John Gardner

19 yrs experience as a high school band director. 14 yrs as college adjunct faculty. 30+ yrs in the fundraising industry and 24 yrs as a small business owner. (Don't add all those up.). Experience in both the fundraising sales and education worlds give me a unique combination of perspectives in both. I love working with the youthful enthusiasm of today's teenage achievers and with those who work with them. Also 6yrs as proprietor of VirtualMusicOffice.com, which offers a wide variety of virtual services including web/blog design/hosting/managing, social media management (scheduling posts/tweets for maximum impact and brand enhancement) and small business consulting - specializing in school product fundraising.

Whether greed or politics, it is expensive

Communication, News and Happenings, Personal experience /

Bank withdrawalI’m not saying a thing about POLITICS. I’m just talking about some local observations and ending with a quote from the CEO of Kroger. Some say it is greed. Others claim politics. I don’t care so long as someone can make it stop.

Recently, I was criticised for posting price changes that were higher than the “averages”….. Some I included, from local findings and things that affected me personally, included:

  •  $1 Sausage Muffin is now $1.89. $1 drinks are now $1.39.
  • Local car wash increased price from $7.50 to $10 for cars — and more for SUV’s and trucks.
  • My favorite meal at Casa has increased from @$12 to @$20.
  • Local specialty steak in restaurant is up $4.
  • $5-7 combo meals are now $11-12
  • My homeowner’s insurance is up $100’s and the insurance on my aging car just (yesterday) increased another $30…. up $64 in last two years. I thought insuring aging cars always DEcreased.
  • Private Selection bread at local Kroger has DOUBLED. Items where price has remained close are now in SMALLER packages….so same thing.
  • Oil change on my car has gone up +$30
  • And streaming services; Netflix, Prime, Paramount, PBS…. yeah, you know.
  • Amazon Prime — wow…..what is it now?
  • Treats like DQ shakes & Blizzards, Wendy’s Frosty…. up $2-3

    In the time that most things I spend money on have increased +40%, my Social Security has gone up about 3%.

    Feel free to add your examples.

    Below is a quote from the Kroger CEO. We’ve always been in the “budget conscious” group, but he mentions “other customer segments”. Are you in any of those?

“The reduction of excess savings built up during the pandemic, higher interest rates and the effect of inflation are pressuring customers’ ability to spend,” Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen stated on the company’s quarterly earnings call. “This is especially true for our most budget conscious customers, as we’ve been seeing for a while now, but we’re now seeing other customer segments beginning to make changes as well. Customers are purchasing lower-price cuts of meat, buying less, and focusing on essentials.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-3rd-largest-grocery-chain-food-inflation-even-hitting-people-who-arent-budget-conscious?fbclid=IwY2xjawFSjd9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHfuXfgWlLbUgwKBQ6z09UJ7TBuHfbvVxutv9JP8qw8f-rRzPjgHbq-PEnQ_aem_sG_3-2QUvVhQqG4yZbp5dA

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Where were you on 9/11?

Family, Personal experience, Small Business /
WTC, September 10, 2001

My mother remembered Pearl Harbor. In the sixties, I remembered the Kennedy assassination. Since September 11, 2001, the “where were you when” question has been about 9/11.

Since I’m writing this on 9/11/24, I’ll focus on that experience.

It was a regular work day for Joan and I at our QDP Corporation office. Prior to leaving the house, we saw the news clip about a “small plane” that had flown into one of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers. A terrible accident, but it wasn’t going to stop our day.

After travelling the six miles to our office and settling in, Joan turned on the small radio she had on her desk. We did not have a TV in the office and this was in the pre-streaming era.

Shortly after the news was on, Joan called out (my office joined hers, but I couldn’t clearly hear and didn’t listen to her radio) that a plane had flown into the second tower — and the small plane we heard about was now a passenger plane….so we understood there was a more major event.

The she cried out,

One of the buildings just collapsed.

I distinctly recall commenting,

That is impossible. You realize how big those towers are. You must have heard that wrong.

