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Famed 'fiddler' pulls strings for music education ? Schools of ...

by Todd Leopold, CNN

Atlanta (CNN) ? Mark O?Connor is comfortable with mixing it up.

The Grammy-winning violinist - or ?fiddler,? as he prefers - first gained fame as a teenage prodigy, learning at the elbows of Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson and French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. He?s played with rock groups, blues bands, symphony orchestras and bluegrass artists, jumping from genre to genre with assurance and joy.

Now he wants to add ?educator? to his list of activities. His ?O?Connor Method? of string playing builds on his interest in American music, deliberately veering away from the classical pieces emphasized in other programs.

?This kind of cross-cultural approach to music learning could have only happened here,? says O?Connor in an interview at CNN Center. ?We, by nature, are curious about being Americans. We generally are interested in what other cultures and other ethnicities offer our country. And music is the perfect vehicle to express these positive attributes.?

Music teachers couldn?t agree more.

?Students are coming to us in American classrooms from around the world, and it makes sense that musical styles are going to reflect the students whom we?re teaching,? says Kirk D. Moss, president of the American String Teachers Association.? He notes that the group celebrates a wide variety of music, even hosting an ?eclectic styles? festival as part of its yearly conference.

?I think we?re seeing a lot of different kinds of music and music groups,? he adds. ?That whole door is more open now than in the past.?

The gateway of music

It certainly wasn?t that way when O?Connor was growing up around Seattle in the 1960s and ?70s.

Though he showed a tremendous aptitude for violin, guitar and mandolin - even winning a national fiddling championship at age 13 - the music teacher at his high school, devoted to choral and band, didn?t support his work in a jazz trio in which O?Connor played guitar. And the school itself, O?Connor recalls on his website, wouldn?t approve of a tour he was offered with a local community college.

?Ever since then, I have had an utter distaste for the nonsensical rules of the entrenched, and a fiery desire to plead another approach,? he writes.

After leaving Seattle, O?Connor eventually joined the jazz-rock Dixie Dregs and then moved to Nashville, where he became a sought-after session man. For the past two decades he?s been all over the map, composing for orchestras, small groups and soloists in several styles of music.

But teaching violin remains close to his heart.

?I thought that strings could be in trouble for the first time in the history of strings,? he says when describing the origins of the O?Connor Method. ?The string environment has not embraced American music like the other musical departments, like wind and brass and percussion ? the strings are still hanging with Mozart and Vivaldi. It?s up to people like me to bridge some of these gaps in our art.?

Music educators appreciate the encouragement, as these are both the best of times and the worst of times for their profession.

On the plus side, programs still enjoy great support. Bands and choral groups are still a mainstay at schools, and at least 150 string programs were created between 1999 and 2009, according to Moss. The recent American String Teachers Association meeting in Atlanta set a record for attendance, Moss adds.

And far from simply teaching notes and rhythms, in the last two decades music teachers have emphasized the subject?s many disciplines, says Mark Kovacs, a music teacher at Tarkanian Middle School in Las Vegas, Nevada, who attended the association?s meeting. Music is an entry point to acoustics, language, history and math, he says.

?I teach physics. I teach European history and culture. I teach French,? he points out.

?We?re required to be cross-curricular and represent all ethnicities, all belief systems,? says Katharine Mason, a music teacher visiting from Boulder, Colorado.

But there?s also the economic challenges of the last decade: budget cuts, job losses - and the need to meet testing goals in key subjects, which prompts some districts to move money away from music. According to news reports, school districts in Kansas, Texas and California, among others, have eliminated or threatened to eliminate music education positions.

?There are fiscal strains in programs, especially music education in primary schools,? says Michael Butera, executive director of the National Association for Music Education.

Currently, 95 percent of elementary school students receive some music instruction, a figure that declines to about 50 percent at the middle school level and 22 percent for high school, according to the music education association. If cutbacks are made in the lower grades, Butera says, the pool of students in the upper grades will go down even more.

All of it keeps music teachers wary.

Creating enthusiasm

Butera observes that music education has benefits beyond simply learning music and related disciplines. The subject creates enthusiasm among students, teaches collaboration and showcases creativity.

?In America, we use music to celebrate our grandest moments, and we use it to help soothe our hurts at moments of tragedy,? he says. ?If we demonstrate we care, the students will care. We need to have policymakers understand the long-term value of not just in the school curriculum, but also for life.?

