Create the "Check" Box

Note:This blog was originally written as a guest post for a fantastic web site called Entrepreneur The Arts (the title alone makes it a worthy read). We will be writing more about them in an upcoming blog.  In the mean time you can see the post as it originally appears here.

What's our check box?  We are entrepreneurs in music education. Yes, you heard me right. I'll give you a moment to re-read that one more time. We're used to it.

We began our endeavor in 1992 by opening a for-profit music education "firm" called The Dallas School of Music, Inc.  It's the brain-child of Dr. Bob Lawrence who thought that music education could and should stand alone, outside of academia, if packaged and marketed correctly. 20 years later we are going strong and many consider us to be the benchmark for music education in our area. Although all of us have degrees in music, we have no academic affiliation – we are not part of a college or university program, no national affiliation, (as nearly all community music schools are non-profit organizations) and we are not part of a traditional “music store”. Our product is simply quality music education.

By 1994 the power and promise of the internet did not go unnoticed and we soon began to formulate a way to use technology to bring our brand of music education to the world.  In 1996 we decided that MusickEd.com (which is an homage to philosopher Chris Small's hypothesis that 'music is a verb rather than a noun; it is something one does and is valid at every level') was born.  Although we were not exactly certain at that time how it would manifest itself, we had exciting ideas and and set out to create an online presence. 

In 1998 the partners agreed to send my colleague and I to the National Association for Music Education's national conference as representatives of DSM and MusickEd.com.  As stated on their site, MENC is "proudly among the world's largest arts education organizations" and we were very excited to finally meet our colleagues and tell our story.  With nervous anticipation we arrived in Phoenix; its mountains rising abruptly out of the flat dessert and giant cacti lining sunny streets.  We made our way to the convention center and to the check-in booth.  The following account is what took place as we met our greeter, pen in hand, ready to plug us in to the conference:

  

MENC Welcome to MENC, how can I help you?

US  We are The Dallas School of Music and we're attending the conference!

MENC So you are in the DISD? (Dallas Independent School District)

US No, we are a private school.

MENC About to confidently check the box....Oh, are you member of TAPPS? (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools)

US No, we are a private, for-profit music school.

MENC Confused stare at paper...pen moving from box to box...Ah, so you are a vendor!

US No we are attending as educators!

MENC Hmmm, OK.  I don't know what category you fit into then.  So I am going to just draw a little box at the bottom here, put "other" and  then check that.  

And so it went... and so it goes.

We've been drawing and checking the 'other' box ever since that day as it seems there is no precedent for entrepreneurial music education. We learned a lot about who we are and who we are not at that convention.  And we realized there was a gaping hole that we felt needed to be filled. We came home to share our stories with our colleagues and with a message that basically said, "we are either very smart for thinking of this, or very dumb for trying it...maybe both?"

We continued to develop MusickEd.com with even more intensity and in a few years had a clearer vision of what it could become.  While teaching daily and running the DSM campus of 400 families each week, we somehow managed to complete our Kore Series software in 2008.  This PMLP (Personal Music Learning Program) currently encompasses 20 Lessons developed for 39 instruments. It is being used by individual music enthusiasts, church groups and even public and private schools here in the states. In 2011 we will launch a Jazz Series and begin work on the Kore Series II.

One of the little ironies of this story is that next year we plan to attend the TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) convention as members, vendors, and possible presenters.  I know there will be many more boxes drawn and checked along the way as we cross every hurdle of being music education entrepreneurs. That's OK, we're used to it...

Student Spotlight - Mia Ford

Mia Ford has been a student at The Dallas School of Music since 2004, that is, when her busy schedule isn't taking her away to Hollywood, Strasbourg, or any number of other fabulous locales.

The Ford's are a musical family. Mia began her musical training on piano but has more recently taken up the acoustic guitar. Mom Aileen is a noted jazz singer who studied at the University of North Texas, Mia's brother Austin plays cello and bass guitar, sister Madison (also an actress!) has played drums and electric bass and father Mike (who is fortunately a pilot!) has been learning guitar for a few years. 

Mia's busy travel and work schedule doesn't hinder her interest in learning music.  "Mia always has a smile and is completely focused on the task a hand during our sessions" says Eugene Cantera her teacher,  "and she's made great progress on guitar in just a short amount of time." 

"I'm hoping in the future that I might be both a successful actress and musician.  But in the mean time, it's just fun!"

Mia just finished a graduate film for Matthew Mercer at USC called "Your Wedding" and also starred as Maxine in "Wonderful World" with Matthew Broderick.  "That was a blast and it was filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana so it was closer to home than usual."

"I just got back from a Director's Session for a film with Robert Duvall called '7 Days in Utopia' and I think my chances are pretty good!"

Mia can be seen starring in her first feature-length film, a thriller titled Within where she plays Rachael, a "sweet girl with a troubled soul caused by a unique gift."   The movie will be shown on the Lifetime Channel July 31 at 8PM CT .  It will air again on the same station August 15th and August 20th.

Congratulations to Mia and the entire Ford family....and don't forget us little people!

MusickEd Plays Role in MS Patients' Recovery

One friend, true friend
Always by my side
And I know that I can count on you
Days pass, we'll change, maybe move apart
But I hope that we'll keep talking
Sharing stories
Old friends for a long, long time

The words seem simple enough. The melody uses mostly small intervals, includes loud and soft sections and is only 20 measures long. So how did it come about that a Multiple Sclerosis support group sang this song at a recent meeting? Enter Toni Vogel.

