“It’s like a song or an album is made and it’s almost like it has a radar to find the person when they need it the most.” -Jon Batiste acceptance speech at the 2022 Grammy Awards Ceremony
Jon Batiste, singer, composer, dancer, musician, and humanitarian extraordinaire recently received 11 Grammy nominations and 5 Grammy awards at the 2022 Grammy Awards Ceremony. His positive outlook on life and his music lifts us up as in the song “Freedom.” “It’s All Right” soothes the soul. “Cry” provides an honest commentary on life’s struggles.
In his acceptance speech for the album of the year, We Are, he spoke of the healing quality of music and how the perfect song has a way of finding us – like radar- just when we need it most. Do you have a song that found you just when you needed it most? I know I have- many times over!
Listen to Jon Batiste’s acceptance speech for album of the year here:
Watch the video of “Freedom” here:
Watch his touching and surprising interview on CBS Sunday Morning here:
Fountain near the abbey at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington.Edgewood Baptist Church, Edmonds, WA. One of the Edmonds teachers kept my afternoon energy going with this lovely fruit plate. Because….. Outfits!St. Martin’s University in OlympiaSt. Martin’s beautiful campus.Teacher Hannah Kyeong Cho and three brothers-all enrolled in lessons with her. Laura with Hanna’s two sons- both pianists- in Olympia.Vegan on the road with tofu banh mi.Back in my studio with DelaneyUkes ready for the high school class at APL.A Music class at APL.Practice TimeMy guard cat Simba – he’s happy to see my car back in the driveway.
March is a frenzied month for Washington music teachers! Many teachers and students across the state participate in the WSMTA (Washington State Music Teachers Association) Music Artistry Program, or MAP for short. This event takes place at multiple venues across the state and entails teachers registering their students to play for visiting artists who travel to chapters all over the state to hear performances from hundreds of students. The visiting artists provide written and verbal comments and also work at the piano for a few minutes with each student. I am a WSMTA visiting artist and recently spent six days adjudicating students from the Edmonds and Olympia chapters of WSMTA. In those six days, I put some miles on my Leaf, stayed in hotels, and worked with 15 teachers and over 125 students- around eight hours each day.
The days zoomed by with outstanding performances from piano students of all ages! Students performed music by the likes of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Amy Beach, Scott Joplin, and Chopin. Upon reflection, I am inspired by the dedication and high level of professionalism of the organizers and teachers, the hard work and polished performances of the students, and of course, the never ending parental support. It truly takes a village- a musically minded village. These types of events are not easy to pull off as there are many moving parts.
I barely caught my breath after the whirlwind of MAP events and headed back into my studio for my own practice and to resume lessons with my 23 private students. I also jumped right back in at the Academy for Precision Learning in the University District where I teach several weekly general music classes to grades K-12.
I eagerly await the page proofs of my forthcoming book (Music in the Westward Expansion: Songs of Heart and Place on the American Frontier), but am told that McFarland (the publisher) is working steadily behind the scenes and the book should be ready in the next few months. (Sigh….patience has never been one of my virtues). In the meantime, there are classes to teach, lessons to plan, and music to practice.
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Emigrants Crossing the Plains (Albert Bierstadt), 1869
Our long journey thus began in sunshine and song
Peter H. Burnett, May 22, 1843
For the past two years, I’ve been researching the history and music of the early American West for an ongoing research project I call Heart and Place: Music of the Westward Expansion. The history of the American West brims with inspiring stories, musical diversity, artistic creativity, and valuable life lessons relevant to our modern world.
Today I’m sharing four video clips featuring short narratives and music of the Westward Expansion -played on four instruments. I have played this music for concerts in Oregon, Washington, and Montana, and even at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. I’m looking forward to working with this music and history for many years to come.
Hear IT! Sing IT! Move IT! is available as a Pre-K or K-5 Residency! Laura will visit your school and teach the songs and dances in a classroom setting!
Hear It! Sing It! Move It!is my latest project, the online package includes a booklet and recordings featuring 15 North American folk songs drawn from English, French, Latin American, Caribbean, Canadian, and Sioux traditions. The complete recordings and the PDF booklet, bursting with lead sheets, a teacher’s guide and links for further exploration, are available gratis on this dedicated page!
