Michelle-isms

I have been engaged in meaningful research and introspection about my role as a musician and educator recently. There are so many opinions regarding societal wellbeing, and the correct decision, with regards to education. I think we can all agree that quality educators are "essential providers" in the overall wellbeing of our nation's children, whether "virtually" until things are safe, or "live" despite the risks.

Children need teachers. Good teachers. Caring teachers. Invested teachers.

Children need means for expression that transcends words and convention. Children are not adults, and cannot be expected to carry the stresses of today as adults. Their pain, however, is real and tangible.

Listening to this beautiful talk, from the paradigm of an artist, I was brought to an epiphanous moment of profound understanding that "I can do more".

I can create a place, a space, where they can grieve and mourn: a loss of childhood - a disrespect and lack of acceptance for diversity - a global pandemic that has stolen mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents, friends, valued humans - a system that has stolen money from the public education system and misused is for unintended agendas that have nothing to do with the furtherance of a civilized, culturally sensitive, globally intelligent society - the overwhelming stressors of food scarcity - a healthcare system bursting in overexertion of resources - the inability to safely see friends and "do kid things".

I can do more - we can do more.

Lisa Godwin mentioned a common project that kids engage in, when returning to elementary classrooms - where they create a diorama of sorts, which is reflective of their lives, and identity. Wouldn't it be so cool, if we could introduce the possibilities of creating a "soundscape" in our Middle School and High School classrooms. Students can use pop, hiphop, poblano, classical, country, folk, street or nature sounds or themselves and their original compositions - whatever musical identity they embrace! The goal is to create a diverse soundscape using clips that they put together, which helps them process, and express - and learn new technical skills. This would take a couple of weeks, which could buy much needed time for teachers to understand what their real plan is.

We can do more... together... but it will take unexplored alternatives, that come from our hearts, and pe*****te theirs and take them to a place of safety and hope.

Please take the time to watch Lisa Godwin's TED Talk: How Teachers Can Help Students Navigate Through Trauma.

If you like this, or other videos, or blog posts, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel, https://lnkd.in/evTCxzi and "like" Michelle-isms on Facebook, or send me your feedback, through my website: www.michellerimoli.com, with suggestions!

Much love to you and yours, and sending my heartfelt hopes for your safety! Michelle Rimoli

How teachers can help students navigate trauma "To make a difference in the life of a child ... I made the commitment to tell my personal story," says educator Lisa Godwin. In this moving talk, she shares her experience of overcoming childhood trauma with the quiet, unwavering support of a teacher and school counselor -- and shows how educators....

Read this article this morning, and felt it was a perfect supplement to the “thought organizing/self organizing” concepts we have been learning this week in the Invested Musician MasterCourse with Andrew Bain and Rupal Bain- more thoughts to come, about how this can also translate to interactions with students ... but I wanted to share, as maybe you have some meaningful insights that you can share with me!

How to Keep the Critic in Your Head From Wrecking Your Practice Session Whether through books like The Little Engine That Could or TV shows like Sesame Street, I think many of us

Hi friends!

Let’s talk about the indelible imprint that music made on my soul, and why it’s important for us to seek after that, in our interactions with our students.

Falling in love with music-making is often not inclusive of perfection, rather the result of exploration, experience, and a recognition of feeling. It is a product of seeing a place to exist within the sound, and the possibilities of contributing to those colors and textures. It's the ability to "see" a place for yourself, and an acceptance of that possibility.

My journey is not extraordinary, by industry standards, but is is a beautiful one, that has taken a very broken girl, to a place where she understands the virtue of healing, and helping others. My journey is a colorful one, an authentic one, a relatable one, an ordinary one - with what I consider extraordinary results of fulfillment and wholeness.

In my relationship with sound, I learned to say everything that I could not "say" out loud. I learned to translate every song of birds, every ounce of emotional pain, the effervescence of pure joy, the menacing darkness of anger, the feeling of a cool breeze as it grazed the side of my cheek, the smell of rain.

But first, I needed to fall in love, and acknowledge the power of that love.

