Always play with people better than you or you’ll never get better.

This is somewhat contrary to other posts, you know about everyone being equal. Well, sometimes rules oppose each other. If you play in a band with other people who are of equal talent of you, you will never grow. You will never be pushed. You will fall into a groove and never get out.

You may find yourself in a band that is a little better than your current talents. If this is true you need to work hard to stay in the band. Work on your chops outside of practice. Find your niche in the band.

The trick is to find that zone, just enough of a challenge so you hang in there. Not enough above your head so that you are frustrated.

Sometimes you have to modify this rule. Sometimes you'll have to play with people that are different than you or you'll never improve. If you're a punk, try a reggea or a jam band. Bring your skills, blend, them with your bandmates. Try something new. You'll be better because of it.

The whole is better than the sum of its parts.

One man band. This is the greatest oxymoron in Rock and Roll. You are not a band if you have only one player. (This is known a singer/songwriter). The real power is in numbers. The real power is in the combination of talents in the band.

This is a realization that usually come too late. Usually after a bad call from a member that decides to go solo. They finally realize that their talent or their popularity came from the combination of talents in the band.

In the classroom, students and teachers must realize that collaboration is key to being successful. There is too much that an individual doesn't know that leads to failure.

For way too long teaching has been performed as a solo act. Almost like the singer/songwriter mentioned in the last post. It's unfortunate. Life is not structured that way. Life is a group project and those that can master that will be successful.

For too long teaching has been a solo act. The teacher delivers instruction solo, writes lessons solo, assesses the kids solo and rarely receives feedback on their efforts. It is a recipe for disaster.

When you look at the best teachers they collaborate, share and evaluate with others. Like music, lessons need an audience beyond the students in the seats. The kids will take what you give but real improvement will arise from collaboration.

Your band is only as good as the weakest member.

The hardest part of getting a band together and keeping it together is when members have different skill levels. To put the band together, you have to find at least 3 people and each must have a different skill (instrument). Each must have an interest in a similar style of music. Then they all have to have similar skill level. The latter nearly never happens. You usually end up picking up a player because they simply own an instrument. Other times someone you like switches instruments just to stay in the band. Because of all of these caveats, you usually end up with a weak member.

Bands usually deal with this situation two ways. One, they get rid of the weak member to hire someone else. Two, they keep the member and work on them.

Usually if they go down route 1 they end up picking some hotshot player with great skill but can't get along with everyone else. The chemistry of the band dies.

Route 2 has it's headaches as well but at least you keep the chemistry have someone that I like to call the project player.

Route 2 means you'll send the guy for some lessons, or you'll teach him the parts. You'll stick with easy songs so he can keep up.

Sometimes people rise to the challenge, other times they come to their own realization that this situation is not quite right and will bow out on their own (leaving your band back to Route 1).

It's like this in a lot of schools. Good teachers are hard to find and administrators have to accept good enough. School systems and the teacher that work alongside these teachers must recognize the project player. They must help them out. Give out their best lessons and survival tips. Help them in and out of the class. Hook them up with a decent apartment, a good deal on a used car. Make them get their budget in order. With the proper support the project player could turn out to be a hotshot rockstar teacher. They probably want to be a good teacher but just need to know the how.

We've got to admit it that teaching is brain surgery with out the blood and stitches. It takes proper training, an internship, to make a good one.

For the good classroom teachers, this rule is important too. Your class is only as good as the weakest member. In these days of NCLB, we are accountable for the subgroups that are failing. These are the project players in the classroom too. The same goes for these kids. They need extra attention, differentiated instruction, scaffold learning and a damn good teacher. Someday they may be hotshot players as well.

If the administrators and the teachers in schools heed this rule maybe they will have some luck with the weakest members of the band.

Practice parts, Put parts together, practice putting parts together.

One of the most elusive questions is "How does one learn?" By mistakes, yeah sure that is true with simple concepts. What if it is quite complex. How can you master something so huge that you don't have a clue where to start .

One thing I like about a band is that it is about learning. Everyone has to learn the songs. What do you do if it is huge and complex.

I have found that if you look at it as, Practice parts, Put parts together, practice putting parts together, on can take on complex concepts.

With music we found we had to break down the song into parts and practice the part. For example we'd concentrate on the verse, get it down then the chorus, then the bridge. If it was complex we could work on one small part of each.

Then as a group we could practice putting parts together. It was amazing how even though we knew the chorus and verse down cold the transition between the two could stop us. We would have to rehearse that aspect of a song.

Eventually we could complete an entire song.

In a class a teacher makes decisions on how to teach the class. They should look at the parts of a concept and teach one first that will enable the student to meet with success. Then add another part and another. Eventually put the parts together and you will see the whole picture.

