Hope Your Already Saw This...

I love to see parodies of tv news like this. Once again, I am reminded why I'm glad to not be in tv news.

What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

Why I Don't Watch The Local News

As, I've said before, I used to want a career in broadcast journalism. On the rare chance when I actually see tv news, I realize why I am glad i'm not in it.

Two examples from today:

1-I am still a news junkie and keep tuned to CNN all day (though they have been going down the tubes of late.) You may have heard this afternoon about a 14 year old boy who was trapped onder a piece of concrete in Butler County. Well, the cable channels were all over the story because it's easy and visual. MSNBC and CNN were picking up shots from WPXI's helicopter. PXI didn't break into programming with the story, WTAE eventually did. Well, MSNBC interviewed a WPXI reporter who shall remain nameless on their air. It's amazing how breathless these reporters are when covering stories like this. It's sick. They're practically salivating. And you can almost hear it on the phone. Yes, it's a story that the kid was trapped, but does it deserve this breathless coverage where facts that aren't even correct are put out there only to be retracted later? Perhaps, it's just the effect of the of a 24 hour news cycle, but come on - these reporters make the story out to be Watergate. Again, glad the boy is ok, but should it be all over the tv?

2-The only thing I ever really watch on tv at all is The Newshour on PBS. I turned the tv on tonight to watch. Well, I thought I turned PBS on, but I ended up on a local station. President Bush held a press conerence in the 5pm hour today. I caught about 30 seconds of it live on the local station. Bush was talking about the US attorney issue. Well, when the station came back to the anchors in the studio - they were absolutely clueless. It looked as if they had no idea at all what this story was about. Hello - you're news anchors! You should be paying attention to the news. It's disgusting, they were not able to put anything the viewer just heard into context. Why? They don't pay attention? They're only faces on tv? I have no idea - but that's not journalism - this is what they do everyday. Perhaps they should be paying attention to the news around them - that includes national news!!!
I saw one of those anchors doing a tease a little bit later about what kind of steaks to buy. Now - that's news.

Music Advocate runs for President

I've been meaning to post this for some time. I doubt I'll get into much political talk on this blog - though I do have some rather political view.

I want to fraw your attention to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. He is running for the republican presidential nomination. Huckabee is a strong advocate for music education. I had the chance to see him speak at the NAMM show in January.

While I don't think he has a very strong chance to end up being the nominee, he can certainly bring some attention to the importance of music education.

Here's what he had to say on Meet The Press a few weeks ago.

MR. RUSSERT: Now, I believe that song is “Born To Be Wild.” Is that your inner self?

GOV. HUCKABEE: It probably would be born to be mild would be a better one for me. I love music. One of the things that I’m very passionate about is music and art and education because it was life-changing for me. I think in a creative economy we’ve got to have a whole group of kids coming up and a generation whose left and right brains are stimulated. It’s something I pushed for as a governor in Arkansas where we are one of the few states that required both music and art education. I’m a musician, I’m passionate about it, but I think this, this country has made a huge mistake in cutting music and art out of school budgets. And it’s something we’ve got to address because the future economy is dependent upon a creative generation.

The more we hear of music and arts education, the better our case is to keep it alive in the schools.

McKeesport Students Singing at State Capitol Today

McKeesport students to sing at state Capitol

Thursday, March 15, 2007

By Eric Slagle
Singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" is not an easy task for most vocalists because of its octave-and-a-half range.

Add a couple of voices to the mix, however, and the national anthem becomes less challenging.

"It's a lot easier to sing as a group than as an individual," said Mary Jo Vallus, a Mc-Keesport Area High School senior.

As a singer in the school's 65-member a cappella choir, Ms. Vallus, a soprano, knows about singing in a group. She and fellow choir members have been practicing the national anthem and other numbers in preparation for a performance tomorrow in Harrisburg.

They will perform as part of Music in Our Schools Month in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association.