The project, funded by a Teacher’s Enrichment grant from the Music Teachers National Association, was originally intended for preschoolers, ages 3-5. However, I think anyone, young at heart, will enjoy the recordings and the booklet!
Go ahead, dig into the guide, sing or play your way through the songs on your own, or share them with a special person in your life. Feel free to pass on the link to children, grandchildren, teachers, friends, musicians, librarians, or your next door neighbor. It’s up for all to enjoy!
Fourteen performances in four days in six different venues! (Sounds like a country song) I’ve just returned to Seattle after presenting my program,Heart and Place, Music of the Westward Expansion, in Great Falls, MT last week. The week involved hauling around a guitar, fiddle, Cheyenne Courting Flute, and sometimes a full size keyboard, and amp along with samples of C.M. Russell artwork.
The C.M. Russell Museum sponsored the residency which included programs in middle and high schools, as well as an evening performance in the museum.
The highlight was playing a concert in the intimate setting of the museum for around eighty people on a beautiful Yamaha grand. There was something magical about playing 19th Century music surrounded by Russell’s artwork and artifacts from the same era. Many people in the audience were from my hometown of Choteau. Choteau is 50 miles down the road from Great Falls. Thanks to all who made the journey down the road!
I can’t say enough about the dedicated arts professionals in Great Falls including the music and art teachers in the classrooms, along with the Music and Art Supervisor for Great Falls Schools, Dusty Molyneaux and Eileen Laskowski, Education and Programs Manager for the C.M. Russell Museum.
I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it.
Girls with Guitars! Last week, I taught a beginning guitar day camp that introduced these young ladies to the guitar. Thanks Ruby (my daughter), in the pink shorts, for helping me this week! We had a blast. We met for two hours every day Monday-Friday and our week culminated in a performance for family and friends on the deck.
Our songs for the week included….. Firework by Katy Perry, You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift, This Land is Your Land by Woodie Guthrie, and a traditional camp song… Ain’t No Bugs on Me.
I’d like to give a shout out to Rob Hampton of Heartwood Guitar. I love Rob’s site and frequently pull from his 600+ chord charts for inspiration. Thanks a million Rob for all of the great work you do! (I’m convinced you never sleep) These girls certainly appreciated learning such cool and accessible songs!
Here are two wonderful links to the song: Girls with Guitars who was written by Mary Chapin Carpenter performing it here. Also check out the incomparable Wynnona Judd performing it here. Oh, to be that fierce on stage!
Everyone love guitar, including French composer, Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944), who wrote this piece for solo piano: Guitare , which I recorded a couple of years ago on Women with a Past.
Remember that old song, I don’t Want to Work? Well, last week, I got paid to bang on the drum all day! Among my music offerings including performances and private lessons, I work in communities near and far as a teaching artist. This means I utilize my skills and knowledge as a music educator and performer to tailor music experiences for a variety of audiences. For example, I’ve crafted tambourines and danced the Tarantella with elementary students, I’ve taught singalongs at retirement homes, and I’ve taught teenage Spanish classes the Salsa!
This past week, I taught classes in bucket drumming as part of an arts camp offered to elementary aged kids and teens through the Shoreline Lake Forest Park Arts Council. I was one of several teaching artists offering unique arts experiences including, movie making/editing, theater improv, print making, fiber arts, cartooning, silhouette creation, and cooking, to name a few. The goal of the camp, according to Kelly Lie, Shoreline Lake Forest Park Arts Education manager? The Three E’s: Expose, Experience, Experiment! I’ll say, the campers experienced the three E’s in a big way!
My class, Rhythm Explosion, included Latin American percussion, bucket drums, body percussion, and repurposing recycled materials into percussion instruments. I met with two groups of students each day for a week. The overall experience culminated in an Arts Showcase where all participants presented their work to family and friends. Our final performance included both improvisation and composed pieces.
The great thing about bucket drumming? It only requires a five gallon bucket, a pair of drum sticks, and imagination. (Ear plugs don’t hurt either!) There’s something cathartic about banging out rhythms in a group, or solo experience.
The work the students (with the help of some outstanding teachers) completed during the week was impressive. The showcase included a professional looking gallery of visual art along with a variety of live performances. Upon exiting the showcase, audience members were offered an icy cold fruit pop made by the culinary arts class.
