Eric Booth is a leading Teaching Artist in the USA. He has been teaching at Juilliard for 13 years, Stanford University, NYU, Tanglewood and Lincoln Center Institute for 35 years, and The Kennedy Center 14 years. Eric is the first person to receive an honorary doctoral degree (New England Conservatory, 2012) for teaching artistry. In his article which he presented at the Lincoln Center Education Teaching Artist Development Labs in January 2017, he articulates the difficulties of terming what Teaching Artist do, and provides a framework for understanding the work that takes place in educational and community settings providing example of programs and their desired goals. I love his description that TA’s are “activating the “intrinsic” artistry in participants.”
SHARING STUDENT FEEDBACK
Students I work with through The Song Room took some time out from their recess to chat to the media team about their experiences. There’s been a write-up about it in the newsletter, to see what I get up to in the classroom have a read here
KODALY
In January 2019 I will be returning to KMEIA to receive continued training in the Kodaly method. I’ve found this methodology to be a wonderful tool for teaching students of all ages and levels of ability, as well as strengthening my own musicianship skills. More information here
Writing songs
I am currently writing, developing and composing songs to “teach kids how to sing” as part of my work with The Song Room in developing content for their Arts:Live database. With curriculum alignment, lesson plans, and teacher toolkits they form part of an online platform to aid generalist teachers to teach the Arts in school settings. They’ve now extended the platform to enable kids to use it at home and in the broader community! It’s brilliant, check it out.
Raising funds for the documentary
Making a documentary is an expensive process. So far with the support of generous donors, I have crowd funded to enable me to commence filming in China. I have edited the footage and recorded using my own funds and with a lot of “learning on the job.” My aim is to raise enough funds to pay for an expert team including an editor, sound engineer, and camera person - and thus ensure a tip top job. Raising money can be a real pain, luckily I have many supporters of the project and wonderful family and friends. In 2018 there will be two fundraising concerts titled “A Musical Feast.” I will be singing at these events joined by Carlos Barcenas (tenor) and Kay Cai (pianist), two wonderful and generous friends. My mum Angie Chong and Porpor (grandmother) Elizabeth Chong will be cooking up a storm in the kitchen, and I will be screening a trailer of the documentary. Both events are now sold out, thank you for your wonderful support! To donate to the project visit here.
