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ABLE Voices Ep 86: Andrew Wang
9 Plays3 months ago
We are inviting disabled artists and arts educators to be guests and guest hosts on ABLE Voices. Today's guest host, is Tara Allen.
Tara Allen (she/her) identifies as a queer, neurodivergent, and disabled music psychologist, music educator, advocate, and bass clarinetist. She holds a BM in instrumental music education with concentrations in instrumental wind band and bass clarinet from the Crane School of Music (2021), and an MA in psychology of music from the University of Sheffield (2022). Her master’s thesis, “The Bees Are Too Loud!: ADHD’ers Sound Preferences as an Aid Daily Task Completion"" focused on how ADHD’ers used sound and/or music to help cope with completion of mundane tasks, and the combined social hardships. Her research areas of interest are: neurodivergence and music perception/cognition, learning, processing, behavior, and accessible music education. She has been advocating for neurodivergent and disabled musicians through a variety of platforms since 2020. She has a podcast, Breaking the Third Wall in Music, that invites disabled and/or neurodivergent musicians to discuss disability topics in the music scene. She has also spoken on the The Brave New Sound and Marching Arts Education. She has also given talks at universities, conferences, and organizations about neurodivergence. Lastly, she is a bass clarinetist and active performer in a variety of contemporary, classical, and popular music ensembles. Today, Tara will be speaking to Andrew Wang.
Andrew Wang, also known as “Mr. Hip Hop” is an international speaker, music educator, and pioneer in exploring hip hop and neurodivergence in the 914 aka Westchester County, New York. Andrew is writing a memoir associated with hip hop and neurodivergence and has been an outspoken advocate for the transformative and therapeutic effects of using hip hop in the music education curriculum.
Follow Andrew online:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misterwang2692/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.wang.594976/
The ABLE Voices podcast is produced and edited by BIAAE Operations Coordinator, Daniel Martinez del Campo. The introduction music was written by Kai Levin and the ending song was written by Sebastian Batista. Kai and Sebastian are students in the Arts Education Programs at the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education.
For more information about our programs visit us at https://college.berklee.edu/BIAAE
Follow us for more weekly updates at:
Instagram: @BIAAE
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BIAAE
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Transcript
Introduction to Able Voices Podcast
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Speaker
Music
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Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to the Able Voices Podcast.
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I'm Dr. Rhoda Bernard, founding managing director of the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education and the assistant chair of the music education department at Berklee College of Music.
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And I am proud to present this podcast featuring disabled artists and arts educators.
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We are inviting disabled artists to be guest hosts for the Able Voices Podcast.
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Speaker
Our
Guest Introduction: Tara Allen
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next guest host and today's guest is Tara Allen.
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Tara Allen, she, her, identifies as a queer, neurodivergent, and disabled music psychologist, music educator, advocate, and bass clarinetist.
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Speaker
She holds a BM in instrumental music education with concentrations in instrumental wind band and bass clarinet from the Crane School of Music,
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and an MA in Psychology of Music from the University of Sheffield.
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Her
Tara Allen's Work and Advocacy
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master's thesis, The B's Are Too Loud, ADHDers Sound Preferences as an Aid Daily Task Completion, focused on how ADHDers use sound and or music to help cope with completion of mundane tasks and the combined social hardships.
00:01:29
Speaker
Her research areas of interest are neurodivergent and music perception and cognition,
00:01:35
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learning, processing, behavior, and accessible music education.
00:01:41
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She has been advocating for neurodivergent and disabled musicians through a variety of platforms since 2020.
00:01:48
Speaker
She has a podcast, Breaking the Third Wall in Music, that invites disabled and or neurodivergent musicians to discuss disability topics in the music scene.
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Speaker
She has spoken on the Brave New Sound and Marching Arts Education.
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Speaker
She has also given talks at universities, conferences, and organizations about neurodivergence.
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Speaker
Lastly, she is a bass clarinetist and an active performer in a variety of contemporary, classical, and popular musical ensembles.
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Hi,
Guest Host Announcement by Tara Allen
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I'm Tara Allen.
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I am the current guest host of the Able Voices podcast.
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Today, I am joined by Andrew Wang.
Introduction to Andrew Wang's Background
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Andrew Wang, he, him,
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received his undergraduate degree at the University of Miami and Coral Gables, Florida.