Also on the bill are selections by the high school's eight-member flute ensemble, directed by Karen Cole. The two groups will take turns performing their music in the rotunda of the Capitol Building.

The student musicians will also tour the facility.

"Seeing the rotunda and performing on the steps is a phenomenal experience," said Beth Murphy, director of the a cappella choir. "The sound goes up into the dome and bounces all around."

Other songs in the program include "An Irish Blessing" and "David's Lamentation," which should bring rich sound reverberating through the 272-foot-high Capitol dome.

Ms. Murphy said there is no particular theme to the performance.

The students will travel to Harrisburg and back by bus in one day.

The choir performed at the same venue about six years ago, said Ms. Murphy.

She said the a cappella choir has existed at the high school for decades; the flute ensemble was formed about two years ago.

State Rep. Marc Gergely, D-White Oak, visited musicians at the high school last week to honor their selection for the performance.

(Eric Slagle is a freelance writer. )

Music Ed in Pittsburgh Catholic Schools

They said organizing band programs wouldn't work, but Sister Serafina proved them wrong

Music of the spirit

Sunday, March 11, 2007

By Tim Grant
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

They told her it couldn't be done.

Sister Serafina Viagrande had a dream to some day provide instrumental music education in Catholic elementary schools on a grand scale.

"My whole life was music as a child," she said. "I realized the importance of music, and I saw the lack of music in Catholic schools."

When she was an enthusiastic young nun wanting to organize multiple band programs during the 1950s in Columbus, Ohio, several priests told her it would never work.

Sister Serafina proved them wrong in Pittsburgh.

The instrumental music program she manages for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has grown to include 76 schools and is believed to be the largest band program for Catholic school elementary pupils in the country.

This year marks her 25th anniversary at the helm of the band program.

"By providing children this chance to play instruments, they can discover if they have the gift," she said. "Even if they don't continue their whole life, they can have an appreciation for what's good in music."

While a growing number of religious sisters no longer wear the traditional habit, Sister Serafina, 76, said she always will do so because it's her way of representing God to people without having to say a word.

Her band pupils are her disciples. She is the tiny, soft-spoken, but stern music teacher who insists they sit up straight, behave and pay attention throughout concert rehearsals that run up to 41/2 hours. She seldom has to correct anyone. Students respect her as a nun and a musician.

"We never wanted to push the envelop with her because she made music important enough that we really wanted to do it well," said Tom Wilson, 50, of the North Side, a former student at St. Thomas District High School in Braddock.

Some of her students went on to earn advanced degrees in music.

John Rogel, 50, who also attended St. Thomas, received a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Maryland. He's now a professional classical music teacher and opera singer in Bowie, Md. Sister Serafina taught him to play bass viol.

"Her deep understanding and her love for music is what inspired me most," he said.

The total enrollment in her band program this year falls just shy of 2,000 elementary school pupils, 36 band directors and five district managers.

Although the National Catholic Education Association in Washington, D.C., keeps no official records on elementary school band memberships, officers there believe her program could be the largest of its kind in the nation.

"It is very extraordinary, especially in this day and age," said Sister Mary Dawson, assistant elementary school executive director for NCEA. "More often those programs are run by musicians from the local areas who are willing to take on music lessons for one or maybe two schools. What she is doing is a rarity across the country."

The Rev. Kris Stubna, diocesan secretary for education, said 80 percent of all elementary schools in the diocese participate in her band program.

"Music is one of those things that gets set aside because of curriculums and budgets," Father Stubna said. "But music is another language that opens the mind and heart to human understanding in a different kind of way.

"She really believes getting children in music learning at an early age will have a profound impact on their lives," he said.

At a time when many Catholic schools are struggling to pay salaries for classroom teachers, her band program has grown from 22 to 76 schools over the years, largely because it costs schools nothing to provide it.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh pays Sister Serafina a stipend of $1,000 a month and parents of band students pay her a $10 annual fee for each child in the program. She provides a band teacher for each of the schools. Parents pay those teachers $18 to $26 a month for each band student.

