The Most Important Things I Learned in College

It's been 25 years since I started my undergraduate degree in music education, way back in 1989.  As I have worked with student teachers over the years, I'm learning more and more that what is being taught in college classrooms is somewhat different than what I was taught 25 years ago in my undergrad collegiate music classes.  Quality music-making is still at the forefront but changes at the federal level in our country have trickled down have forced changes across education from the college level, down through primary schools.  I learned some invaluable lessons in college 25 years ago that have stuck with me throughout my career.

1) How to write scales

Dr. William Holda at Kilgore College taught my first semester of Music Theory.  The first thing he made us do was write, yes, hand write all of the scales (major and minor) in treble and bass clef.  We would have to notate them all with the sharps and flats, not just in the key signature, and turn them in for a grade.  If we made mistakes, we had to redo them until they were all correct.  What I know now that I didn't know then was you have to have this information at the tips of your fingers at all times.  It is one of the most important pieces of knowledge every musician should know.  Dr. Holda made sure we knew our scales.

2)  How to Listen

Aural Skills take a lifetime to perfect.  I learned early on what to listen for and the importance of being able to recognize intervallic relationships.  Melodic dictation was one of the hardest classes for me but I can attest that the more you practice writing and singing these intervals, the easier it gets.  At age 26, I taught Pre K-2nd grade general music and it was that experience that helped me begin to solidify those relationships in my own voice.

3)  How to Sing

Not only did I learn how to sing but I learned how the voice worked.  One of my all time favorite classes in college was Vocal Pedagogy.  The late Dr. David Jones taught us about our instrument, how it works, how it made up of muscle, cartilage, and bone.  The vocal mechanism is an enigma and Dr. Jones taught us everything we needed to know about how to use it properly.

4)  How to Conduct a Choir

My first conducting teacher, Terry Eder, made sure we knew what we were supposed to do with our hands.  It was our job to communicate everything to the choir, non verbally.  We had to show them what to do through gesture.  Dr. Eder made us conduct with metal washers on our hands, practice patterns in front of mirrors, and always use a baton.  He taught us the nuts and bolts of conducting:  patterns, cueing, cut-offs, and showing dynamics.  Charles Smith, my major doctoral professor, took that knowledge to a new level by videoing our conducting lessons and forcing us to be expressive with our gesture.  Dr. Smith always wanted us to think about our gesture choices and be sure that they had a purpose.  We weren't just "casting spells" while we were waving our arms around, we were helping to shape the sound through movement.

5)  Great Choral Composers

It's hard to imagine that there was a time before Eric Whitacre, but there was.  All of my collegiate professors loved similar composers.  In 9 years of college I was privileged to get to sing some of the greatest music ever written for choirs:  J.S Bach motets and cantatas, Mozart masses & requiem, Brahms waltzes & quartets, Bernstein psalms, Monteverdi madrigals, Verdi choruses, Britten dances, Orff master pieces, and so much more.  Getting to perform this music was an education in itself and something I will always be grateful for.

6)  People Skills

Most importantly, I learned how to get along with many different kinds if people.  I grew up in the south, earned my undergraduate degree in the south and then earned my post graduate degree in the north.  Learning to work with, listen to, be around, and get along with many different types of people was so valuable to my young life.  I was a different person then, unrefined, simple, and silly (still am).  I learned so much from the people I was fortunate to study/sing with:  Steve Bristow, Cynthia Douglas, Tod Fish, Andrew Skoog, Mike Bultman, Sean Wallace, David Hein, Judy Kabodian, Joe Bentley, John Bragle, Rich Bell, Jon Jenz, and so many others.....  Being a strong manager of people is an important trait for a high school teacher, even more so for a choir director.

I have taught 1/2 of my career, here's to the next 15 years.....

25 Random Things About Dr. Jeffrey Brown

About 5 years ago on Facebook, this was going around and I just found it again.  On my 44th birthday, I thought it would be fun to share.  I have had to change a few of these because my life as dramatically changed since 2009 but for the most part everything else is still very true.

