‘And the Grammy Goes to…’; Murdock Explores Importance of Music Education

John Thomas: Welcome to Short Talks From the Hill, a podcast from the University of Arkansas. My name is John Thomas. I’m a communications manager here at the university.

Today, I’m joined by Jeffrey Murdock, an associate professor of music education at the U of A and the conductor of the Inspirational Chorale and Razorback Chorus.

Murdock was recently named the recipient of the 2021 GRAMMY Music Educator Award from the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum. The prestigious award recognizes current educators across the country who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools.

Along with winning the award, Murdock will receive a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for the U of A’s music department. He was also featured on CBS This Morning and was recognized during the Grammys national telecast.

Since he was young boy, growing up in Biloxi, Mississippi, Murdock has been surrounded by music. With the help of a family friend, Murdock learned the piano and began regularly playing for his church choir at a young age. That introduction to music is what Murdock says changed his life forever. Now, he’s trying to pay it forward.

Much of Murdock’s career has been dedicated to providing that same access to music for students of all ages and leveling the field for those who may not have seen themselves pursuing a college degree at an institution like the University of Arkansas.

Welcome Jeff, thanks for joining me today.

Jeffrey Murdock: Hey, it’s so good to be here. I’m so excited to participate in this podcast today.

JT: First off, congratulations on your win of the Grammy Music Educator Award. Has the shock worn off yet on being recognized on a national level like this?

JM: The shock has not yet worn off, and every time I think that it’s about to wear off, there are new people who are sending me congratulatory messages or reaching out to me or, you know, random emails from other countries about everything, and it makes me humbled. It also reminds me of what a big deal this is, so I don’t take it lightly.

JT: Have you gotten to see the award itself yet? Do you actually get a Grammy for yourself that looks like what we think of a Grammy award looking like?

JM: I will get two separate trophies. I’ll get one that is the actual Grammy that the artists get and there’s another little bit smaller trophy that has the music educator award image on it. But it’s like a gold medallion, so that’s kind of cool. It’s supposed to be mailed to me because, as you know, everything is having to be virtual, so there’s no pomp and circumstance and red carpet, all that stuff. But I will get the award in the mail soon.

JT: A lot of people may not realize as the winner of the award, you’re actually going to be involved in a lot of programs that the Recording Academy does in schools across the country. Can you tell us a little bit about what you’ll be doing over the next year as this award winner?

JM: As the Grammy Music Educator of the Year, I become, essentially, the ambassador for all things music education with the Grammys and the Grammy Foundation and the Grammy Museum. What that looks like is I will be attending Grammy Camp and giving presentations there and speaking to students. I’ll appear at several other Grammy events that are specifically related to education. So yeah, anything that the Grammys are doing that have to do with education or curriculum, anything like that, I’ll likely be a part of it this year.

JT: Have they said anything about you being able to attend next year’s Grammys since you weren’t able to go this year?

JM: Absolutely. Because of COVID, obviously, bringing in thousands of people into the Staples Center in Los Angeles was probably not a good idea, so we will do that next year by the time next year rolls around and there will be a new Grammy Music Educator of the Year; the 2022 recipient. However, I will be offered the opportunity to go to it next year and rub shoulders with all of the famous people on the red carpet, so I’m excited about that.

JT: That’s great that you get to do that and not have to miss out on a once in a lifetime opportunity. I want to go back to your background a little bit, you’re from Biloxi, Mississippi and you still have family there. Music lovers probably know that Mississippi has a rich history in Jazz and Blues. Was there any musical inspirations you had growing up that might have gotten you started on this path that you’re on?

JM: I grew up in church. I’ve been in church all my life and music was really a big part of my upbringing. Not only did I grow up in church, I had family members who were of different faiths, so I had the opportunity to be exposed to different kinds of music. For example, I was raised in a Baptist household, but my mother was Pentecostal, so that was a different kind of music. My grandmother was Catholic, so that was a different kind of music. As a kid who was playing the piano, I got to learn to play in all these different styles because I was exposed to all of that as a kid. I sang in choirs as a kid, gospel choirs and what not. Then, I sang in concert choir when I was in middle school. Just having an exposure to a wide variety of music, I think, peaked my interest early on, such that, the desire was never really extinguished and here I am now.

JT: Why the piano?

