Posts Tagged ‘Music’

The Smurfs and Culture

July 29th, 2011

The other day, I was imagining a conversation between our U.S. elected officials about the Smurfs.  On one side of the aisle, the rhetoric would go something like this: “I believe that Poppa Smurf  represents Karl Marx. He is not the leader of the Smurfs but an equal who is admired by the others for his age and wisdom.”  Then they might say, “And Brainy Smurf represents Trotsky, as he is the only one who comes close to matching Papa’s intellect.  He wears round glasses, is often isolated, ridiculed for being too professorial and is even ejected from the village for his ideas.”

Photo Credit: AP/Richard Drew

Furthermore they might add, “The smurfs don’t have private property, have adopted a collective-style economy and no individual Smurf is represented as either superior or inferior to others.” Someone would yell out, “They probably even have healthcare for everyone!” Consequently, the conclusion from one side of the aisle would be that the Smurfs are Socialists and are destroying the fabric of our society.

Then the other side might say something like: “Gargamel represents capitalism and embodies all the negative attributes associated with that economic system, such as greed, ruthlessness and the pursuit of personal gratification.”  “Gargamel is the quintessential symbol of Wall Street and will take his billions in tax cuts but never create even one job,” this side would say. At the same time, they might surmise that, “Azrael represents the worker in the ruthless, free-market state that is Gargamel’s house, and his union must be busted!”  Their final conclusion would be that, “The wealthy are taking all of our money and destroying the middle class.”

Is it any wonder we can’t get a debt ceiling bill?

One of my last professional trumpet playing jobs, “Smurfs on Ice,” was nearly 25 years ago. So, Brainy, Jokey, Grouchy, Greedy, and Stinky were all part of my early years, and now they are coming back, but the world is not the same!  So, be careful Smurfettes. Don’t invest in the market, real estate or dot.coms.  Try to avoid those outrageous credit card interest rates.  Don’t, whatever you do, don’t believe what the heads of the big banks and insurance companies are saying, and, for goodness sakes, buy gold, or maybe buy precious blue stuff.

When I was a kid, I was on journey to learn. So, when my dad bought me a box of vocabulary words and helped me learn ten new words every night, it wasn’t because he wanted us to grow up and be rich.  To him, the most important thing that he could do for his children was to make sure that they got an education.  He was all about the awareness that comes from exposure to information.

It started for me as a simple challenge to read the Bobbsey Twins books, and then the Hardy Boys, and from there, works by Mark Twain, Shakespeare, Dickens, Poe, Roth, Hemmingway and Tolstoy. Going through life without all of these friends would have been an empty and lonely journey. I’ll never forget when my brother, a young teacher at the time, introduced me to his classical record collection.  Yes, I was a trumpet player, but when I discovered Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Wagner, Brahms, Handel, Stravinsky, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Bartok and Sibelius, my life was changed forever.  Between the written word and the music, the mysteries, joys, challenges and humanness that is life became more apparent to me every day.

We have migrated away from anything but basic education and our favorite pastimes are video games, celebrity magazines and reality TV shows. Maybe that’s why we seem to have lost our way in this country.  We no longer embrace a culture of open mindedness, understanding and compromise.  Is it any wonder our U.S. Representatives can’t work together?  Maybe they are simply unenlightened…Maybe they all need to spend some time with the Smurfs and read a few blue books.

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Posted in Current Affairs, Leadership, Music

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What’s Different About a Teenage Brain?

May 1st, 2011
Montogomery County MD band students

L-R: Senior Niraj Raju (trombone), junior Andrew Simmons (tuba) and senior Julia Maas (violin) of the Montgomery County, MD Youth Orchestra - http://www.mcyo.org

Back in the 1970’s, I made a discovery that seemed unique to me. As a young teacher, musician, band, orchestra and Jazz ensemble director, it was my unexpected pleasure to discover that junior high and middle school aged students had an unbelievable capacity to learn and to excel. This discovery was recently confirmed in an article which appeared in a special edition of U.S. News and World Report, “Secrets of Your Brain,” by Nancy Shute entitled, “How to Deploy the Amazing Power of  the Teen Brain.”

