HARTFORD, Conn. (WCBS 880) — From the E Street Band to ABCs and 123s.
Bruce Springsteen's good buddy, Steven Van Zandt, has developed an online interactive education program called "TeachRock" that uses music to engage young minds.
Connecticut is the first state to give it a try in 10 school districts.
"To see the kindergarten through 6th grade using our curriculum in every single discipline," Van Zandt said at a news conference Tuesday. "In the enthusiasm of the teachers and their kids just singing and dancing and applying certain ideas to music that they can relate to. Just a matter of finding that common ground with a kid. They're ready to be educated. You don't have to talk kids into being curious, you've just got to find something they are curious about."
Van Zandt is hoping to strike a chord with students with the science of sound.
"They're faster than us, they're smarter than us and have absolutely no patience whatsoever so we needed to devise a curriculum that functions in the present tense, you know, we can't tell these kids learn this now and someday you'll use it, which is how we were taught. Not when they could get their answers in 20 seconds on their device, which is as much an appendage as a device. We need to give the students something they can use now, understand now, and have relevancy in their lives right now," Van Zandt said.
The program is not just for the band room. It uses music as the common denominator in lessons across all subjects, including science, math, history, civics and English.
"No matter what it is, if it's Black History Month, if it's women's studies, if it's the Latinx community, so many different niches and different places the education can go, we're there for them. If they don't have a lesson plan, we will create one," Van Zandt said.
The curriculum is the brainchild of Van Zandt and his nonprofit organization, the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation.
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