{"id":858,"date":"2017-01-31T16:06:48","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T16:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=858"},"modified":"2017-01-31T16:12:30","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T16:12:30","slug":"ftv-its-about-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=858","title":{"rendered":"FTV: It’s about Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Time is a tricky subject and there are so many musical tie-ins that pop to mind, coming up with a catchy title got a little tricky. \u00a0A title based on <\/span>Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is <\/span><\/i>(Chicago), <\/span>\u00a0Time is Tight <\/span><\/i>(Booker T and the MGs), <\/span>Time is on My Side <\/span><\/i>(Rolling Stones), <\/span>Time of your \u00a0Life<\/span><\/i> (Green Day), and of course <\/span>Time, Time, Time, Time, Time <\/span><\/i>(Jack Spann) would have worked equally well. \u00a0These \u00a0few examples came to mind without spending too much mental energy and those are just from the musical end of the spectrum. \u00a0Don\u2019t even get me started on Einstein\u2019s theories on time and space.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Speaking of the relativity of time, I think Alice Cooper nailed it on the head when he said the song <\/span>School\u2019s Out (for the Summer)<\/span><\/i> was inspired by the two longest stretches of time he remembers. \u00a0One was the minutes that dragged on just before ripping into your Christmas presents and the other was the snail\u2019s pace that happened at the end of the last day of school. \u00a0He told his band, \u201cIf we can capture the energy in those two moments, it will be a big hit.\u201d \u00a0Good old Alice hit that nail right on the head and a golden nail it was!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I relate to both of those situations, but especially to the school part. \u00a0If I add up my years as an inmate (I am sorry, a student) from grades K to grade 12 and on through college, then add in my teaching career, I can lay claim to nearly 60 of Alice\u2019s \u201clast day of school\u201d moments. \u00a0Toss in the similar feelings generated by the first day of school, the day before an extended vacation, and the first day back after an extended vacation and my version of \u201cAlice end of school moments\u201d sky rockets into the hundreds. \u00a0I often repeat the following description of a typical school year relative to Einstein\u2019s Relativity Theory: \u00a0\u201cThe longest days of the year are the first and last day of school, followed by the day before and the day after a vacation. \u00a0All the rest of the days seem to be about them same length.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Back in the day when we were allowed input into the school calendar, some of the staff would get themselves into knots about when the school year should start and end. \u00a0A wise old time educator once stood up at a meeting and said, \u201cIf there are 180 school days between the first and last day, does it really matter when it starts and ends?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0I am sure there is a variation of this feeling that applies to just about any job or major life change that people experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I began my teaching career in Ontonagon, our school day ran roughly from 8:30 AM to 3:10 PM and a typical school year spanned 180 days. \u00a0The number of minutes we were required to put in per day (and over the entire year) were always above the minimum amount set by the State Department of Education. \u00a0Over the years, the State DOE began tinkering with the time formula reasoning that schools could save money by running fewer, but longer days. It didn\u2019t happen all at once, but eventually some districts were running as few as 170 days and daily hours that could run from 8 AM to 3:40 PM. \u00a0This made for an especially long day for those students who logged a considerable amount of bus time in large districts like Ontonagon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The best evaluation of this time management system that I ever ran across came from someone in the DOE in response to school districts who wanted to take this to the next level by cutting back to a four day week. \u00a0This official said, \u201cAny school district that adds minutes in lieu of operational days is doing their students a large disservice.\u201d \u00a0He went on to explain that the quality of a student\u2019s education suffers when their noses are kept to the grindstone too long. \u00a0In layman\u2019s terms; \u00a0when the students are overworked, the quality of their work falls off as their attention wanders. \u00a0With the wandering attention span comes an increase in discipline issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With the template of fewer, longer days in place, the DOE reversed course and began adding days back to the calendar. \u00a0Thankfully, local districts have, for the most part, recognized that they could replace the longer school days with the added calendar days and have taken steps to reduce the length of the school day. \u00a0\u00a0By replacing the one remaining study hall in the schedule with regularly scheduled classes, Ontonagon was able to trim 90 hours of instruction (30 minutes per day) putting the school bell schedule back \u00a0(pretty close) to what it was when I started in 1975. <\/span><\/p>\n