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He also has his Master's in Music Education from Kent State University.
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Andrew works as the Music Education Expert for Hip Hop in the 914, as well as the Music Education Expert for Hip Hop and Neurodivergence.
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Andrew has presented around the country from University of Miami to Howard University in D.C.
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and internationally through virtual presentations in Dublin and Germany.
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Andrew, or Mr. Hip Hop, brings the element of beatboxing to hip hop.
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Andrew believes good teaching happens when the student feels successful.
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And he currently got a new job at an amazing school district.
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Yes, I do.
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I will let Andrew, you know, kind of introduce himself and talk a little bit about that.
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Sure.
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Well, thank you so much for that introduction.
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Yes.
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So I guess I should just reveal that I work at a district called Greenberg Graham Union Free School District in which I'm teaching district wide to kids that are having IEPs, which if people want to know, that means an individualized education plan.
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So
Andrew Wang's Teaching and Research
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every student that comes through this district has one and
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It's kind of fun that like my research that I've done on hip hop and neurodiversions, I'm actually applying in my actual teaching.
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So it's kind of cool to see both sides of the both perspectives, you could say, and truly enjoying it.
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And yeah.
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Awesome.
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Yeah.
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So, Andrew, my first question for you is I'd like to start off by asking you to tell us a little bit about your story as an artist.
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How did you start as an artist and how did you get where you are today?
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Very good question.
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Well, I always tell everyone this phrase.
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I used to learn how to whistle before I could talk.
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So like music just felt like very natural to me.
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I grew up listening to my siblings music, which if you're a millennial, which is, yes, people born in the 1990s, not 1900s.
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Then I was a big fan of like the boy band era, particularly NSYNC.
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Actually growing up in the living room, that was the first ever music video I saw was Bye Bye Bye by NSYNC.
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And I learned how to copy the choreography.
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And it just seemed like, oh my God, these guys are up on stage or in a video having so much fun.
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I want to do that.
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It was actually my first ever concert.
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And I was just very interested in seeing the singing and the harmonies.
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And then...
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I noticed in this particular song from the album, No Strings Attached.
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Yes, that is correct.
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That it was called Pop.
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And at the end, I heard this thing where Justin Timberlake goes like... And I was like, what is that?
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So I took that away for a little bit.
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Fast forward, I was at camp, sleep by camp at eight years old.
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And I saw a counselor doing the exact same thing that I saw in that song.
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And I was like, what is it you're doing?
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And he said, it's something called beatboxing.
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And I was like, oh, wow, you can actually make sounds with your mouth that aren't singing and make it sound like a drum.
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That's awesome.
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So I just tried to develop that skill.
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And mind you, I was a very shy kid at the time.
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So using beatboxing was my way of expression, my way of opening up.
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And so it turns out that I was able to figure it out kind of quickly.
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And it was my way of working through some of my phonics and pronunciation and stuff.
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And that was the first step of my hip hop journey.
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So
Andrew's Hip Hop Journey
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I recently discovered that it's not that I discovered hip hop, but maybe hip hop discovered me.
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So because funny enough, in sixth grade, I was in a talent show where I did this song, Where's the Love?
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And besides, funny enough, Justin Timberlake doing the singing of that song, there was a rap by I believe Will I Am and Taboo.
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And I actually did that for the talent show in sixth grade.
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And it was just great experience having the opportunity to do that.
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It was also like one of the first times people got to see me for who I was and just see my personality come through.
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So now I'm about...
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So I guess sixth grade.
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So let's say like a couple of years later, I had a friend that had this hardware machine that was called, well, machine.
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And it was like a beat making program you can use with your fingers.
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And I was like, wait a minute, you're saying the beats that I've been making in my mouth, I can make into pads and separate it to make beats of my own beats.
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It's like an inception type thing.
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And it was really cool to see that.
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And all right.
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So I learned some of that production stuff.
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Okay, cool.
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Also, I forgot to mention, during the bar mitzvah time, I always tried to do the breaking.
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I'm not good at it.
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I could get maybe half a headstand on a good day.
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But that was a big thing also for me, was people seeing me chime dancing in a way.
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So now I go to college.
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I go to college for vocal jazz and music education.