JM: I was taken to my first piano lesson by a friend of the family who thought that I might have some musical talent and thought that I should just try it out, so she paid for my first lesson. Apparently, I was a natural. The piano teacher was very thrilled to take me on as his student and the rest, as they say, is history. From there, I began to play other instruments, so by the time I was 11, I was playing organ. When I was in middle school, I played all the low brass instruments like trombone, euphonium, tuba. That turned into tuba and French horn in high school, in addition to continuing to play all the keyboard instruments. I still try to learn things. My son was taking violin a couple of years ago and I would pick up things from him and I got my own instrument and started trying to learn how to play that as well. It’s a never-ending process for me. Music and learning.

JT: Going back to the award, you were nominated by one of your students, so clearly they have a lot of respect for you. You’ve had students follow you from school to school and are now coming to the U of A to learn from you. Is that a teaching style that you’re able to connect with students on a level that allows them to respond in a way that they may not respond in other classes or with other teachers?

JM: I think I’m able to relate to students in a way. I think one of my teaching philosophies is meeting students where they are. I have this whole thing about culturally responsive pedagogy and music. When you do that, a lot of people think about culturally responsive pedagogy being specific to diversity, equity and inclusion, but culturally responsive pedagogy for me as a black man looks different. I have to find the common spaces between me and maybe an affluent white student who grew up very different from me. Culturally responsive pedagogy means meeting every student, the affluent, the less half, the rich, the poor, the white, the non-white, and so forth and so on. Over the years, I’m kind of an empath anyway, and I think over the years I’ve just really learned to connect with people and I think it’s that connection that allows me to be an effective educator.

JT: Have you always wanted to teach students? Give back to the community in the way you know how?

JM: I’ve always been just very inspired by the music educators in my life and the way in which they chose to give themselves to ensure that I was my very best self musically. So yes, I aim to do that for other people as often as I can. I think it’s important for students to have that person who will give them the opportunities that they may, otherwise, not get and so I’m happy to be that resource and be that influence if the cards say that’s to be. I’m also willing to be the person who plans to see it and then have someone else come along and does some watering and someone else comes along and helps to push that process forward. I just want to be a part of the process of helping to change the students’ lives through music.

JT: How does that not get lost on you when you see students succeed like that, knowing you had a part in helping them achieve one of their goals?

JM: When I see that and when students bring that to my attention, I guess sometimes I forget, or sometimes I don’t. I don’t understand the level of impact that I’ve had on a student until many years later or many months later on whenever, sometime in the future when they share their stories. For example, yesterday, on Facebook, there was a former University of Arkansas student who works in the community and does various things here in Northwest Arkansas, who said to me that he shared the post about the Grammys and all of that and then he shared that he graduated from the University of Arkansas and that I was the only music faculty member there and that I went out of my way to get up and shake his hand when he left the stage and how impactful that was for him. I remember that moment and that’s something I do. I try not to miss commencement and I haven’t since I’ve been here. It’s just something I feel like you’re supposed to do. I had no idea that gesture of shaking a student’s hand when they leave the stage was so impactful. That reminds me that people are always watching. People are always taking notes. People are always observing. Everything that we do, we need to make sure that it counts and that there’s some meaning behind it.

JT: Why do you think it’s so important to have music programs and music education in schools for kids of all ages?

JM: Music stimulates the brain in a very different way. I see it even now in my young boys, the way in which they engage differently with other academic materials, if music is somehow involved. There are studies that are pretty antiquated now. They say that students who perform in ensembles or who participate in music experiences in schools, they perform better in math, science and other areas of academia. Those studies are slowly but surely being debunked, however, there is some truth to the way in which music engages the brain very differently and unlocks a way of thinking and a way of processing things that may be in accessible in just the traditional educational sense. I do think that being able to unlock that side of the brain is important and is integral to the development of the whole student.

JT: Jeff, thanks so much for your time. Your story is inspirational and I’m looking forward to seeing more of what you do in the future.

JM: Thank you so much. It’s been my pleasure talking to you today.

Matt McGowan: Music for Short Talks From the Hill was written and performed by local musician Ben Harris. For more information and additional podcasts, visit Arkansas Research. That’s arkansasresearch.uark.edu, the home of science and research news at the University of Arkansas.