Big Music Moments and How We Get There
As we close out 2023, let me tell you one of the more impactful big moments for me this year in working for Local Sound - Ray
It’s an early December morning…
The school gymnasium is not at its warmest, and we are receiving a big applause from the entire student body. The kids we performed with are smiling from ear to ear, and their knees are still shaking from nervous excitement. We step off the stage and their first question is, “Can we do that again?!”
Just after the performance… one of our students may not have been thrilled for a photo haha!
All of their joy and accomplishment is contagious as I look at my co-teacher (shout out to the best program intern - Marissa Williams!) and try to debate if an unplanned encore can happen in this chaotic middle school holiday assembly. It’s at this moment that months of hard work comes to fruition - and not in the form of cheers from a crowd. Instead it’s the idea that these kids loved whatever it was they felt when they performed, and they wanted to do it again.
It’s a powerful and beautiful moment, but it’s in this moment I am reminded of all the other moments it took to get here. And those moments were not always easy or fun.
A Moment of Burnout.
So let me take you back to mid November. At this particular school we are assigned about 10 kids in our afterschool class that we work with. They are about 11-14 years old, have been learning in school all day, and now are entering a space where we have 45 minutes to teach them music in some capacity (singing, instruments, etc). I am not sure what type of kid you were, but at 3:30pm my brain was certainly checked out from wanting to learn or listen to any adult talk. Needless to say - we have our work cut out for us.
Also before I go any further - if you take anything from this article - it’s that teachers and educators deserve way more support, pay, credit, love, and resources for the work they do. This school we work at does an amazing job supporting Rissa and I - we could not be more lucky to work with these awesome humans. I am not naive to the fact we get to play guest teacher for 45 minutes while others are in the building for 8 hours a day making it happen. And some schools aren’t as fortunate to have good support systems. So we have to continue pushing our community forward in prioritizing our teachers.
On one particular class day, you can tell everyone in the room is feeling that mid semester slump. We come into the room with a lesson plan and idea for a song to try, and the kids want nothing to do with it. Instead they are taking turns throwing insults at each other across the room. Some are playing instruments loudly so others can’t hear. Rissa and I are trying to quell the storm, but we are tired and feeling it too. We finally get the class to settle, try one song, and it’s met with groans and disinterested giggles. Feeling like it’s just one of those days, we set the room up for a group game and hang our lesson plan up for another day.
It was not a fun day. But shit happens and we bounce back, knowing the kids will be there again next week to try again, right?
As we walk in the following week, we learn one of our kids has asked if they can switch out of our option. They aren’t vibing with all of the commotion and negative energy that is becoming all too familiar. And listen - I am all for kids choosing to do the things they want to do - but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have an ego. It hurt losing one of our most engaged kids for the day because it felt like we were failing as teachers.
Those moments can suck. But they can also light a fire under your ass to make some changes in your classroom. And that’s how we took it.
Rissa and I talked after the fact, and came up with a plan. Next week we were going to meet at the Juice Lab, get a smoothie, and put together a full proof plan of how to get our group back on track. And we knew what we had to do first.
Restorative Justice in a Music Space
We needed a vibe check, and a big one at that. First - shout out to the folks at Camp Stomping Ground for teaching us cool things - restorative practices were a huge resource for us in addressing our class culture. If you aren’t familiar with them, you should be! Our plan was simple. Instead of us throwing on our “teacher voice” and telling the kids how we expect them to behave, we needed to build out what we wanted our culture to be together.
A great description of restorative practices if you are unfamiliar.
I can’t stress enough how effective this was. The class started and we had “vibe check” written on a whiteboard. We were vulnerable with them, and told them we felt frustrated and sad about how things were going in the last month. We didn’t necessarily assume they felt the same way, but instead put the ball in their court and asked them.
Do you all feel anything similar? Is this the type of space we want to be a part of?
With some brief and silent head nods we pitched them on our idea. We were going to use a talking piece and everyone would be able to share ideas for guidelines of how our class “vibe” would function. And right off the bat you heard things like “I want to be able to share my ideas” or “I want to play more games and do high energy stuff” but the most crucial piece came next.
Someone said, “I want (insert name) to stop being so annoying.”
The girl next to her responded, “I don’t vibe when you speak like that. It’s not cool and makes me feel not good.”
She rephrases, “I mean, he just plays his instruments so loud and I can’t hear.”
“So let’s make a rule about not playing any instruments loud until jam time.”
Shout out to the best music intern in the biz!
And it’s in this moment all I do is smile, which I notice I haven’t done in a few weeks. Because in this moment there’s real connection and empathy for each other. The one student helps the other reframe their frustrations. There’s a plan in place to help mitigate that conflict in the future. The entire process takes 15 minutes, and we look up at the board with a list of guidelines that were created by all of us, for all of us.
As the class continued on, we shifted into practicing our songs. I could not be any more serious in saying it was the best rehearsal we had all year. Not in terms of just nailing the material - but having fun while doing it! The satisfaction and confidence on their faces is a moment I can’t forget. Finally we shift into our ending activity, which we call 10 minute talent show, where we break the kids into teams to create a performance in 10 minutes for the rest of the group. I only wish in this blog post I could include the video of one kid performing “Love” by Keyshia Cole to the rest of the class and everyone giving him a standing ovation.
Big. Magic. Moment.
So back to the concert in December. As we finished our holiday performance, this bump in the road was heavy on my mind. Working with kids and working in music is not always easy. But damn was it an amazing feeling to watch it all come together! These moments are why we do the work we do. Empower kids with the ability to create and experience music, but also empower them with the ability to problem solve and build community. Also shout out to Rissa - she essentially runs the group and none of it is possible without her.
As we wrap up 2023, we look back on big music moments like these, and look forward to all of the future moments in 2024 and beyond.
Ray Mahar
Executive Director
ray@thelocalsoundcollaborative.org