark Johnson (PFC co-founder)

Love is All from Playing For Change on Vimeo.

Creativity saves the day...

The Kid And The Piping Wolf 

-- Fable by Aesop

A kid who had strayed from his flock was pursued by a wolf. Seeing that he could not escape, he turned round, and said to the wolf:
"Mr Wolf, please stop and listen to me. Mr Wolf, I’ll definitely become your food. But please don’t let me die a pitiful death. Please play the flute and let me dance for you."
So, the wolf played the flute and the kid began to dance. The sound of the flute attracted many dogs. The dogs chased the wolf away. Turning to the kid, the wolf said:
"Serves me right. I came for meat, and shouldn’t be playing the flute."

MS 223: The Power of Arts Education

Ramon Gonzalez is principal of Middle School 223, located in New Yorks poorest Congressional District—the South Bronx. MS 223, formerly identified as the most dangerous intermediate school in New York City, is undergoing a transformation. With the help of the School Arts Support Initiative, funded by the Center for Arts Education and the New York TImes Company Foundation, the arts are taking their place as a basic subject along with English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Technology. Through interviews and classroom footage, Mr. Gonzalez, teachers, Teaching Artists and students discuss the transformative elements of the School Arts Support Initiative and lay out the nuts and bolts needed for a successful arts-rich school environment.

-- video uploaded by The Center for Arts Education (CAE) 
-- CAE youtube channel 

Music and Dance Drive Academic Achievement

Another interesting video posted by Edutopia, social media produced by GLEF (George Lucas Educational Foundation) with the purpose of inspiring, informing and accelerating positive change in schools and districts by shining a spotlight on evidence-based strategies and best practices that improve learning and engagement for students. Here Tucson elementary schools find success by infusing art and music into every discipline.

-- from Edutopia - mission and vision 
-- Edutopia youtube channel

Arts Integration for Deeper Learning in Middle School

Critical thinking, risk taking, and collaboration -- along with academics and discipline -- are just some of the areas where Bates Middle school educators report big improvements since integrating the arts across all subject areas.

- video uploaded by Edutopia
- more resources here
- art integration fundamentals for getting started

A callarse (Keeping Quiet) --- by Pablo Neruda

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

This one time upon the earth,
let's not speak any language,
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be a delicious moment,
without hurry, without locomotives,
all of us would be together
in a sudden uneasiness.

The fishermen in the cold sea
would do no harm to the whales
and the peasant gathering salt
would look at his torn hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars of gas, wars of fire,
victories without survivors,
would put on clean clothing
and would walk alongside their brothers
in the shade, without doing a thing.

What I want shouldn't be confused
with final inactivity:
life alone is what matters,
I want nothing to do with death.

If we weren't unanimous
about keeping our lives so much in motion,

if we could do nothing for once,
perhaps a great silence would
interrupt this sadness,
this never understanding ourselves
and threatening ourselves with death,
perhaps the earth is teaching us
when everything seems to be dead
and then everything is alive.

Now I will count to twelve
and you keep quiet and I'll go.

-from Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon
Translated by Stephen Mitchell

The magic of music

World famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma visited Inner City Arts, an education program based on Skid Row, and found inspiration in the jook dancing style of Lil' Buck and the faces of children.

Healing and Learning through Art and Music

Healing can be also achieved through art and music. 

This is only one of the many amazing programs out there...

Save the Children’s new and innovative education program is called HEART: Healing and Education through the Arts brings the proven power of artistic expression – drawing, painting, music, drama, dance and more – to some of the world’s most vulnerable children. HEART is designed especially for young children in need, ages 3-14. Children struggling to grow up, trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty and limited opportunity, often compounded by trauma, like an emergency, conflict, violence, or the loss of a parent or other loved ones to HIV/AIDS. Children – some so young they can’t articulate their pain – at risk of losing hope, without ever experiencing joy.
-- go to Save the Children / HEART
-- view HEART brochure 

Peace starts with individual action

"Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step i take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me".

Peace starts with individual action, and your actions inspire others to do the same.

