The Theodore R. & Vivian M. Johnson Foundation
The Theodore R. & Vivian M. Johnson Foundation is a bit more ambitious than your average philanthropic organization: it doesn't just help people in need get by; it helps them get ahead. Berklee College of Music has a kindred mission: it has never stopped at teaching its students music; it teaches them how to succeed with their music. When the two came to each other's attention, they realized how much their philosophies overlapped, and they decided to do something about it: The Theodore R. & Vivian M. Johnson Scholarships.

The scholarships subsidize the full tuition costs of a Berklee education for participants in the City Music Program, the college's educational outreach program for talented urban youth. The four Johnson Scholarship recipients are selected from among the most promising of the City Music students attending Berklee's five-week Summer Performance Program on SYSTEM 5 (Summer Youth Scholarship for Talent and Excellence in Music) Scholarships. The Johnson Scholarships bring to eight the number of full-tuition scholarships available to City Music students, with the first four primarily funded through Berklee's annual New Trustees. Essentially, the Johnson Foundation has doubled the opportunity.

"Berklee City Music seemed tailor-made," says Johnson Foundation Executive Director Sally Outis. "It fit into so many different things, certainly the opportunity to participate as a student at Berklee. But this is also an inner-city program aimed at people who otherwise wouldn't come to Berklee, no doubt. More people coming through that [City Music] program are qualifying to be admitted to the school, and, of course, were in need of scholarships. It seemed like a very good fit."

But it isn't merely that Berklee provides support to local high school students that appealed to Outis and the trustees of the Johnson Foundation. Since its creation in 1991, the foundation has focused its donations on educational institutions that not only offer challenging academic programs, but also preparation for professional life. It should come as no surprise that the foundation would emphasize the practical benefits of earning a college degree. Theodore Johnson, who started working for United Parcel Service at an early age as a time and motion study engineer, studied at night school for his MBA. When the company was restructured, he became the company's vice president of labor relations. Berklee, says Outis, recognizes the importance of a degree as a springboard to economic advancement.

"Berklee has a real postgraduate, vocational focus," Outis says. "So many of the graduates come out of there with a four-year degree that allows them to be gainfully employed. The college really fit with our interest."

Johnson Foundation Secretary Malcom Macleod made the initial contact with Berklee, approaching Vice President for Finance and Administration David Hornfischer after the Berklee executive had given an address at a conference. Even if the music business isn't as predictable as certain fields outside the arts, Macleod says a degree gives music students extra security they may need someday.

"They may not become professional performers," Macleod says. "But with a degree, they'll still have prospects."

In addition to the four full-tuition Johnson Scholarships, the Johnson Foundation contribution also funds 10 new scholarships to Berklee's Summer Performance Program and 20 new scholarships to the Berklee City Music Saturday Program.

"The Johnson Foundation stepped in, in a major way," says Assistant Vice President for Community and Governmental Affairs J. Curtis Warner, Jr. "It's very significant."

It's significant for no one more than drummer Troy Washington and vocalist Courtney Herrell, who will get to study at Berklee full time on Johnson Scholarships. Both students attended the Roland Hayes Division of Music at Madison Park Technical/Vocational High School in Boston's Roxbury community. And both have impressive aspirations.

"I want to be famous, I'll tell you that right now," says Washington, a Professional Music major who enrolled at Berklee in the fall of 2000. "I don't care if it's hitting the stick harder than anybody else. I don't care if that's my act right there. If I'm famous for playing the drums and making money at it, I'm going to do it."

Although Courtney Herrell would love to get her share of fame, for the moment she's just grateful to get going. With a three-year-old son, Herrell didn't have time for motherhood, a full load of classes, and the job she'd need to pay for them all. Her Johnson Scholarship has all but eliminated that last concern, and now Herrell is ready to see what she can make of her future.

"It's going to be difficult, but that's what I'm willing to do," says Herrell. "I want that degree."

Although she hopes to work as a recording artist, Herrell plans on majoring in Music Business/Management. To get ahead as a vocalist, she says, she'll need something more than perfect pitch.

"I want to be an artist, but I want to know the game before I get in it," Herrell says. "I want to write, I want to produce, I want to do some A&R....There's a million people who can just sing. I want to know about what I'm getting into before my face is on the cover of an album."

Spoken like a true Johnson scholar.

Vivian Beard
In everyday life, she's known as Vivian Beard, director of equal opportunity for MassHousing and new vice chair of Berklee's board of trustees. For the past three years, she has been an active member of the board and, along with trustees Dolores Johnson, David Lee, and Mike Dreese, started the Sarah Vaughan Endowed Scholarship Fund for outstanding African American musicians. But as a vocalist, she has another name: Vivian Male.

