SCHOOL WITH ROCK
Steven Van Zandt tour reaching out to teachers, students with tuneful curriculum
Steven Van Zandt, also known as Little Steven, fondly recalls an early experience in his life when a teacher allowed him to play the Who’s 1965 debut album, “My Generation,” for the class. ¶ “That blew everyone’s minds,” he recalls. ¶ He hasn’t forgotten the joy and inspiration music brought in that moment. It strengthened his resolve to impact people through music. He’s done that for many years as guitarist for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and as well as a solo artist.
Recently, he decided to take it a step further through the creation of the TeachRock.org curriculum with the help of his organization, the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation. The comprehensive K-12 curriculum encourages the use of music in teaching to inspire kids. His current tour with the Disciples of Soul is in support of teachers dealing with tough teaching environments.
“[Teachers are] our first line of defense. They’re the ones creating the future in our country,” says Van Zandt. “They’re having a very difficult time now because of being underfunded for supplies and their own salaries.”
Even more demanding, he says, is simply getting through to the current generation of students, who don’t necessarily learn things via the same methods as generations past.
“Teaching the kids ‘learn this now and someday you’re going to use it’ might have worked for us a little bit, but it’s not working for them,” he says. “So, I thought, ‘Let’s design something that suits the modern world, that helps teachers today, that helps students today,’ and the answer to that is music.”
Since music is something that all kids can relate to on some level, the guitarist believes asking students to name their favorite artists could open the gates to productive learning.
“Whatever they name, let’s trace that back. Let’s see where that artist comes from,” Van Zandt says. “So, we’re not only able to show their influences but build historical context what was happening in the culture when that record came out and why that record came out when it did. Before you know it, kids are not only learning about music and history, they’re engaged.
“And that’s the key. You can’t teach a kid until you’ve got their attention, right? It’s an attention-getter immediately, and in the pilot