Musical Messenger

Music teachers around the world have positively influenced the lives of children. From Susan Udell who reaches out to over 3,000 students in Madison Wisconsin through her Hand-chimes program, to Deidre Roberts who shares the love of music to children in poverty stricken areas of Pakistan, Ecuador and Cambodia; many of these wonderful music teachers go unnoticed until now. This book is the result of research done by Dr. Caron L. Collins of the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York in Potsdam. Her research reveals the educational innovations and inspirational stories of nearly 50 music education alumni from over 2,000 graduates of the Crane School of Music, premier college of music education located in the North Country of New York State. These influential music teachers embody the ideals of Julia Ettie Crane, founder of this first institute for music educator training, nearly 125 years ago. The book gathers the stories of influential music teachers from the most notorious music schools in the United States, coupled with the life history of Julia Ettie Crane. Julia Ettie Crane was one of the important founders of our nation’s music education over 100 years ago, but until now, no book has been written devoted to her contribution and her ongoing influence in today’s classrooms. Thousands of music teachers have earned their degrees from her institute and have gone on to develop original music programs around the world. This book illuminates her forward-thinking philosophy from the archives of her personal writings and captures the selected stories gathered from many alumni to inspire current teachers to utilize these creative ideas in their school music programs. Public school music teachers will be encouraged and future music educators enlightened by the innovation of Miss Crane and her mission to educate all children through music.

Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll declared, “Ray would be at the top of the list if I were gonna read about somebody’s life.” In The Messenger: The Songwriting Legacy of Ray Wylie Hubbard, author, journalist, and music producer Brian T. Atkinson demonstrates why Carll and so many others hold Ray Wylie Hubbard in such high regard. Atkinson takes readers into and beyond the seedy bar in Red River, New Mexico, where the incident occurred that inspired Hubbard’s most famous song, “Redneck Mother.” Hubbard tells the stories, and Atkinson enlists other musicians to expound on the nature of his abiding influence as songwriter, musician, and unflinching teller of uncomfortable truths. Featuring interviews with well-known artists such as Eric Church, Steve Earle, Kinky Friedman, Chris Robinson, and Jerry Jeff Walker, and also mining the insights of up-and-comers such as Elizabeth Cook, Jaren Johnston, Ben Kweller, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Paul Thorn, The Messenger makes clear why so many musicians across a wide spectrum admire Ray Wylie Hubbard. Readers will also learn why “Redneck Mother,” the song that put Hubbard on the map for most listeners, is also a curse, of sorts, in its diminution of both his spiritual depth as a lyricist and his multidimensional musical reach. As Hubbard himself says, “The song probably should have never been written, let alone recorded, let alone recorded again.. . . the most important part of songwriting is right after you write a song, ask yourself, ‘Can I sing this for twenty-five years?’” Atkinson’s work makes a convincing case that Ray Wylie Hubbard’s truest and most lasting contributions will long outlive him. And, with a couple of good breaks, they may even outlive “Redneck Mother.”

Community Music Today highlights community music workers who constantly improvise and reinvent to lead through music and other expressive media. It answers the perennial question “What is community music?” through a broad, international palette of contextual shades, hues, tones, and colors. With over fifty musician/educators participating, the book explores community music in global contexts, interconnections, and marginalized communities, as well as artistry and social justice in performing ensembles. This book is both a response to and a testimony of what music is and can do, music’s place in people’s lives, and the many ways it unites and marks communities. As documented in case studies, community music workers may be musicians, teachers, researchers, and activists, responding to the particular situations in which they find themselves. Their voices are the threads of the multifaceted tapestry of musical practices at play in formal, informal, nonformal, incidental, and accidental happenings of community music.