Okay here goes:

1) I dyed my hair once to cover up the gray. It was a huge mistake and it'll never happen again.


2) I love Dr. Pepper, all 23 flavors of it. Diet or regular, I don't care.

3) For a very long time, I thought wearing white sneakers with everything was acceptable. I’ve come to learn, not so much.

4) I'm a Texan who can't eat spicy food. Almost seems un-American.

5) I love it how things, on occasion, seem to just work out in the end.

6 For the first 25 years of my life I was born and raised in the great state of Texas. The drawl still lingers even after 18 years but to this day when people ask where I’m from, I still say Texas.

7 When I was 16 my dad handed me the keys to a 1971 candle-apple red Chevy El Camino (you know, the ½ car ½ truck automobile) Dad had rebuilt the engine and fixed it up for me. My late Uncle JW (James Willard) used to say, “it would cut a hole in the wind.”

8 I am high school choral director, but when I was in high school, I only sang in choir for one year, my senior year. I was an undecided major as a college freshmen and didn’t really start pursuing music until that first year of college.

9 When I was 18 yrs old, Dale Miller, my first choir director put Mozart, Brahms, and Bernstein in my hands and I have been hooked on music ever since. He turned on the switch for this good ol country boy who had know idea what he was going to do with his life.

10 I’ve lived in 4 states in my life, Texas, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Illinois. Probably the greatest education of my life has been being exposed to the different cultures and people in those diverse parts of the country.

11 My biggest regret in life is that I never took piano lessons. I think I would have been really good at it. Some people think I can play piano really well, when in truth, I’m just a hack.

12 I love superheroes. My mom would buy me comic books when I was a kid. Anything relating to Batman, Superman, Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, or Spiderman and I’m there.

13 I’m also a huge fan of Star Wars. I saw the original in the theater about 20 times in 1977 at the prime age of 7. I have grown up with those stories even into adulthood and I can't wait to share them with my children.

14 I don’t have a lot of patience for people who complain all the time.

15 I try to look on the bright side during times of stress and try to focus on the good things in my life for strength and support.

16 My favorite movie is “The Breakfast Club”. I went to high school in the 80’s and 1985 was such a good year. John Hughes ruled!

17 This might surprise you, but I actually like doing work around the house or in the yard. You know, dishes, laundry, mowing the grass, etc… It helps me to think and clear my head.

18 I feel that working with teenagers is what I was meant to do. Sometimes it’s a challenge but they keep me grounded, tapped in to popular culture, and they definitely keep me laughing.

19 I’m a classically trained musician, but I love rock-n-roll music. It doesn’t matter is it’s old or new, as long as it’s got a great beat and awesome guitar riffs, I will listen to it.

20 My favorite sports team is the Dallas Cowboys, above all others. As a boy, we would get home from church on Sundays and on 1 of the 3 channels we had on the TV, there would always be a Cowboy game. I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember and always will.

21 I can pretty much talk to anyone I meet and find something in common with them. I love interacting with people and sharing stories.

22 I’m usually a very content, happy, easy-going person.

23 I love kids, especially infants. Whenever I get around them, I turn into a bumbling idiot. It could in a restaurant or in the grocery line. I have to make faces at them and try to get them to smile. It’s really fun.

24 My children Alex, Owen, Hank, and Loie are my pride and joy. I love them with all my heart and they are my legacy. 

25 Finally, I find it ironic that some of us in life have to go through many trials and tribulations to find the one person that makes us truly, and I mean, truly happy. For me, her name is Eryn. She is my best friend and mother of 3 of my beautiful children. I'm so thankful she came into my life.

Being connected to your roots is SO important....

I just spent the last two weeks visiting my family in Texas.  I was able to be in my childhood home and reminisce about my younger years as a rural southern boy.  My world couldn't be more different now but the connection I have to my youth couldn't be stronger.  Being back in that place has helped me to see how important a connection to your roots is so important for who you truly are.  Your paths in life might take you to new and different places but you will always be a part of where you grew up. There's no escaping it.