Check out my latest video here:

https://youtu.be/KXXA-dHEAs4

If you like this, or other videos, or blog posts, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel, www.youtube.com/michellerimoli and "like" Michelle-isms on Facebook, or send me your feedback, through my website: www.michellerimoli.com, with suggestions, or words of encouragement!

The Day(s) I Fell in Love Let’s talk about the indelible imprint that music made on my soul, and why it’s important for us to seek after that, in our interactions with our students. F...

Hi friends! Please visit Michelle-isms, to view my latest video: Me, Titles, Shields and Why's, where we explore the impact of titles and labels on our influence and possibilities. Its an introduction to the conversation about how music education can be used as a vessel for healing, learning, and extending our abilities to reach and inspire the next generation of ambassadors for our art form.

https://youtu.be/LT7ttyS43Cc

If you like this, or other videos, or blog posts, I would love for you to subscribe to my YouTube Channel, www.youtube.com/michellerimoli and “like” Michelle-isms on Facebook, or send me your feedback, through my website: www.michellerimoli.com, with suggestions, or words of encouragement!

Me, Titles, Shields, and Why's The impact of titles and labels on our influence and possibilities. How music education can be used as a vessel for healing, learning, and extending our abil...

Music is Like…. Diving in to a world of Colors, Textures, Characters and Feelings within the Realm of Sound

In previous entries, we established that although “Music-speak” is important, for an understanding of traditional terminology and notation, it is also a confusing, and often a "non-repeatable” concept for the young learner.

For example, What is a crescendo… really? Yes, you are supposed to amplify the projection of sound. Is it stronger, or louder… how much so, and how fast should it progress? How can I remember?

Lets take the term “Allegro”. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines is as “A brisk lively tempo”. www.musictheory.org.uk, defines the term as “fast”. www.8notes.com states, “ Allegro - Fast, lively; also - cheerful-ly, joyful-ly, with joy. Originally understood in the Baroque period as 'joyfully, cheerfully', the term has changed over the years and now generally relates to tempo - fast and lively.”

So is the Allegro like a bunny skipping through the grass, a fiery dart soaring through the sky, or a wild stallion galloping fiercely through the open prairie to escape capture? All are "fast", but all would possess a vastly different environment of sound.

Can a young learner replicate tempo with accuracy and regularity without context?

What if, in addition to reviewing traditional musical terminology, when introducing a student to a piece of music, we initially perform the piece, or play a recording, as context for exploration. Our student should listen with their eyes closed. Then, we ask the following questions:

1. If you could see the sound, what color would it be?

2. If you could touch the sound, how would it feel under your fingers?

3. If you could feel it in your heart, what emotion would it be?

4. If you could embody it, what character would you experience?

By asking those questions, and having a student answer in their own words, you have empowered them to assign context, setting, atmosphere, and character to the music. You have taught them about “Character Cues”

They write their character cues on a sticky note, and place it over the music. Now each time they approach the piece, they can be reminded that the piece was a soft heather blue, fluffy and warm to the touch, it was soothing, and gentle, but also filled with openness and inviting. The piece was like a lonely moon that rose from behind the dark mountain silhouette, and provided light and hope to an otherwise dreary and cold night.

Why…

1. Obscure musical terms are forgettable, because they are not anchored in a feeling that a young learner can seek after.

2. When a young music-maker gets nervous, the first thing that leaves the room, is short term memory (obscure musical terms).

3. The music then becomes ink on a page, rather than a means for communicating a message or evoking an emotional response in their audience.

4. It is difficult to replicate ink – it is difficult not to replicate texture, color and feeling.

What I have found, in my years of teaching is the following:

1. When a student has a routine, a process to follow, during a performance opportunity, it takes them to a place of comfort and familiarity. For horn players, particularly, it becomes very important, because of the number of potential “pitfalls” that await.

2. If the Character Cues are on a sticky note, and you train the student to read it before playing a piece, you train them in the process.

3. They are reminded of the following:
a. Empty
b. Breathe a deep cleansing breath
c. Tempo (sing the song in your head, as you
briefly tap the tempo on the tip of your nose)
d. Color
e. Texture
f. Character
g. Feeling

4. By the time they have gone through their “steps” they have reduced the level of anxiety associated with the performance, and have taken themselves to a place of familiarity. They know this place, because they created it, and have interacted within it many times. It has nothing to do with the ink, the symbols, rather an environment that is uniquely theirs.