Then the second building….and we decided to close for the day and go home to watch about it on TV….. and pretty must stayed glued to the news for the next several days.

Note: what follows is a side-note addition, but I hope you will find it interesting.

Our younger son, David, had just started classes at Duke University, with its significant international student body that included numbers from both Jewish and Muslim communities.

I called, out of some concern, but mostly just to calm my slight anxiety about the potential (I thought) for student unrest. His response caught me off guard.

We are very safe in my dorm, Dad.

I should note that dorms on the Freshman Campus at Duke (yes, a separate campus about a mile away from the campus you see online) were not the huge complexes of many larger universities….. His particular dorm, for example, had four floors and no more than a couple hundred students.

As a professionally trained information-gathering salesperson, I pressed him on that answer. He hesitated, but eventually added more context:

Dad, are you familiar with the King of Jordan?

I know who he is.

Well, his son is in my dorm …. and we are very safe.

I learned about some in his dorm who were not students. Also, about how the Prince of Jordan liked to evade his protection detail and would (on one such occasion) recruit fellow students who sneak him out of the dorm to get pizza. The challenge was to see how far they could get before caught. We had a discussion about the potential downfall of such games.

When David’s brother, John, traveled from Tennessee Tech University to visit and check in on his brother, John learned that the campus really had been buttoned up as they wouldn’t allow him entry until David vouched for him.

Similarly, in the way my mother recalled going to her high school classes the day after Pearl Harbor, and I remembered walking home for lunch from Tenth District Elementary School shortly after hearing about President Kennedy, I will never forget what I was doing on 9/11/01…and neither should you.

May we all, “NEVER FORGET”!

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Marching Band Fails

Assistant Directing, Marching Band, Music Performance, Respect, Social Media, Teaching Music /
I want to be careful and mindful posting this. As far as I know, no one was hurt. I’ve heard people say marching band is easy. If you say that, you should try it. I mean….out there on the field. For a few years, at the end of Band Camp, we would invite parents to learn a portion of drill with their student. Of course, we didn’t really give them time to learn it because that was not the point. It DID give those parents a new perspective on what their student was doing.
Most of these types of fails would not have happened (often) when I was marching…..but today’s complex drills, fast paces, close intervals and backward marching…. well….
Watch for a laugh……but it is marching season, and KUDOS to the way those in this video responded through their fail.
Go ahead. You can laugh out loud. Then go cheer on a marching band.

 

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Color coded clarinet

Assistant Directing, Classroom Teacher, Communication, High Schools, Music Department, Personal experience, Public Schools, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music /
She was a new student who transferred in. I needed to listen to her so I could place her. I had never seen color-coded keys and it gave a good reason to have a nice get-to-know-you conversation. She said her band teacher labeled all their clarinetists’ keys like this. It was a nice horn.
Wow! I’ve spent my whole teaching career explaining the fingerings and expecting students to get it.
I HAVE had students label all their music notes. I didn’t allow it if I knew about it…..explaining that they were going to encounter more notes than they were going to be able to label.
btw I wonder if that teacher labeled trumpets or trombones.

 

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Car key fob lesson learned

Personal experience /
Definitely learned a lesson today. I was changing the battery in my car’s key fob and, apparently, damaged something inside the casing because now a battery won’t snap in. Yes, it is the right battery.
A replacement requires cutting the key and programming to the car. There are online options under $50, but that does not include cutting the key nor the programming. One hardware store in town sells, cuts, and programs a replacement — for @$200.
I called the Toyota dealer. Whoah! Over $400 there.
So, after I become the owner of a new fob, I’ll commit to taking it somewhere to get future batteries changed.
The Accord batteries are easy to change. But I like my 14-year-old Camry with its under 88K miles. Rant over. Lesson learned.
btw….if you know someone locally who can REPAIR a damaged battery compartment on a car key fob, please message me quickly as I intend to replace it today. Thanks.

