“Give It Away!” is a philosophy, ethos, and ontology deeply instilled in the heart and mind of the author, and thousands of youths who had the great fortune to be part of a community of musicians and students under the direction of Dr. Terren Frenz and his team (Tim Angeloni, Ray Koontz, and John Zuppe) at the Marlington High School Band Program in the 1980s. Among the vast number of lessons that we learned, three are important to mention here:
Music is a power that can transform life for the giver and receiver.
Musicians are both givers and receivers of the music that they express.
A central aspect of music’s power is the meaning that it conveys.
For the young band members, experiencing and cultivating this and other aspects of music was empowering in the moment and foundational for the rest of life.
Mike Simpkins writes from the heart, letting us see through the eyes of the boy and youth that he was, and the man he has become, how “being in the band” was life affirming, and at times, lifesaving. His stories are personal yet offer us much to reflect upon in today’s sorely vexed education system. Through the vignettes and poems of this brief book, Mike conveys the love, pain, humor, healing, crisis, and victory that framed his experience as a band member at Marlington, and he pays tribute to Terren Frenz, the loving, fearless, and indefatigable champion of all the students in the Marlington band program.
Terren Frenz is a true educator, in the classic and holistic sense of the term, giving his students the capabilities and opportunities to discover, cultivate, and express the scintillating potentialities within them, and further to deploy them in service to their fellow human beings on the planet, so that they may know the joy of living a meaningful life and of being a loved and valued member of society. As you read and accompany Mike on his journey, let yourself remember how you saw things as a child, youth, and adult. Then ask yourself how the ethos of Give It Away! can help you to lighten your heart, release pain or trauma from the past, and even to heal in the present moment? True giving and receiving is one of the greatest joys of being alive. And there is a transformative exchange of energy involved in the giving and receiving of music. This exchange of energy in music influences us on the physical, psychological, emotion-al, relational, and spiritual levels. It is an energy that is both tangible and intangible, physical, and transcendent. Music helps us to hone and expand our conscious awareness of who we are and what constitutes healing, wellbeing, a good life.
This, in part, is what Mike shares in We Gave It Away!
Enjoy, and pass it on…
Dr. Benjamin Koen
Sound Health Ltd.
www.benkoen.com
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