Why should Music be taught in High Schools?

Music in our high schools is a much-needed subject, especially as the demand for Jamaican music has risen since the last two Olympic Games after the resounding successes of our athletes.

Places such as Africa, Europe, and Asia have increased the demand for Jamaican music to be played on their respective airwaves.

Music should not be seen as limited to a ‘subject.’

It far exceeds that to cater to the development of practical skills such as:

1. Performing
2. Composing and arranging
3. Producing and engineering
4. Studio acquisition and construction
5. Copywriting
6. Development of work ethics and professional conduct
7. Business management
8. Stage production and transportation
9.  Filming and editing

Jamaican music has several forms and each form has its audience.  “The Jolly Boys” which is a known Mento band over the years, has found success in Europe.  Conga drumming groups from various parts of the island have been requested to travel to diverse places both on the hotel circuit and overseas.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Carib Folk Sings among others have been asked to travel abroad to take up extensive singing engagements and tours.  Solo and small group acts have been asked to showcase their worth on the international stage.  Our dancers have also shared the same spotlight in the world where persons have taken on our Jamaican dance moves and choreographed them into movies.

Producers, directors and film crews have been seen on various locations in the island filming scenes that capture our Jamaican music and dance.   This has caused many of our dance teachers to travel abroad with our music and demonstrate to the world how they are to dance to our signature sounds.

Many of the appreciative countries have formed and groomed their own “Jamaican sounding” reggae bands are reproducing our own music on the world stage.  These bands are being hired to be backing bands at worldwide events like our own “Sumfest.”

A producer told me once that due to the lack of professionalism of many of our Jamaican artistes and bands, booking agencies from abroad are quiet reluctant in utilizing certain Jamaican performers and instead show favour to overseas Jamaican sounding ones who are punctual and professional in their conduct.  This is sad!

There are many school administrators in Jamaica who still do not see the value in music education and at times refuse to provide funding for programmes that can facilitate the growth and development of music.  Many feel that it is a non-profit subject and the sciences are a better option for students to take.  This kind of thinking I find to be flawed.

With the rising demand for Jamaican music on the world stage, our administrators should engage in research to help streamline their schools’ music programmes to capitalize on the demand, bring much needed income in our country and make their students ready for the work world.

Music in the high schools?  Yes! “Let the music play!”

Good Teacher, Bad Teacher

In our global classrooms, there are good teachers and bad teachers.  Adults worldwide have been exposed to both types of teachers. Many survived, but some have been scarred beyond recovery creating individuals who resent anyone within the teaching profession.  However, no matter the times or the location, the teaching profession will always exist and it is good that others can learn from the actions of those before, with the hope of making things better for both students and teachers.  According to Bertram & Bailey, 2009, a good teacher is one who motivates and sustains students’ interests, uses active learning techniques, who facilitates and encourage learning. I am sure that our good teachers will endorse this definition and may want to add more to the statement.

After much discussion with children and adults, I have formulated two edited set of lists displaying the attributes of good/bad teachers.

Good teachers always:

1.      Manage the class with equality and fairness.

2.      Come prepared for class.

3.      Dress appropriately for class/work.

4.      Create extra time to help weaker students.

5.      Look out for the welfare of students

6.      Timely mark assignments and give feedback.

7.      Compliment and motivate students to learn and attend school.

8.      Fair in assessment and evaluation.

9.      Are compassionate and human

10.  Are fair in punishment and rewards.

11.  Remember that the students will become adults and replace their position in the world.

12.  Create interesting innovations for students to learn

13.  Cooperate with administration no matter the storms that are stirred.

Bad teachers:

1.      Insult the students on a regular basis.

2.      Never apologise for anything.

3.      Never make the students comfortable

4.      Bully students after classes.

5.      Always give assignments and never mark them

6.      Are always late for class with unlimited excuses

7.      Do not care about what they wear to class/work.

8.      Never allow students to contribute to the lesson

9.      Are merciless in punishment to students

10.  Are highly critical of school, work and students.

11.  Are fearful of teacher evaluation and assessment.

12.  Show no interest in upgrading either skills or qualifications.

This listing is not about placing labels on persons; rather it is to remind us of weakness and strengths within classroom.  If any “bad” teacher sees this listing, instead of being offended, take the necessary steps to avoid being a bad teacher and be a good one.  For those who are good, please remember that there is always room for improvement.  Therefore, let us all be good teachers and be exemplars to all our students.

