Music Teaches the Power of Silence

It’s easy to underestimate the power of silence. In today’s noisy world, silence is something that isn’t easily mastered. People tend to feel uneasy when there’s a pause in the flow of sound or movement. Many feel the need to turn on the radio every time they get in their car. And when they’re home, they turn on the television or play music, or they look at their phone or iPad every free moment.

Silence, space, and stillness in rehearsal settings can be equally unnerving, but music performance experiences can help students learn the powerful influence of the gaps between sounds. If you’re a band or orchestra director, you have likely heard students look at a page of music and make a negative judgment about the worth of the experience because there are a lot of rests or long sustained notes. And you may have even chosen music with a lot of technical challenges because you’re more comfortable with the activity of all the notes on the page. But everyone can learn the value of silence.

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Deeper Learning In Band and Orchestra

Many years ago, I met a young musician who told me a story I’ll never forget. If you have ever wondered about the value of the arts, her story shows how the arts provide an opportunity to learn how to live a more creative and successful life. Students, families, and impassioned, innovative, thriving communities can grow with the guidance of teachers and artists who are deeply connected to the potential of the artistic process to provide comprehensive and relevant 21st century skill sets. This matters because our children—in fact all of us—are facing an increasingly challenging world that changes every day. It’s a world that’s asking us to think in new ways.

The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling. ~ Elliot W. Eisner (1933-2014), former Stanford Professor and champion of arts education

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Added Value of Arts Aware Employees

Businesses and organizations experience an array of rapidly changing and increasingly complex challenges. Today’s world demands that we think in new ways. More than ever, it’s an environment that requires creativity and innovation. If we are to succeed, we must lead with openness and authenticity, and our employees must have the ability to think in ways that take full advantage not only of their knowledge but of the breadth and depth of their experience. Employees who have creative experiences in the arts can see more clearly into the depths of things. They are more able to see the little things and the bigger picture simultaneously. The benefits of Arts Aware employees to organizational performance are numerous. Here are three of the many organizational performance benefits that can come from Arts Aware employees: 

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Little Known Secrets of Arts Based Training

Arts-Based Learning: A Real Solution for Business and Organizational Success in A Challenging World

Today’s world demands that we think in new ways. More than ever, we live in an environment that requires creativity and innovation. If you are to succeed, you must have the ability to use big picture thinking in your work and daily lives. And, when you’re a leader, you must have the ability to think in ways that take full advantage of the breadth and depth of the experience and knowledge held by all employees.

I believe approaching big picture thinking from an arts-based learning perspective is invaluable. Arts-based learning helps both employers and employees shift away from the unpredictability in the world and from situations where things get bogged down. It provides an opportunity for everyone to step back and look at things from a different perspective without the emotional attachment to everyday challenges. Arts-based learning comes from the experiences and processes artists use to create their art, whether music, visual art, drama, or dance. With arts-based training, you can learn to see more clearly into the depths of things. You’re more able to see the little things and the bigger picture simultaneously. It’ opens your mind to more possibilities. The benefits for organizational or business performance are numerous.

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BANDING TOGETHER Big Ideas Shape Thriving Arts Environments

Different art forms are often placed in a position to compete with one another. While everyone has passion for the art they create, or support, or understand, we’re often placed in a position in schools and communities to take a competitive stance because of limited funding or economic issues. Beyond the need for funding is the powerful role competition plays in our society. Competition is fun, and it can be even more fun when you win. Although competitiveness can be a useful way to achieve a short-term goal in the arts, it can also be a zero-sum game for the arts to truly thrive long-term.

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The Added Value of Arts Aware Employees

Businesses and organizations experience an array of rapidly changing and increasingly complex challenges. Today’s world demands that we think in new ways. More than ever, it’s an environment that requires creativity and innovation.

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Arts Education Arts in Schools Newsletter Pedagogy in the Arts

Why Fund the Arts?

Recent discussions and pending decisions regarding the government budget leave funding for the arts in limbo. If we care about a nation that’s both compassionate and creative; if we care about opportunities for young people, innovation, intellectual achievement, and our dignity as a national, then it is clear we cannot allow the arts to fall by the wayside. The value of the arts goes well beyond their social and economic benefits. The arts expand the mind and soul.

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Big Things Happen in the Arts

Remarkable things happen when you allow yourself to become fully engaged with creating art or performing music. At every level, you learn how little things make big things happen. The arts allow you to experience things from a global perspective and to bring real world meaning to basic knowledge and skills.

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Arts Education Newsletter

Why the Arts Matter

About 20 years ago I met a young musician who told me a story I’ll never forget. If you have ever wondered about the value of the arts—especially the process of performing music, dance, or theater, or making visual art—her story shows how the arts provide an opportunity to learn how to live a more creative and successful life.

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Contrast and Creativity

December is a month of contrasts. While it’s a time filled with the hustle and bustle of holiday activities, it also brings us the stillness and colder, darker, shorter days of the winter season.