Teachers!

Teachers:

1. No genre experience needed – if you're a music teacher of post-beginner secondary students, you are good. Better players certainly welcome.

2. No school instruments needed – one's main instrument is preferred, but many were left at school with the rapid departures. Right? Have them do something different - like kitchen-made percussion instruments.

3. Educationally-grounded – this is fully vetted to the National Core Arts Standards. Need more? Email playthegroovemusic@gmail.com.

4. Flexible — be as hands on or off as you want. Plan out with key check-ins, or make extra credit. Give private lessons (or not). Add your level of music literacy or just keep it light and fun.

5. Play too — we invite YOU to play and make a video, see what it's like to do this before sharing it. Be a part of the compilation.

Students:

1. No experience needed for percussion — post-beginner to advance is cool for all other instruments (any instrument!).

2. Fun — it's about playing and contributing to a bigger project.

3. Educational — combines formal and informal learning. Emphasizes self-learning and multi-disciplines too (video/lighting/scheduling)

4. Creative — musicians are practicing and creating music!

5. Collaborative — adding to a bigger picture. OK to discuss with friends and work things out.

This is what makes this endeavor so unique:

1. Utilizing real music from real recordings, the PlayTheGroove Initiative blends formal and informal education which is known as non-formal education where the experiential, music-learning process is driven by students and teachers as ‘co-learners’ (Holley et al, 2019). Through an emphasis on more listening, individual experimentation, small-group interactions, and a teacher’s guidance and suggestions, the learning paradigm changes. This method integrates and encourages musical skills such as sight-reading, playing by ear, producing, and experiencing creative expression.

2. PlayTheGroove empowers secondary, non-classical, rhythm-based music teachers to be more innovative, creative and productive. It’s designed to include all of your students, learn songs faster, engage more creatively, authentically, collectively and more holistically. All of this is built on music consisting of current jazz and diverse global grooves.

3. How youth learn has changed drastically over the last 10+ years, but the ensemble content and pedagogies hasn’t really kept up. How we present materials, knowledge, and resources needs to be relevant and accessible to youth today. PlayTheGroove does this by amplifying 21^st century learning competencies including ownership, collaboration, creativity, communication and critical-thinking (the 4Cs).

4. You can dig in as deep as you want on these sites:

PlayTheGroove Overview,

Classroom Research Study and Pedagogies,

National Research Study Results,

Curriculum Educational Frameworks,

Richard Frank's LinkedIn Profile,

Richard Frank CSUN Feature Article