I took in the latest American Masters biographical essay about Johnny Carson on PBS this week and it brought back a flood of memories from my youth. If you get a chance, add i to the Tivo, you will not be disappointed.

My colleagues and I reminisce about Carson and the Tonight Show often; it's almost always with a sense of reverence, a bit of nostalgia, and a hint of melancholy. Inevitably, the conversation ends with one of us saying "I miss those guys."  So I thought I'd share a little story about our brush with the Tonight Show's drummer, Ed Shaughnessy. 

A few years back Bob Lawrence and I took a trip to spend a few days at Alfred Publishing in Los Angeles.  We were pitching the idea of putting their piano books online in the form an interactive web-interface. That meeting is a story for another time, but suffice it to say our vision did not jibe with their hedge-hog (a blessing in retrospect). On the morning of our return to Dallas we miscalculated our commute time to the airport and wound up missing the plane. If you know Bob (or at least knew him before he had 4 kids) you know that he'd be hot under the collar and I knew the best thing I could do was let him cool down. I went to grab a paper and a coffee for a few minutes and as I made my way back to our terminal, he saw me and shouted across the lobby "Euge! You'll never guess who I bumped into?!"  Literally as Bob said this, Ed Shaughnessy walked through the door with his bigger than life lamb-chops. I yelled "You're my hero!" to which Ed replied in disbelief, "That's what this guy just said!" 

It turned out Ed was on his way to Dallas on the flight we had re-booked. We spent the next two hours reminiscing about Johnny, Doc, and the Tonight Show years - "'the best gig anyone could ever have" he said. We must have been a good audience because he enthusiastically answered all of our goofy questions with the patience of a grandfather remembering 'the good old days'. We talked about the show's amazing variety of both musical and non-musical guests, Docs crazy outfits, and obscure bits like Stump the Band, which was always at its best when Ernie the trombonist didn't know the song, but 'could do the dance'  Ed told us they actually had to stop doing that bit because some people thought they were poking fun at the handicapped.  "We weren't making fun at all" he said, "that's just really how the guy danced!"

Our chat continued all the way through boarding and we found out he had also pitched an idea to Alfred Publishing saying, 'you guys must have something to get 2 days, I only got an hour". When everyone was seated on the plane Ed stopped by and chatted a few minutes more opening with "Fancy meeting you here". Upon landing in Dallas we exchanged contact information and he laid his hands on Bob's brand new son Gardner's head pronouncing "I give you rhythm".  It was a fit blessing.

Chalk another one up to 'the greatest thing about music is the people you meet through it'. Thanks to Ed for being so engaging and thanks to Johnny for all those great years.  I really miss those guys.

At DSM we often say 'one of the great things about music is the people you meet through it', and though we've never actually 'met', I have been a follower of Christopher Sutton on twitter and a fan of EasyEarTraining for quite a while. We blogged about them back in 2010 and ran a contest that gave away an EET app last year.  So when Christopher asked if I would write a guest post, I jumped at the opportunity.

There is little doubt that technology is infiltrating just about every facet of our lives.  Just look at how much change has occurred over the past 10 or 15 years in the way we access news, entertainment, and information.  Even our little corner of the archaic world (music education) is changing.  YouTube makes it easy for budding musicians to copy their heroes and we're seeing both current and future music teachers flock to Twitter to keep up with the latest thinking in the field. And applications like EasyEarTraining use technology to make it fun and convenient for students at all levels to practice this important component of musical learning.

As we've developed and now use our own music learning curriculum,  we're keenly aware that ear training plays an important role in a students' success. Our program uses a 3 step learning process on any of 39 instruments.  In step 2 we include ear training examples that coincide with the concepts learned in step 1 (which are then played in step 3).  Students who complete the quizzes & ear training questions correctly have a much better chance of accurately performing the songs in step 3.  In short, successful ear training leads to better application. 

Some students excel at ear training; to them it comes easily and naturally. Others (especially adult learners) find ear training to be somewhat tedious, unnerving, and even a little 'mysterious'.  For these folks and for most recreational musicians, apps like EasyEarTraining are an ideal mix of convenience and concept specific training. 

Through our Discover, Learn and Play program at The Dallas School of Music  we know that technology is here to stay and it's exciting to be at the forefront of advances in the field of music education. Perhaps that's why we feel we're kindred spirits with the folks at EET?! Together, we look forward to educating a growing number of music makers! 


Please visit EasyEarTraining and show them some love!

Ever see one of those posters like the one at left? They have headings like "Doctors"  or "Lawyers" followed by pictures of what people think they do.  I have been giving lots of thought to this idea from the music educator  perspective - what is a "music educator?" 

In my case,  I work at the Dallas School of Music and have been here for almost all of its 20 year existence.  It's a private music school.  We don't sell instruments or sheet music, we don't have 'group classes', and we don't have scholarships for 'gifted' students. We don't have a "board of directors", fund-raising performances, or after school programs at local junior highs.  We simply sell private music education to anyone who is interested in learning; all ages, and all levels of ability.  We also sell music education via the web with an online curriculum that reaches learners around the globe (so in a large way, the picture above applies to us far more than picture #1 below).  

I spend my days monitoring music-ed news, writing blogs, updating our social networks,  developing curriculum with great colleagues and creating incredible relationships with students... as I teach music.   I know that what I do on a daily basis is far different than what most music educators do, and that's just fine by me. 