I grew up in rural East Texas and even though I haven't lived in that environment in over 18 years, as soon as I'm there, I feel like I'm immediately back to that way of life.  It's much different than my way of life now.  It's certainly different that where my children are growing up in suburban Chicago.  I want my children to have a connection to those roots.  It's where their father came from.  It's an important part of who I am and why I am the person I am today.  The people in the photo below are the people who helped to shape who I am.  My father, Don, my mother, Diane and my two sisters, Jennifer and Kimberly.  I am so thankful for their influences on my life and for the influences they continue to have on the people that they encounter in their daily lives.  They are special people.

Wherever you are in your life now, don't forget about where you came from.  Your roots help to define you.

"Why I Sing..." From the Mouths of Today's Teenagers.

Tomorrow, I will turn 42 and on the eve of my 42nd birthday and 11th year of teaching choral music at Libertyville High School, I wanted to share with you some thoughts from today's teenagers.  Recently, I gave my 200 choir students an assignment following our last performance, "In 200 words or more, tell me "Why Do You Sing?"  I wanted to share some of their profound and honest thoughts with you.  I purposely kept these anonymous and reading through them again tonight brought a smile to my face.  I hope you enjoy them as well.

"Why I Sing?"  From the Mouths of Today's Teenagers....

You don’t have to be the best or the most serious, you just have to love doing it.

I can tell you why I started singing. Straight up, I was told there were hot babes, a cool teacher, and an easy A.

So I guess if I had to sum up why I sing, it would be because it makes me happy. Happier than a lot of other things, and I find that beautiful.

To put things simply: music is art, making art is like feeding one’s soul.

My heart sings out loud and strong, as for my mouth, it only guides the words of my heart to the ears of others, and in some cases, to the heart of others.

I sing because it makes me feel indescribable. When I sing, all my troubles disappear, and I become overwhelmed with joy and happiness that I can't find anywhere else.

Singing allows me to believe I have a purpose in this world.

So, today, through singing, I'm a far stronger person than I could ever have hoped to be. I owe it all to song.

I don’t think I will ever sing solos or anything, but I can definitely see myself being one of the old ladies in my church choir in 80 years because I love the feeling of being in a choir.

When I open my mouth to let out the sound it’s feels like I’m also letting out all the negative energy from throughout the day. It empowers me.

Music to me is an expression of the mind from the person who wrote it.

I sing because I enjoy having a class where I can be myself and not have anyone else judge me.

I sing because it's my life.

Singing has brought me confidence and hope. It’s brought me friendship and life. Most of all, it’s taught me to believe in myself.  Without singing, I wouldn't be the person I am today.

Music is one thing that really unites people, and that’s why I love singing in a choir.

Without singing and music, I probably wouldn’t be the person that I am now. It inspires me and changes the way I think about the world.

I love singing, and I will never stop doing what I love.

Singing is a major part of my life, probably one I couldn’t live without.

Without singing or music, I feel like I wouldn’t be the same person today. Being a singer taught me to express myself and to not be afraid to be who I am. Singing has helped me find who I really am and how I want to express that.

Singing has helped me to get through fear and heartbreak, and it’s helped me to figure out who I am and who I want to be.

Singing allows me to express all of my emotions with words and melodies. I have never found another instrument that has given me the joy that singing brings to me.

Singing for me brings me and my friends and family together, and creates everlasting memories.

Singing is just a release of your emotions whether you are feeling energetic, sad, or any other emotion you may be feeling at a particular time.

Singing is like breathing to me and I am always confused by people who don't like to sing or don't like music because there is such joy and peace in being able to express yourself not just through speaking, but also through singing.

It may sound a bit cliché, but I truly believe it. I sing because it takes me to a new place where I can forget all of my stress and pains. It calms me; it makes me smile; it relieves me.

The main reason why I sing is because I love it! People underestimate the power to brighten someone’s day by hearing a beautiful singing voice: whether it’s in choir, in the car, in the shower, or walking down the streets. Music is beautiful!