Car key fob lesson learned Read More »

Floppy Installation

Personal experience, Sales and Marketing, Small Business, Social Media, Throw Back Thursday /

Joan and I are going to a place that sells both music instrument stuff and Apple tech. While she gets her bassoon reeds, should take this disk tray in and ask for recommendations on computer to utilize these. WhatDaYaThink? Would they even know what these are?

Note: This was from our business’ first computer software installation (early 80’s). I remember liking Word Perfect better than Word. Software was on 20+ disks, plus …. well you can see the 4th disk for printer installation. #floppydisks

I’m gonna impress some people today, ya think?

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Why is Tulsi Gabbard on a terror watchlist?

Communication, News and Happenings, Respect, Social Media /

 

In April 2003, while serving in the Hawaii State Legislature, Gabbard ENLISTED in the Hawaii Army National Guard. In July 2004, she was deployed for a 12-month tour in Iraq, serving as a specialist with the Medical Company, 29th Support Battalion, 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

She served in the US Congress from 2013-21 and believes her criticism of VP Harris caused her placement on a TSA’s watchlist. She is NOT a conservative and NOT (yet) a republican. She has endorsed President Trump.

For every flight, because her boarding passes have an “SSSS” designation, she is followed by (according to Air Marshalls):

2 explosive detection K9 teams
1 explosives specialist
1 plain clothes TSA officer
3 Federal Air Marshals

Every flight is preceded by a “very in-depth screening” lasting 30-45 minutes

If you have a non-political reason why she was placed on a terror watchlist, please share. This is shameful.

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Are America’s Classrooms profit centers for the Mental Health Industry?

Classroom Teacher, Communication, News and Happenings, Parenting, Social Media, Social Media, Teaching /
author of “Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up”

I periodically listen to interviews conducted by Marissa Streit, a former classroom teacher. The title of this one caught my eye so I listened. As I did, I noted down some near quotes that I hear. These are not polished…. but give you an idea of the discussion. I didn’t agree with everything said, in particular, the parts about allowing children to walk home alone from school (or have I been affected by the hype?)…. But she kinda answers a thought I’ve had….. Why did we not have these problems, at least as pronounced, when we were kids? I don’t ever remember ‘mental health, PTSD and therapy being nearly as prominent as they seem today. I don’t intend to read the book, but parents of young children my gain from hearing this interview.Before you attack one of the comment/notes, listen to that part of the podcast and think critically about why you want to say what you want to say….and thank you for that.

from the podcast….. Listen/watch the podcast HERE

Have America’s Classrooms Become Profit Centers for the Mental Health Industry?

Why does every child talk about having anxiety?

Why are our children swimming in mental health therapy?

1 in 4 young people identifying as trans. (Girls 7th grade).

Everybody needs therapy.

Everyone is broken.

A generation that is in profound distress.

The largest patient pool for mental health therapy are from the public schools. (CA)

Trams-informed care.

Every child has emotional damaged.

Instead of sending kids to the principal, they are now sent to the counselor.

Schools as a mental health ward.

SEL Social Emotional Learning  Trojan house.  Teachers are not therapists.

How are you feeling? Think of a time when (pain).

Trauma informed care.

Being born black means you’ve been traumatized.

Break the family

Over medicate children

If you wanted to break them down, there would be no better way than what is currently being taught in schools under the heading of mental health.

But… we have to keep them from suicide. How to find the line.

…the child who has never thought about it is forced to think about it.

…the child who HAS thought about it….

Does your child have a serious problem you cannot fix by changing their environment? If you cannot stabilize them that way, then yes. Therapist….but research the therapist the way you would research a surgeon.

Reset the default. Step 1 should not always be therapy and medication.

Some will need it and they should get it, but we are overreacting every child  creating mental disorder.

Hardship can be good for you. Certain kinds of adversity is really good for kids. Tell them the truth…that resilience is the story of the human condition. Most kids will emerge resilient. Tell them their parents went through hard things. Their grandparents went through hard things. Most will recover….a small percentage will really need professional help.

We don’t teach history so much as we’re teaching victim-hood. We don’t even teach them their own history. We need to connect them to their grandparents…what they went through. What their family, their ancestors went through.