"Singing is a form of expression, which helps balance the more serious and intense side of my life as a career senior public administrator, a mother and wife, and volunteer with not-for-profit boards," says Beard. "Many a colleague has been surprised by my 'entertainer's hat,' which is so different from the venue with which they are familiar....Singing is therapeutic for me. It helps me be the best at all that I choose to be."

Vivian Beard has been supporting Berklee for several years, and now Vivian Male is doing her part with an annual fundraising concert for the Vaughan Fund. In its second year, the show, held at the college's David Friend Recital Hall and hosted by local radio personality Eric Jackson of Eric in the Evening, drew some of the college's best talent to help out on stage.

"Once again, a core of excellent musicians participated fully, on a volunteer basis," says Beard. "A simple ask netted some of Berklee's finest, like [Woodwind Chair] Bill Pierce, [Ensemble Department Chair] Ron Savage, [Voice Associate Professor] Armsted Christian, [Ensemble Associate Professor] Frank Wilkins, and [Ensemble Assistant Professor] Langston 'Skip' Smith....Everyone had a great time!"

A great time for a good cause. This year's concert once again rallied members of the Berklee community and friends of the college to contribute to the Vaughan Fund.

"What has inspired me greatly is the reality that this concert has leveraged so many new friends and donors for Berklee," says Beard. "Particularly since Boston has so many institutions of higher education, many local people had no idea of the scope of Berklee's greatness and its commitment to support talented students of color. As well, donors who have already been very generous with Berklee donations have contributed to this effort, too. I expect that this event will grow over time. Stay tuned."

Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology
From synthesizers to samplers, new technologies are playing an increasingly important role in the music being produced today. But the field of music education, has been slow - some say reluctant - to embrace these advances. Berklee College of Music, with the help of an almost $1.2 million grant (the largest such award in the history of the college) from the U.S. Department of Education's Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) program, is trying to help music educators plug in to the present.

"It's going to provide new emphasis on using technology as a teaching tool for future music teachers," says Music Education Department Chair John Hagon.

And it's about time, says Vice President for Information Technology David Mash. He says the way music is taught in public schools has not kept pace with the changes in how music is being made.

"Public school music education," he says, "is out of sync with today's society. Public school music education is really a system designed in the early 1900s, and life in our society has changed considerably, especially music in our society. Berklee would like to have some long-term impact on how music education is delivered in public education."

Berklee is attacking this challenge on several fronts. The ideal starting point is the college's own Music Education Department, a training ground for future music educators. If these students are taught with technology, they'll likely carry it into their own classrooms someday, and that's why some of the PT3 funds are being used to integrate more technology into the music education curriculum. Faculty members are being trained on the latest technological aids, while students are being introduced to new technologies earlier and more thoroughly than they were previously.

Unfortunately, Mash says, Massachusetts and many other states ignore technological know-how on the licensure exams that would-be teachers must pass to practice their profession. And if tech savvy isn't needed to become a teacher, there's little incentive for colleges to incorporate it into their music education curriculums. Mash hopes that the significance of the PT3 grant will not be lost on state officials.

"The fact that we have this funding from the federal government," says Mash, "sends a message to the state education boards that the federal government thinks it's important that the future generation of teachers needs to be able to use technology effectively in their teaching practice. Perhaps we can exert some pressure and some change in the certification exams, which will then require more states to require technological skills of their students."

Berklee was one of only 253 institutions that received PT3 grants, out of the more than a thousand that applied. Although Mash is impressed that Berklee is part of the 25 percent of candidates that vied successfully for a PT3 grant, what really strikes him is what makes Berklee stand alone.

"We were the only music program," says Mash. "I think that's the most powerful statistic."

The goal of Berklee's PT3 initiative is ultimately to improve music education in Boston, throughout the state of Massachusetts, and across the nation, and updating certification standards is one way Berklee hopes to achieve it. Another, is by sharing information. In October 2000, for instance, Berklee hosted a national conference called Music Education and Technology in the 21st Century.

And with the ongoing expansion of its PT3 web site (http://pt3.berklee.edu) the college hopes that educators from all over can get a glimpse at how technology and pedagogy can come together.

"The curriculum that we're developing, the online educational materials that we're developing - we're hoping to at least inform the public of their existence if not share some of what we're doing publicly," says Mash, "the goal being to improve music education across the country."

Berklee is also working with public schools directly, as part of a PT3 collaboration between the college, the Boston Public Schools, and individual schools such as the Young Achievers Science and Mathematics Pilot School and the Boston Arts Academy, Boston's magnet high school for the visual and performing arts. Berklee's partnership with the academy offers each participant something of value.

"We provide them with training, tech support, and consultation," says Assistant Vice President for Community and Governmental Affairs J. Curtis Warner, Jr., "and the BAA provides us with an environment for our student-teachers that's directly related to technology applications."