Julie A. Linder

SXSW is obviously one of my favorite holidays. Not your average music festival – it completely inhabits every nook and cranny of the city I love for 4 straight days. I love the imperfection of it, from pop up shows with terrible sound to sweat-box venues where the musicians and fans alike leave completely soaked and no one is complaining. No stage fences and big burly security guys (unless you are interested in seeing 50 Cent on a giant Doritos vending-machine-shaped stage, but that’s not MY Southby), the musicians step right off the stage and the arbitrary boundaries we place between artists and ourselves are suddenly gone – sometimes uncomfortably – and you have the chance to be humans together.  There’s Deer Tick’s singer John McCauley wrapping his own cords and carrying off his own guitar, taking pictures with any fan that asks. It’s more than gushing about their last album, it’s sharing that we are real people, who are hot and sweaty, there for the music and could really just use a drink.

My favorite shows this SXSW were the Built to Spill and Lucero shows at Cedar Street Saturday. I could see Built to Spill 1,000 times and Lucero was new-ish to me and blew me away. I managed to wiggle upstairs (just call me Muggsy Bogues – 5′ 3″- you never even saw me) and chat with some of the showcase musicians. Because I’m a nerd, my questions were about their music teachers.

“…Dr. Murray L in Alexandria, Virginia.  He was my favorite violin teacher – he played viola for the National Symphony Orchestra. I played classical violin from 5 all the way through college…joined a rock band when I got bored with Mozart…”

How do you ever get tired of Mozart? Even with different backgrounds and different instruments, they all had a similar experience.

“Dunbar Junior High in Little Rock, Arkansas.  I met the band director and he seemed like a really nice guy, really  inviting. And I was like, man I want to play the saxophone.  I played the saxophone for three years. Later my friend and I started a garage band. They already had a guitar and drums and I already knew the notes – knew my way around music – so I picked up the bass.”

Every single musician I asked didn’t hesitate for even one second. They could pinpoint that one person that either believed in them, taught them something that changed their lives, or inspired them in some way to be a musician.

“Actually the most influential musical teacher [I had] was a vocal teacher by the name of Mrs. Turtle. She taught me how to sing songs when I was a wee little lad, and I always carried that with me. I never believed I’d be making a living at it someday.”

I’m always emphasizing “process over product” to my students. I think kids sometimes don’t have the insight that these musicians on stage aren’t just bestowed a God-given talent.  They worked to get there and they were most likely taught by someone.  It was a long process to get to that stage and they didn’t give up on it. When I talked with them, saying I was a music teacher gave me enough clout that they stopped and talked to me for a few seconds and some for a few minutes, and that means something to me.

All of this begs the question: when will Music Education start entering into SXSW Music’s equation? After all, how can the Music Industry survive if this country stops producing great musicians?  Either way, I’m counting down the days to SXSW 2013 already.