Picture Rachel Barton Pine walking onto the stage with her 1742 Guarneri del Gesu violin and starting the concert by playing Paganini's Caprice #24, followed by #4. She then immediately launches into "Walk" by Pantera and finishes with "One" by Metallica, all on the same violin. Next she plugs in her 5 string electric Viper Violin and plays several songs from her Doom Metal band, Earthen Grave.

This scenario actually occurred. Classical and Popular music were both produced by an instrument that was hand crafted before the birth of our own country. Our secondary education system would have you believe that these types of music are polar opposites and that they can't exist together. When Julie Lyonn Lieberman started on the staff of Juilliard to teach a world music course, which is about as far from Pantera as you can get, she was greeted with the sentiment, "I don't know what you are doing here. We, at Juilliard, know our purpose. We are dedicated to perpetuating the study of Western European classical music." (Liebermann, 2004 pg.11).

Eleven years ago, this statement shocked me. I grew up in the band world. We played Latin music for marching band, rock music for the basketball games, and funk and jazz in the jazz band. I even had the opportunity to play steel drums because my high school director had a steel drum band. Now after teaching in the orchestra classroom for over a decade, I am used to such statements.

What is popular music? According to the Journal of Aesthetic Education, "the term itself does not have a determinate meaning. It is part of a living language, not a strictly technical term." (Jones & Rahn, 1977) Julie Lyonn Lieberman (2004, pg.114) says popular music is, "whatever musical style is currently popular." For the purpose of this discussion, rock music will serve as my form of popular music. Also, because of my own interests in the string world, I have chosen the orchestra classroom as my environment.

There is a change happening in the landscape of music education. I have witnessed it slowly happening over the last decade. Only about 16 percent of high school students participate in band, choir or orchestra (Abramo, 2010). In a 2007 article, electric violinist and inventor of the Viper Violin, Mark Wood says that "among children from ages 5 to 12, no instrument other than the piano and the guitar is more popular than the violin, but around age 13 they all seem to drop the instrument" (Majeski, 2007). As we push education to move from STEM into STEAM, shouldn't we be considering how we give an music education to that other 84 percent of students that we currently are missing? I believe incorporating rock music into the curriculum will not only benefit those "lost" students, but also our current students and programs - in more ways than one.


Rockin' education. Redefining music in school: Robb Janov at TEDxABQ 2012

Rock music in the classroom is not just playing a watered down version of a popular song to meet the 2nd National Standard of a varied repertoire (Lieberman, 2004; Barry, 1997). To truly reap the benefits of rock music, you have to move away from the Master-Apprentice model of teaching that is so prevalent in the string world and into a more collaborative model (Allsup, 2003). And more importantly, rock is not a tool to manipulate students into liking classical music (Green, 2006; Barry, 1999). The idea at the root of this thought process is that classical music is superior to popular music. While it is true that some students will discover a fondness for classical music, it requires that it be presented in a collaborative way that encourages discussion of culture, tradition, and form (Allsup, 2011).

Before we discuss what rock music in the classroom looks like, let's look at the benefits that occur when it is implemented more than just on the surface. Research has shown that cooperative learning used when learning rock music has a positive effect on academic performance, interpersonal relations, self-esteem, and attitudes toward school and self-control (Allsup, 2003). It helps build new schema, mental representations and gestalts (Allsup, 2003), increases communication skills, develops the skill of giving and receiving constructive criticism, and healthy conflict resolution techniques (Koops et al., 2014), all of which are qualities desired outside the field of music. There are numerous other benefits, from retention and recruitment to the self- efficacy of the student. In between these lies informal learning techniques and what Carol Dweck (2006) calls a "growth mindset."

Lucy Green (2006) uses popular music to describe informal learning as something that happens outside the structure of formal, classroom learning. In her research Green has identified five main characteristics of informal music learning that works well with rock music. First, students choose the music themselves, using music that is already familiar, that they enjoy, and that they can identify with. Second, informal learners use aural skills to copy the music from recordings by ear. Third, peer learning occurs in groups, where students have discussions and watch, listen to, and try imitating each other. Fourth, this informal learning involves putting together different skills and new knowledge in personal ways according to musical preference. Finally, this all occurs by listening, performing, composing and improvising all with an emphasis on creativity (Green, 2006; Allsup 2003). By allowing our students to explore their own learning, we allow them to take skills they have already acquired in our classroom, and apply them to different situations. This moves our classroom from one that simply regurgitates facts and demands rote responses, to one that is achieving deeper learning (Allsup, 2003).