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Funny story, I almost didn't go into music education at all.
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Big time in New York is Broadway and theater.
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So I almost went to school for musical theater until I realized that my teachers and people that have been very supportive of my career, they all were teachers.
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And I thought to myself, I want to work with kids that were sort of like me, which is funny enough what I'm doing now, as a music teacher.
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So I went to school for music education.
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But not just that, I was also very interested in vocal jazz.
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And I think it's because beatboxing felt so improvisational.
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And freestyle is improvisational.
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I did that with my friends growing up in high school.
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And it felt like scat singing was improvisational.
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So it just all felt connected.
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So I get my degree there.
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And then started working somewhere before COVID happened.
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Yeah, we all know what COVID was.
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And then I got my degree at Kent State during COVID.
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And...
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It allowed me to start working in 914 in Westchester.
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And that's where I currently am today.
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I'm at a school in 914.
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So that's why I still do this 914 hip-hop work, which I guess I could explain a little bit.
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When I was working in a prior district in Yonkers, I had a...
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pushing teacher i'll give his name out harold mccoy and he told me like do you like hip-hop because this is during the 50th and i was showing the grammy presentation i was like i like hip-hop so do you know dmx mary j blige and the locks are my yeah it's like do you know bill blasts i'm like wait who
00:09:41
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So there's an entire book called Yonkers Lost City of Hip Hop by Jerome Enders.
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And they did a workshop series through education on hip hop.
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And it was very cool.
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And then when the 50th ended, I was like, I don't want this to end.
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This is so much fun.
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So how do I bring it to...
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keep things going lives through education.
00:10:02
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So at first it was this education of the history of Yonkers, which became the history of Westchester.
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And then the guy wrote the Yonkers Lost City book, working on the paperback and there's electronic version of a book called Making of a Scribe, which is kind of cool.
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It's his journey to write Yonkers Lost City of hip hop.
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So his schooling.
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So I was a part of that, helping out with some curriculum.
00:10:28
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And then, uh,
00:10:29
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Right before I was going to take another leave replacement, I actually fractured my kneecap.
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And I'll explain how that all makes sense.
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So I couldn't do a lot for a while.
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And then I thought to myself, like, wait a minute.
00:10:44
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So I may have a physical injury.
00:10:47
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And speaking of, you know, injuries or I don't even like the word to use deficit.
00:10:53
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But like I was thinking to myself, wait a minute.
00:10:57
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So hip hop has five elements.
00:10:59
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DJing, emceeing, breaking graffiti and knowledge.
00:11:05
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And for someone during Divergent, there's so many sensory sensitivities like visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic.
00:11:13
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Has anyone done that with hip hop?
00:11:14
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If there's that many elements that already include ways to utilize that with those sensories.
00:11:20
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And
Neurodivergence and Hip Hop
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it turns out I looked on Google, there was nothing.
00:11:24
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So I started doing a little research and, uh,
00:11:29
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I'll give a shout out.
00:11:30
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There's a brilliant educator who has written books on autism and music named Alice Hamill.
00:11:37
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And she told me about the Berkeley Able Conference, funny enough.
00:11:41
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And she was saying, like, you should apply.
00:11:43
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I'm like, yeah, I don't know.
00:11:45
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Like, I'm a little worried to show off that much of myself.
00:11:49
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And I masked myself for years, by the way.
00:11:52
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And for those who don't know what that means, it means I kind of
00:11:55
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hit away myself from, uh, opening up about my neurodivergence.
00:12:00
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So I was like, all right, fine.
00:12:01
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I'll apply.
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She thinks that I have a good chance.
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And I was like, oh wow, I got in.
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I was like, all right, let's just see.
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Maybe I'll just throw my name in a couple other conferences and whatnot.
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And I was getting accepted all these things.
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I was like, oh wow.
00:12:18
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All right.
00:12:19
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So now I really got to figure out how I'm going to use this in a presentation work.
00:12:24
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And, um,
00:12:26
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I was able to come up with things that utilize hip hop with neurodivergence, coming up with different, even rappers that have overcome through neurodivergence.
00:12:38
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And it was just really cool to see the amount of appreciation I got for it.
00:12:43
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See, what I love about the hip hop was everyone just thinks it's rap music, but there's a culture to it when I was saying those elements.