You play music, it’s supposed to be fun.

I heard this one at an open mike one night. It stuck with me. It is supposed to be fun, not just music. School, life is supposed to be fun too.

As a teacher you have to remember you teach kids, not math, science whatever. And with kids, play comes first. When you want to teach a kid something play comes first. A kid's first instinct is to play with it, turn it over, push all the buttons, see how far it bends before it breaks.

I don't care if it is a Bunsen burner, a ti calculator, or clay, a kid will want to play first then find out more about it from the expert (teacher).

Remember this when you organize you lessons. Play first, then learn.

Do a Sound Check

In addition to playing in a band with my adult friends, I have also had the opportunity to perform in bands with my students. At my school talent shows, I'm usually asked to join a band in need of a guitarist or bassist. It is a great opportunity to work with kids as equals.

I also provide assistance in the set up. I make sure everyone is soundchecked. Well this year I got my band set up but did not check the other band on the bill. They fired up and Cory the guitar player was way too loud. This totally angered his band mates. Most guitar players love to hear "turn it up" but afterward feel horrible about drowning everyone out.

In school we need to do a soundcheck too. We need to make sure everyone is heard. Sure there is always one kid that wants to hog the stage, the teacher has to be the soundman to make sure the all the instruments are balanced and everyone is heard.

I heard a great quote by Benjamin Zander, he is conductor and came upon a great notion that he never makes a sound. In rock and roll the sound man serves the same purpose. He never makes a sound but ensures that everyone is heard. What a great role for a teacher to play.

Imitate, Assimilate, Innovate

OK, So I strayed from Rock and Roll this time. I'm basically a 3 chord rocker, but one week last summer I attended Jamey Aebersold's Summer Jazz Workshop. I was definitely a fish out of water. I was way over my head. I knew little about Jazz, it's history, and how to play it.

In 7 days I learned a lot about Jazz, and I also learned a lot about learning. Of the many stories and quotes I heard throughout the week, one by jazz pianist David Baker has stuck with me.

He said there are 3 steps to learning jazz. The first step is to imitate the people you listen to. The second step is to assimilate. Finally you innovate, and very few of us reach this step (according to David Baker) .

In college I learned a lot of learning models, many much more complicated than this. Mr. Baker captured learning in 3 words. Really powerful ideas that can be used in the classroom. Here is what I use in my classroom.

The first rule, imitation, really makes me think that kids need good models in the classroom. Models for them to imitate. Teachers need to create model (model writing, art, experiments) so students can imitate them. Teacher should also collect works from other students to serve as models. Models should show what is possible and excellent so that students can imitate them.

Second, student will assimilate the information needed to perform the task. Student can easily imitate, but in time of reflection they can assimilate the skills. Students need time to analyze what they have done so that they can assimilate the knowledge. It is one thing to imitate, another to understand why.

Last, innovation, we expect students to be creative and innovative before they imitate and assimilate. Impossible. Students need to be able to imitate then assimilate first. Also, few students will imitate. It is quite an accomplishment to just imitate and assimilate knowledge.

When I realized this, I understand the learning curve much better. Learning Jazz and learning are so closely related. These 3 rules now rule my learning, and they should yours.

You Need a Gig, You Can’t Just Practice.

We started our band on a lark. It was just a bunch of friends that played their instruments alone and decided to get together and form a band. When it started the practices were great. We would hang out, talk, play, eat and drink, learn new songs, and generally just practice. Eventually we just got tired of practicing. We would look at each other and say "What are we practicing for?" None of us had an answer. We were practicing for nothing. After we figured that out, practices became boring and meaningless. I mean what was the purpose of practicing and not playing.

We needed a gig. Who would hire us? We were a bunch of middle age amateurs. We looked at a bunch of open mike nights but it was too intimidating. A real paying gig was out of the question because of our skill level.

We ended up creating our own gig. We set up on a bandmember's porch, tempted our friends and families with free burgers and hot dogs and a moon bounce for the kids. Other bands wanted to play with us (we found some like minded individuals). They invited a few friends, about 100 people showed up. We even got an offer to play another party.

In our preparation for the gig, practice got better. There was a purpose. Everyone was concerned and wanted to not look awful.

This is what a class needs...a gig. We spend a lot of time in class practicing reading, writing, math, science and a bunch of other topics. We tend to not have a gig. Sure we may have a test, that's not a gig. Students need to show off their skill no matter what their skill level is. A class needs a gig. From my band experience, I've tried to incorporate the same ideas that worked. Invite friends and families to share what students learned. Tempt them with food, drinks and prizes and the opportunity to see your students do something. Find other like minded individuals to join you, have them invite their friends. Soon you'll have a community to support your learners. You will have a gig. That is important, because soon your students will have a real gig, one that pays.