5. As a teacher, it is much easier to ask a student, based on their answers, “did it appear to be (color)? If not, what color did you create? Was it fluffy, or slick and cold, like ice? Was it gentle and inviting, or angry and scary? Did it feel like a ball pit, or soft summer grass? By steering the student back to their character cues, they are able to replicate their performance vision, with greater accuracy, because once again, it is a place they saw and felt, and created.

6. Students become much more consistent in their performance practice and communicating a musical message, because their process always took them to a place that transcended the fear or failure.

7. This is particularly effective in a group setting, because a director can develop a collaborative concept map with the members of the ensemble, so that there is one compatible vision for musical storytelling, amongst the group. In addition to the character cues, a Director can establish a story, and each instrument group has a role to play. At any moment, they can ask “who are you in the story?” and the students can then understand whether their musical role is that of a protagonist (melody), antagonist (countermelody), carpet (harmony), or other environmental elements (fire, rain, wind, etc). They can write the descriptors over the top of the music line, to remind them of context.

This is, by no means, a replacement for understanding musical notation, or fundamental technique. It is a strategy for establishing a deliberate, relatable, repeatable, and memorable, performance practice that improves performance consistency, and teaches the young learner to connect with the realm of sound in a way that allows them to grow into compelling and memorable storytellers.

Please send me a message, sharing your experience, after trying to use Character Cues, and visit www.michellerimoli.com for more strategies and perspectives for teaching young music-makers!

How can we help create an inclusive classroom that reflects the diversity of our communities?

The following are thoughts associated with an article, Social Justice and Music Education: The Call for a Public Pedagogy (Allsup & Shieh, 2012).

“Having the courage to call injustice by the name can be the first step toward changing the situation. Music Teachers are in a special position to stand up for others.”(Allsup & Shieh, 2012)

This article cuts to the core of the intersection between the educator, the creator, the student and the advocate. It reveals the essence of the educator’s “contract” or stewardship to care and act in the best interests of the students they are entrusted with.

Allsup & Shieh begin by sharing their experience as two gay music educators growing up in the Midwest. The humiliation they endured through name-calling at the hands of not only students, but teachers. The shared another experience of five male students, in one of their urban high schools, who decided to come to school wearing high heels, and were attacked in the school cafeteria, causing their subsequent expulsion from school – but no consequence was levied upon their attackers. Later in the article, they elaborate that the culture of the school dictated the perception that they “deserved” the beating, for dressing inappropriately.

As part of a system, specifically the education system, teachers are often counseled to keep a low social profile and just do their jobs. Teachers often will not express a sentiment of advocacy for a social cause for fear of retribution and consequence to their career. Music teachers particularly, are encouraged to “stay in their lane”, as the issues often have nothing to do with music.

This article challenges the perceived safety in silence. In our silence, are we encouraging an environment of safety, emotional and social safety, within out classrooms. Is the classroom about the grade, or evaluation? Is the classroom a place where all call feel safe in their vulnerability.

Teachers face an “Imperative to Care”. It is not only a teacher’s job to teach the requirements of the subject matter, but also to recognize impediments to learning and safety, due to existing injustices to teachers and students, around them. None of that involves staying in any one lane, rather hovering to and fro to fully understand the classroom, the students, and ensure the culture is permissive of creation.

A teacher that can stand against social injustices, is willing to transcend the space of notes, rhythms, to embrace the challenges that potentially impact a student’s ability to create. They can ask the tough questions, for the sake of a collaborative understanding of diversity, and the goal of lowering the tolerance of injustice. The will have the courage to program socially significant literature, and discuss how it came to be, as a means for additional dialogue about a student’s potential role as a champion for justice. Through the realm of sound, there can be inclusion, diversity, and advocacy. It is a process that teaches students to scratch beneath the surface, and become aware of their surroundings, to exercise their voice in advocacy of others who may be less privileged.

