Music

If You’re Teaching Shakespeare, You Might Want to Start with Duke Ellington

If You’re Teaching Shakespeare, You Might Want to Start with Duke Ellington

In 1957, jazz legend Duke Ellington released his album Such Sweet Thunder, which is a collection of songs written in…
Wyclef Jean’s New Album Starts with a Poetic Indictment of Public Education

Wyclef Jean’s New Album Starts with a Poetic Indictment of Public Education

You ever notice how schools and learning are portrayed in music? It’s seldom well. Someone needs to analyze that. I’m…
You Do You, Music Nerds. So Says Neuroscience.

You Do You, Music Nerds. So Says Neuroscience.

I remember when reading Oliver Sack’s Musicophilia years ago being struck by one of the stories he told. He described…
Yo-Yo Ma on Learning Incrementally. Beautiful.

Yo-Yo Ma on Learning Incrementally. Beautiful.

Want an educational jolt? Watch the first four minutes of Yo-Yo Ma’s Tiny Desk performance, where he follows up his…
OK Go Has a Curriculum Based on Their Music Videos!!!

OK Go Has a Curriculum Based on Their Music Videos!!!

File this under “D” for “didn’t know I needed this in my life until I saw it.” OK Go, who…
Black Thought and the Value of Literature

Black Thought and the Value of Literature

When Black Thought performed his epic freestyle on Hot 97, the video hit 1M+ views within a day. I myself…
♡ for Teachers

♡ for Teachers

Love for teachers takes many forms, including the kind of fast-paced, twisted, and misogynistic kind of love doled out by…
If School Music Instruments Can Play Metallica, There’s Hope for Public Education

If School Music Instruments Can Play Metallica, There’s Hope for Public Education

You might not think much of classroom music instruments, but give them to the Roots and Metallica and watch what…
Einstein’s Advice to His 11-year-old Son on Learning

Einstein’s Advice to His 11-year-old Son on Learning

Better than school, Einstein writes, is for a child to become engulfed in the joy of doing something he loves.…
And this is How to Teach Writing in Science Class

And this is How to Teach Writing in Science Class

I used to do a project with my 9th grade English students where they’d rap literary critiques of Chaucer’s Canterbury…
Watch Kendrick Lamar Talk About his Composition Process

Watch Kendrick Lamar Talk About his Composition Process

Different rappers have different composition processes.  Some proudly don’t write anything down (Jay-Z, for example) and others are always scribbling…
Coltrane on Practice, Expression, and Being a Force for Good

Coltrane on Practice, Expression, and Being a Force for Good

In this interview with jazz legend John Coltrane, we gain brief insight into his practicing habits and how he views…
Aesthetic Learning through a Child’s Painting

Aesthetic Learning through a Child’s Painting

The International Museum of Children’s Art has a fantastic archive of powerful pieces by young people.  This painting of a…
Chuck Berry’s “School Days”…. Just Because

Chuck Berry’s “School Days”…. Just Because

The great Chuck Berry performed his classic song on television in 1958.  To assist in your inevitable urge to karaoke,…
Wynton Marsalis on Education

Wynton Marsalis on Education

The great trumpeter talks beautifully about the problem of competition in education, the value of historical understanding, and why music…
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