Music teaching stuff

Hey all.

I have recently decided that I want to double major in Jazz Studies and Music Education. I feel like there is so much wrong with the way music education is run in schools these days. I also decided that it'll give me more opportunities down the road for employability because I will be able to teach in a school and play gigs. And, the requirements aren't that much different. Sure I'll graduate a year later than everyone else in my class, but OSU is paying for it, so I don't care.


Anyways, I am going to rant about what I feel is wrong with the music system in schools. First things first, there is not NEARLY enough funding from schools to give the programs what they need, which I find unfair. It is just as academically taxing as a math or science class. I mean, sure they are different, but in the end, they all require skills that not everyone has, and I don't think it's fair that it's just pushed off to the side like that. I mean, there are so many opportunities out there for students, but they just don't feel it is that important. Like, how is it fair that athletes get to miss some class to go warm up for a sport, but a budding musician can't go to an event, because it's during school?

Secondly, there is that stupid saying "Those who can't do, teach (and those who can't teach, teach gym :p)". The way I see it, is if you can't do it, then get out of here, because if you cannot do it, then you are only gonna pass on your deficiencies to your students. That's why I feel that more solid musicians should do Music Ed, and if they do, they should not quit practicing. I mean, of course, you have to take applied methods classes for all of the instruments to be able to help the students out, and you may not always be hired in your area of concentration (teachers are certified to teach band, orchestra, and choir), but this is not a reason to be bad at your primary instrument.

Thirdly (I feel like I made up this word, but I don't care), which kind of goes with the second one, is the fact that high school music programs do not prepare one for college or becoming a professional. Most likely (not saying this is always the case, but I feel that it is like this a lot of the time) because a lot of band directors don't play their instrument(s) in professional settings often. I went to a high school with a college prep curriculum, and I took the extra classes and stuff that kind of helped, but then I put in lots of time outside of what I did in high school to prepare me for college and got a taste of what being a working musician is like. Granted, people have different qualifications of what "professional" means in music (mine obviously being different from my band director's, since he told me he wouldn't hire me for anything [not mad, not every day one can say they played for the governor of Ohio]), but still, schools should do more to make the student interested in music as an option for college, instead of turning them away, making it seem like a lost cause. This is also why I dislike things such as OMEA. They don't do this. And they rate the performers on whether the music sounds "correct"; but who is to tell if music is "correct" or not? That is one of those things that is open to interpretation. As much as one may say otherwise, you get rated on performance. That is enough for me.

This one is kind of more towards what I really want to do, which is direct high school jazz ensembles and big bands, but since schools are cheap and don't put money into their programs, they will only hire a versatile director. There's also another reason behind why I feel schools don't put as much emphasis on jazz music, but that is debatable to some (but I agree with it). But if I ran high school jazz class, I would run it one of two ways, depending on how much time I have:

1st way: (Given I only have time with students one time a day)

2 days: Ensemble rehearsal -obviously important

1 day: Jazz improv skills- I am sick of people saying "oh no, I don't do improv.", and band directors not knowing how to do anything about it. This is why I like college - Everyone can do it without a problem.

1 day: Small groups - this is where people get some performance experience - Students would arrange and rehearse themselves and perform for the class at least once a quarter.

1 day: Listening- This is where EVERYONE (regardless of genre) drops the ball. I feel that everyone needs a sense of sound concept in order to be successful in what they do. I mean, how can you know what you want to sound like if you haven't heard something else? It's like getting dressed with a blindfold.

And for the exam, everyone has to show me what they have learned, so they will prepare a piece for the class and perform it. The performance will be graded.

The second way (if I had an opportunity for 2 classes a day)

I would teach a more in-depth improvisation class that I would encourage members of the jazz ensemble to be in, then there would be more time for rehearsal. I would run the ensemble class similar to the first plan, but the improvisation would be more basic. And the improvisation class would cover higher level material (similar to what colleges teach, but with more time) and require lots of time on the instrument.

This is a plan for teaching in a school, which is strange to have, because I am a freshman in college. So this is kind of my idea of what's wrong with music in our schools. I hope that whoever reads this enjoys it.

Ghost of Christmas Past stuff

It's been a while since I've done one of these. I just really have been dropping the ball on this kind of thing (which is kind of funny in my mind, but probably not yours, since nobody would think about the reference to dropping the ball like I do...Stupid mind). But I need to do this because I just am not feeling my best right now and this will help. Basically... I am a dumbass. Oh yeah, big surprise there. Especially in the social sense of things. Which sucks so much. I have realized how terrible it is before, but it never really bothered me until now. After totally embarrassing myself (I'm not gonna give details... I currently don't like myself for it), I realized how this is like a legitimate problem. Like, if I keep acting this way, I'm never gonna be able to do anything with my life. I mean, being socially intelligent is just as good as being good at anything else. I mean, I didn't really start thinking too much about how this is extremely important until I took Psychology and they looked at social interaction. As much as I really want to blame this on my lack of a social life in elementary school and stuff, or the fact that I was advised that I don't need friends to be successful (which was a total lie) I won't, because I seemingly blame everything and anything bad in my life on someone or something else. I need to stop doing that. I hate sounding like a Debby Downer, but that's just how it goes.