Performing rock music can change the way people view themselves, thereby shifting them into a different mindset. According to Dweck, there are two different mindsets humans can have, and we can move back and forth between these mindsets. A person with a fixed-mindset believes you only have a certain amount of intelligence, personality or moral character. Because these qualities are unchanging, people with the fixed-mindset are always trying to prove that they have the right amount of these qualities (Dweck, 2006 pg.6). If you do poorly on a test, it was because you weren't smart enough, and if you can't change how intelligent you are, you should just give up. If you have a fixed-mindset this is the way you would think about doing poorly on a test. If however you have a growth-mindset, you try to figure out what you did or did not do that contributed to the poor performance, and you change it for next time (Dweck, 2006 pg. 9). A growth-mindset is the opposite of the fixed-mindset. People with this mindset believe that these same qualities that are concrete for the fixed- mindset are actually changeable through effort and can grow through application and experience (Dweck, 2006 pg. 6). Growth-mindset students have a clearer idea about their own abilities, are more willing to take risks, and are survivors. When the going gets tough, the fixed-minded student shrivels, while the growth-minded student doggedly trudges on and perseveres. You can switch which mindset you have, and you can use rock music to do it. I have seen it first hand; I just didn't know what it was at the time. It was my first year in a new district so I didn't have a rapport with the students yet. I had a viola student that my colleague in the art department would have called "an oxygen thief." He played his parts unenthusiastically, went through the motions of performing, and basically just took up space. That is until we played Metallica and he was the only viola to play it correctly. He was suddenly engaged, excited and willing to work. This was more than just simply motivating through rock music. It remained for the next three years he was in my ensemble despite the style of music being played. There is a saying that success breeds success, and in this case, I believe the success of playing rock music switched his mindset. He went from being the last chair space holder to being the section leader and one of my "go to" students.

If we can use rock music to develop a growth-mindset in our students, aren't we improving not only their time in our classroom, but in all of their classrooms and beyond? When they have careers of their own, which mindset will serve them best? Skills developed from informal learning are going to serve the student in and out of the classroom too. Justin DiCioccio, chair of the jazz department at Manhattan School of Music says that teachers, "have a responsibility to help your students develop self- confidence, leadership skills, and enhanced creativity-both in the performance hall and outside of it" (Lieberman, 2002, forward). Informal learning and a growth-mindset will help us achieve this responsibility.

So what does rock music in the secondary classroom look like? There are a growing number of examples. The Lakewood Project is a good place to start. It is a rock orchestra, complete with electric Viper Violins and Cellos and a full rhythm section, and according to Mary Clay Constantine was the first of its kind (Clements, 2010 pg. 57). For ten years Beth Hankins has coordinated this group where the students use informal learning techniques to arrange and sometimes compose their own rock music. Their use of acoustic instruments with pickups and electric instruments, full light show, choreography, and showmanship have propelled them to great heights, including a performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Clements, 2010 pg. 62). Hankins discusses musical selections and guides rehearsal, stepping in when necessary, but the students lead the group (Koops et al., 2014). If you want to understand how to truly incorporate rock into the string classroom look to Beth Hankins and The Lakewood Project. It is the group that all others are trying to emulate, from the Youth Rock Orchestra in Little Rock, Arkansas to the Portland Youth Rock Orchestra in Oregon.

The Lakewood Project

Little Rock Youth Rock Orchestra

If we put our own likes and dislikes aside, and help our students see the value of diverse styles of music, we can use rock music to benefit our students in and outside of our ensemble rehearsals. The students are willing and have the desire. Mark Wood's Electrify Your Strings education program has introduced over 40,000 string players to rock music on their instrument. There are even summer camps now for rock orchestra, including Mark Wood's Rock Orchestra Camp held at Northwest Nazarene College in Olathe. Rachel Barton Pine's performance was at one such camp.

Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp

Electrify Your Strings

Before we start running to turn all the amplifiers up to eleven, a word of caution. Just like not all educational orchestral music is quality music, not all rock music is quality music. We need to teach our students how to assess that. Lieberman (2004) says to "encourage your students to pursue quality while enjoying the rich treasure music has to offer." I am also not calling for torches, pitchforks and mobs to rally against classical music. Even though Mark Wood dropped out of Juilliard because he felt constrained by their classical approach, in discussion with him he will tell you that he developed great technique from the European classical tradition and that he still plays Bach every day. He sums it up best in an article from 2007. "This should never be about replacing the great heritage of European classical music... but if that's all we have, we're missing out on 50% of the experience of music, which is the ability to express ourselves" (Majeski, 2007). And while I am not calling for the pitchforks, I am calling for further research to be explored. Much of what exists is nearly a decade old, if not much older. We need to investigate the rise of rock orchestras across the United States, and we need quantitative data to help advocate for the inclusion of rock music in the secondary string classroom.

American Graduate: Rock and Rhythm Band, Robb Janov

References