By Christopher Vuk

Imagine your child, yes yours, not someone else’s, but your child a master. Malcolm Gladwell published the non-fiction book, “Outliers: The Story of Success” based upon the idea of the “10,000 hour rule”, a theory developed by Anders Ericsson stating that mastery of any subject requires 10,000 hours of study or practice. An excerpt from Ericsson, “the critical difference between expert musicians differing in the level of attained solo performance concerned the amounts of time they had spent in solitary practice during their music development, which totaled around 10,000 hours by age 20 for the best experts, around 5,000 hours for the least accomplished expert musicians and only 2,000 hours for serious amateur pianists.”

What is the true value of mastery of anything? Is it financial success, fame, satisfaction of personal goals? Perhaps. But may it also be an understanding of the underpinings of what in fact it takes to be “successful”? What if our children had access to this opportunity? What if we didn’t wait for them to “find themselves” in college. What if we gave them the opportunity to do so at the beginning of their education, not the end.

I can imagine a daily series of classes that are maintained from birth through high school graduation. Impossible you may say? And why so? Are not the primary years that the greatest absorption of knowledge and information occurs? Are not early childhood education programs those which house children for the longest period of time per day than any other type of educational program (avg. 10.5 hours per day). Is there not an opportunity being missed here?

Consider the next Mozart, engaged in the study of music from birth, with daily music exposure for simply one hour each day. Rinse and repeat for 3 years…that’s one thousand hours. Start an instrument at each three, and bump up the hours to two per day. By age six we’ve reached 2,400 hours. Let’s add a third hour now from age 6-18, that’s 15, 540 hours. Now, that’s mastery by any standard.

Let’s return now to the true value of mastery. Maybe your child does in fact achieve this “mastery” in an area such as music, but decides to pursue a career elsewhere, what value is it to him hereafter? Examine the skills developed during this process of mastery: consistency, determination, persistence, sense of achievement, self-discovery, to name a few. What parent would not want to see these developed in their child? Thus, I believe the value of mastery lies beyond the exact subject of study, but instead the skills that are honed and crafted on the way to the achievement of that level of mastery. As it’s been said for many years, “it’s the journey that counts!”

School of Groove and Rock and Roll Daycare will be holding an incredible music event on Friday, May 30, 2014, at Jordan Hall, a national landmark, and considered to be among the best concert halls in the world today. Featuring performances by School of Groove faculty, students and bands. The show will also be the debut of the Rock and Roll Daycare Band.

This is an outstanding performance opportunity for everyone, however, the cost of renting such a wonderful venue is substantial. The total rental fee is $4200, however to secure the date, we need to raise $2100 by June 30 of this year. Concert tickets will be general admission at $20 and we are seeking to raise money for the initial deposit by pre-selling tickets and donations.

We are only able to hold the event if we are able to raise $2100 by June 30, 2013, otherwise we will have to cancel. If you would like to help us make this a possibility, please make a pledge of any amount. Once we reach our target goal by pledges we will contact you to collect such money as has been pledged.

Join us for an evening of music and fun with staff music therapist, Nikhil Hogan. Musical activities such as musical instrument exploration (drums/keyboard/guitar), Music and Movement (with lights!) and a brief introduction to our new Music Curriculum!

Light refreshments will be provided.

Date: April 29, 5pm – 6pm

Location: Xibus Performance Hall, Cambridge Performing Arts Center, 535 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02141

Here are some exciting excerpts from the last newsletter:

Fun Events!

Staff News:

Over the next coming weeks, we will be introducing new Montessori Toys into the classroom. The new toy for this week is the Dressing Frame Zipper!

From InfoMontessori.com:

Purpose

Direct: To help them learn how to zip themselves.

Indirect: Acquiring coordination of movement.

Points of Interests
Making sure the pin is fully in the tab before beginning to zip.

Age
2 1/2 – 3 1/2years

Notes
You may want to ask the child where he has seen a zipper before to have him associate what he is about to do to his every day clothing.

Jan 28, 5:30pm – 6:30pm

535 Cambridge Street,

Cambridge, MA 02141

“Jerome Pohlen, a former elementary school science teacher, has given kids and parents an excellent educational opportunity with his new book, “Albert Einstein and Relativity for Kids: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities and Thought Experiments” (Chicago Review Press).

The book is largely a biography of Einstein (1879-1955), presenting his life to a young audience — it’s aimed at readers 9 and older — who might know his name but not a lot about him.

“Albert Einstein and Relativity for Kids” is one of a series of books from Chicago Review Press aimed at young readers. Also in the series are “Isaac Newton and Physics for Kids” by Kerri Logan Hollihan, and “Darwin and Evolution for Kids” by Kristan Lawson.”

A trailer for a new documentary about Favio Chavez, a local ecologist and musician who is teaching the children of Cateura to play music on recycled instruments, has been circulating online at a rather feverish pace.  The joy of the boy playing Bach on an oil-drum cello is difficult not to share.