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So, he's been dead for 35 years, but still, have you heard of him?I was watching a bit of President Obama's press conference last night and a question was asked concerning families who are living in tents. This was fairly common in New York City and other urban areas, I presume, in the rough and tumble late 70's through mid 80's, but I hadn't heard mention of it yet as a … [Read more...] about People You Should Know: Harry Partch

Okay, we've been here before. Nevertheless, a new study has been published in the journal Psychology of Music: The Effect of Piano Study on the Vocabularly and Verbal Sequencing of Primary Grade Students by Joseph M. Piro and Camilo Ortiz. (You can only view the abstract without a subscription.)Using a quasi-experimental research model, the study chose two schools in the same … [Read more...] about New Report: Music Study Improves Early Literacy

In the special section on museums in today's New York Times, an article by Dorothy Spears titled When The Gallery is a Classroom, opened with the following : "For years, with school budgets declining in so many American cities, museums have provided a parallel universe for learning. Now, with the Obama administration poised to support arts education with increased … [Read more...] about Obama Administration Poised to Increase Funding for Arts Education??

Fair enough, the State of California is in a financial meltdown that predates the national economic decline, and yup, it's nothing new.What's new is the extent of the troubled economy and the types of things that are on the chopping block. The state that made headlines for creating a $100 million plus categorical, per-capita fund for arts education; that's gone, basically, as … [Read more...] about Cuts to the Arts at LAUSD

Okay, I have a goal of losing 20 pounds. Really. I've got about six pound to go. Having that target is extremely helpful. Ask my scale, it's gotten a workout.Along comes Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over Prescribing Goal Setting,  a new paper published in the the Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge  that has the chutzpah to question the … [Read more...] about Questioning the Primacy of Goal Setting