No matter how horrible a day is, how much pain I am in, or how stressed out I am, I can forget about it momentarily as I throw my entire self into a song.

Singing is something that regardless of where I go will always travel with me. This skill I’ve been given doesn’t need to be packed away in a traveling case when I move from place to place, it stays inside of me like a secret waiting to be whispered to the world.

Singing clears my head because I can let my voice and mind “soar.”  Sometimes I sing when I am so broken down I just want to melt away. Singing lets me outpour some of the stresses in my life and (for lack of a better word,) my soul. It makes me feel good that something “beautiful” can come out of me

.

Not only has music been a family tradition but, in a way, I feel like music and singing has shown me so much about myself and who I want to be.

It’s deeper than reading a book. It's kind of hard to explain. It's just that sometimes, when the setting is right and the music is happening, you get a feeling. It’s not the same feeling every time you sing, it depends on the song and the circumstances, but it’s so genuine and strong and just real. It’s deep!

I sing because I love it and it is beautiful and simple. You need no instrument, you need no one; it's just you and the music. I sing because it helps me to forget what is sad and give me hope to see positive things in my life.

Out of all these reasons I really think that it comes back to the first sentence and that is that I sing because I love to and it makes me feel good.

I may not be the best singer, I may not ever have a solo, and I may not get any acknowledgment as a singer, but I love to sing and that’s all that matters.

Singing is a privilege, and we  choose to take choir every day. When it all comes down to it, we all love to sing or we wouldn’t sit in your class every day. I think what separates me from some of the other kids is that I value singing. It is my greatest hobby and my biggest accomplishment. I take pride in my voice and in my music skills.

To me singing can be so much more emotional than say, playing piano, or French horn, or guitar. The fact that there is a written text allows you to convey so much more than when there is just music, even when that text is in a foreign language.

Being a part of choir is no longer about having an easy A on my transcript or having a class with friends, but about the singing itself.

I sing because it's one of the greatest natural things in life.  Almost everyone can do it and no two voices sound the exact same.  To me, singing is such a weird concept.  The fact that something can come out of us that is so unique and beautiful is truly amazing.

How I Found Libertyville - Or How Libertyville Found Me..

The story doesn't start in Libertyville but it ends there.  

When I was finishing my doctorate in East Lansing in the winter of 2000, I started looking for a college teaching position.  It was my dream at the time to work at the college level.  I was only 29 years old (turning 30 in April of that year) and I wasn't having any luck getting a college interview.  My major professor at Michigan State University heard through his professional channels that there was a large high school in Illinois that was looking for a choir director.  I decided to apply for the job at Stevenson High School, in Lincolnshire, IL.  The director there, my now good friend Alice Nuteson, was taking a full year maternity leave to have her first child.  I drove out from Michigan on a Sunday evening and Alice and her husband Mike were gracious enough to let me stay in there home for an early Monday morning interview.  I interviewed for the job that Monday morning in the winter of 2000 and the faculty at SHS took a chance on me.

During the 3 years that I lived in Michigan, I worked as the Director of Music at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lansing, MI.  I worked there for 3 years (1997-2000) and directed the Adult Choir, Handbells, Contemporary Praise Band, as well as all youth and children's music.  After I had been notified that I had gotten the job at Stevenson High School, I started looking for a church job in Illinois.  My first child, Alexandria, had just been born in March of 2000 and I could use the supplemental income.  I was just starting to use the internet on a regular basis then and found a job posting for a Contemporary Worship Director at the United Methodist Church in Libertyville, IL.  I had to look on a map to find out that Lincolnshire and Libertyville for only a few miles apart and that it might be a possibility for me.  I made another trip to Michigan to interview for the job at the church in Libertyville in early June of 2000.  The contemporary worship service had was only about a year old and they needed someone with strong music skills who could bring some stability to the service.  They took a chance on me as well and I was hired at the contemporary worship director starting in the Fall of 2000.