O?Connor agrees.

?It?s amazing how much music is central to our humanity,? he says. ?We?ll go to great lengths to have music in our lives.?

Teachers remain optimistic that schools ? and parents ? will continue to go to great lengths to keep music in the educational curriculum. Moss says that research indicates that administrators want students to have arts experiences, and Mark Kovacs? wife Ingrid, also a music teacher in Las?Vegas schools, says that the skills learned in music class will serve them in their careers.

?Children need to have a well-rounded education to be flexible in the skills they bring into the workforce, and that?s what employers are looking for,? she says. ?Even though our schools are maybe modeled after the 19^th-century factory workplace, our workers now have to be much more able to take on new tasks quicker than 100 years ago or even 50 years ago.?

?We?re built to learn,? adds her husband.

O?Connor believes that it will take him up to seven years to complete the O?Connor Method books. (The first book came out in 2009; Book III was released last fall.) He?s been devoting more time to playing with students, including an appearance at the Atlanta conference and a concert in New Orleans with a student ensemble. He says it can?t help but make him more committed to the cause.

?I?m living out the experience,? he says.

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Ballroom romance? Derek, Maria kiss on 'DWTS'

ABC

Derek Hough and Maria Menounos dance a romantic rumba.

By Ree Hines

Monday night was Most Memorable Year night on "Dancing With the Stars," as the celebs recalled significant times in their lives and then set their moves to some related music. But one star and her pro partner decided it was a night to make a brand new memorable moment -- at least for the audience.

Maria Menounos' year of choice was 1988, and the song was "Material Girl" ? it reminded her of the times she wiled away the hours watching Madonna's video while her parents worked. For the audience, the year was 2012 and the song was, well, the unrecognizable version of "Material Girl" the house band performed -- that's what was playing as Maria and pro Derek Hough put on a romance-charged rumba, complete with a kiss -- or two.

The slow dance, often referred to as the "vertical expression of a horizontal desire," certainly lived up to its sexy reputation as the pair stretched out on the dance floor at one point and showed just how cozy they can get (at least in primetime).

The routine was their best of the season despite Maria's sometime bothersome (sometimes not) cracked rib woes. The judges raved about it, with head judge Len Goodman calling it a "mix of the ballroom with a little touch of the bedroom," before handing out a matching set of 9s.

Afterward co-host Brooke Burke tried to get to the bottom of the ballroom behavior.

"Twitter-nation is going crazy wanting to know if you guys actually kissed," she told the couple, who remained mum on the action. Then again, there's no need to talk when the lip lock was caught on tape.

Good luck fending off those dating rumors now, you two!

Romance wasn't the evening's only big emotion, as kisses were far fewer than tears on Monday night. Whether happy ones or sad ones, the waterworks flowed.

From the sad side, there was the night's top scorer Katherine Jenkins, who devoted her wistful waltz to her late father, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1996.

"I hope that when he watches this waltz he'll be so proud," she said before the routine.

Spinning across the floor to Josh Groban's "To Where You Are," she and partner Mark Ballas hit all the right steps in the moving dance. As they finished, Katherine was crying, her mother was crying -- heck, half the audience and two-thirds of the panel looked weepy -- but not Len.

The ballroom's elder statesman briefly ignored the unwritten rule of dishing out only high praise on Memorable Year night and offered a little choreography criticism about the lack of holds. Still it didn't affect Katherine's score much, as Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli gave her 10s -- the first of the season -- that more than made up for Len's 9.

Another sad highlight of the night came from Donald Driver. The wide receiver lost his best friend in 2010 and shed tears throughout the rehearsals for his rumba. When he took the floor for the dance dedicated to his pal's memory, he brought on even more tears, especially from the often weepy Carrie Ann.

"The passion that you just expressed was mesmerizing," she said before briefly mentioning a couple of lifts she decided not to deduct for.

Driver earned 26 points for the effort.

Other tearjerkers of the night included Sherri Shepherd, who landed 24 points for her routine that recalled her son's precarious health following his premature birth. There was also Melissa Gilbert, who raked in 24 generous points for her feel-good dance about being able to dance at all after once breaking her back. Jack Wagner cried a bit for the adult daughter he only recently learned he had in his 24-point routine.

