We Don't Need No Thought Control

I’m sure I’m going to be the only one who says this so here goes, deep breath: I’m a fan of music. Me gusta musica. I dig music man. All of it. Most people would insert “except country” somewhere in there too, but God help me I’d be a liar if I said so. Now don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy a good country music diss every now and then..you know…my girl left me, I ran over my own dog with my truck, but it’s okay because I’ve got my cheap beer and this here guitar..kind of jokes. However, when I hear country music, it above all things takes me back to when I was a summer camp counselor at a horseback riding camp in good ole Browerville, Minnesota.

It reminds me of when I would get up at 5am, put on a pair of really dirty boot cut jeans, my favorite pair of boots, shove a bat in my back pocket, toss lead ropes around my neck and round up 200 horses as fast as I could to make it back to the bunkhouse for an ice shower before just as many campers woke up to John Denver’s Thank God I’m a Country Boy (every fucking morning). I loved it. I still love country music. Maybe that’s because there’s a little bit of country in me, but also because it reminds me of good times with good people.

Funny thing about music.

Something similar but uniquely different happens to me when I hear an incredible orchestral piece or cello solo. I began to play the cello at age 5. I still play, and have played everything from Mozart to Metallica. I have been a member of an orchestra with incredibly talented musicians. The acoustics in Carnegie Hall cannot be described, only felt, and experienced. I’m an orch-dork and proud.

My father was a Deadhead and so fortunately, I was raised on phenomenal music. Thanks Dad. Rock and Roll, folk music, bluegrass… I own tie-dye, hemp, Birkenstocks, Dick’s Picks and Betty’s Boards. I like disc golf although I’m terrible. There were burn holes in my first car. I appreciate the irony of my youth pastor humming A Friend of the Devil, and always smile when I see the Begonia plant my father gave my mother…although they are not scarlet. I remember I took a job at the Gap (oh my God I know) just so I could scalp tickets to see Ratdog, and used to float down the Apple River in Wisconsin every summer and see Phil Lesh and Friends. My love for Reggae can also be found here…My cat’s name is Marley.

When I became an angstful teenager (I’m no longer a teenager but I’m still full of angst) I felt right at home with what they called at the time alternative rock, punk, garage, or even grunge. I was pissed off, hated everyone and sought refuge with others that felt the same way.

The blues…the blues and good ole classic rock specifically do something ridiculous to me. That music makes me want to sing, sing like a big black lady lives inside me and pretend I’m good enough at playing my guitar to fake the chord progressions in the air. Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, Johnny Lee Hooker, B.B. King, SRV…there are so many. The way a slide sounds on steel strings, the way your whole body feels like an amp, the Hammond..you didn’t even notice you were tapping your feet and fingers did you? Many a night I have found myself at the Cabooze or Famous Dave’s in uptown for unbeatable live music. The crowd it draws is really something else to watch and be apart of. Oh, and only Jimi Hendrix should be allowed to play the Star Spangled Banner.

I'm the only white girl in a gospel choir and I used to nerdily sing in an a capella group. My first major as an undergrad was musical theatre..that’s right…show tunes folks. Last week I was at a hip-hop and spoken word show. Incredible. It’s just incredible. Heads bobbing, fists pounding the air.. I just can't get enough..little Depeche Mode joke for ya there.

There are so many genres now and so many fans. Funny thing about popular culture, always changing and whatnot. Redefining itself. Music has always provided me with anything I felt I was missing, anything else I wanted, needed more of, answers.. A place to hide, come together, comfort, understanding, friends. Music is just as social as it is personal, just as political as anti-establishment (which I think is still political). My taste in music hasn’t changed; it’s become more eclectic. Music has truly affected me as a person: who my friends were, the color of my hair, the style of my clothing, where I spent my time, what I read, how I spent my money, etc. Music has truly shaped the world in which I live. I think at least in part this is true for most people. There is always something music has to offer everyone, and there is always a way to relate. I need music to survive Gloria Gaynor style.

With each genre of music I have gotten into I have made new friends and traveled to new places; I have seen and done new and different things. When I look back and try to figure out where in the Breakfast club I would fit, I can’t find my place. I was a hippie (some of you may say stoner), I was a punk, I wore a cowboy hat, I made piccolo jokes, I play the air guitar to Freebird… Music is why I make “jokes” about if I don’t make it in the teaching profession I’m going to try out for American Idol. Music is the only thing that can define me on a daily basis when I know nothing else about myself. I think anyone can relate to this.

It’s because of this relationship, both personal and public, that I think music belongs in the classroom. There is no better way to look at the social and political unrest of the 60’s than to look at Dylan’s The Times They Are a Changin’, or CSNY’s Ohio. What does music say about education or lack thereof? Beauty School Dropout anyone? Oh like you don’t know what I’m talking about.. Alice Cooper’s Schools Out (think Dazed and Confused), Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room by Motley Crew, Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall, Don’t Stand so Close to Me by the Police…think about what songs like this say about future success, citizenship, student-teacher relationships, bad teachers, rules and discipline, and the overall boring nature of school. And these are just a few songs about school..think of all the other songs out there that address so many other issues. It’s just like another piece of text but with so much more to it. The possibilities are really endless when music is integrated into education…and that little emo kid in the back of the room won’t think you’re so terrible anymore. Unless you sing or something. Don't sing.