Early on in my teaching career, I discovered a mystery of life that, until Nancy’s article, seemed rather extraordinary to me, but I had no scientific evidence to back it up. Before the use of MRI’s beginning in the 1990’s, it was impossible to know what nuanced changes were occurring in the brains of teenagers, but that is not the case today. Of course, the neurologists still don’t understand all of the myriad details of change that appear to be occurring, but they can make certain not so speculative statements about these changes. According to the article, what they found astonished them. The brain’s gray matter, which forms the bulk of the structure and processing capacity, grows gradually throughout childhood, peaks around age 12, and then furiously prunes underused neurons.

Because these changes begin in the back of the brain and move forward, sensory and motor skills mature first followed by the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for judgment and impulse control. According to the scientists at the NIH, the prefrontal and cortex isn’t done until the early 20’s or later in men. The following quote from the article, however, should be the basis for all of the arts education in the United States, “Neurons, like muscles, operate on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis: a teenager who studies piano three hours a day will end up with different brain wiring than someone who spends that same time shooting hoops or playing video games. “Eureka!”

Grown-Up Brain - USNWR - Nick Jacobs, FACHE - HealingHospitals.com

When we consider that during the teenage years, emotion and passion also heighten attention and tramp down fear, teenagehood turns out to be the perfect time to master new challenges. According to Frances Jensen, a neurologist at Children’s Hospital in Boston, “They can do things now that will set them up later in life with an enhanced skill set.” Of course, the 70’s in semi-rural America did not harbor all of the challenges that we face now for our teenagers, but challenges did exist. What I had discovered in my work was by treating the teenagers more closely as peers than subservient children, while still maintaining control, by allowing them to work with you to select and enumerate their goals, and finally by encouraging them along the way, their passions and intensity would take the music and their performances to heights that would have seemed otherwise incomprehensible.

Music arranged for teenaged performing groups was typically watered down and lacked both emotion and challenge. Because of that, it was my choice to make musical scores available to them that would have been considered too mature, too challenging and too far beyond their comprehension. The trade off, however, was that we were careful never to let them hear any of those “too hard” descriptors. The results were stupefying. The kids worked endlessly and tirelessly to make sure these musical scores were mastered. Because their parents were, in many cases, second generation immigrants, they worked to ensure that the kids had: 1.) Plenty of sleep 2.) Healthy foods 3.) No drugs or alcohol.

The U.S. News article concluded with something that was instinctive to me: “Nature had a reason to give adolescents strong bodies, impulsive natures, and curious flexible minds.” It was the stuff from which scholars, great artists and future leaders were made, and to all of my former students who have been so incredibly successful…I hope you’ve tried to give your children these same experiences!

Nick Jacobs speaks to youth on the future of healthcare

Health 2.0 Leadership (1 of 2) from Nick Jacobs, FACHE on Vimeo.

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Posted in Development, Music Education, Science

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I Remember Stephen

June 2nd, 2010

In the 1970’s, my career was wrapped completely around teaching, not just teaching, but teaching and playing music.  It was during that decade that my trumpet playing reached its peak, and between the numerous big bands in the area, I could play at least two weekend and one weekday nights every week.  The music was good, the musicians were friends, and the audiences were appreciative.

Johnstown Pennsylvania - A History - Part 2 - Randy WhittleThe Lemon Drop, Casa Romani, Mynderbinders, Bimbo’s, the Holiday Inn, the Ramada Inn, and a dozen other clubs with mostly ethnic or fraternal names were the sites of many a part-time playing job.  Be it the Johnstown Jazz Workshop, the Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Ice Capades, or Disney on Ice, my playing salary for the year often rivaled my teaching salary; neither of which came to more than $500 a month.