And then there were the oddest tears of the night -- the ones inexplicably shed by Jaleel White. His dance was meant to hark back to his Stefan Urquelle days on "Family Matters," but when the 25-point rumba was over, he suddenly burst into tears over his character.

"Stefan Urquelle and Steve Urkel, that's my Mickey Mouse," he told Brooke.

Wha? Maybe he's just upset about those recent rehearsal rumors. That would almost explain it. Almost.

As for the rest of the celebs, it was a mixed night, but not a big mix on the scoreboard. As usual, William Levy was one of the better hoofer hopefuls and earned 28 points to prove it. Roshon Fegan scored 25 for his moves. And Gladys Knight? Well she and fellow back-of-the-packer Gavin DeGraw tied Sherri, Melissa and Jack with 24 -- the night's awfully high "low" score.

What was your favorite moment of the night -- the kiss, the tears or maybe those 10s? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.?And don't forget to join me and Anna Chan for our weekly chat at 3:30 ET Tuesday!

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Pinnacle Airlines files for bankruptcy protection ... - The Finance Room

on April 2, 2012 5:46 pm in Business News / no comments

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Pinnacle Airlines Corp., a regional carrier that flies under contract for Delta, United, Continental and US Airways, has filed for bankruptcy protection to deal with its mounting debt.

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Huskies lose Ross to NBA

April 1, 2012

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Port Gamble S'Klallam now governs its own adoption assistance ...

LITTLE BOSTON ? The Port Gamble S?Klallam Tribe is the first tribal nation to have a federal agreement enabling it to govern its own adoption, foster care and guardianship programs.

Adoption, foster care and guardianship ? known as Title IV-E programs ? whether under the control of states or tribes, are overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

At a signing ceremony Thursday in the S?Klallam House of Knowledge, Port Gamble S?Klallam Chairman Jeromy Sullivan thanked officials from Health and Human Services, the Department of Social and Health Services and the Administration for Children and Families for their part in making the transition happen. But many of those people in turn thanked Sullivan and the S?Klallam government.

?This tribute is really to you, it?s a tremendous moment in government to government relations,? said George Sheldon, assistant secretary of Administration for Children and Families. ?It?s the first of its kind.?

At the ceremony, Sullivan also thanked the previous years of tribal leadership for their work getting the Tribe to this point.

?We?re proud that our Tribe has qualified to administer its own foster care and adoption program,? Sullivan said previously. ?The real winners here will be Tribal families that choose to open their homes for fostering or adopting children. With our own program, we?ll be able to provide dedicated staff and grow services that support these families.?

In 2008, federal legislation was passed allowing the nation?s tribes to run their own Title IV-E programs with reimbursement from Health and Human Services. Up until this time, tribes collaborated with states on adoption and foster care.

Port Gamble S?Klallam now internally administers all Health and Human Services social services, including those related to Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, other child welfare services, and child support assistance.

Jolene George, Port Gamble S?Klallam?s director of Children and Family Services, said with the return to a federal partnership, the Tribe will now see a full reimbursement for services claims, rather than partial reimbursement from the state system.

?It means we can provide [foster children and families] better support services,? she said. ?The children stay within our program, in our own tribally licensed homes. We don?t see them drifting.? The program provides weekly mental health therapy to those in out-of-home placement, as well as assistance at school and the youth center.

S?Klallam culture provides much of the support structure, George said, as even those in guardianship are often placed with community members they consider family. There are currently 28 children in Port Gamble S?Klallam?s foster care system.

Juanita Holtyn has taken care of her granddaughter, Aaliyah Sullivan, 4, since she was a year old.

?I?m all she?s ever known,? she said. ?She calls me Grandma-Mommy.? Holtyn said leaving the decisions of guardianship and foster care up to the Tribe is very important.

As defined by Health and Human Services, foster care programs run by states or tribes ?provide safe and stable out-of-home care for children until the children are safely returned home, placed permanently with an adoptive families or placed in other arrangements for permanency.?

According to DHHS, in 2007, 496,000 children were in foster care throughout the United States, while in 2008, 381,000 children per month were receiving assistance through IV-E programs.

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Contact North Kitsap Herald Megan Stephenson at mstephenson@northkitsapherald.com or 360-779-4464.

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