In July of 2000, I made the move from Michigan to Arlington Heights, IL where we rented an apartment and I began working at choir director at Stevenson HS and Contemporary Worship Director at UMCL.  In November of 2000, I met with Alice and she told me that she was looking forward to coming back to her job.  It was at that point that I started looking for another teaching high school teaching position.  I applied for jobs in New York, Kansas City, Chicago, and Dallas.  I had no idea where I was going to working and the possibility of packing up and moving again was staring me in the face.

One Sunday morning in early December, a member at UMCL, Jan Bees, came over to me and said, "Did you know the choir director at Libertyville High School is retiring?"  At the time I hadn't heard that news.  Jan's daughters were both at LHS and played in band.  She was an active band parent and had the inside scoop on what was going on.  After hearing about the potential retirement of then choir director, Carol Ramsey, I started researching the school district.  It was exciting to find out that Libertyville had one of the most well respected music departments in the entire state of Illinois.  So, I applied for the job and waited to see if I would get an interview.  I did get an interview and was excited for the opportunity.  I feel that I was in the right place at the right time being at Stevenson.  All of the music teachers at Libertyville knew the teachers at Stevenson and after my interview they started talking to each other about me and what I was like to work with.

The interview was in early March and I was starting to get nervous when I hadn't heard anything from LHS in about a month.  While I was waiting to hear from LHS, I received an interview from a the Bethlehem Central School District in Albany, NY.  I didn't want to go to NY at the time but had to leave all my options open.  I took a chance and called LHS to see if they were getting close to a decision before I spent the money to fly to Albany for the interview.  The Fine Arts Supervisor at the time, Dan Patterson, told me that they were close to a decision and to give him one more day.  He called me the next day to tell me that they wanted me to be the next choir director at Libertyville HS.

That was in April of 2001.  I started at LHS in the Fall of 2001.  There were 87 total students in choir when I started and we've had over 200 kids in choir for the last 4 years.  I feel like it was fate that I got the job at Libertyville High School.  I didn't know that it was one of the most coveted jobs in the entire Chicagoland area at the time.  I happened to be at the right place at the right time and all of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.  This is my 11th year at LHS and we are still going strong.  

From Dr. Pepper to Doctorate....

Well, I've decided to jump into the world of the blog.  I've been wanting to try something new using technology and hope this tool will be beneficial in communicating with you.  If you know me and you are reading this, you either have me as a teacher, you see me on stage conducting your child in a performance of some kind, or we know each other in some fashion.  There is so much that goes on in the high school choral program.  There are aspects of the program that take place behind the scenes that students and parents don't ever see.  My goal is to use this tool to write and communicate my thoughts about the high school choir program and music in general.

I thought it would be helpful for my first blog post to tell you a little about who I am and where I came from.  People that know me know that I claim to be from the great state of "Texas" but not everyone knows what I've gone through to get where I am today.  I was born in Dallas, TX.  After returning from the Vietnam War, my father was hired as a telephone installer for Southwestern Bell.  When I was a year old, he was transferred to a branch in Longview, TX, about 120 miles east of Dallas.  Longview is very close to my parents hometown of Marshall, TX which allowed me the opportunity to grow up knowing almost every member of my family.  I feel blessed that I was able to grow up knowing my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I grew up in Longview but went to public school in Hallsville, TX.  Hallsville was a small town just outside of Longview of about 1600 people.  The school district, however, covered a 15 mile radius and many kids went to Hallsville Independent School District even though we lived in Longview.  I graduated 13th out of the 180 kids in my class of 1988.

Probably the most surprising thing people find out about me is that I was not in choir in high school.  I joined my senior year thanks to a friend, Stephen Hale, who dragged me into choir with him because I had an extra elective.  I didn't grow up in a place where singing was the "cool" thing to do.  It was "cooler" to be a Future Farmer of America" than in the arts.  I didn't know anyone in choir except for Steve so I was apprehensive to sign up, even as a senior.  When my best friend, David Goodman, heard I was signing up, he said he would do it too if I signed up.  So, I signed up for choir and the rest is history.