The idea of selling music education is difficult to imagine for many. DSM's history is full of examples of people 'not getting it', from both within our profession and from the outside as well. There are even people in our own families who, like folks in those posters, often struggle with our work and vision. The examples are numerous and range from the funny to frustrating, yet we persevere. 

I interact with many passionate music teachers and advocates on twitter (#musiced) and I enjoy it immensely. I participate in #musiced chats, exchange ideas with some very important and influential educators/administrators from all over the world. I've even coordinated blog posts with contributors from near and far. I'm not sure many of these folks know exactly what I do, but that's ok - hopefully they will soon!  

Are you a music educator?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. What is a music educator? What is the perception of our profession?  I look forward to posting your responses and in the mean time - I thought I'd start the ball rolling with the following pictures: 

We first 'met' Troy Layman "virtually" in 2011. He had begun using The Kore Series and was inquiring about how to tune his saxophone.  Since then we've seen and heard his progress as he periodically checks in and sends us video updates. I asked if he would like to be featured in a blog and he agreed to answer my questions. I hope his story is inspiration to all of our users and to anyone of any age who thinks they may want to start learning music - enjoy!
Tell us a little about you and what made you start learning music at this point in your life?

I'm about a week away from my 42nd birthday. I have a wonderful wife and very advanced daughter who is 21 months old. They are my pride and joy. My profession is communications, and I have been working for the US Army Corps of Engineers in that role for about 12 years.  I enjoy hobbies such as computer games, shooting pool, Tae Kwon Do, riding motorcycles, playing chess, and my wife and I hope to start scuba diving lessons in the next few months!

Growing up, my family wasn't into music so I didn't have that much push to get into music myself, but I started playing the cornet (bass trumpet) when I was 10 years old. I only played for a few months before I lost interest and started spending time outside climbing trees and whatever instead of practicing.  I'm not sure exactly what sparked my interest to get back into music at this point in my life, but I remember watching Britain’s Got Talent and watching Julian Smith (my age) play the sax, and playing the sax for his daughter who is about my daughters age, so that may have been part of it. 

I was also looking for something special that I could do and enjoy and maybe share with other people. It's a little philosophical, but I feel something that can be enjoyed in most cases should be shared. I don't see myself playing in a band really, but I could see me playing at some weddings or special events for fun. I was on vacation the first week of September 2011, and the day we were leaving I told my wife Jessica that I was considering picking up an instrument of some sort. I have a very deep voice but I don't like how I sound singing. The only song I sing is for my daughter; it's by the Oak Ridge Boys called "Dream On". The words are perfect for a dad to sing to a baby girl.

I joked with my wife that I didn't want to be able to play and sing. When Jessica asked what I wanted to play, I wasn't really sure, but out of all the instruments that fit that description, the saxophone was the one that really piqued my interest the most. Once we were home from vacation I did a lot of web searching, listening to instruments and confirmed the saxophone was the instrument I wanted to play. 

I had originally set my mind on a soprano saxophone, but trying to locate a rental soprano with a trustworthy brand name was difficult since I didn't know which names were quality and which were only good for wall decorations. By this time I had signed up for the online classes with the Dallas School of Music and armed with some knowledge that Eugene Cantera shared, I rented an alto sax from Music and Arts. Since then I've been progressing at a slow pace, trying (probably too hard) to play the songs proficiently before moving to the next set of songs and lessons.

What is your biggest challenge in learning an instrument so far?

My biggest challenge overall so far was controlling the reed and stopping squeaks. The first several months I was beating myself up because my horn sounded like someone was assaulting a gaggle of geese from all of the squawks and chirps! I haven't 'mastered' it yet, but I seldom hear those bad sounds now. My current challenge is working with rhythms that include a mixture of 8th and quarter notes and rests. When I play along with the melody and background I can play them proficiently, but when I see the notes and rests in a new piece of music, I have trouble getting the timing correct on my own.

What do you find most fun about using the DLP Kore Series?

I enjoy the amount of music in each lesson for the students to practice before moving on to the next lesson. I've found that the Bits and Pieces and New Twists songs are usually not much of a challenge, but the Putting it all Together songs have a few spots that continue to trip me up and actually make me work for a few days to get all of the notes to sound acceptable. I'm my own worst critic, so I tend to really practice problem songs until I run them into the ground and get them right.

What can we do better to help your learning?

I have seen several people that are new saxophonists on forums looking for free songs, and the more experienced players often chastise them for not wanting to pay for the sheet music to a song. I think the reason new players are looking for free songs is they don't know what songs they could actually play at their current skill level and don't want to purchase a lot of songs only to find they are too hard and get frustrated. Perhaps DLP could provide a few song titles that people should be able to play at the end of each lesson or every couple of lessons to keep it interesting? For example, I found the sheet music and downloaded the background track to "Lily Was Here" by Dave Stewart and Candy Dufler. It's a too advanced for me at the moment, but I really enjoy the tune. Another tune I see a lot of new players asking for is "Careless Whisper". I don't mind paying for sheet music; I'm just not sure what is in my skill level to play.


Duly noted Troy - we actually have something called 'Additional Repertoire" in the works but have not unveiled it as of yet. We also have a brand new format coming out in a month or two which will make navigation a little easier and  it will also include real time chat with other users and educators.  Keep up the great work!