“Dude, check out this riff.”
“There’s this super old band called Pink Floyd. Have you heard of them?”
“It was so embarrassing. In music appreciation I thought it was Chopin, but it was Schubert! I was so embarrassed.”
“Dude dude, check out this riff.”
“The guitar is like, how I chill, you know. It’s like my life.”
Strumming chords and singing country songs every time there is a two-second break in anything
“Is that Metallica?” “No! It’s Tool” “Oh, dude, I should have known that.”
Endless noodling while I’m trying to give instructions.
“There’s this band from way back in the 90’s called Rage Against the Machine, have you heard of them?”
“I like music, but I just can’t do music appreciation class.”
To two of the college-aged counselors “So…do you guys have wives?”
Describing the band Polyphia “They’re like what Metallica would sound like if they didn’t avoid complexity.”
“Dude, dude, dude, check out this riff.”
I had a ton of fun with my students this week. If you’re worried about the kids spend time with the ones who are making music, or art, or films, or who have hobbies in general. I did not once ask a student to put their phone down this week, even through some long hours of rehearsal and practicing. I’m convinced that one of the reasons people spend a lot of time on their phones is that their lives are boring. The phones make them more boring, then the cycle has begun. We don’t even need rules about phones at music camp because music camp is a blast.