00:12:52
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And that culture has its own saying, peace, love, unity, and having fun.
00:13:00
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Now, wouldn't it be great if we just all were in a society like that where we all came together and just had those things in mind working together, which actually allowed me to introduce myself to another person I knew.
00:13:13
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He has a whole book called Hip Hop Could Save America.
00:13:16
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And it made me realize how hip hop could be utilized in things other than just music.
00:13:22
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That's actually how I got into working in urban education was a guy named Chris Endin wrote a book for white folks who teach in the hood.
00:13:32
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And it gave me an understanding of community and belonging and made me feel less of I'm teaching to you.
00:13:39
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I'm teaching for you.
00:13:40
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I'm teaching with you.
00:13:42
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You're learning and I'm learning along with you.
00:13:44
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So, yeah, I guess that's how I developed my artistry and it's gotten me to where I am today.
00:13:52
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Awesome.
00:13:53
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Thank you for sharing.
00:13:54
Speaker
You talked about it a little bit, you know, once you were discussing this, but I'd like you to tell us a little bit about your experiences as a neurodivergent person and artist.
00:14:06
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So I see it as, by the way, neurodivergent is not a deficit.
00:14:12
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It could be an advantage, but actually, and that's another thing I love about this school is that
00:14:18
Speaker
They may not have succeeded in the districts that they were in prior.
00:14:23
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And it's not a dumping ground, but it's a new opportunity to show what you really have to possess and express, especially music.
00:14:31
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They haven't had music here in five years.
Challenging Disability Stigma
00:14:33
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So to see that I'm actually bringing something to help them express themselves is just unbelievable.
00:14:38
Speaker
And that's how I feel about my...
00:14:42
Speaker
neurodivergent journey i started off with an iap in elementary school and the only reason i switched from a iap to a 504 was because of the amount of effort i put in academically so and believe me i think i even put myself harder than my parents had me too
00:15:01
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And I think that's the big thing about this neurodivergence, the idea of persevering, the idea of pushing through the barriers that people think you can't do this, you can't do that, you don't have the ability to.
00:15:14
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This is why I hate the word disability.
00:15:17
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It makes it seem like everything's a negative connotation when there could be a way of enhancing yourself.
00:15:24
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And for me, like neurodivergence allowed me to find something very particular that I have a passion for, which is music.
00:15:32
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And it's something that I've always just like felt gravitated to me.
00:15:36
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I feel that it really, I could just feel the music in my body when I was listening to it.
00:15:43
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So much to the point sometimes where it's like, I'd feel it so much that my parents would be like, all right, Andrew, just relax.
00:15:50
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I'm like, no, I'm just like embracing what I'm hearing.
00:15:54
Speaker
You know, and that's why I also used to be the kid that like would tap on their desk all the time sort of thing, because I just felt like innate sense of I just found myself through music, you know.
00:16:09
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And that's what I believe people don't understand is that neurodivergent people find that one particular thing, that aspect.
00:16:18
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And that could take them to anywhere they want to be.
00:16:22
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I even, when I'm teaching my class, have a pledge that I use from a hip hop song called I Can by Nas, but I change it to We Can.
00:16:32
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And the thing I say is we know we can be where we want to be.
00:16:36
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If we work hard at it, we'll be where we want to be.
00:16:39
Speaker
So...
00:16:41
Speaker
that's how I've been going through my neurodivergent journey.
00:16:44
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That's how I have tried to beat the odds of those who said that you can't do this or you'll never make it into education because we all have those people that did it.
00:16:55
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And not only is it a chance to prove them wrong, but it's a chance to prove how much I've overcome and the stronger I've become through, you know, some of the tougher moments.
00:17:10
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So,
00:17:12
Speaker
Not sure if that answered everything.
00:17:14
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If there's any others.
00:17:16
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I feel like I feel like it did.
00:17:18
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And I mean, I definitely personally relate on my own aspects as an autistic and neurodivergent music educator.
00:17:26
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You know, there's always these instances and especially music education as we're training that.
00:17:31
Speaker
You know, we're told that it's supposed to be this specific way, but then the specific way doesn't fit for us, but it also doesn't fit for our students.
00:17:39
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So is it really the right way, you know?