Peace Day 21 September 2014 is really an opportunity for all of us to become engaged in the peace process with our families, friends and communities. By working together and making peace with each other we can improve the quality of our lives.

PEACE ONE DAY aims to give free educational resources for all schools on the planet, inspiring a generation to act on Peace Day. This is an amazing opportunity to bring awareness to the kids in the Bermuda schools about Peace One Day and the importance of embracing harmony and peace.

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

"The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country"

President ABRAHAM LINCOLN, annual message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.

Cool teacher...Rockin' education. Redefining music in school

Robb Janov is an accomplished electric violinist and national award-winning music educator who transformed a dying middle school music program into Rock and Rhythm Band™, an exciting, innovative alternative to traditional school music classes.

Imagine Bus Project - another great program

The Imagine Bus Project (TIBP) teaches underserved youth the power of self-expression through the visual arts, inspiring the creative potential of every child.
The Imagine Bus Project’s visionary and passionate founder, Susan Little, began in 1998 with a mission to bring art to inner city kids in San Francisco to help break the isolation they faced.
TIBPis committed to serving underserved children and youth, who would not otherwise have access to an arts education, and is guided by the objective of providing sustained arts programming that empowers youth with tools of positive self-expression, increases engagement in learning, and instills a sense of accomplishment.
-- from TIBP website

An interesting documentary: Class Act

CLASS ACT is the funny, provocative and heart-felt personal story of drama teacher extraordinaire Jay W. Jensen who touched the lives of thousands set against today's crisis in America's classrooms. Known as "Teacher to the Stars", drama teacher, Jay W. Jensen, stars alongside his famous students in this humorous yet revealing look at America's schools and how the arts are disappearing from the American classroom, giving us a report card on what lies ahead for America's kids.

Learning through music and art

Doug Goodkin is an internationally recognized teacher of Orff Schulwerk, a dynamic approach to music education. He is currently in his 38th year at The San Francisco School, teaching children between three years old and eighth grade.
-- visit his website
-- visit his blog
-- learn about the Orff Approach
Watch his talk at TEDxConejoSalon

Not on the Test!!!

Watch this funny video for the song, "Not on the Test," that Tom Chapin wrote with
John Forster. The two wrote the song to express their disappointment in
the lack of arts education in public schools.

- visit notonthetest

Artful Thinking - "stronger thinking and learning through the power of art"

The goal of the Artful Thinking program is to help students develop thinking dispositions that support thoughtful learning – in the arts, and across school subjects. Teachers will regularly use works of visual art and music in their curriculum in ways that strengthen student thinking and learning.
 The program is one of several programs at Project Zero linked by the theme “Visible Thinking."
- go to Artful Thinking program website
- go to Project Zero website

Art speaks

Video produced for the 1900 Art Gallery & Reception for Springfield Public Schools
- video by Dave Heinzel
- produced by Elizabeth Marcy
- music by Radiohead

BBC News - Power of Art- Can painting improve your grades?

Over the last several years the focus of US education has been fixed firmly on the sciences. But research shows that the arts help children do better in all subjects and improve the likelihood that they will stay in school longer.

El Sistema: Changing Lives Through Music

Venezuela is the home of a music program that's so extraordinary it has been hailed as the future of classical music itself.
This is the remarkable accomplishment of a great humanist, José Antonio Abreu, who dedicated his life to set up the 'Sistema' in 1975, an extraordinary music and social project which has been running in Venezuela in an attempt to transform the lives of the nations poorest children.



Also click HERE watch Bob Simon On Venezuela's Groundbreaking Musical Education Program This segment was originally broadcast on CBS on April 13, 2008. It was updated on July 16, 2008.

Does Music Education Matter?

The Harmony Program provides after-school music education programs in underserved communities across New York City. This non-profit organization believes that music should be an integral part of every child’s education and that great expectations lead to even greater achievement. By training young musicians and building youth orchestras in underserved neighborhoods, we work not only to shape the lives of our children but also to engage and inspire their parents and their broader communities.
-- from harmonyprogram.org



Also the video below  aired on PBS NewsHour on February 24, 2012; it was produced by the Learning Matters group, specifically Cat McGrath and John Merrow. It looks at the Harmony Program out of CUNY in NYC, which provides after-school music education to under-privileged children. That program is modeled off El Sistema, a famed Venezuelan program of the same nature. For more resources on all this, consult learningmatters.tv.