I also realize that I take peoples' comments that they playfully say way too seriously. Like, I don't even know why. It could be the fact that I got made fun of in school a lot when I was younger and me being the "nice" (that's my way of saying soft) guy I was (and still am), I just kind of took it and went on with my life, not really responding to whatever they had to say. And the whole being soft thing is just something that hasn't gone away. Like, I just need to grow a backbone or something and learn how to deal with things.


I guess I could turn all of this whining of mine that is on my blog (which I am allowed to do, because it is my blog) and turn it into some New Year's resolutions:

1. Stop feeling so sorry for myself
2. Stop being a bitch
3. Stand up for myself more
4. Learn how to not take peoples' shit.


I am done now. Hope that all 4 of you that read this enjoy my ADD inspired blog post and have a Happy New Year.

OSU Stuff

Dear Ohio State University,

This one is for you. I am upset with you currently. You have managed to screw me over 2 times too many. First, you screw me over with your over-complicated class drop/add process, which caused me to miss a week of Psychology, and now you make it so my music theory credit doesn't get to the right people in time, causing me to be unable to schedule 2 classes. One of which is now waitlisted in all 3 sections. If I end up behind, I will be very disappointed. It's bad enough that I am graduating in 5 years as it is. I cannot afford to be behind because of goofy mistakes like this.


Thanks for understanding,

A very upset Wes Perry.



P.S. This was basically #3 on my first blog post, but I don't care anymore.

Depressing stuff.

So. This post is definitely on the somber side of things. A guy who I went to high school with recently passed away. I am not 100% sure of his cause of death, but after doing some detective work, it looks like he took his own life. This really makes me think a lot more about life and how easily it can be taken, and the effect it has on people. It also makes you think about how truly precious life is. I mean, you hear about people on the news daily who pass away all the time, and you don't really stop to think about what it's doing to people. But when it's somebody you know, it just becomes way more personal and it hits you like a ton of bricks. And people are always joking of "OMG I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF!!!" or "SHOOT ME NOW!" and sayings like that (I will admit that I'm guilty of it), but you don't realize how serious it is until someone actually does it. I can't really say that I knew the guy too well, but I knew who he was. I remember meeting Paul in 6th grade. I remember him being a funny dude. That never changed. I believe I was in English class with him too in high school, but my memory could be fooling me. Nonetheless, he was a great person and he will be missed by all who knew him or knew who he was.

RIP Paul

More stuff

Hey people. I am gonna talk about some more stuff today. I wasn't sure what to talk about. I was gonna go on about my plan for women and how I am so close to giving up on them because I have no game (Sorry for those who have been telling me to work on my confidence. It's the truth, so you can't argue with that), but I figured nobody wanted to hear about that, so I was stuck, topicless (which is different from topless). Then I got an email from Carnival cruise lines, saying they got my application and that I need to schedule an audition with them to play for them over the summer. After the gig today (and the long bus ride that followed), I decided to write about this topic. I am pretty excited for this audition and nervous about a couple things. The obvious being that I don't get the job. The less obvious being that there could be a possible repeat of the incident that occurred this past week, with the ship being stranded and people being stuck with backed up toilets and mayonaise sandwiches. Now, that is kind of ridiculous in my eyes. They should have a better backup plan than that. I mean, you don't have a ship that ventures to places far away from land without a solid backup system. They should have a backup engine and/or a power generator type thing to keep things somewhat pleasant. I realize that's easier said than done, but still. People don't use their brains sometimes and then crap like this that doesn't need to happen happens.


Alright. I am done.

Tacky stuff

So I am on Facebook, just kinda browsing some peoples' for I don't even know what reason, but this one thing that I keep seeing... I keep seeing these 12 year old girls on there with these babies as their profile pictures. It's just them and the baby. Not only is that tacky as hell, it's also misleading. I mean, when I see a girl holding a baby like that, I am going "Is that hers? I mean, she ain't cute so she could've been some guy's easy way in, so you never know". Not to mention, at the age of 12, you're not supposed to be on Facebook. Obviously the age of 12 is an exaggeration, but still, it's tacky. Fortunately, she wasn't one of my friends (Kinda shocking, huh?I have 38194013489031 Facebook friends and all of them know better). My point being, if you're under the age of 18, don't make your profile pic on here of your 11 month old nephew. For the record, you're not gonna see a profile pic with a baby in it from me EVER. Me = No kids.


Oh, and it looks like NOBODY reads this thing because I've seen 4 different girls do the leggings thing that I wrote about on here. That's also tacky. I mean, if you're cute, it's less tacky, but nonetheless, it's tacky, so stop doing it.