Travis J. Weller

To say I have been buried and been behind – including postings on the blog – this fall is like saying “Sales for Chrysler have been a little down lately”.  There have been a lot of busy things happening, a lot of demanding things happening, and some good things happening in there too.  Parts of my studies at Kent State this fall have included a Seminar in Music Education Class that has given me plenty to think of.  It has been interesting getting to some of the writings of Randall Allsup, and revisiting a few entrenched beliefs I have thanks to Bennett Reimer.  Though he is new to me,  the following is inspired by the writing of Steven Kelly and his book “Teaching Music in an American Society”.  First of all, it is a great read – I would recommend it to any teacher educator in music programs.  Kelly really brings a great lens to examine our profession from the standpoint of political, socioeconomic, and cultural perspectives that is very revealing.  This post has been brewing for a few weeks after reading some thoughts by good friend and colleague Dr. Joseph M. Pisano over at Mustech.net.  Some food for thought for those of you on your lunch break…

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I need to keep evolving.  That means staying current, and that means staying up with what these youngsters are listening to.  So it requires some time on my part and sometimes painfully enduring the contrived chord progressions and hollow lyrics of any number of artists that students feel compelled to ask me to listen to.  So I decided I would be proactive and make the commitment on my time – so I watched the Grammy Awards.

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