Jamaican Easter Tradition

      For those who do not know about the Jamaican Easter, it is not really like the Americanized version of
Easter Bunnies and eggs.  Being a predominantly a Christian country, we recognize the importance of the period in that Christ's Crucifixion is remembered.  Some go as far as designing their church programme to help our younger children have a visual understanding of the significance of the Easter Celebrations.
   
      Annually, this celebration is accompanied my the eating of bun and cheese along with the playful activity of kite flying.  Each year the bakeries, both established and private, put out a huge spread of beautifully packaged buns.  This buns are usually filled with raisins and fruits (cherries) with a magnificent glaze coated to attract even the religious skeptic to pay the extra cash to partake of the sweet tongue jerker of a pastry cocktail. However this is not complete without the lovely cheese!
   
      The cheese play a vital role with the bun.  The combination is like honey and milk in heaven.  Just simply divine! The combination should not be taken without drinks and most of all, one should be seated to enjoy this delight.  It is best eaten on the outside when the Easter breeze blows.  It makes the perfect setting for the true Jamaican Easter holidays.

   
     As for the Easter breeze, that is never wasted.  Annually , as soon as the month of March turns the corner, the kite makers, both professional and amateur commence their construction of kites of various colours and sizes.   The Jamaican kites are always impressive and due to the creativity, these kite makers have a chance to show off their skills in the annual kite flying competition.
   

      There are no age limits to the kite flyers in Jamaica.  The eager young ones are always anxious in displaying their designs.  The aging "big-kids" are more interested in the ingenuity of their  paper aircraft.  In-other-words, there are no age limits nor social barriers for the kite flyers on this special time of year.  As for those who have no interests in the public showing, the kite flyers make their way to various community centers and playing fields to hoist their kites in the air.  One cannot help but to hear the zingers on the kites and due to the pitch, one can have an idea of the size kites in the sky.  Sometimes in the dead of night the zinger from a large kite can be heard in the dark skies.   This usually becomes a topic of nocturnal conversation especially for the senior men of the house-holds and corner shops.
 
     It is an amazing sight to see the Jamaican skies and dinner tables at Easter time.  It is certainly a treat both in the stomach and in the Caribbean blue skies.  Its one thing that is clear, this tradition will not die for it is an occasion other than Christmas that our Jamaican families come together and have some good fun in the season of Easter.

How to Get Our Students to Be Interested in School?

That is a question that is being asked with more frequency lately.  There are students who seem not to have a serious interest in learning in schools.  What seems to be evident is high school students, who appear to be distracted with gadgets such as smart phones and tablets, which seem to dominate their attention.  Many individuals from their mid-thirties upwards have observed the interests of the students and spoke about the times when game shops and VHS were considered to be the great evils against the classrooms diverting their study time to more play.

Now, in the 21^st century, students have small and portable devices that have created a new wave of interests for the learner.  Unfortunately, many of our traditional institutions have missed the boat to utilize these devices within the classrooms that can make learning just as exciting as the applications that have captured students’ imaginations.  There are schools which still have the hard and fast 20^th century rule of absolutely no cell phones however, if a senior person asks a child for information on content, it is the same device being used to extract the much needed information.  Talking about behind times!

Traditional classroom teaching methods will not be as effective as before.  The minds of these teenagers come with a kind of intelligence not seen before.  If a man of 40 years has trouble getting into the settings of a smartphone, he can simply ask a teen or a child to find the same and in 5 seconds the settings are found.  There is absolutely no way our students can remain 100% percent focused on class work.  We adults never could maintain such an action but if we were to trade places with these students with the hand-held technology, I think we would have taken over the world!

  Our schools collectively need to devise a plan to completely utilize the various hand held devices as positive tools for learning.  Flip charts and simple wall projection are not enough anymore.  Instead of having students over-running the library and resource centre all the time, the actual classroom can house all the information extracted.  Our teachers need retraining in this new virtual classroom.  Not only the classroom facilitator will be able to extract relevant content for the moment but continually use them and other evolving devices within the various subject areas that will add to developing innovations by teachers to help with the facilitation of learning.

Our schools administration need to be in the malls, shops and even the transportation centres and see how students devote great attention to their devices.  Making the monumental shift  in the classroom from analogue thinking to digital teaching will add a dimension of learning that is needed in our classrooms.  Our students today possess a learning style different from our own; therefore we should meet their demands in how they want to learn, thus holding their interests in the classroom.