Kids and Music --- WOW

Sant Andreu Jazz Band is a project arising from a music class. Conducted by Joan Chamorro, the big band brings together children between 6 and 18 years old, around a classic jazz repertoire with lots of swing, which gained the public and sold-out some of the most important music auditoriums in Spain.
This documentary is a journey led by the orchestra director, which immerses us in a unique teaching method as unique as the results it unveils. A story that will thrill us with these kids’ staging talent and touch us through all sort of sensations that only they are able to bring to life
--- from "A film about kids and music"

Space Oddity...

No matter what we do in life, music is part of our lives wherever we are...

Interesting point of view: Music as a Language - Victor Wooten at TEDxGabriolaIsland

Music is a powerful communication tool--it causes us to laugh, cry, think and question. Bassist and five-time Grammy winner, Victor Wooten, asks us to approach music the same way we learn verbal language--by embracing mistakes and playing as often as possible.

Paint for Peace project

Read about PAINT FOR PEACE  here
This project will be championed by the KALEIDOSCOPE ARTS FOUNDATION

We are looking for charitable donations to help with the cost of the art supplies for the kids.

All the money raised will go back to help the ARTS in the Bermuda Schools.

Watch this video from Peace One Day for some inspiration:

It's Kind of a Funny Story...the power of music and imagination

What music therapy classes can do...funny clip

Another inspirational talk by Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley

Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish -- and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational "death valley" we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility.

Landfill Harmonic - amazing and inspirationl

A heartfelt & moving story of how instruments made from recycled trash bring hope to children whose future is otherwise spiritless.

Brilliant TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson

All kids have tremendous talents — and we squander them pretty ruthlessly..

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.
Watch this inspiring talk on TED:

Jeremy Gilley in Bermuda + TED talk

JEREMY GILLEY stayed at CAMBRIDGE BEACHES whilst here on the island and also appeared at the annual TEDx Talk to talk about PEACE ONE DAY.

Peace One Day

Peace starts with individual action, and your actions
inspire others to do the same.

Jeremy Gilley is an actor turned filmmaker, who in the late 1990s became preoccupied with questions about the fundamental nature of humanity and the issue of peace. He decided to explore these through the medium of film, and specifically, to create a documentary following his campaign to establish an annual day of ceasefire and non-violence. In 1999, Jeremy founded Peace One Day, a non-profit organisation, and in 2001 Peace One Day’s efforts were rewarded when the member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on 21 September – Peace Day. Peace One Day’s objective is to institutionalise Peace Day 21 September, making it a day that is self-sustaining, an annual day of global unity, a day of intercultural cooperation on a scale that humanity has never known.

Peace Day is not just about a reduction of violence in areas of conflict,
it’s also about reducing violence in our homes, communities and schools.

Visit Peace One Day website

FREE educational tools

Jeremy Gilley visits All Saints Junior School via Skype

Jeremy Gilley's award-winning feature documentary, The Day After Peace

Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation

Learn about the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation, the first collective guild in Bermuda for the creation and teaching of art in an environment that is inspiring and accessible to the entire community.
Ride the Wave is  working on a new project for next September to be championed by the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation: PAINT FOR PEACE
Kaleidoscope is looking for charitable donations to help with the cost of the art supplies for the kids. 

Interesting articles to read

Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It BestArt and music are key to student development. 
-- By Fran Smith
The Importance of Art in Children's Cognitive, Social and Emotional Development
-- Examiner.com
The Importance of teaching the Arts
-- By Wendy Earle

Why Is Art Education Important for Your Child?

An educational video on the importance of art education in the curriculum.
Watch it on youtube:

Welcome to our new blog!

You will find important information about our projects and interesting resources about the special connection between art and education.