"In the past, teachers got a percentage of what the parents paid outside companies that ran the program," Sister Serafina said. "When I took it over, I felt the teachers deserved to get all the payment, and they stayed."

Only in the past few years has Sister Serafina given up teaching in schools, limited her travel and shifted the bulk of her duties to administering the program, which she does from an office at St. Aloysius Rectory in Reserve.

Her best students in each district have the opportunity to perform concerts as a group in Honors Band and the All-Star Band at no additional cost.

A Dominican Sister of St. Mary of the Springs, Sister Serafina came to the United States from Sicily as a baby in 1931, joined the convent in 1949 in Columbus and was sent to Pittsburgh in 1965.

Violin is her main instrument, but she has studied all band and string instruments and holds a master's degree in music education from Ohio State University.

She used to play the violin with the University of Pittsburgh Community Orchestra, the Wilkinsburg Symphony and the Pittsburgh Savoyards. She continues to perform on the violin in church and in the convent.

The Rev. Hugh Lang, former superintendent of Catholic Schools for the diocese, made it possible for Sister Serafina to fulfill her life's ambition when he appointed her in 1982 to coordinate the instrumental music program.

The band program was declining steadily under the leadership of outside companies. She feared it would fade away completely, and she was not about to let that happen.

"Sister Serafina doesn't understand the word 'no,' " said Father Lang, now retired and living at St. Anne's in Castle Shannon. "To say she was appointed by me is an understatement. She appointed herself.

"Anything she undertakes, she does it with such enthusiasm it won't fail," Father Lang said. "She puts her heart and soul into her work."

Charles and Jean Marie Nemeth, of Thornburg, have had six children in Sister Serafina's music program, one of whom obtained a bachelor's degree in music from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a master's degree in music from the Royal Academy of Music in London.

"Sister Serafina was essentially the capstone of all my children's instrumental musical experience," Mr. Nemeth said. "She magnificently incorporates the spiritual life into music. She sees music as a spiritual undertaking. It's her method of spreading the gospel."

(Tim Grant can be reached at tgrant@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1591. )

Pianist with Hearing Loss

Check this story in the PG about a pianist with hearing loss.

Kudos to the PG for some many music and arts stories.

Self Absorbed Generation

Sally Kalson gets it right with this article from your Pittsburgh Post-Gazoo

I've noticed this trend over the last few years. I noticed it when I was in college, but it certainly was not as bad as it is today. Don't some call it Generation Me? With the advent on myspace and facebook (for full-disclosure, I do have a Facebook account), I think it's only gotten worse. And no one calls anyone else to task on it because it's become the standard. it's kind of sickening.

Does anyone in the current college generation have any idea that there is a war going on in Irag? Or are they too concerned about Anna Nicole or Paris or who knows what else. It bothers me, but how do you change a generation?


Collegians too special for their own good
Mister Rogers saw it coming: Today's students self-centered
Friday, March 02, 2007
By Sally Kalson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Fred Rogers saw it coming and knew it could be a problem.

A group of psychologists released a study this week that found today's college students are more self-centered and narcissistic than those of previous generations. In part, the researchers pointed to overindulgent adults for raising children to believe they are "special" no matter what they do.

Mister Rogers, of course, wrote the seminal song on this subject in 1967 -- the lyrics say "You are my friend, you are special."

The researchers didn't blame Mister Rogers in any way. But the late, great pioneer of developmentally appropriate children's television could see his message of love and acceptance being misinterpreted by a more indulgent society to mean "You are so special, you can do no wrong."

Mister Rogers knew children could do wrong, said Hedda Sharapan, director of early childhood initiatives for Family Communications Inc., the producer of the "Mister Rogers, Neighborhood" series.

