NEW RADIOHEAD VIDEO!!!!

Listen to this...

"Those who consider the art form inherently elitist might ponder an irony: at a time of sustained economic crisis,... classical music attained maximum popularity. Toscanini's Beethoven performances symbolized a spirit of selflessness and togetherness, both during the Great Depression and in the war years that followed"

Listen to This - Alex Ross

CH,CH,CH,CHANGES!!

Thank you for following my old blog. It is time to shed skin and move to a new place... so here it is.

Today Adrianne and I went to AS220 ---- wow! what an amazing organization

check out their really cool website with tons of info http://as220.org/front/

This is where Adrianne and I will be spending the next 3 weeks. After being there 4 hrs. I have to admit I was a little bit overwhelmed by all the different parts of this organization. I can't wait to learn more....

this an example: a collaborative project with youth and professionals called "Art In Diguise." this particular billboard delivers a powerful message: ACCEPTANCE (not tolerance).. inspired by issues that the LGBTQ community face with bulling.

Crossing the Corpus Callosum - Part 1

Last Saturday I went to a conference at Harvard on neuroscience, music, and healing. I will try to summarize what I got out of it into parts.

Nadine Gaab

Currently her lab is researching the effect of "musical training on language processing and execution function in the typical and atypical developing children." Her findings are preliminary, and should not be generalized to the population.

• Rapid auditory processing is the ability to hear subtile changes in auditory stimuli (ex: say, stay). Its believed that children who have language and reading imparements can't sequence 2 tones at rapid presentation rates.
• Music acquisition skills and language have a positive correlation - verbal/memory skills, phoneme awareness, spelling and writing skills.
• Hypothesis: children musician possess better auditory processing that children who are not musicians.

• Executive functioning (E.F) - "the CEO of the brain" - responsible for self regulating behaviour, emotions, resist impulses and discipline. Being able to control yourself means you are less likely to commit to negative life outcomes (drop-out, crime). Do musicians show better E.F. skills compared to non musicians (adults)?
• E.F. skills can be improved by musical training. Preliminary research shows that music skills may lead to improved verbal fluency, cognitive flexibility, verbal working memory.

Cool article "Creative Play Makes for Kids in Control"

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=76838288

Here is a video of a program called "Tune into Reading" used by Dr. Gaab, I thought was really cool.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

G.B.Shaw

update

This is what most of Boston and the street we live in looks like. I remember Jamie Bernstein saying how much she loved snow in NY: because the city never looks that clean - until you get all that slush!

I have never seen so much snow in my life! Thanks Marie for the pic. She was brave enough to go out this morning.

Last week we had to go get our shots. Not at the bar, but the doctor - no need to explain the pain some fellows were experiencing. Ah, sacrifices. So here are some of this weeks highlights.

Monday we went to Community Music Works and it was inspiring to see all these human beings come together for a collective purpose. Thank you so much for opening your doors and showing us some CMW hospitality.

So here are some of the things I got out of our visit:

• open lines of communication in the community you are planning to move into (through some type of survey) in order to see the needs and challenges that community might be facing
• the hardest job is to manage people - and it is a skill that is learned

Hiring

• Create a process so that you know what you want to get out of the applicant (clear job description), know what they are about.
• Looking at CV = Sebastian equated it to being INTEL. Check for references, but also relevant work experienced that are not mentioned as references
• During the interview create a scenario relevant to the work they will be doing to see how they respond to pressure
• Hire on strengths of individuals, and assign them on tasks that emphasize those areas

Organization

• create a learning organization
• are you creating space to learn? (teachers, students, staff)
• conflict is inevitable - train staff to resolve conflicts. This, in my opinion, is vital to the success of the organization
• share leadership - be clear about the role and job assigned

Something our educator director Erik has always emphasized when making decisions in the fellowship is reaching consensus, not voting for ideas. We move slow, but that is the way CMW operates in some organizational decisions and I think that's why they are successful at what they do.

Another organization that Adrianne pointed out to me was AS220, which is also in Providence. I am interested to see how they are applying the juvie hall detention art programs, so I am looking forward do doing an internship at AS220 and CMW.

On some other news, our trip to Venezuela has been postponed but we are still definitely going. I was hoping not having to deal with any more mountains of snow, but oh well - regla venezolana numero uno: ser flexible ;)

your brain on improv

So I am a super dork - but one of the areas that has always fascinated me is the brain and music. Charles gave this TED talk about using technology to see the difference of a brain when it is improvising and compare it to your brain when it has learned/memorized something.