BTOT 2015: Curiosity for the Journey

This year marked the 25th year of Berklee Teachers on Teaching (BTOT)—a distinctly Berklee approach to kicking off the spring semester.

January 13, 2015

This year marked the 25th year of Berklee Teachers on Teaching (BTOT)—a distinctly Berklee approach to not only creating community among the faculty, but a space to share ideas and kick off the spring semester with an inspired jolt.

Raising the Bar for Education

Berklee is unique among colleges and universities in putting aside two days dedicated to sharing a passion for education, noted Roya Hu, director for faculty development, in her opening remarks prior to BTOT's opening day keynote event, on January 12. It’s not surprising, then, that this year’s theme was “Collaboration, Modulation, and Elevation,” underlining the idea that by coming together, the faculty inevitably raise the bar for student learning.

And the approximately 60 events spread out over January 12 and 13 echoed that theme to great effect. Janet Chwalibog, associate professor of liberal arts, put together a faculty panel from various departments to discuss how the less comfortable issues of justice that populate the broader culture could be better engaged on campus through a more organized coalition of faculty dedicated to talking about “the tough stuff.” In one of the headier panels, George Eastman, associate professor of liberal arts, looked at the ways that the digital age is affecting the human brain, positing that perhaps these changes could effectively create a new “human nature.”

Other events included topics such as studying new musical instruments, building community in online courses, and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration across the curriculum—each session bringing to light another layer of the depth and breadth of a Berklee education. The unity of ideas was evident even in a demonstration of Indian cooking, led by Christopher Diamond, executive chef for Berklee Dining Services, managed by Aramark. “It’s all about technique,” he said. “Once you know the technique, you can cook anything.”

An Orchestra Inside a Drum

The keynote addresses brought everyone together in the Berklee Performance Center, with Evelyn Glennie, percussion virtuoso and educator, featured on Monday, and Leonard Brown, musician, multicultural specialist, and associate professor at Northeastern University, speaking on Tuesday.

In a standing ovation-inducing interview led by Richard Flanagan, assistant professor of percussion, Glennie spoke passionately about the value of curiosity in learning new music. “That’s what I want, really, from my own bits and pieces that are written,” she said, “just for people to have that sense of curiosity to make their own journey.” Her first drum lesson involved her teacher handing her a snare drum—no stand, no sticks—and telling her to take it home for the week. What confused her at first taught her to see deeper into the drum’s possibilities, that it wasn’t just a drum but “almost like an orchestra of drums.” Seeing percussion from new and original angles is nothing new for Glennie, who has been profoundly deaf since age 12, and has thus learned to "hear" with her other senses. She shared her experience in a TED Talk titled "How to Truly Listen," which currently has over 3 million views.

When she writes her own material, she wants other musicians to see her compositions as raw material. “It’s just an idea—it’s just planting a seed for someone to experiment with that interpretation. . . and it’s then up to the player to basically make it their own.” It’s an approach that resonates with Berklee’s motto “to be, rather than to seem,” in its emphasis of helping students find their voice.

Inspiring Curious Minds

Wrapping up the interview, Flanagan asked Glennie for a word or phrase of advice for all the teachers in the audience. She returned to the idea of curiosity, saying, “with the vast amount of experience in this room alone, curiosity with experience is extraordinary, and when you have young people. . . there’s that sense of curiosity with less experience. And when the two can be combined, I think it’s a fascinating concoction, a fascinating medicine.” And as the crowd stood to applaud, it was easy to tell the room was abuzz with renewed curiosity and excitement to get back into the classroom.