Along with those playing “gigs” there was one other primary, part -time employment opportunity and that was teaching private trumpet lessons.  It was my choice to teach at the Johnstown College of Music which was owned by Peg and Bob Hornick.  My schedule there was always packed full from 5:30 PM until 9:00 PM Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday mornings.  There were kids of all ages from all school districts, and in the 1970’s those kids helped me pay the mortgage.  Even though I was usually pretty tired by 9:00 PM and often dreamed of learning to sleep with my eyes open, I never did.

One of my smallest students was Steve.  He was a little toe-headed, 7th grader from Forest Hills when he came to me, and he loved music.  He loved the fact that he was learning to play the trumpet from a professional and each week he got a little better.  Steve understood what it meant to work for something that he loved, and he didn’t mind getting an occasional tongue lashing if he hadn’t focused enough on his practicing that week.

Well, one night in 1976, I rushed through dinner, grabbed my jacket, and started for the door when my son, then three years old, stopped me and said, “Daddy, where are you going?”  I explained that I had to go to work.  He very slowly replied, “Daddy, you just came home from work.”  I signed and said, “I know, buddy, but I have to make some extra money.”  He looked at me quizzically and said, “What for, Daddy?”   To which I countered, “To buy you shoes.”  At that point he looked up at me and said in a very stern voice, “Daddy, I have shoes; please don’t leave me.”

It broke my heart to leave that night, but I did because I knew that I had an obligation, and when my first student walked in the door, I took a deep breath and thought to myself, “Steve, I’m here for you tonight, “ but those words were never spoken.
Ironically, there was an obituary in the newspaper last week, and it was an obituary for a 47 year old man who also left behind a son.  The age and the picture drew me further into the printed word where I read a name that seemed strangely familiar to me, Stephen Yanzetich.  It was Steve, my Steve, little 7th grade, toe-headed Steve who shared me that night.

Unbelievably, after 34 or so years, in his parting recognition, the author acknowledged that I had taught Steve trumpet, and as I sat back and read my own name in that obituary, I realized, once again, that it had been worth it, that 34 years later my time with Steve had been important to both of us.  That simple acknowledgement said to me, “Thank you, Mr. Jacobs, for caring enough about me to teach me all of those nights.”  To which I can candidly reply,”Thank you, Steve, for being such a good kid, and may God bless you.”

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Posted in Children, inspiration, Music Education

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Another Day, Another “A”

November 12th, 2009

Straight-A Report Card One of my many college roommates, Mark, graduated with a perfect, straight-A GPA.  In those days the grade point average indicating perfection was a 4.0.  He worked harder than anyone I had ever known, and hardly took even a few minute break from studying.  For all intents and purposes, he had virtually NO social life, and, except for the occasional pinochle game and a coke-and-pizza break between study sessions, Mark was 100 percent committed to perfection in his grades.  As he became more and more sure of himself over the years, he would walk into our apartment and yell out, “Another day, another A!” and mean just that.

One of the greatest challenges of my life has been finding those measuring sticks that quantify our accomplishments.  In fact, the quest to solve just that ongoing problem has caused me plenty of sleepless nights.  I know, for example, that the infrastructure established for our research institute was so singularly unique, so perfect, so incredible that it should  become an international model.  In fact, when the National Cancer Institute evaluated just one aspect of the  institute, they indicated that the tissue repository was “The Only Platinum Quality Tissue Repository in the United States.”

As my time away from the hospital and research institute quickly approaches twelve months, my passion for the accomplishments that we experienced there has become even more clear to me, but where is Judge Simon when you need him?  How do you grade them?  Worse yet, how does one convince his former peers that the design that grew out of the ideas that became the philosophy of our hospital should be treasured as a new way to achieve perfection on multiple levels? …Another Day.  Another A.

fierce_hospital_innovators

Having an infection rate that never went above 1 percent; an extremely low length of stay (3.2 days); low readmission rates, low restraint rates, unbelievably low litigation rates that almost didn’t register on the charts at all.

