Saturday, January 14, 2017

How's this for a response to a rock-history student's concerns?

Got this message from one of my students based on her experience of the first week of class:

Hello Mr. Quick,
I was wondering what material will exactly be covered on future quizzes and tests. What we went over on the first day was a lot for me to handle, on top of 6 other classes, and I felt very lost with dates/names/venues. No break for almost 3 hours might have been taking its toll on me as well. I tried to take the best notes I could. If you're able to reassure me on this course, that'd be great. If not, I will have to consider dropping.
Well, let's start with your basic concern.

Not very much at all will be "covered on future quizzes and tests." The point of the first week was to set the table for the actual birth and evolution of the musical genre known as rock and roll. So you will not see any questions directly probing whether you retained any of what I said or presented in print form about, say, Will Marion Cook, or Victor Herbert, or Buddy Bolden, or James C. Petrillo or Ralph Peer or Bessie Smith.


Re: no break for almost three hours: I have 15 years experience at this. It is customary for me to get behind the first week. We may be able to take breaks as the semester progresses, but, if, as you are probably expecting, I am going to wind the course up in late April at the present juncture of this subject, to do justice to what transpired in the early years, I must fill the class time with vital information.

Re: being "lost with names / dates / venues": That is why I gave you the outline titled "Musical Developments Pertinent to the Birth of Rock," and have assiduously compiled web links for the people, places and phenomena enumerated therein.

That said, I highly encourage you to give it two more weeks. For one thing, the videos, audio recordings and readings will probably be more of a tone you can relate to. Also, you will see how the first-week material sets the table for what is being discussed then.

Perhaps I was not as effective as I'd thought at using the first week of class to extend an invitation. I invite you to sink into this material, to let yourself be fascinated by the colorful figures, such as those enumerated above, as well as the ones coming up in the next couple of lectures: Syd Nathan, Wynonie Harris, Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Dewey Phillips, Alan Freed, Johnny Otis, Etta James, Les Paul.

I will provide study guides at least two weeks prior to quizzes and major exams, so maybe that can alleviate your anxiety a bit.

But this is not just a music-appreciation course. This is a journey through a particular aspect of American and British culture over the last seventy years. It's possible for you to have your perspective on who you are and how you fit into society widened beyond anything you'd considered.

So, if I may, I would ask you to give it another couple of weeks, and see if you don't get a bit clearer sense of the vibe.

Sincerely,


Barney Quick

5 comments:

  1. Well, he has a point there about the breaks, in my humble opinion. Breaks facilitate learning. I've never been to a 3 hour class without a break. And why would he want to give it another 2 weeks if he loses the tuition he paid for the class? Don't students have to make up their minds before Drop?Add? Do you allow them to go to the bathroom? Of course smokers are no longer facilitated nor are they even allowed to smoke outside on campus. Who's the pussies and who's the jerks?

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  2. Why not try to introduce class participation in the first class, if you don't already? Something fun to hook them? Too much of academia is about production, the old teacher/learner model and these students surely get enough of the stress of competition, trying to cram this and that into their craniums. Rock History is certainly not a flunk-out class like Chem 105. Because everybody loves music, don't they? What I get from your lament is that it is largely about you and what you have to do. Try servant instruction. You are their servant, serve them up knowledge, of course, that's what they pay for and you're paid for, but look within to find how you can somehow make it fun and make them want to learn. Difficult task, maybe, but maybe not impossible either. Of course you alone know what your approval ratings are. And these adults aren't in high school any more so they are responsible for their own learning now. Look to the best instructors and try to emulate them? I dunno. You're the one that knows best, right?

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  3. https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/maximize-productivity-taking-effective-breaks/

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  4. Believe me, I work on this all the time every time I tear this course. But college-level instructors have kind of a running joke centered around the "is-this-going-to-be-on-the-test" line.

    Re: making it fun: We listen to a lot of music. Last week I played them everything from Bessie Smith's "I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle" to Jeff Beck's performance at his 2009 Rock hall of Fame induction. I went around the room and asked each person, if he or she wanted to participate, to list what they consider the five most impactful rock recordings of all time. (It turned out to be a somewhat dispiriting exercise.)

    Working on this, I really am.

    Somebody digs my teaching style. In 2007, the mayor awarded me the Excellence in Arts Education prize at the Uncommon Cause arts-council fundraiser. (A memorable night amongst the swells.)

    Still, always room to grow.

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  5. A comment under my posting of this at Facebook. He's a fraternity brother of mine:

    I can just imagine a freshman sitting in a rock 'n roll class and having Barney riff for three straight hours like Jack Kerouac on speed. The dud sorts his records (yes, records) by record company, then by date of release. Like swallowing an encyclopedia!

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