Event Title

Session 11: Louder Education with Alex Skolnick

Presenter Information

Alex Skolnick

Location

Sears Recital Hall

Start Date

8-11-2014 1:00 PM

End Date

8-11-2014 2:30 PM

Description

Education and rock’n’roll have long had a complicated, somewhat contentious coexistence. From Alice Cooper’s anthem “School’s Out” to Pink Floyd’s recording of children defiantly singing “We don’t need no education,” rock in the 70s was rife images of disenchanted youth rising up against parents, teachers and educational institutions. Hard rock and heavy metal built upon these examples in the 80s and beyond. Indeed, it is the all too oppressive, creativity-stifling environment of too many school systems and the psychologically crippling social experiences accompanying them that cause youngsters to make a seemingly overnight Kafkaesque transformation from cute, cuddly cherubs one day to Slayer t-shirt clad malcontents the next.

"Louder Education" represents the concept that education and rock needn't be mutually exclusive. Coined by guitarist Alex Skolnick, the term was first used as the title of a web series centered on a New York after-school music program, THOR (co-hosted by Alex and THOR founder Chris Harfenist and airing on MetalInjection.com). Louder Ed’s latest configuration is Alex’s lecture and musical demonstration showing that instead of shunning students’ interest in music – metal and otherwise - parents and teachers should embrace it. The presentation includes, but is not limited to, the following components:

  • Music is exciting and stimulating to its fans. Connecting it with formal education can open up new channels of learning previously unrealized, foster discipline and study habits applicable to academic subjects, and be a gateway to further appreciation of arts and culture (musical and otherwise).
  • The anti-school imagery found in rock, while often misinterpreted, does not represent a rejection of learning (many of its biggest instigators, including Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd’s members, are highly intelligent, well spoken and learned people). Rather it is an encouragement of independent thinking and a questioning of conformity.
  • Youths are consistently fed the image of “the musician” as a slacker lacking in both intelligence and impulse control (admittedly not helped by certain artists’ behavior). Instead, the focus needs to shift to musicians such as Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson (a pillar of Britain’s business community), Queen’s Brian May (Astrophysics PhD, university chancellor), Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello (Harvard grad/activist) jazz musician Vijay Iyer (Physics PhD, Harvard professor), Henry Rollins (writer, activist), Frank Zappa (late composing genius/social critic) and others who successfully combine sound with smarts.
  • Scholastic topics abound in rock music, especially heavy metal. Take literature, for example. What better way to stimulate students interest in Mark Twain, Samuel Coleridge and Ernest Hemingway than through such songs as, respectively, “Tom Sawyer” (Rush), "Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner" (Iron Maiden) and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (Metallica)?

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Nov 8th, 1:00 PM Nov 8th, 2:30 PM

Session 11: Louder Education with Alex Skolnick

Sears Recital Hall

Education and rock’n’roll have long had a complicated, somewhat contentious coexistence. From Alice Cooper’s anthem “School’s Out” to Pink Floyd’s recording of children defiantly singing “We don’t need no education,” rock in the 70s was rife images of disenchanted youth rising up against parents, teachers and educational institutions. Hard rock and heavy metal built upon these examples in the 80s and beyond. Indeed, it is the all too oppressive, creativity-stifling environment of too many school systems and the psychologically crippling social experiences accompanying them that cause youngsters to make a seemingly overnight Kafkaesque transformation from cute, cuddly cherubs one day to Slayer t-shirt clad malcontents the next.

"Louder Education" represents the concept that education and rock needn't be mutually exclusive. Coined by guitarist Alex Skolnick, the term was first used as the title of a web series centered on a New York after-school music program, THOR (co-hosted by Alex and THOR founder Chris Harfenist and airing on MetalInjection.com). Louder Ed’s latest configuration is Alex’s lecture and musical demonstration showing that instead of shunning students’ interest in music – metal and otherwise - parents and teachers should embrace it. The presentation includes, but is not limited to, the following components:

  • Music is exciting and stimulating to its fans. Connecting it with formal education can open up new channels of learning previously unrealized, foster discipline and study habits applicable to academic subjects, and be a gateway to further appreciation of arts and culture (musical and otherwise).
  • The anti-school imagery found in rock, while often misinterpreted, does not represent a rejection of learning (many of its biggest instigators, including Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd’s members, are highly intelligent, well spoken and learned people). Rather it is an encouragement of independent thinking and a questioning of conformity.
  • Youths are consistently fed the image of “the musician” as a slacker lacking in both intelligence and impulse control (admittedly not helped by certain artists’ behavior). Instead, the focus needs to shift to musicians such as Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson (a pillar of Britain’s business community), Queen’s Brian May (Astrophysics PhD, university chancellor), Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello (Harvard grad/activist) jazz musician Vijay Iyer (Physics PhD, Harvard professor), Henry Rollins (writer, activist), Frank Zappa (late composing genius/social critic) and others who successfully combine sound with smarts.
  • Scholastic topics abound in rock music, especially heavy metal. Take literature, for example. What better way to stimulate students interest in Mark Twain, Samuel Coleridge and Ernest Hemingway than through such songs as, respectively, “Tom Sawyer” (Rush), "Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner" (Iron Maiden) and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (Metallica)?