If your CFO is reading this, simply add the following to each one of those accomplishments . . . $$$.  How does a small hospital in Western PA with one major health care plan produce a bottom line in excess of $2M?  More importantly, why wouldn’t every hospital administrator want to adopt these approaches?

So what’s the “secret sauce?” We did this by working endlessly to create a truly healing environment, not to be confused with simply doing our jobs well . . . that was a given. We all had to do our jobs well, AND create an environment that fostered a healing atmosphere.

People actually got a chance to begin the healing process.  By eliminating overhead paging, permitting loved ones to stay over with 24 hour visiting, as well as pet, aroma, music, and humor  therapies, integrative medicine, kindness, a commitment to nurturing, patient centered care and a total commitment to the creation of an optimal healing environment, we began to see outcomes that were previously thought to be literally unthinkable.

Another day.  Another A.

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Posted in Healthcare, Leadership

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How Do You Keep the Music Playing?

February 9th, 2009

When civilizations are evaluated, there are numerous indicators that are used to demonstrate their relevance, their contributions to the world, and their donations to the future. As a young musician, one of my college professors predicted that our culture would begin to decline as a military, economic, and artistic world power. He pointed toward what he described as primary indicators of this decay, and he saw the decline of music in our schools as one of those indicators.

Overall, this professor was more than concerned about the role of public education in the future of our country and once described our form of public education as an experiment that would eventually prove to be ineffective. He saw the effort as a misguided attempt to squeeze all different shapes, sizes, and types of personalities, intellects, and skills into a single classroom, which he called a “melting pot of mediocrity.”

That professor also used to teach us about the writings of Marshall McLuhan from the University of Toronto who indicated that television would change the manner in which we lived our lives. His book The Medium is the Message made us all begin to look at the influence of television on society.

McLuhan described the fact that in visual space we used to think of things as continuous and connected. In either the auditory senses or the sense of touch, there are only resonances. There is no real continuity in our other senses. The fact that we have become the visual wo/man, through television, and that visual orientation has produced a collage that is neither continuous nor connected, has resulted in the reality that even our visual perceptions have lost their continuity.

It is well-known that music nurtures both the right and left sides of the brain, and that those who study music have intellectual opportunities that literally may not exist for those who don’t. The challenge is not just one of music as entertainment, but music as part of our intellectual training. So the question is, as in the James Ingram song lyric, “How do we keep the music playing?”

Young music teacher Nick Jacobs meets musical hero Maynard Ferguson What does this all mean? In 1972, my professor indicated that we were leaning toward a different type of society that would learn, participate, and act in a different way. One of his greatest fears though was that, due to this lack of continuous connection, those who would take charge of our educational systems would not recognize the importance of music as part of education and that music would begin to be downgraded, minimized, and even dropped from public education. Thus reading, writing, arithmetic, and the arts became reading, writing, and test scores.

If we look at the dramatic decline in participation in music education over the past 30 years, he was not far from wrong. The answer to the question of how this has impacted us as a society may not be totally clear for a few decades, but as we look across the overall educational landscape and see these chasms of deprivation from exposure to the arts that already exist, it seems relatively obvious that we have and will pay the price for ignoring those subjective, intellectually stimulating programs that spawn creativity and lead to new and better ways to form our futures.

Remember, from science fiction comes science, from dreams come creations, and from fertile minds come our professional careers. The high-quality drama teacher, vocal instructor, or orchestra director who helped many of us find our way to where we are today is many times not employed anymore, and last week we saw the arts cut once again from the stimulus package. In 1987, I read that more physicians had studied music as a discipline than any other single concentration in both high school and undergraduate work. Will tomorrow’s physicians be nurtured by music, and if not, at what cost to society?

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Posted in Leadership, Music, Music Education

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