Dear colleague,
“Here at Musora, we believe that everyone would be better off if they played a musical instrument.”
When I heard this line in the middle of a jazz band improv video I came across the other day, I immediately heard what the creator was doing: cultivating the Value belief in his listeners. It was the miniest of mini-sermons, but on either side of it was abundant “proof is in the pudding” evidence of what he was describing.
One thing master teachers do is speak *and* demonstrate the reality that mastering a discipline — chemistry, art, social studies, language, writing, computer science — is never a loss. Whenever a student grows, in any of our classes, they gain a capacity that, outside of the subjects we teach, cannot be gained.
- Growing more competent with your instrument in high school band creates a quality of life that cannot be had outside of growing toward mastery in music.
- Building knowledge in physics creates a way of seeing the world that, apart from growing toward mastery in physics, you just can't access.
- Practicing the art and science of historical argumentation via Pop-Up Debates has a uniquely expansive effect on the human soul. There are myriad other ways to expand the human soul, but there's a certain kind of expansion that only the study and practice of history and argument provides.
And to be clear, what I'm saying is that as teachers we want to both speak to this (via mini-sermons) and design experiences that demonstrate it.
In the jazz improv video I mentioned, this is such an experience. A brilliant jazz band hears a mostly unfamiliar Nirvana song and, in the space of minutes, creates sounds and sights never before seen.
Why is this possible for the artists? Because they have apprenticed themselves to the mastery of music. And as you watch, notice how the sights and sounds of this mastery of a discipline draws you in, whether you're a music buff or, like me, you're not.
In terms of the Rainbow of Why,* think about what we're seeing here.
- Notice that the video creates a kind of Value that is waaaaaay deeper than Utility and Relevance.
- Does this video make the world better (pro-social)? I think so.
- Do I feel a sense of respect for these musicians? Yes.
- Are these folks autonomous, independent, demonstrating agency? Like only jazz musicians can.
- Is it new? Haha, yes.
- Enjoyable, pleasurable, meaningful, awesome? For sure.
Can we create tastes of these colors of the Rainbow in regular secondary classrooms like yours and mine? We not only can — we do.
The goal, then, is to create more of them. To gain a way of seeing learning where the creation of these kinds of moments is second nature. And the way I do that is by bringing my mind back, again and again, to the deep Value of what we're offering in school.
Teaching right beside you,
DSJR
*P.S. Rainbow of Why mugs and posters are available here.
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