You can get through it…because the vast majority will.

Feelings are always front and center. Being crushed under the weight of their own feelings.

PTSD traumatizing.

There are people who need help.

Kids need authority, community, independence. I can walk home from school… or to the store…or cook dinner.

I’m not shy. I have social depravity.

I’m not worried….i have anxiety.

Once you have anxiety, you need an expert to help you and you need a drug.

“You can’t say that. “

Disagreeable personality.

Don’t let someone diagnose them unless they really have a problem.

Terminology

SEL (Social Emotional Learning). Everything is a psychological program and requires  group (classroom) therapy.

Memory poker (as in the game). Group setting, kids trying to “1 up” each other. Exaggerating and talking yourself into the idea that you have been traumatized.

And all this is happening instead of academics.

Parentify. Parental abuse. Why do immigrant kids do so much better? Strong parenting. Chores and helping family and community are expected. Immigrant kids running toward adulthood and American kids staying home on mamas couch because they’ve been traumatized. The world is against them.

Trauma. There are traumatized kids, but we apply it to everyone.

There is a reason why we didn’t hear these terms as children.

Trust “Parenting expert”….only if he/she raised good kids to adulthood. Not a book learned only. Books by parenting experts who have never had children. (I remember thinking this way about the college professors in the Education School who had never been away from the college campus telling us how to teach.

…and more.

Are America’s Classrooms profit centers for the Mental Health Industry? Read More »

Commitment: Cheerleader to Percussion and back

Assistant Directing, High Schools, Marching Band, News and Happenings, Personal experience, Repost, Respect, Throw Back Thursday /
Cheer for first half, band for halftime, back to cheer for 2nd half

One of my all time favorites because it shows commitment and dedication. This girl is a cheerleader during the first half of the game, then, while the other cheerleaders have a break, she runs to the band, grabs her drum and marches halftime…..and then back to cheer for the rest of the game.

Commitment: Cheerleader to Percussion and back Read More »

Did I really say something ‘racist’?

Leave a Comment / Assistant Directing, Family, High Schools, Music Performance, Personal experience, Repost, Respect, Storytelling, Teaching, Teaching Music /

In the high school where I taught, we were just beginning to work on Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual. It was an incredible piece of music written to display some of the beauty and complexity of African music and drumming.

I have two “racist”-related stories to go with our preparation of this piece. The first happened several years ago when I invited (and then had to un-invite) an area African drumming group to come to our school to lead a Master Class for our students and open our concert. That will be for another post.

More recently, as part of our discussion and preparation, I spoke with the class about how African drums are considered “sacred” and that we would treat this music and our performance of it with that type of respect.

As part of that discussion, I spoke a little of my son’s study abroad experience during his undergraduate work at Duke University, when he spent a summer in Ghana. He was one source of telling me how reverently the Gananians treated the drumming instruments. He also told me the exceptional level of respect they gave “white people”, especially men.

He stepped over some local cultural norms when he insisted on helping with the food preparation and in washing his own clothes. It should be noted that the home where he stayed was considered one of a “nobleman” from the area.

Not comfortable with the female servants doing his laudry, David tried to do his own. The best he could get was for them to let him help them.

“Everyone wanted their picture taken with the white guy, and they wanted hugs. When I went to church, they would always set me on the front row, if not on the platform itself.” -David Gardner

What really sparked the shocked response was when I told this class (mostly white with a small hispanic component) about my son’s experience in a Drumming Circle, where several of the students from his trip participated. The comment that the drumming leader made (multiple times) was that….

“You all are playing like a bunch of WHITE PEOPLE.”

I got a noticeable gasp of disbelief and shock when I shared that quote. I explained that this was not something a white person said, but rather was a critical statement made by a Gananian African about how non-Africans were playing his instruments.

I was not trying to be or show any form of racial disrespect, but rather, to use a quote from someone who should know the instrument….. Incident averted.

Did I really say something ‘racist’? Read More »