Q: You are a musician, and an educator. How did you get started on this path?
There is nothing more boring than talking about me, me, me, so I’m going to take the easy way out on this one and refer you to a biography written by Mary Miche. She did a very clear and concise piece that I can’t improve upon.
Q: Do you think that your parents and childhood played an influential part on what you are doing?
My kindergarten teacher sent home a note informing my parents that I was one of her problems. She described me as a child who is, “ interested in everything and can apply himself to nothing.” Memories of this conflict between the school environment and my fidgety restless nature shaped my attraction to active learning as an approach to early childhood education. Also, being interested in everything has been an asset as a songwriter for children because I can write about so many things. For example, I recently turned my interest in home composting into a song called THE COMPOST BIN.
I played in a small band in middle school. I recall taking a test in social studies just before we were to play at a noon dance. I heard the others warming up in the gym across the way and I was so impatient to get over there, that I blindly checked off answers as fast as I could, turned in the test and raced out of the classroom not caring how I did on the test.
My parents both liked to sing. When they were in college they sang in the Occidental College glee club. We used to go camping and would sing around the campfire in the evenings.
My dad used to play records at dances and he had an extensive collection of 78 rpm recordings. As a child I spent many hours sitting in my room listening to Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Harry James.
When I was in high school, my sister Penny went to summer school in Mexico and brought back a guitar. I instantly had to learn to play this instrument. After buying an old guitar for $5, I taught myself to play chords and sing along. Gradually the guitar led to jobs at the YMCA leading group singing at “hootenannies” on the weekends. I also worked as a counselor on teenage caravans and at summer mountain camp.
One year we had a group of teenagers camping at Yosemite. People started gathering around our campfire singalongs. Each night the crowd grew until the rangers had to move us to a bigger outdoor theater. It was during this period that I discovered the joy of actively involving an audience. I have always enjoyed being a facilitator of active involvement rather than an entertainer or performer.