Toni was diagnosed with MS in April of 2007 but she chooses to 'live' with the disease as best she can. After an initial loss of vision in one eye (which has since returned to 'normal' with steroid therapy) she continues to battle pain in her legs, hips, shoulders and neck as well as overall fatigue throughout an average day. The nighttime often brings restlessness to the point of waking up tired, yet her spirit remains undaunted.

Toni loves music and always wanted to learn bass guitar. She found The Dallas School of Music and started taking sessions with Dr. Bob Lawrence. Bob explained the schools' enrollment plans, the MusickEd curriculum and before long Toni was thumping away in time, reading notes, counting rests, playing melodies and learning musical concepts on her instrument. Toni embraced the challenge, enjoyed the learning process and made swift progress. She encouraged her husband Steve (a self-taught guitarist) to enroll and work through the curriculum as well.

Toni's new-found attitude and enthusiasm was apparent to everyone who knew her. Steve noticed that she seemed to have been in a "year long funk", sometimes depressed and often "not feeling up to even getting out of the house". But playing the bass and learning music gave her strength and it wasn't long until she was excited to get to her lesson each week.

"I feel like the connections in my brain are being re-wired", Toni says "and Steve as well as many of my friends in the support group have noticed too."

Steve does not suffer from MS but often attends meetings to support Toni and has learned much about the disease since her diagnoses. "The good news is that the brain and body are capable of repair" he says. "That's what makes music so great. It is paramount in the re-wiring process. Movement is also important for MS patients and music is a great motivator for that too."

Toni asked for the words to the songs she was learning so that she could sing them in the car. Since the curriculum is designed for all instruments (including voice), the lyrics were already in place. She downloaded the mp3 files to her iPod and began to sing the melodies as part of her daily routine.

Mike Finkel composes most of the songs, creates the orchestrations, does all of the recording and even writes many of the words for MusickEd.com. He describes the style of this particular tune as 'world music'. Steel drums, multiple cymbals, bongos and other percussion instruments can be heard on its more than 25 tracks. The style and interesting groove is what caught Toni's attention at first, but the words really hit home.

"It's what it's all about," Toni says, "making connections with new friends and sharing our stories."

Toni recently invited MusickEd Partners Bob Lawrence and Eugene Cantera to visit her group's Make Your Mark Day which occurs on the first Tuesday of every month.

"I didn't know what to expect" Eugene said, "but the room was decorated with music symbols and bright colors. There was a toddler laughing and playing on the floor and everyone was smiling and anxious to hear Toni perform and tell her story."

Toni spoke passionately about her experiences with MS and how music has helped her cope. She played a few songs from the MusickEd curriculum and then accompanied by Steve on guitar, performed a moving rendition of 'Dust in the Wind.' Lots of toe tapping and rousing applause ensued, but perhaps the most amazing moment came toward the end of the meeting.

"Toni had taught the 'Friend' song to her support group earlier that day and they sang it for us" said Cantera. "It's amazing to think that something we've had a hand in creating could be shared and used this way. My mind raced with the possibility of having an entire online community specifically for MS patients, telling their stories and encouraging each other as they learn music. It will be interesting to see where this all leads but if it never goes any further, it's already been quite amazing."

Toni feels so strongly about her musical experience that she is spearheading an effort to have the MusickEd curriculum and/or sessions at The Dallas School of Music included in the coverage for MS patients. She hopes that her story will be inspiring to others living with the disease and that new and unique connections might be made all over the world. "Just like the song" she says...

"Sharing stories
Old friends for a long, long time..."

To learn more about Multiple Sclerosis please visit www.nmss.org

The Other 80%

This is my response to a long and winding thread on Dr. James Frankel's blog Music Technology in Education. The original post was titled 'The Other 80%: An Industry Perspective' about how important technology is to the profession of music education and addressing the fact that academia seemingly ignores 80% of interested music makers by focusing on the K-12 demographic.

Fantastic discussion! As a music educator, software developer, and entrepreneur...(I know, your heads are exploding... but hang in there) I am delighted by and happy to address, design for, and 'sell' to the 'other 80%'. My colleagues and I have consciously tried to reach this group and find it baffling that the profession of 'music education' almost complete ignores such a large, enthusiastic, and frankly, financially sound demographic - especially at a time when 'band, choir, and orchestra' programs are being cut right and left.

We started the Dallas School of Music as a 'for profit' business, a place where people of all ages could access professional music education in a vibrant, modern, and state of the art facility. The school has been serving families in the DFW area for almost 20 years. When we first began, people (mostly family members and well wishing friends outside of music) told us to 'contact the schools' to let them know what we could provide. Their logic seemed sound, 'of course they would want to send their interested students to study privately at your facility?'. Academia could have cared less, but it became a blessing in disguise.

It didn't take long to learn that a bigger pool of interested, passionate music makers lie outside of the K-12 demographic. Of course, DSM does have classes for young children and we have many school aged kids in lessons each week. But we also have doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and average Joe's learning music for the first time (don't get me started on why many schools do not have guitar or piano classes!). The formula seemed to work and when the internet began to take hold we realized it was the perfect vehicle to take our approach to an even wider audience, so we began MusickEd.com.

Today, enthusiasts all over the world use our software and teachers have adopted our Discovery Series as part of their own curriculum. In May we will be launching a subscription service and a new 'Kore Series' followed by a Jazz Series (later this summer).

I hope that our success will pave the way for future educators to be innovative in their thinking, innovative in their teaching, and innovative in helping the profession seek more opportunities outside of the traditional classroom. Technology indeed has never been more important to music education, but if we strive only to reach that 20% - we will have sold ourselves very, very, short....again.