00:17:43
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Right.
00:17:43
Speaker
And, you know, it's kind of like, well, it goes back to like improvising.
00:17:48
Speaker
Is there a right way to play each note?
00:17:50
Speaker
No.
00:17:50
Speaker
It's just a way that you think feels right, you know?
00:17:55
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So, yeah.
00:17:56
Speaker
And another reason it's funny that you bring that up, just meaning like the students and other people.
00:18:02
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I've noticed that through this work, it's not just impacted the neurodivergent community.
00:18:08
Speaker
I'm also impacting those of low socioeconomic groups.
00:18:13
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I feel like this is like one of the first times I feel, which is kind of crazy to me that music educators and hip hop practitioners don't know one another.
00:18:21
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So I've had opportunities to actually bring them together and have them like, I had a friend at Texas state who's a music educator and a friend who was a hip hop practitioner.
00:18:33
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They came together for a session for freshmen talking about how to use hip hop within the classroom.
Support for Neurodivergent Teachers
00:18:40
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So like,
00:18:41
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We just need more of this unity stuff to happen.
00:18:45
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It's also a way to advocate for those that are adults that are neurodiversion teachers.
00:18:53
Speaker
Because we always have these acts and things for students.
00:18:59
Speaker
And what about if a teacher is neurodiversion?
00:19:01
Speaker
What kind of access is there for them?
00:19:05
Speaker
We talk about the Every Student Succeeds Act, but what about
00:19:08
Speaker
Why isn't there an every teacher succeeds act in a sense, you know?
00:19:13
Speaker
Just something I've always was curious about.
00:19:16
Speaker
Believe me, I agree.
00:19:18
Speaker
Like every instance, I agree.
00:19:20
Speaker
We are the very people that are teaching students.
00:19:23
Speaker
And also we are providing an opportunity for students as educators to engage with people that look like them or think like them or might be similar to them.
00:19:34
Speaker
So it's like, why would we want to prohibit such opportunities for our students to feel comfortable with their identity with an adult that feels comfortable with their identity?
00:19:44
Speaker
by not making training programs accessible for our music teachers.
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah, there really has to be like more focus on that because, I mean, not only are they teaching us too, but like we shouldn't feel if students are being able to open and be expressive, why can't be adult?
00:20:04
Speaker
Why is that an issue if an adult is?
00:20:07
Speaker
and thinking that it's going to send a bad message.
00:20:11
Speaker
I don't know.
00:20:12
Speaker
I've heard these things so many times, and it makes me... Well, that's... Okay, so let's go back to hip-hop with that.
00:20:20
Speaker
The understanding that kids coming into the cipher, into the circle to share their thoughts, like, why can't we do that as adults?
00:20:29
Speaker
We talk about restorative practice circles.
00:20:32
Speaker
Actually, far enough, we're having a PD tomorrow, and we do circle groups.
00:20:38
Speaker
Which is fine.
00:20:39
Speaker
I love doing it with staff members and I would love to do it with the kids as well, like staff and kids or the kids watching the staff doing it so they could see that there's just enough vulnerabilities for a student as there is an adult, you know. 100%.
00:20:55
Speaker
Moving on to our next question, I know that we talked about this a little bit earlier in your introduction, also your self-introduction, but additionally, I guess I'd like to know a little bit more about how you studied the arts and how do you continue to learn today through the arts?
00:21:11
Speaker
That's a great question.
00:21:13
Speaker
Well, I studied the arts, obviously, in college and such, and through different other aspects.
00:21:21
Speaker
And then I guess...
00:21:23
Speaker
Let's go back to, so I'm very much a visual learner, even though auditory, I do have this thing called perfect pitch.
00:21:31
Speaker
Blessing and a curse.
00:21:32
Speaker
But what's my thing with music was it's just I felt music was so easy to obtain the language.
00:21:42
Speaker
Actually, learning how to read lyrics quickly allowed me to absorb other languages.
00:21:47
Speaker
So like I am pretty close to fluent in Spanish in that sense.
00:21:52
Speaker
And obviously I took private lessons growing up with multiple teachers for multiple instruments.
00:22:00
Speaker
And how I did it was just through repeating, repetition, row teaching, which I do with my students.
00:22:08
Speaker
And I guess I just kept myself structured in a sense.