Lorie Hoffman, executive director of the Shoreline arts council gave a presentation during the week about being an artist. She told us, “Making art makes my heart sing.” This week made my heart sing. I can’t help but think experiences like this have ripple effects and improve the world little by little, poco a poco.
“It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough—it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.”
–Steve Jobs, in introducing the iPad 2 in 2011
For more on bucket drumming, I encourage you to check out this clip:
One of the highlights of my week was teaching a the salsa in an elementary school next to a 4th grade Muslim girl who had a huge grin on her face the entire time. Her eyes were beaming as she gave me a big bear hug at the end of the class before heading out the door. In that moment of humanity, we were saying to each other, “I get you, and you get me.” I’ll never forget it.
I just spent one week in an elementary school in Shoreline- teaching a Cuban cultural/dance/and song workshop to 45 classes and 600 kids in all. This residency was made possible by a grant from a local arts organization, The Shoreline Arts Council. To say the least, it was rewarding, to take kids on a “classroom trip to Cuba.” I showed photos and videos of my trip, taught a tradition Yeruban song, a Spanish song, and taught the basic steps of two Cuban dance forms: Rumba, and Salsa. The previous week, I spent a day in a high school Spanish classroom giving the same workshop to 5 groups of high school seniors (150 students in all), yet another arts experience made possible with an arts grant.
You’ve heard it before, the arts transcends borders. When kids are exposed to the arts and culture through the arts, it broadens their world view, takes them outside of themselves, and makes them more compassionate human beings.
After one class, a second grader commented, “I see that even though a leader of a country can be thought of as not a nice person, that doesn’t mean the people that live there are bad.” Too true, my friend!
Here are some comments from the high school seniors:
M.K. I appreciated the opportunity to express myself through artistic movement
L.E. It was the most fun thing I’ve done in Spanish all year.
E.Z. It was cool to learn a tradition of another culture.
L.E. I’m glad I put myself out there to try it, it allowed me to be exposed to others.
Arts funding is currently under attack under our current administration. Please take a moment to read this article in the New York Times about the importance of arts and arts funding to our society.
Yves Saint Laurent The Perfection of Style is on exhibit at Seattle Art Museum,now through January 8!
Spent the morning in awe and giddy delight as I took in this amazing exhibit at SAM. Left inspired by the colors, the designs, the textures, the history, the process, the sparkles, the variety, the creative output, the elegance, the life, the style, and the genius of Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008).
Today’s recording: Cordoba from the Spanish Suite Andalucia by Ernesto Lecuona
Ruby with the Eckstein Senior Orchestra at Icicle Creek Retreat
Statue on grounds of Sleeping Lady near Leavenworth Washington
MP4
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This week’s recording is a Gershwin Prelude, Rubato. Rubato means to play with expressive freedom, a give and take of the tempo without altering the overall structure. (recorded on my Roland hand held digital recorder)
The first thing about middle schoolers, they eat a lot! As a chaperone on a recent Icicle Creek trip, most of the duties consisted of food shopping, feeding the kids, tucking them into their cabins at night, and letting them out of their cabins in the morning. Just over a week ago, I accompanied my daughter, Ruby, a member of the senior orchestra of Eckstein Middle School, to the snowy wonderland retreat at Icicle Creek/Sleeping Lady resort near Leavenworth, Washington. We were a group of 50 including the orchestra, coaches, the director, and chaperones.
Aside from a few Faulty Towers moments where we had to shuffle people in an out of rooms to make sure everyone had a place to sleep, the retreat was a huge success. The kids worked their tails off, rehearsing as much as 11 hours a day in the full orchestra, sectionals, and chamber groups.
I am in awe of the commitment of the director, Brad Smith, the students, the high school coaches, the professional instructors and the parents of all of these kids to make this all come together. It’s not just the support to pull of this weekend retreat, but the long-term commitment to music education. I listen and watch the students and I think of the weekly lessons, the daily practice, the extra rehearsals, the shlepping of instruments back and forth, the patience of the instructors, the juggling of schedules, the endless repetition in the practice room, and finally, the glorious music that is the end result of this team effort. Ultimately, the pursuit of music is an act of love on all parts, and it definitely takes a village.
Emigrants Crossing the Plains (Albert Bierstadt), 1869
Laura Dean: Musical Artist, Teacher, Author 