Ultimately, as educators, we must listen to our students, to become aware of and understand their challenges, without judgment or condemnation. We must put in the time to truly, reflect on whether our classroom management or practices, create an inclusive environment, or whether these practices diminish our students and inadvertently create social castes. Allsup & Shieh state “It is important to recognize that while it is necessary to name injustices done to groups of people, this can also result in affixing labels to individuals, regardless of our intent. Each of us lives uniquely at the intersection of multiple cultures and multiple selves, some privileged, some not. While it is our right to name (and rename) ourselves, it is quite another thing to be labeled by someone else”.

We must speak out against factors that have the potential to create pain and subsequent scarring, to a child’s development, intellectually, creative or social. We must be open to this, and shelve whatever apprehensions we make have, before entering the classroom, pick it up on the way home, and engage in the personal development that will transform you into their champion.

Our classrooms must provide a safety for expression, and recognize the cultural, ethnic, gender, intellectual diversities, which help shape the environment. Then and only then, can a kid feel like they are “seen”; there is a place for them in your classroom, and they are safe to open their hearts to the music, which in turn leads to the realm of the extraordinary. But is starts with us.

Allsup, R. E., & Shieh, E. (2012). Social Justice and Music Education: The Call for a Public Pedagogy. Music Educators Journal, 98(4), 47–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432112442969

Social Justice and Music Education: The Call for a Public Pedagogy - Randall Everett Allsup, Eric Shieh, 2012 At the heart of teaching others is the moral imperative to care. Social justice education begins with adopting a disposition to perceive and then act against in...

My thoughts on Mr. Pareto and that 80/20 Principle...

Firstly, I have loved digging in to extensive reading regarding this principle; different perspectives on success and the need to grapple with our feelings on failure, for the sake of growth. I loved the constant emphasis in every article that I read, on the fact that failure is a necessary component of success.

I feel that the process of being a music-maker, a creator of sorts, requires vulnerability, in order to transcend the ordinary. With that, comes some emotional attachment to my craft. Initially, this emotional attachment became a paralyzing impediment. I was unable to perform in front of others because I was afraid they would hate me. I was afraid music hated me, because I was not perfect. I had very thin skin.

I have since become balanced in this perspective, by my teaching. In teaching, I must create an environment wherein my students feel safe to make mistakes. I am constantly reminding them that mistakes are like roadkill – they must keep driving, and that each time they allow themselves to make a mistake, they are one step closer to getting it right. In my teaching world, there is never something “bad” rather, we call them opportunities for improvement. After saying this hundreds of times per week, I have to begun to internalize this lesson within myself, and my skin has thickened significantly. I realize that perfection is not entirely realistic, but a willingness to grow will get the needle moving in the right direction.

Constructive criticism, is simply a lens under which we can explore a different perspective that was perhaps unrecognized. But, I don’t believe we can be a creator and critic concurrently, we must shelve one, in order to excel with the other. Self awareness and evaluation can come later, once we have stepped away from our vulnerable state in creativity.

When I owned an insurance and financial services agency, in sales training, we were taught that for every 100 phone calls, you will get 20 people to answer the phone, for every answered call, 4 will engage in a conversation, and of those four, one would result in a sale. I began to celebrate the rejections, because it meant that I was running the clock and coming closer to the opportunities. I also resolved to skew those statistics in my favor. I didn’t have time to make that many calls, so I refined my process. I came up with a reasonable script, and practiced my pitch in the mirror in the evenings. I collected data, and came up with preparatory steps, to prime the conversation before even making the call. I identified the windows of time, which were most conducive to success, and planned my call schedule around those times. Ultimately, it yielded a significant amount of success, and I received much recognition. It was not because I was a great salesperson, rather because I planned for success, and embraced every rejection, as an opportunity to refine my process and improve myself.

I don’t know that I can boast a significant level of confidence. But what I know, is that if I believe in my “why’s” and seek after them, with passion, I am seldom deterred, . I have learned that if I make it about myself, it never works out well. But if I allow myself to be a vessel, whether in providing a contribution to the realm of sound, or providing a moment of enlightenment to a student, then I did what I was suppose to do, and my cause was true. This has helped me significantly with terrible performance anxiety – if I remove the emotional attachments of being good or bad, then I am able to be a contributor – if it doesn’t work as well as I had hoped, then it is simply an opportunity for improvement where I can seek with earnestness, to improve my deliverable in order to provide a quality contribution.