My Book:" The Boy From Hanover"

My Book

I am far from being a perfect writer but I try to have people's minds engaged.  This is the cover of my first book which is available on Amazon/kindle.com.  Go ahead and buy, download and read it!

Please give me your support and enjoy what I have written.  Please place constructive reviews there too.

Thank you for your consideration!

A Brief Description of Grand Market in Jamaica

For those who do not have a clue of the Jamaican term "Grand Market,"  it is a terminology that is used to describe the day before Christmas.  It is the time when people clean their homes, bake and cook up a storm, fix the yard and of course, shopping or partying until dawn in the main towns.  The roads are jammed with people and vehicles are everywhere.  Many homes are often seen with Christmas lights especially


We adults tend to call it "Children's Day" for it is the day for toy purchase, eating ice cream and fast food and to put on the best set of clothes for public display much to the children's delight.  Well, the taxis and buses always stand to make a profit if they know how to transport the patrons without getting into accidents become this is the time when people choose to emerge from their homes to look at the main towns, the clothes, dance to the sound-systems placed at the different shopping malls.  Also, there are those who will rent cars and hire drivers to travel to at least three towns and "drink up the bar."


I am not sure if there are many records documenting the genesis of Grand Market, but it seems to have a link to our island's colonial history during the time of crop over.  This was a time in December of each year when all the plantation workers were allowed to socialize and celebrate one day of rest and were allowed to participate in "John Canoe."  Then it would be back to work planting cane for the next crop over season.

"John Canoe," in Jamaica was seen in the main towns that had an Estate House.  This was a group of men dressed in costumes representing male and female characters.  The characters are as follows:

Set Girls (red set, blue set)
Sailor
Policeman
Belly Woman
Wild Indian
Devil
Horsehead
Cowhead's
Jack-In-The-Green
The House Jonkunnu
Pitchy-Patchy
Pitchy-Patchy
Koo-Koo or Actor Boy



The accompanying musical instruments for this annual event of the past were the drum and the fife but other instruments have been added to create variety in sounds.  The music was of African origin and can be entertaining once the right set of dancers are used.  However, for the last few years, only a few community groups continue this practice but the energy and vigor are not as upbeat as what was displayed in the past, however, persons have tried to preserve the practice as much as possible by keeping this tradition alive every Christmas.

Grand Market has always been a grand Jamaican event, and will remain so, even with the changes in generation and time.   

Jamaican Christmas Eve: Brown's Town 2013

All primary and mostly high schools are closed at this time.  We are in the heights of the Christmas season. The roadsides in the town have the vendors selling their good(toys and costume jewelry) and now the roads have been turned into one-way around the town.  "Its the most wonderful time of the year!"

The historic four faced Brown's Town clock at the market still stuck in time with the time.  It still holds the center of attraction with people from all over the island coming buying and selling goods.  The "schoolers" are in their numbers, shopping with their eyes for their spending is very limited this year and good economic in spending must prevail.

At the town's center, more people than cars are now seen and jerk pans all over the place.  ( For those who do not understand about jerk pans, these metallic pans along with wood coal, are used to grill chicken, and pork and the finished products are sauced,  placed and wrapped in foil.  Very tasty food!) Overnight bars are being constructed and music of all genre are blasting from differently owned sound systems.  Music has helped the town folks to keep the peace, a little rocking and boogieing has never killed anyone and while the rhythm is thumping, the "schoolers" are there taking everything in.  Tall speakers, six feet high are erected in certain sections of the town and people can be seen trying to rock their troubles away.

Brown's Town stores have always been known for having a lot of Christmas lights at the various store windows.  I guess this year, the economic Grinch has taken over and so, many of our store windows stand bare.  However, that still has not stopped our children to be excited on the streets and taking a bit of ice cream and snacking at fast food restaurants and where there are pretty lights, the curious young students gather.

It is said that the Christmas colours this year are stripes, red, green and gold with a touch of black and sure enough, the fashionistas are on the prowl.  Many of them are in good order, but some make good comic relief to a stressed and distressed soul.  However, let it be known that our people know how to make good of a bad situation and always rise to ensure that their hearts will be entertained one way or another, even if they look weird in their colour scheme.

School is out, but not cold.  The Christmas breeze is truly in the air.  While the family yards have the Christmas coloured plants blooming in all their glory, the students and their parents are out in their numbers, ready to find ways to have fun  and survive in these hard times.  Make sure that you find joy, happiness and love in your lives.  Good will to all people and "one love" to everyone!

                                                                      Merry Christmas!