My choir director in high school, Kirk Davidson, who wasn't very good, did one thing for me that probably changed the course of my life.  He made a phone call in March of 1988 to the choir director at Kilgore Community College, Dale Miller.  He told Dale about Steve and I and that he should drive over and hear us sing.  I didn't know what to expect and when Mr. Miller showed up, we went into a practice room and he listened to me do some warm-ups and sing one of the songs I had been working on.  Later that week, Dale called me at home and told me that he'd like for me to come sing for him in his choir at Kilgore College and that he would give me a $500 scholarship.  He also told me that the choir at KC was going to perform in Carnegie Hall, NYC in the spring of 1989.  I was ecstatic.  I had never even been on an airplane and the thought of going to New York City was very exciting so I accepted the scholarship and was off to Kilgore College.

My freshmen year of college is when my life changed.  The trip to NYC and singing in Carnegie Hall was when the "light bulb went on."  I had never sung with a 300 voice choir accompanied by a full orchestra.  We sang the Mozart "Coronation Mass" and it was the most exhilarating experience of my life.  I will never forget it.  When we returned from that trip, I went into Mr. Miller's office and told him that I wanted to change my major to music starting fall of 1989.  I had previously been undecided as a college major.  That experience gave me a purpose and finally something to pursue.  I didn't know what was ahead but for the first time in my life, I felt like I knew what I wanted to do.

I transferred to Stephen F. Austin State University after I had completed all of the music courses at Kilgore. It took me an extra year to get things finished.  I received another nice scholarship to be a vocal/music ed major at SFA.  I continued my training there and really began learning how to sing.  SFA was/is known as an opera school in Texas and we all learned to sing with an operatic technique.  It was at SFA where I received my first stage experience.  It was fun but I found out quickly that I didn't like being cut or getting told I wasn't good enough for certain roles.  I was much more comfortable on the podium with a baton in my hand.  I finished my Bachelors degree in the fall of 1993 and stayed to do a Masters at SFA, finishing in 1995.

1995 was a big year, it was the year that I left Texas for Boston, Massachusetts.  My wife at the time had been accepted to graduate school in Boston and so we packed up everything and set out on a journey across the US.  This was huge for a country boy like me and was another turning point in my life.  In Boston, I started teaching and performing as a young professional.  I had the pleasure of performing with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the performing choir for the Boston Symphony Orchestra as well as being a paid singer at two different churches in Boston.

Teaching in Boston wasn't the best and I longed for something more.  My mentor teachers, the choir directors that I looked up to all had earned doctoral degrees.  My goal was to also get a doctoral degree so that I would have the credentials to one day teach at the college level.  Some friends from Stephen F. Austin had moved from TX to attend Michigan State University and in the spring of 1996, they began sharing with me what a wonderful school it was and that I would love the choir director there, Charles Smith.  As I began looking into the school, I realized that MSU would have a graduate teaching assistantship available for the fall of 1997.  So, I applied to their doctoral school and was accepted.  Dr. Smith offered me one of their teaching assistantships, conductor of the MSU Women's Glee Club.

In the summer of 1997, I left Boston for Lansing, MI where I began my doctoral work at Michigan State University.  I spent 3 years on campus at MSU working on my degree and finished it in the spring of 2002 after moving to Illinois to take a job at a local high school in the northern suburbs of Chicago.  That high school was Stevenson High School, in Lincolnshire.  Stevenson's director was taking a full year maternity leave and I was fortunate enough to get the job.  Working at Stevenson HS played a large role in helping me get the job at Libertyville HS when their choir director retired in the spring of 2001.  I've been at Libertyville ever since.

Dr. Pepper is and always has been my favorite soda.  It's bottled in TX and you can get it everywhere in the south.  It was been a long road from the land of Dr. Pepper to getting a doctoral degree but it was a journey that I was meant to take and what an awesome ride it was.   My next post will be devoted to my 10 years so far in Illinois.  More to come....