In my world I have resolved that things are just what they are. Suck is temporary, but growth is continuous, if you allow it to be. I hope to always be a student of opportunity and growth, because if so, then the extraordinary may lie within my realm of possibility.

Good afternoon Friends!

I have created and posted the following YouTube videos in order to help the Peeps with some guided practice. They will be a very effective way to reinforce the core skills needed for playing.

1. Fundamentals: Scales are Like your ABCs:
https://youtu.be/4ewsTuq8Hmw 7:37

2. Fundamentals: Intro to Key Signatures:
https://youtu.be/uoAtxe2xOZg 3:30

3. Fundamentals: About Flats:
https://youtu.be/EtsrRDeTmcg 5:52

4. Fundamentals: About Sharps:
https://youtu.be/j9nYLvscJcI 7:31

5. Fundamentals: Scale Building Games - Around the Entire Circle:
https://youtu.be/Tdn5O75DFYc 10:56

These particular videos are not Horn-Specific, so feel free to share them as you consider beneficial.

Additionally, I have posted the 3 part, Teacher Resource Series: "Playing is Like..." which offers Unconventional Strategies for the beginning Hornist.

1. Playing is Like.. Kissing. https://youtu.be/WGvOrxnk-n0
2. Playing is Like ...Whistling. https://youtu.be/HuOb7Qd_snc
3. Playing is Like... Pooping https://youtu.be/mBuopJlqjDM

Best,

Michelle

PS (I would love it if you could subscribe to my YouTube Channel...hint, hint)

Scales are like ABCs Join me for this video primer, intended to prepare you to learn scales. Its as simple as saying your ABCs!

The thing About Luck...

Previously, I felt that using the term “luck” with respects to successes was borderline-offensive; that it diminished the effort and resilience required to bring an idea to fruition. I now see things quire differently.

But, Luck is in everything. Some call instances of luck blessings, karma, or tender mercies. Whatever you choose to call it, as I studied the topic, I particularly appreciated the following insights:

1. Rebecca Webber’s article in Psychology Today, wherein she discusses the different stages of preparedness and choice, which primes the way for the optimization of “luck”. Its not just luck that affords us the break, it’s preparing your mindset, in a way that is flexible, in order to receive the opportunity and be able to act upon it.

2. Steve Tobak’s article, in Entrepreneur, "How Successful People Make Their Own Luck", summarizes luck as “…luck is when opportunity meets desperation.” Meaning, if we are too comfortable, whether it be physically or mentally, we will likely not have the sense of urgency to take the opportunity yielded by said luck, and create an extraordinary outcome. In order for luck to be remarkable, there must be a sense of urgency for the gain.

3. I loved the quote from Anthony Tjan in Dorie Clarke’s Forbes article, How to Build a Lucky Network, wherein he discusses three attitudes needed to build a “lucky network: humility, curiosity, and optimism. Today’s social and business climate implies that success is for the “go-getters”, but real go-getters are sensitive to the world around them, in the sense that they must be aware, hopeful for the possibilities of newness, and humble enough to understand the need to continuously evolve.

The recent past has brought some crushing defeats for me. With prolonged illness, that limits my ability to perform optimally, the sudden, unexpected passing of one of my beloved high school students, lack-luster grad school auditions which caused my narrow rejection from both assistantships for which I auditioned, and the overwhelming task of trying to salvage my grades through a murky mind, so that I do not close the door of possibilities of starting graduate studies in the fall, while homeschooling by "cabin-fevered" children have left me impotent. Impotent to creativity, impotent to effectiveness, impotent to clarity.

Studying this topic helped me understand that I didn’t have to choose the morass of impotence. That I could use my grief to fuel my progress. That I could find purpose in completion. That I could awaken and find motivation and clarity, even for short amounts of time, in order to grow into a better version of myself. Just a short time ago, I learned of new, and more vibrant possibilities, within a program which I knew was ideal for me, but that I had no hopes of attending, due to cost. I recognized the luck involved in the expansion my realm of possibilities, and appreciated that my mind and heart were beginning to mend enough, to have the courage to move forward and accept this opportunity, and make the move. It will represent a new set of legal battles, and the uncertainty of a new environment, but I am ready to move with courage and resolve toward the realization of this new version of my best self.

