Music and math and Ragazzi

Did you think Ragazzi was just about music? Guess again. Music study trains all kinds of skills and the benefits are many. Plato knew the benefit of music as an academic discipline when he advised in the Republic, "Study gymnastics for the body and music for the mind."  Here is an example:

Scientist Sophie Bushwick published this comment on her blog:

Stuck on a tricky math problem? Start clapping. Grade school kids who learned about fractions through a rhythm-and-music-based curriculum outperformed their peers in traditional math classes. The work is in Educational Studies in Mathematics. [Susan Joan Courey et al., "Academic music: music instruction to engage third-grade students in learning basic fraction concepts"]

Fractions let you divide up a measure of music into notes of varying length. For example, one four-beat measure could contain a single whole note held for all four beats, two half notes of two beats apiece, four quarter notes of a beat each, and so on. In the Academic Music program, based on the Kodaly method of musical education, students clap, drum and chant to memorize the lengths of musical notes—then solve problems in which fractional notes must add up to a full measure of music.

Sixty-seven students participated in the study. Half did math problems using the Academic Music system. And after six weeks, the students in the music program averaged 50 percent higher on tests than did the kids in regular math class. Fractions create a solid foundation for further math education—so mastering them is music to educators’ ears.

Ragazzi's theory program is essential to music literacy and our boys, when they complete the program, have learned college level theory. Music is fun, it connects the two sides of our brains integrating our emotions and intuition with our analytical and critical skills. Good for you for choosing Ragazzi.

What is so special about a boy singer in a boys chorus?

                                                                                                                                                                          

Over the years, as Ragazzi has developed its reputation nationally and even internationally, we have endeavored to be the best boys chorus we can be.  As a result of our striving for excellence (there it is again!), we train our singers in the classical boy choir sound found in England, Vienna, South Africa (Drakensberg) and Germany. Consequently, we are often asked to provide soloists or choirs for other classical musical groups, including professional orchestras and opera companies.  In addition, our directors and boys give workshops for other choral conductors, demonstrating our teaching methods.

A young boy’s voice is a unique and beautiful thing; haunting, ephemeral.  Once the voice lowers as boys mature, that unique and wonderful boychoir soprano sound disappears.  (There are some wonderful adult male sopranos, for example in Chanticleer, but they use techniques for changed male voices – the sound is also beautiful, but unmistakably different.)  So, this brief stage is the time to treasure your boy’s voice and help him develop its full potential.

In the past week, Ragazzi was contacted by two professional organizations in need of a boy soprano soloist.  While all of our boys are valuable singers, generally only those who have studied as soloists would be considered for roles such as Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms or Menotti’s fabulous opera Amahl and the Night Visitors.

Last year a Ragazzi boy was the soloist in the San Francisco Opera’s world premiere production of Heart of a Soldier.  Four years ago a Ragazzi boy starred in San Francisco Opera’s The Little Prince.

Once your boy has mastered the basics of pitch and head voice (which we teach), as he advances to Concert Group and beyond, if he aspires to more, he should consider voice lessons (also called private study or solo coaching).  Our Handbook has recommendations of teachers who have proven success with boy sopranos.

Then, when opportunity comes knocking, he’ll be ready to open the door!

Here are Ragazzi’s recommended teachers as found in our Handbook:

3.1     Vocal Coaching and Private Music Lessons

The following voice teachers are recommended for boys who wish to pursue solo studies.  All boys in the Concert Group are encouraged to receive private vocal coaching.

                Please check with the Ragazzi office – availabilities and recommendations may change.

Jon Ellis

    jon.ellis.tenor@gmail.com

650-515-5975

    Peninsula

·   Norman DeVol

singernorm@aol.com

650-922-7751

Peninsula

·   Dr. Lee Strawn  
lees@sfsings.com

415-378-8556

Notre Dame Univ. Belmont

·   Wendy Hillhouse   (changed voices, only)
wendyhillhouse@gmail.com

    650-366-3559 (c)

    Peninsula

In addition members of Ragazzi faculty offer private music training in many forms such as musicianship, theory, sight reading, vocal remediation for problems, and are an excellent source of information about vocal therapists.The following faculty members offer private coaching for a fee.  Their contact information is in Section 1.2 and on our website and in the e-RosIter.  Please note that Ragazzi choristers may not study voice privately with their own current chorus director.

Kathy Morey                        Jesse Buddington                 Ross Morey                                         

Kent Jue                                                Craig Morey

Carol Panofsky can recommend coaches for boys who wish to gain extra skills in music theory.

Excellence is for Everyone

Ragazzi is COMMITTED to EXCELLENCE!  But… what does this mean? How do we measure ourselves against such a potentially forbidding standard?

