“So, that is how the classical movement affected music,” Kallie finished writing on the board.  She turned to her students.  “Why is classical such a basis for music today?” The students were silent.  “Come on guys, we went over this stuff yesterday.”  She looked around the room.  “James, why is it important?” James looked around and shrugged his shoulders.  “I dunno.” “Anyone else?” The students looked around again.  Half of them looked like they were asleep.  This is what she had been facing for the past couple of weeks.  Of course they had turned in their assignments and all, but the curriculum was taking its toll on their attention span, not to mention hers. Kallie was about to say something, and then the bell rang, signaling the end of the day.  “Alright everyone, see you tomorrow.”  She grabbed her bag and headed to the office. Kallie sighed as she put her briefcase on the table.  “How was your day?” asked Howard brightly. “Alright,” Kallie shrugged. “That bad?”   Howard sighed.  “Come on, let’s talk.”  He escorted her into his office, closed the door and sat at his desk.  “OK, spill it.” “It’s just… Howard, has anyone liked teaching this stuff?” Howard folded his hands.  “You don’t like the curriculum either?” “Honestly?  It’s hard for me to stay awake for the classes.” “Well,” Howard stood up and leaned on his desk.  “The curriculum hasn’t been updated in about 10 years.” “10 years?  Why hasn’t anyone said anything about it?” “Because John Montrose was head of the freshman program.” “He was?” “Kallie, you have to understand, John has been teaching in this school for 30 years.  He’s set in his ways.  It’s even hard for me to give him criticism when I have to observe his classes. No matter how much music has changed, it hasn’t budged past the 1920’s according to him.” “But he’s not in charge of it now.” “No, you are.  That’s why I hired you.” “What?” “Remember when I said I liked your fire?  Fire, to me, means getting these kids attention.  John didn’t get it… he couldn’t.  You can Kallie.” “But how do I do that?” “That’s up to you,” Howard smiled.  Kallie had the wheels turning around in her head.  “Howard, do you mind if I take tomorrow off?  Have a three-day weekend?” “Come here,” Howard instructed.  Kallie walked up to him and Howard felt her forehead.  “Yup, it looks like you’re coming down with a fever.  You should rest.  I’ll get a sub tomorrow and I’ll see you on Monday.”  He winked as he said goodbye. ~*~ Kallie was tapping a pen on the side of her head.  “How in the hell can I do this?” she said to herself.  She was sitting at her desk, looking at a blank piece of paper, and noticing that her clock read about 6pm.  Trying to change the curriculum was easier said than done.  She wanted to go about it in a whole new way, but how to was the hard part.  She signed on to AOL, and immediately saw Strngalong signed on.  She had tried to avoid it, by checking her e-mail over the web browser, but she completely forgot.  Immediately, the IM sound blared on her computer speakers. Strngalong: Hey you!  Kallie froze for a few moments.  Strngalong: You there? Kallie placed her hands on the keyboard with shakily. Musekgrl: Yeah I’m here.  Hi Strngalong: What’s up?  I missed you Musekgrl: Yeah I missed you too.  Sorry, I’ve been really busy to be online Strngalong: That’s OK.  So how are things? Musekgrl: Fine Strngalong: Just fine?  Musekgrl: Yeah, I’m just having a tough time is all Strngalong: Anything I can help you with? If you only knew… Kallie thought. Musekgrl: Nah, I have to do this on my own.  Just trying to clear my head Strngalong: Well if you need anything, you know I’m here. Musekgrl: Thanks… listen I have to go and get some work done.  Talk to you soon OK? Strngalong: OK bye hun Musekgrl: Bye Kallie signed off as fast as she could.  Wow, was that hard for her.  She almost said Kevin, but knew better.  In fact, she had been trying to avoid him since the day she had found out about his Internet fling.   Moreover, she had to deal with the new challenge of her job.  What she needed was research.  She grabbed her bag and headed out of her apartment. ~*~ She was walking to the main strip of her neighborhood, when she saw the local music store: Beating Trips.  She hadn’t checked out the place before, but when she walked inside, she felt like a kid in a candy store.  All kinds of instruments lined the walls, with racks of sheet music in every kind of musical genre imaginable.  On the other side was a huge vinyl collection, also accompanied with CD’s and tapes.  