Indeed, Ms. Sharapan noted, Mister Rogers had always emphasized that loving adults had to set limits and boundaries to teach children right and wrong, self-control and empathy. Yet somehow, the larger context was getting lost in the fast-evolving, three-second sound bite, self-esteem-touting culture of instant gratification.

"Fred saw that things were changing in society, for many reasons," Ms. Sharapan said. "He was concerned about how people were misinterpreting the message. One day in the studio, he said, 'I wish from the very beginning I had said it this way: You are special and so is everyone else in this world.'

"It takes a lot of energy to say no to a child and stick to it," she continued. "Children need to know they're loved no matter what, but you also have to show with real conviction that certain things are not acceptable. That's the part that got lost. The pendulum swings."

Now it has swung too far for the good of society, not to mention young people themselves, according to the findings of lead author Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University, and four other researchers.

They looked at responses to the standardized Narcissistic Personality Inventory, given to 16,475 college students across the country from 1982 to 2006. The results showed that students' NPI scores have risen steadily, to the point that two-thirds of current students ranked above the 1982 average.

This may not be all that surprising for a generation whose every move from infancy was immortalized on videotape, whose tiny digital cameras enable the endless snapping and transmitting of self-portraits, whose cyber-culture invites them to post Web pages devoted entirely to themselves.

Yet the trend is harmful, the researchers said, because narcissists are short on empathy, long on aggression when criticized, and obsessed with self-promotion over helping others. They're also more likely to lack emotional warmth and have problems with romantic relationships.

Not everyone is buying the generalities.

Rebecca Welsh, a University of Pittsburgh senior from Maryland, said there may be some truth to the findings, but she also noted that many students are involved in volunteer work.

"I do see students reaching out to help others," said Ms. Welsh, 21.

"You can see some people being vain or pompous in classroom discussions, holding their opinions more highly than others'. But there are students who do community service, too."

Noted Ms. Sharapan, "A lot of students are deeply committed to the environment, are out working for Habitat for Humanity and other causes. I wish the researchers would tell us about them."

And Kiwanis International, which runs service leadership programs for high school and college students, released a statement praising the large numbers of young people who are "prime examples of social awareness, civic engagement and community service."

The statement noted that the Corporation for National & Community Service found volunteerism among college students increased by 20 percent from 2002 to 2005.

It also cited a 2005 survey by the Higher Education Research Institute that found feelings of social and civic responsibility among new college freshmen at the highest level in 25 years.

Nevertheless, people who work with college students on campus say it's hard not to notice the trend toward self-involvement.

"A lot of faculty and staff in higher education are talking about what they see as a sense of entitlement in today's students," said David Hornyak, director of advising for the Honors College at Pitt and a graduate student in applied psychology.

"Where did this sense of entitlement come from? Part of it is a general service orientation," where students think of education as a commodity and teachers as the service providers.

"A professor here was talking to a student who wasn't attending his classes," he said. "The student told him 'I paid for this class, and if I don't want to come it's none of your business.' To him, it was just something he entered into under a contract."

As for student volunteerism, Mr. Hornyak questioned how much of it was heartfelt rather than perfunctory.

The tendency of the so-called "millennial generation" to believe in its own exceptionality may be giving young people a warped self-image, he continued.

"If you've ever watched an 'American Idol' audition, it's amazing the number of young people who truly can't sing but yet are crushed when someone like Simon gives them a reality check.

"This study indicates that students just automatically assume they'll succeed without any frame of reference. They lack critical thinking and self-reflection."

He believes that those traits can be learned. "Maybe students just haven't been given the opportunity to do that," he said.

Maybe not.

Ashleigh Pedersen, 24, a graduate assistant in the fiction writing program at Pitt, said today's students are "more used to being told their work is OK even if it isn't."

"We're encouraged not to say 'This is wrong,'" she said. "The hope is they'll feel more open to going on and not feel shut down."

Does it work?

"I go back and forth on that," she said. "There really is such a thing as bad grammar."

(Sally Kalson can be reached at skalson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1610. )