00:22:13
Speaker
Or if I didn't growing up, my parents had me be structured in terms of things to get involved in outside of just being in school.
00:22:22
Speaker
So I was always either taking lessons or I played with a band in high school.
00:22:32
Speaker
Nowadays, what I do is I'm very time-oriented.
00:22:36
Speaker
I use the Pomodoro technique.
00:22:39
Speaker
when it comes to getting assignments or tasks done.
00:22:42
Speaker
There's an app I use Focus to do.
00:22:44
Speaker
This is like the way I keep myself organized because one of the other things I didn't mention besides neurodivergent and being the level one on the spectrum and stuff, I have executive functioning issues, which if people don't know is sometimes your organization.
00:23:03
Speaker
And yet,
00:23:05
Speaker
I try to channel the way I'm able to organize music, kind of like the way music is structured and formed, to think, how do I structure myself?
00:23:13
Speaker
So I kind of utilize the strengths I have in music to enhance the things that I've had difficulties with outside of music.
00:23:22
Speaker
And then, so I still go to different workshops, different presentations.
00:23:30
Speaker
Recently, I've been doing a lot of the
00:23:32
Speaker
webinar stuff.
00:23:33
Speaker
In fact, I'm, I guess I could say, cause we're only two days away, very excited for the NAFME virtual symposium.
00:23:41
Speaker
That's the first ever one.
00:23:43
Speaker
So like to see, and that's the beauty of, I don't know why, like the work that I did, I feel like it opened up people to actually be able to present on this because believe it or not, I guess I forgot to mention that the secretary of state,
00:24:00
Speaker
education for the country with Joe Biden was the keynote speaker at the NAFME Eastern Conference.
00:24:05
Speaker
And he spoke about my article on hip hop and neurodivergence.
00:24:11
Speaker
And I was like, oh my God, this is insane.
00:24:13
Speaker
And like, okay, this is real.
00:24:15
Speaker
Cause I make this joke that yeah, people have written articles, cool.
00:24:19
Speaker
But now it's like, it has some connection and it's so cool.
00:24:23
Speaker
So I definitely do a lot of the webinar stuff.
00:24:27
Speaker
I did a little bit of the Berkeley ABLE funding off the fall session stuff.
00:24:32
Speaker
So I just try to find any, I guess I'm trying to stay more particular to the specific students that I teach in the past.
00:24:40
Speaker
I would go to like every Kodai, but I do have students that are nonverbal.
00:24:46
Speaker
In fact, that would be, I don't know if that is in the symposium, a really cool topic to understand the nonverbal community.
00:24:54
Speaker
In fact,
00:24:56
Speaker
One of the therapists here is considering giving me one of the AAC devices just to get an understanding of how it works.
00:25:03
Speaker
And I think that should be utilized with anyone that works with students that could have special needs.
00:25:09
Speaker
So yeah, going through webinars, conferences, and just being involved in different forums and groups, whether on social media or I would say in person, but that's been a little tricky.
00:25:25
Speaker
Just finding the right people, right networks, and just keep reading.
00:25:30
Speaker
I know I had wrote his book recently, it came out.
00:25:34
Speaker
I also know the Oxford Handbook for Special Music Education Therapy just came out a couple days ago.
00:25:41
Speaker
Very excited to get my hands on that.
00:25:43
Speaker
So the resources are out there.
00:25:47
Speaker
In fact, I feel this is like the most I've seen resources for this particular topic that I've seen in a while.
00:25:54
Speaker
Because even when I was in college, they had a special education course they were going to do with music.
00:26:00
Speaker
I was the only one that signed up.
00:26:02
Speaker
So they didn't have the class.
00:26:05
Speaker
So to see that there's more appreciation for it and more resources out there for it, it's very cool to see.
00:26:14
Speaker
So that's how I get myself involved with it.
00:26:16
Speaker
So you are clearly very active in the industry.
00:26:21
Speaker
Can you please tell us a little bit about your current work, which you've touched about a little bit, but maybe going a little bit deeper.
00:26:28
Speaker
In terms of the education work?
00:26:30
Speaker
It could be any.
00:26:31
Speaker
It could be yourself as an educator, you know, the work that you're doing now with neurodivergence and hip hop.