I think in the past I was willing to self-sabotage, to the effect that it eliminated all possibilities for luck to have an impact on my creative and professional realms. I was determined to beat luck to the punch, but shutting the door, just in case it never came... because then I was the rejector, not the rejected.

I now realize that I need not fear the occurrence of those "sparkly lucky moments", but I should anxiously prepare for them, and keep an open mind to the possibilities that they may represent, to continue on the creative journey of growing and learning.

Hi everyone! I am delighted to invite you to visit the first Michelle-isms video on YouTube: Scales are Like your ABCs.

https://youtu.be/4ewsTuq8Hmw

I will be posting a number of short videos as a learning resource for our next generation! Give it a like, and subscribe if you feel you or your students can benefit from the resources.

Scales are like ABCs Join me for this video primer, intended to prepare you to learn scales. Its as simple as saying your ABCs!

Its Not About You… or Me

Many times, as performers or educators, we are deceived into the belief that our craft is about us. Our audience has come to a venue to see us perform. Our students have come, because we are smart, talented and quite frankly…. Great.

Sadly, the reality is quite far from that.

Our audiences take time from their busy existence, and money from their discerning bank account, to be moved. To be taken on a soul-stirring journey that takes them far from their actual “place”; to be given cause to feel beautifully vulnerable and seen; to feel brave and powerful; to be mesmerized, enchanted, indulged.

Our students often arrive at lessons utterly terrified to disappoint, but thoroughly famished for inspiration and understanding. They are abundantly prepared to don the super-suit of enlightenment and belief that they may possess the needed super-powers to accomplish all that comes before them.

No one really cares where you studied and with whom. Name dropping is equally effective as dropping your life savings into the ocean’s abyss, and expecting the exponential returns to rain down upon your perfectly coiffed head in the form of a golden crown.

I realize these statements loan themselves to misinterpretation, therefore I will clarify, you do need to be prepared, and mastery of your craft is a requirement. However, what if we were to approach our engagement with music-making as that of a master storyteller.

Members of our audience are our companions. In the utterance of a delicate passage, we deliver a gentle caress to a deeply loved soul. The excitement and power of an unyieldingly brave passage awaken a long-suppressed call to feel, to your companions. Our journey together results in an utterly exhausting, deeply satisfying, and unforgettable experience that leaves an indelible impression on our souls.

Your student walks in, and before starting, you ask them how they are doing… really… and remind them of your unyielding commitment to never ask them to do something that you don’t already know that they can do. Difficulty is part of that journey, but you will never set them up to fail, and you will always extend your hand when they stumble. You will be their foremost rump-kicker, but also their fiercest champion.

The process of learning and creating must be a safe one, where vulnerability can exist, for only then can the extraordinary take place. An effervescence of spirit must exist within the storyteller, to transform the environment into one where everyone feels like they can belong.

Every time we engage our craft, it must be done in furtherance of the art form. We are simply a vessel, a conduit, a messenger. We are not the message, and it cannot end with us.

For endless generations, creators have been reminded that they are participating in a dying artform. With the political and educational climates as they are, the question of funding is often one which can plague and consume our thoughts, leave us hopeless, and quash the creative impulse.

I invite you to consider that the answer lies within your audience, office and/or classroom. The goal of being a master-communicator is not for entertainment, rather inspiration, awakening, vulnerability, and inspiration. Within your environment, you will find the next generation of ambassadors that will give a perennial furtherance to our art forms. They are current or future legislators, philanthropists, parents, performers, aficionados. When you give utterance to your message, it is with the urgency of the moment, because you realize it is a moment of unabashed candor. You make eye contact and captivate, because it is done in furtherance of our art form, and nothing can be more beautifully true.

If we approach our craft with absolute altruism, then the life of the message we communicate will be without end, because in it, we have inspired those in our midst, and made the world around us just a little bit better.

M