She smiled as she looked around, then caught glimpse of another sight. AJ was at the counter, typing furiously at the computer.  When she stepped onto the mat, the automatic doorbell rang and he looked up.  He gave a slight nod, broke away from the computer and walked to Kallie. “Hey.” Kallie nodded back.  “Hey.  I didn’t know you worked here.” AJ shrugged his shoulders.  “Pays the bills.  I’m the assistant manager here.” “Oh I see.” “So, do you need help with anything?” “Yeah, actually I do, but for what I don’t know.” “OK, that’s gonna help me out a little.” Kallie smiled.  “I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to go about it.” AJ sighed.  “Why don’t you start off by telling me the problem, and maybe I can help you find a solution.” Kallie began to tell him her problem.  When she finished, she saw AJ rubbing his goatee. “So that’s why you knew about the song so well.” “Yeah, so I need some research on how to liven up the class a little.” “Let’s start off with the basics,” AJ led her to the stacks of magazines.  “I say if you’re gonna talk about music culture, like you have about jazz and classical, you should maybe talk about today’s culture.  The magazines are always updated.”  He gave her a stack of all kinds of music, from metal to pop.  “OK, I’ll take all of them,” Kallie managed to put them on the counter.  “Now what?” “Now the music.  It’ll be good to get artists compilations, because they will give you a variety of each genre.”  He led her to the CD rack, where they spent a good hour cataloging the collection, and AJ picking out CD’s for her to listen to. After Kallie had spent a good amount of time, she paid for all of her items and AJ stuffed all of the stuff into two large shopping bags.  “We also rent a lot of items.” “Such as?” “Maybe it’s a good idea to bring a sampler into class, you know, show them different beats people lay out into their songs.  Or maybe you can bring some turntables to show the DJ culture.  It’s really big in LA right now, and everywhere.” “Wow, maybe you should be teaching this class instead of me,” Kallie laughed. “I just know music.” “Yeah,” Kallie lifted the bags off of the counter.  “Thanks a lot for the help.” “No problem.” “I’ll be seeing ya.” “Yeah see ya.” Kallie left the store and managed to heft the bags home. ~*~ Monday morning Kallie had come into work feeling refreshed as ever.  She had lugged the magazines, some CD’s, and her boom box into work, for the school didn’t have one.  When she showed Howard, Kevin, Amy, and Deana what she had come up with, she was given a thunderous applause. “Told you, you could do it,” Howard smiled. She had everything armed as the students assembled into class, the same droning faces as she had always encountered.  When they all sat down, she sat quietly; hands folded and addressed the students. “We last left off with talking about how the classical movement affected music.  Can anyone tell me how to review?” The students looked around again.  “OK, listen to this.” She turned on the boom box and played the track to one of the hip-hop compilation CD’s.  Her pick was Ja Rule’s “Livin’ It Up,” the edited version, of course. When the students heard the song, shock first entered their faces, and then they started bobbing their heads to the beat.  Some even managed to sing along to the words.  When the song ended, Kallie stopped the tape and turned to the class. “Alright, what type of music was that?” “Hip-hop,” answered James. “OK, and how did hip-hop come about?” Samantha raised her hand.  “From rap, the streets, you know, that sort of thing.” “OK, and what does hip-hop reflect now?” “By tellin’ it like it is,” Raymond smiled. “Elaborate please, Raymond,” Kallie smiled. It all went on after that.  The students engaged in a conversation while Kallie just supervised.  It was completely student-centered, much to Kallie’s delight.  As the class was coming to a close, Kallie brought the class to attention. “So, how has today’s history influenced hip-hop?” Kallie asked. All hands shot up.  “Good, because that’s your homework.  Write a paragraph answering that question.”  The bell rang as the students left with smiles on their faces.  “That was phat, Miss Leighton,” James smiled as he left. “See ya tomorrow,” Kallie called out as she saw Howard in the doorway.  “It worked huh?” “Damn right,” Kallie smiled. “It’s the fire,” Howard winked.  “Now they’ll be coming back for more.” “I hope so, because I can’t wait for next class,” she answered breathlessly. Chapter 8 Contents Chapter 6