00:26:39
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:26:39
Speaker
I mean, yeah.
00:26:41
Speaker
Like what?
00:26:42
Speaker
Are you asking me?
00:26:43
Speaker
Sorry, I guess I'm trying to.
00:26:45
Speaker
It's okay.
00:26:45
Speaker
So it's like.
00:26:47
Speaker
Are you asking me what I'm currently doing with it?
00:26:50
Speaker
Yeah, like what kind of work are you doing now?
00:26:52
Speaker
Are you creating papers?
00:26:54
Speaker
Are you going to conferences to present?
00:26:56
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's a good question.
00:27:00
Speaker
I've been doing a lot of virtual college talks.
00:27:03
Speaker
I just did one recently for USC.
00:27:06
Speaker
I'm getting involved in other organizations like APME New York.
00:27:11
Speaker
I'm also, you know, writing out some new lesson ideas based on the current population I work with.
00:27:21
Speaker
In fact, funny enough, a lot of them are beatboxers.
00:27:24
Speaker
A lot of the students here.
00:27:26
Speaker
And with the nonverbal, I've been able to utilize it.
00:27:29
Speaker
And then I feel like that actually helped their phonics.
00:27:33
Speaker
I think that's one of the blessings I've had at this job is the idea that
00:27:37
Speaker
Once I hear a kid non-verbally, I shouldn't use the word non-verbal.
00:27:41
Speaker
I forget the, I want to get the.
00:27:42
Speaker
Oh, non-speaking.
00:27:44
Speaker
Thank you.
00:27:45
Speaker
See, I want to be appropriate about that.
00:27:47
Speaker
They spoke and not only spoke, they would sing the songs that I repeated.
00:27:53
Speaker
That's when I know the work had meaning to it.
00:27:56
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:27:57
Speaker
When I know that there are kids that are writing out their own verse of a rap, but may have trouble reading, it's showing that they do care about their education.
Memoir Writing Plans
00:28:09
Speaker
They do engage with it.
00:28:11
Speaker
We just have to do it in a way that connects with them.
00:28:15
Speaker
So in terms of what else I'm doing with this work, the big thing that I'm trying to work on, and it might take some time, is a memoir.
00:28:25
Speaker
I feel that
00:28:27
Speaker
There have been memoirs of people overcoming struggles.
00:28:30
Speaker
I've never felt like I've seen one of someone that overcame their special needs through something that could be engaged by multiple people through hip hop.
00:28:42
Speaker
So like to actually have a memoir to kind of solidify that and then do a book talk.
00:28:48
Speaker
I mean, like those are the things that I'm looking to do after this time.
00:28:54
Speaker
Now that the recognition is there, you know,
00:28:58
Speaker
Currently also it's Hip Hop Appreciation Month, so I've been in global talks through Zoom with people from Poland, UK, Germany.
00:29:08
Speaker
And it's so cool that they all connect to something.
00:29:10
Speaker
Like they could rap a verse and then not even speak the same language as someone else.
00:29:16
Speaker
But what's cool about beatboxing is you don't even have to speak anyone.
00:29:19
Speaker
It is its own language in a sense.
00:29:23
Speaker
So that's where I'm currently at.
00:29:27
Speaker
I'm excited to see how I can grow up professionally through these opportunities, and also just grow in my teaching where I am now.
00:29:39
Speaker
What's cool about doing this district-wide is I have a variety of students, variety of cognition levels, so it's cool to see how I can make adaptations and modifications based on the needs of the students.
00:29:54
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:29:56
Speaker
Thanks for sharing.
00:29:57
Speaker
So, Andrew, you talked about a few times about beatboxing and how you were kind of exploring what that means, hearing it in your mouth, like feeling it in your mouth, but then also eventually turning into a soundboard.
00:30:10
Speaker
You know, I'm very curious to hear a demonstration of what some of this beatboxing sounds like.
00:30:16
Speaker
Yeah.
Beatboxing Demonstration
00:30:18
Speaker
Tull it down.
00:30:18
Speaker
You ready?
00:30:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:20
Speaker
Here we go.
00:30:22
Speaker
I'm going to start old school and then maybe bring it up to a new one.
00:30:26
Speaker
Come on.
00:30:57
Speaker
I love it.