You can’t rock all the time sometimes you need a ballad.

Don't get me wrong, I love to rock out, but sometimes you need a ballad. In the band, I hate slow songs. They are much harder to play than fast ones. Timing is difficult to keep. Your mistakes linger out there longer for all to notice. Slow songs often clear the dance floor..... Or fill it.

When a band plans a set list it's easy to rock out. Throw in all the fast songs you know. But it wears a crowd out. It's monotonous. Everything begins to sound the same. When you are at that point it's time to play a ballad.

In a class, students and teachers need variety. It's easy to go with a simple lesson. Have kids read and answer questions. Or, you could have the kids listen to a lecture and take notes. But you need to throw something in there to add variety to the listen. You need to build a lesson like a set list. You need to rock often and then throw something different at them.

You need to fill in your lesson by thinking that lessons need to be at times silent and alone, whispering and working in pairs and, conversational and working in larger groups. Students need to get information from a variety of inputs like reading, listening, watching, talking, and writing.

Most of all as the builders of lessons we need to look for ways to provide variety in a lesson. As much as we like to teach one way or rock one way the audience needs change to keep interested and continue learning.

Invite Your Mom To The Gig

I'm always amazed when I see a local band play, that their parents are in the audience. I don't care if the band is tattooed, pierced and spouting lyrics that would make a sailor blush, there will be a conservatively dressed middle aged couple there supporting their musician son or daughter. They will usually clap, yell and whistle louder than any other fan in the place. They usually know all the words, even to their original songs that now one else has heard of before.

Parental support is important to a band and to a classroom. For most parents, this is exactly the kind of support they want to give. After a student or band has put in hours of hard work learning, practicing and polishing their skills, they want to share it with their parents first and foremost. It's even better if their are others around cheering them on. It really becomes a public celebration of the learning that has taken place.

If students in your classroom do something worthwhile, something they have learned, practiced and polished, invite their parents to the gig. Make it something like a gig. Put them onstage. Have some people applauding them. Let them tell how much work they put into it. Make it a public celebration of learning. This will benefit all parties involved. Their parents will be proud to see their kid show off. The kids will see that learning is appreciated by other and is worthy of celebrating. The school will benefit by seeing that the fruits of their labor (the entire staff's labor) led to something tangible, more than a grade. The school has created an actual product that an audience can look at be entertained by, appreciate and celebrate.

Warm up with an old favorite.

In my previous post, I discussed what I discovered about arranging the order of task in practice and in class. This is just a little addition to that.

I find practice starts best when we warm up with a favorite tune everyone knows and can play well. I tend to call it knocking the rust off. But the band gets in a groove, everyone is happy and smiling. We need familiar, get loose. Comfortable. It's kind of like an athlete warming up before the contest.

In class, kids need a warm up that is comfortable, familiar. They need an opportunity to get loose, stretch. It does not need to go so long that they tire, but just enough to knock the rust off.

Do the hard stuff first, then do the easy stuff when your tired.

Actually, this is a lesson I learned from my brother-in law, the carpenter. While working with him, he taught me how he puts the tasks of his job in order. He does the hard stuff first, then does the easy jobs when he is tired. I used this stroke of genius in band practice, then in my classroom.

I used to start practice off by just running through the set in order. We'd play 10 or 20 songs then start to learn new ones. By this time most of us were toast. We were ready to go home. Learning was impossible. The band would get frustrated and leave feeling terrible about the practice.

After learning this lesson, we changed our practice so we were better able to learn. First we'd play an old favorite to knock the rust off and get our confidence up. Then we would tackle the new songs while we were fresh and confident. Two or three songs could be learned quickly, easily and with little frustration. The band would then run through our old set in order. We could play it in our sleep, and after a long day of work or dealing with our family we did.

In school we often build lessons so the kids have to do the most challenging work at the end of the lesson. Once they have read, listened, worked in a group, learned a ton of new facts, we ask them to do higher level thinking skills. Just like in practice, they are toast, meet with frustration and end up feeling terrible.

Lessons need to be reorganized to be most beneficial to the learner. Try having the kids do the hard stuff first. Save the practice and reinforcement of old knowledge to the end.

Don't Break The Instruments

Many a rock band has staked their claim in fame by smashing the instruments. The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana came to the conclusion of a show by smashing the very instruments that got them there. It was beautiful, for them. It was part of their art.

It symbolized what they did in music. Break through. It worked for them. Anyone else that tried were marked as imitators. It just looked stupid. If your name was not Pete, Jimi or Kurt.... It was.

Lots of teachers get into education because of a frustration with school. I was one of them. I sat in a desk for 12 years thinking I could do it better. Then I got the job and found out I couldn't. I found I could just be me in the job. I couldn't imitate or smash my predecessors. If I did, I would look stupid.

