In the half of my lifetime that I have been working, I have been relieved of my duties twice. The first was at my very first job at an ice cream store, where I was accused of scooping kids cones too big. While she did have a point, I maintain that she was also completely crazy and not a person that I wanted to be working for anyway. The second time came last week, when I was told by a certain Upper East Side preschool that my one-day-a-week contract would not be renewed because “movement is more than just running and jumping”. I was shocked; I have been teaching at this school for three years and the director who delivered this news is in her first year. I probably should have been worried when the only criticism she ever gave me on my classes was that I was not allowed to sing Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”… It hurt me to think that I would not be working with the many teachers and kids that I truly love there but luckily, I am confident that I am a very well appreciated teacher everywhere else I work and that this was just a personal issue this woman had with me; I take it personally but only in relation to her. It’s their loss…

And so I move on. I was so lucky to find my work and the path it has taken me on over the past 8 years. I love music and I love kids and I have so many other venues to enjoy this experience that I refuse to let this situation have anything but positive effects on my life.

Perhaps I should thank her?

I am fortunate that I have a job that pretty much just entails playing music with kids all day. Like any worthwhile job, it has its challenges, but I take so much joy from it because they give so much joy. It is so natural for them and they express themselves so beautifully; it inspires me so i do my best to inspire them. I work in different areas of early childhood music, from classes with parents and under-4 year olds to preschool settings and individual lessons. Sometimes I record our adventures on my iPhone. I wanted to share some with you. These are not polished but in the rawness lies their beauty. Enjoy.

Auld Lang Syne – Adam
11 17 09 04 27 – Michael
I’ll Follow The Sun – Julian

A few teachers asked me not to sing this song with the explanation that it seemed inappropriate for 4-5 year olds… What do you think?

Ring Of Fire

I have been noticing many kids in my classes with facial scrapes and cuts from falling and smashing their faces into something hard. It is painful to think about the accident that must have occurred but 99% of the time everything heals beautifully and they have learned a valuable lesson that it pays to stay upright. We can gain something from all of our painful tumbles and in fact, we require them; they are all just part of growing up.
Kids truly live in the moment. They explore and play to enjoy and comprehend reality. When they get hurt it is all that matters but they get over it, unconcerned with their past but more aware of their present. Then we get older and wiser and life becomes infinitely more complicated and while we understand it on so many more levels, it becomes impossible to just BE.

When someone showed me the trailer this summer, I freaked out. Obviously, this book was one of my favorites as a young tyke and to see it brought to the big screen by two of my favorite artists working today, Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze, made me giddy like a nine-year old on pixy stix. The film captures the images from the book as well as I could hope, and manages to convey all the conflicting emotions perfectly. It brings me back to a time in my life when everything was hyper-important and my feelings controlled me more than I controlled them and imagination truly was more important than knowledge. It is a bit sad that we lose this raw creativity that is so vital in kids; if this were a story about a man my age, he would be deemed a psycopath. Kids are allowed, and for a time even encouraged, to be insane but as they grow up, they are expected to leave their imaginary adventures behind and never return to the island of the wild things. It is inspiring to see this world recreated by adults who do understand the importance of play and exhibit a spark of the joie de vivre that characterizes a child’s world. Let the wild rumpus continue!

Alaina and I made a trip up to Newton, MA this weekend to spend time the company of Taylors. It was magnificent and included an epic Saturday night dance party in our living room with five families close to us since before I was born. Friday night was at Fenway Park, 10th row for Dave Matthews Band. Flashback to 1995 and the first time I saw DMB at The Orpheum… I have lost touch with Dave a bit since then and I was glad to reconnect. I did not recognize, but nonetheless enjoyed, the majority of his songs. I prefer, for nostalgic reasons, his early music which hit me incredibly hard in my sophmore year of high school, but the band still plays incredibly well live. The original brass, Leroi Moore, died in an ATV accident and so it has changed the band’s composure somewhat, with two new horn players and Tim Reynolds permanently on the electric guitar, but Dave is still Dave and Carter Beauford plus Stefan Lessard equals groove. Amazingly, I am seeing another sentimental favorite this week — Phish at Jones Beach. For the majority of bands I see, their time together has been brief, but the longevity of these two bands is inspiring. Check out the set lists of all the shows DMB and Phish have ever played and it is easy to see why they are still doing it.

I played a farewell for summer show today for the kids at one of the schools I teach at. It was hilarious. A swarm of 2 – 6 year old kids all over me, my guitar and mic, singing and dancing with me as I played:

Friendship Hall, NY: 6/2/09

Hello! Ola! Ciao! Konichiwa! Namaste!, Eensy-weensy spider -> She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain -> Jumpin’ Josie, Here Comes The Sun -> Keep On The Sunnyside, Ram Sam Sam, Yellow Submarine -> Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Rattlin’ Bog, This Little Light Of Mine, Old MacDonald, I Can See Clearly Now, Three Little Birds -> One Love -> Stir It Up

E: When The Saints Go Marching In

I love these kids so much and feel so lucky to be a part of their lives, even if they can’t remember me in 20 years (I barely remember those high school shows I went to…).  I hope that I at least inspire them enough to instill a lifelong appreciation of the miracle that is music.

I teach Adam and Michael Patterson (ages six and nine) and they rock! Here is a video we made this week. Look out, Brotnick!

Patterson

I teach piano, drums and guitar to six-year-olds and I can definitively say that this is not normal.

Ethan plays piano