Aristotle said that “Excellence is what we repeatedly do. Therefore excellence is not an act but a habit.” I love that. We are working every day to create excellent music, excellent relationships, excellent boys.

In Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset (Ballantine, 2006), she addresses what she calls “growth mindset.” People with growth mindset react to perceived failures, challenges, even tragedies with an attitude of curiosity. What happened? What can I learn from this experience? How can I create success?

Coaches, teachers, parents, directors with a fixed mindset will send the message that the student has certain traits and that they are being judged, positively or negatively. With a growth mindset, the message is sent that the student is a developing person and the coach is interested in his development.

What surprised me and may surprise you is her finding that praising a child for who he IS is less comforting than praising the child for the work he has done. It can even backfire. If a student has been told all his life that he is “smart”, he might steer away from challenges that cause him to accomplish something more slowly. He might even, after being told he performs brilliantly, get an overinflated sense of himself and be shattered when something he attempts is not successful. He might not have the resilience to persist and pursue a goal.

Praise is good, but we need to give and receive praise for work done rather than praise that judges talent or intelligence. Ragazzi singers judge themselves in performance. After a concert, they can be very self-critical and if they hear that they were “just great” but know that they weren’t at their best, they don’t feel good.  They are judging and labeling themselves.  If we ask them, “What did you learn from this?” they have the opportunity to make decisions to improve and to create excellence whether with more preparation or more focus or more engagement or with whatever they see is needed.

Dweck tells a story of a teacher at Julliard who believed that talent could be developed. She was in conflict with the ethos of the school where talent was seen to be innate and most of the faculty had no interest in those who didn’t seem to have “it.”   This teacher believed that anything is possible. After being told that one of her students had “no ear,” (the musicians’ term for “getting” musical nuances), but she continued to exert effort to help this student.  A fellow teacher even tried to have her fired for wasting time and resources.  This teacher viewed talent as a fixed trait, not something that could be nurtured and developed.  One such denigrated student – one of her “projects” – was Itzhak Perlman, one of the most respected violinists in the last 50 years.

The successful teachers with a growth mindset create both high standards and a nurturing environment.  In short: they challenge students and foster the intellectual and social outlook – the tools – to meet that challenge.  High standards are part of a growth mindset; we can work hard and improve and achieve excellence.  When students understand that the hard work asked of them is for them and not for any teacher, they will engage. Quoting from Mindset, “[students] …are our responsibility and our legacy. We now know that the growth mindset has a key role to play in helping us fulfill our mission and in helping them fulfill their potential.”

A Founder’s Vision

As a high school teacher, I found that boys – young men – were reluctant to sing.  I heard the same refrain from my colleagues directing school and adult choirs.  At the same time, as assistant conductor for San Francisco Boys Chorus, part of my duties included recruiting elementary school boys by visiting schools and leading singing games.  Contrary to my expectations, I was amazed to see the eagerness of young boys to join in.  I began to wonder what happened to boys between the ages of 10 and 15. Capturing and nurturing that eagerness was central to founding Ragazzi.

After establishing Ragazzi, I also began to explore issues of males’ relationships to each other and to the arts.  I discovered that when they worked together, males supported each other and were able to enjoy artistic expression.  I also discovered that, due to what can only be described as distorted thinking, singing has often been perceived by boys as a “girl” activity.  But in fact, there is a universal, world-wide tradition of male singing and so we decided to educate our Ragazzi boys about that and give them the opportunity to support each other as they explored this side of themselves.

In the early days, boys dropped out after they reached the age of 11.  But as we added more opportunities for changing voices, older boys began to take on the role leaders and mentors.  They felt free to express themselves and they began to see singing as something that belonged to them.  They continued to sing.

I have also discovered that boys really like to sing songs that are beautiful and expressive.  Time and time again, I’m still surprised to hear a boy say that his favorite song is the piece by Palestrina, or a lullaby by Britten, or a piece by Brahms.  Very rarely do loud, rhythmic pop songs hold our boys’ sustained interest.

Now that Ragazzi has grown to over 170 boys, there is a strong line of male leadership from our Young Men’s Ensemble to our alumni who come back as camp counselors and tour chaperones.  They articulate the standards to each other and the younger boys, serve as inspiration and model the chorister and personal standards that Ragazzi expects of its members.  And how they love to sing!

We have been told time and again by older boys and alumni (and their parents) that Ragazzi has been the single most important influence in developing their social and leadership skills.  So, Ragazzi has turned out to be a place where boys feel safe expressing themselves, artistically, and learn ways to work together as a team.  These are the skills that one needs to succeed in life, so the benefits of Ragazzi have extended far beyond the original vision of providing a safe place for boys to sing together.  Ragazzi is building strong citizens who are confident and cooperative and creative - a powerful bequest to society.

Joyce Keil

Artistic Director

Ragazzi Boys Chorus