When we started the band, we had three rules. Be in tune. Be loud. Don't smash the instruments. The last rule was initiated because we were poor. We worked hard for our instruments. We could not afford to replace them. They meant a lot to us. Many of us owned them since we were kids. Some were treasured gifts. But after some thought, another reason rule #3 worked is that we would look stupid. We can't imitate those that smashed. We would be imitators.

In the classroom we are often handed curriculum guides, materials that are other teacher's lessons. You can't teach another teacher's lesson. Just like you can't imitate someone else's act (Pete always swore Jimi stole his bands act, only Jimi could pull it off). Somewhere in the teacher guides you have to find yourself and interpret the lesson. It's like a cover song. Someone else made it popular, you have an opportunity to put your twist on it. Take what you like, leave what you don't, add something of your own and create your art. Your lesson. Teach your lesson. Don't smash the instruments.

Everyone learns the songs differently.

I am a firm believer in public education. But, it does have it's share of flaws. I think public school does a great job teaching 30 kids at a time. It's lousy at teaching 1. I love that public school takes on all comers. As long as you've got a pulse and are in the school's boundaries, we'll take you. This open door policy creates a great diverse population of kids, and all of them learn differently. That great lesson you've planned is only going to be great to a part of the kids. Everyone learns the material differently.

This struck me while playing in a band. We were preparing for a gig. We needed to learn about 30 songs to fill 3 sets. Even though we were about the same age, listened to the same music, we all had our own methods to learn the songs.

Our bass player had to hear the song. He needed to have a copy of each song to hear it over and over again so he could learn it.

The lead guitarist needed the tabs. Tabs are a note for note transcription of the song.

I (rhythm guitar) needed the songs in chordpro. This showed how the chords changed when compared to the lyrics.

The singer lyrics. She needed the lyrics in large font. She just said 1 2 3 4 and started belting it out, and never missed a note.

The drummer was a seasoned pro. He'd ask me questions I did not know (like Does this swing?), and then just go for it.

Half of us did great learning in a group. They'd learn the song while we practiced it.

The rest had to go home and spend some time alone with the piece. We'd return to the next practice ready to roll.

Time spent with band members taught me a lot about learning styles, mainly that there are a lot out there. I also learned that it took all of us some time to figure out which learning style suited us best. Once we figured out our learning style we were off and running.

In school we assume too much about learning styles. We think all kids learn the way we did, or the method described in the curriculum guide, or the prepackaged program purchased by the school system. The classroom teacher needs to begin looking at the students as individuals in a group. Band members if you will. Each has their own method of learning the material. We learn the same material, just in a different style.

In a band I could learn using other methods. It was helpful if I had a better ear, or learned to read tab. But I was not an efficient learner. So I fell behind the others.

From this experience, I learned that it is good efficient teaching if students are taught to identify their learning style. It is good if teacher learn to differentiate instruction according to the learners in the class. It is good if teachers introduce new learning styles to the students. They may not be efficient at first, but could open another avenue to learning.

Bad Practice=Good Gig Good Practice=Bad Gig

I am a firm believer that you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your correct actions playing in a band I found Rule #3 to ring true. We would have practices that were awesome. After a few of these we would feel good and overly confident. We would then hit the gig, have a train wreck mid song and then we would stand there and look at each other and wonder what happened.

No one would have an answer.

When you play out, play live or do anything, you are going to make mistakes. Perfection is not meant for this world. The best we can do for ourselves and our kids is to prepare them for less than perfection. Prep for mistakes.

It is better to prepare for mistakes in practice, not at the gig. You make the mistakes, adjust, move on. If done properly no one but the band notices. In practice we could stop, laugh hysterically, analyze, learn and do over in privacy.

Later as we improved we would build in mistakes to keep us on our toes. We'd do a metal song as a ballad, a country song as a reggae song or punk. We'd switch instruments. Anything to cause a mistake would make us stronger.

Being a family band (everyone had or is having kids) our practices were constantly interrupted with phones ringing, juice box requests, diaper changes and video failures. We could finish any song with babes on hips. At the gig, nothing threw us. Rowdy or inattentive crowd were nothing like what we faced at practice.

At school many expect perfection from the get go. We believe our lesson was so great, students will perform perfectly from the start. How many of us picked up an instrument, golf club, tennis racquet and played like Clapton, Woods, or McEnroe?? None. The learning curve in Math, Science, Social Studies and English is just as steep.

The class needs to mimic the practice session. Students need to play, make errors, get instruction and assess and do it again and again to get close to perfection. Classrooms need to be a place to try and fail. We must get kids prepared for the test, and life like a band practice.