This simple time adjustment has had a noticeable effect on student and staff morale. \u00a0If the longer school days had a negative effect on the quality of work being done, then it stands to reason that slightly shorter school days should produce the opposite effect.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I was in seventh and eighth grade at good old Graveraet Junior High (which is now one of Marquette\u2019s elementary schools), we couldn\u2019t escape time. \u00a0The clocks in the classrooms were of the type that didn\u2019t move smoothly as time passed. \u00a0No, these clocks would sit idle for 59 seconds at a time, and then make an audible \u2018chic-CLICK\u2019 as the hand moved one minute ahead. \u00a0It was very difficult to ignore the passage of time when one could hear every minute of the period pass: \u00a0\u2018chic-CLICK\u2019 . . . pause . . .\u2019chic-CLICK\u2019 . . . If the class was quietly engaged in an assignment or test, I actually think they had a way to turn up the volume. \u00a0It was as if the clock was taunting us. The only places we escaped this torment was in they gym and band room. \u00a0As a band student, I only had one true study hall period in all my school days and that was during my eighth grade year. \u00a0Study hall was held in Kaufman Auditorium (picture spending an hour doing homework in the Ontonagon<\/span> Theater of Performing Arts and you get the idea), and even in that large hall, we could hear the relentless \u2018chic-CLICK\u2019 of the clock that most of us couldn\u2019t even see from our seats.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was during those two years of time torture that I was also a bus riding student. \u00a0In my student days, I lived one block from my elementary school and two and a half blocks from the high school. \u00a0\u00a0Junior high was a couple of miles away so I got to be a bus rider and that is probably why I sympathize with our students who spend a good deal of time each day on a bus. \u00a0If you are thinking, \u201cWait a minute – a bus ride of a couple of miles? \u00a0Even with pick-ups and drop offs, that shouldn\u2019t be more than a fifteen minute ride.\u201d \u00a0This is true, however, with 1000 students being transported to and from Graveraet (and we weren\u2019t the only school in town with bus kids), they operated a system where the buses in town ran two routes. \u00a0The first kids in on the early morning run (like me) were deposited at school a good thirty minutes before the start of school and had to sit in the gym until the second bus runs came in. \u00a0After school, the second run kids (again, like me) got to sit in the auditorium until the first runs were done and the buses returned for us. \u00a0I could, and sometimes did, walk home and beat my bus riding arrival time by a good ten minutes. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Just to come full circle and connect the topic back to music, I am reminded of a story John Craigie told at the Porcupine Mountain Music Festival in August of 2016. \u00a0He said he was supposed to perform at the Burning Man Festival and was running a little late when he got there. \u00a0He said, \u201cI made the mistake of asking the first person I saw with a watch what time it was. \u00a0He replied, \u2018Man, it is whatever time you want it to be.\u2019 \u00a0We danced around the topic for quite a while and he never did the obvious, which would have been to look at the watch on his wrist and tell me what time it was. \u00a0I eventually realized that I am going to just have to bring my own watch next time I go to the BMF.\u201d \u00a0Apparently time has a fluid definition for those attending Burning Man.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I should also point out that the fastest ten or fifteen minutes for a band is the \u00a0contracted break they are scheduled to get during a gig. \u00a0When I was a card carrying member of AFofM Local 213, the standard contract said the band was to get a break during each hour they played. \u00a0During the third night of a three night run at a club, the break between sets seems to fly by in the blink of an eye. \u00a0The longer the engagement, the slower the sets seemed to flow and the faster the breaks seemed to fly. \u00a0Of course, that was back when I was playing a lot more. \u00a0These days, with the occasional gigs I get to play with Easy Money, \u00a0I have to invoke Einstein\u2019s Theory of Relativity again. \u00a0Unlike the old days, the sets now seem to fly by and not the breaks. \u00a0If fact, we are usually having so much fun, we forget to take a break and just keep playing. \u00a0I would like to wrap up the topic of time by saying thanks to our listeners for taking their time to tune in WOAS-FM \u00a088.5 YOUR SOUND CHOICE in Ontonagon. \u00a0Time is up for this edition of FTV.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video<\/strong> – How could we not use Alice Cooper for this? \u00a0I can only assume Randy Black (who posted this video with these comments) was the drummer in this 2014 All Star outing: \u00a0Black said ” This was the encore every night, what a thrill and honour it was to share the stage with such legends. Alice Cooper, Mick Box and Bernie Shaw of Uriah Heep, Kim Wilde, Joe Lynn Turner of Rainbow & Deep Purple and Midge Ure of Ultravox.”