Early American Idol Sentimental Favorite: Naima Adedapo

I’ve never been one to jump at trends, so I must admit that I didn’t watch the first 3 years of the show American Idol. But soon thereafter I became hooked. As commercially overblown as the show has become, it is so very compelling because so much is at stake and such young performers must give it their best on the spot several times over.

This season I can’t help but root for Naima Adedapo. I must admit my affinity for jazz makes these sentiments far from objective, as her absolutely sultry performance of the standard “Summertime” was scintillating. She works as janitor, which is hard to believe when you seen her perform – and how can you not root for her. The judges avoided a grave injustice (well as grave as a singing competition decision can be) by allowing her to enter the sing-off and compete for a “wild-card” spot in the finals after the voters had failed to vote her in. She then gave an emotional performance on the verge of tears, and showed why she is such a compelling performer – she has emotion to complement her skills.

Here’s the link to Naima singing “Summertime”

Music Education Advocacy Quote for Today (March 6th 2011)

It’s music in our schools month…

“Every step we take and every sound we make has a rhythm. Music therefore, is inherently human – and lack of commitment to music education is inhumane.”   

- Craig M. Cortello

Bruce Sklar on Music Education and the 21st Century Workplace

In this article from the Burlington Free Press entitled Music Classes Fuel Society’s Need for Creativity, the article’s author and jazz educator Bruce Sklar echoes many of the themes stated here repeatedly regarding the role of music education in preparing students for the workplace (I guess everyone enjoys a little validation every once in a while!).

In the piece, Bruce and others observe that musicians have the ability to “Synthesize new ideas from existing materials or data” and develop skills that are needed in the 21st century.

Musicians are quick on their feet and have the ability to improvise.

Music education helps develop Discipline, Teamwork, and Leadership (3 of the 9 Lessons from music education that we identified in Everything We Needed to Know About Business, We Learned Playing Music).

Bravo, Bruce!