00:31:00
Speaker
I love it.
00:31:26
Speaker
Thank you.
00:31:47
Speaker
What?
00:32:16
Speaker
Awesome.
00:32:16
Speaker
Thank you for sharing.
00:32:18
Speaker
Next,
Social Media and Online Presence
00:32:19
Speaker
can you tell our audience where they can follow your work online?
00:32:22
Speaker
Yes, absolutely.
00:32:24
Speaker
You can follow me at MrWang2692.
00:32:28
Speaker
That's M-I-S-T-E-R Wang2692 on Instagram.
00:32:34
Speaker
I'm on Facebook as Andrew Wang.
00:32:37
Speaker
I run a, uh,
00:32:39
Speaker
I think it's getting up there.
00:32:40
Speaker
It's a pretty popular Facebook group called Hip Hop from the 914, which is based on a book by a guy named E.J.
00:32:47
Speaker
Woodson.
00:32:47
Speaker
I wanted to make sure to give him credit.
00:32:49
Speaker
Also, I want to give credit to Jose Valentino, who also helped with...
00:32:54
Speaker
collaborating on these projects and being co-author.
00:32:57
Speaker
He does a million things.
00:32:59
Speaker
So you can find him literally just by looking up his name and then he has a whole website.
00:33:04
Speaker
And then I guess you can find, if you look up Hip Hop and Neurodiversions on Google, you'll find the works I've done.
00:33:11
Speaker
I would say I have a popple, but that might be hard to write in the exact address of that.
00:33:17
Speaker
So I will maybe forgive that for this time.
00:33:22
Speaker
And yeah, in New York,
00:33:24
Speaker
For the most part.
00:33:25
Speaker
So if you're interested or anyone interested, virtually speaking, I'm available.
00:33:33
Speaker
So yeah.
00:33:35
Speaker
Spectacular.
00:33:37
Speaker
Lastly, what advice would you give to a young neurodivergent musician?
00:33:42
Speaker
I would just
Advice for Young Neurodivergent Musicians
00:33:43
Speaker
say to keep going.
00:33:44
Speaker
The idea that like there's going to be pitfalls and there have been in my life, believe me.
00:33:52
Speaker
And yet the one thing I've never done is give up.
00:33:56
Speaker
I never gave up on any instrument.
00:33:58
Speaker
I never gave up on getting my degrees.
00:34:00
Speaker
I never gave up on reaching for my goals, no matter how long or how hard it could be to get.
00:34:10
Speaker
It's just little steps to get to where you need to go.
00:34:13
Speaker
So, I mean, it's kind of like what I do with my pledge.
00:34:18
Speaker
And I'll say it one more time again.
00:34:20
Speaker
We know we can be where we want to be.
00:34:22
Speaker
If we work hard at it, we'll be where we want to be.
00:34:25
Speaker
And that's literally my mantra, in a sense, to help me.
00:34:30
Speaker
And I think that's what every young person needs.
00:34:32
Speaker
And that's why...
00:34:34
Speaker
I do it for them.
00:34:36
Speaker
And believe it or not, it's shown a lot of positive effects.
00:34:40
Speaker
And, you know, just if you put in the hard work and effort, everything's there for you.
00:34:45
Speaker
You know, you can't wait for anything.
00:34:48
Speaker
You got to be the one to go out and get it.
00:34:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's really great advice for young neurodivergent people who might feel like they're like, ah, this is a bit much.
00:35:01
Speaker
I have a very similar thing of like,
00:35:03
Speaker
It feels much now, but if you keep working at it, you'll get there.
00:35:08
Speaker
It just takes some time.
00:35:10
Speaker
It takes a lot of time.
00:35:12
Speaker
I've gotten rid of some words in my vocabulary, like, but I don't use anymore.
00:35:16
Speaker
It's a negation.
00:35:18
Speaker
And if someone says like, oh, I want to do this, but I'm not there.
00:35:21
Speaker
I'll say yet.
00:35:23
Speaker
You're not there yet.
00:35:25
Speaker
There's still a time.
00:35:26
Speaker
There's still opportunities.
00:35:28
Speaker
Don't let one failure be the dichotomy or the whole sense of you, you know?
00:35:37
Speaker
There's a book I read that literally was about that, like embracing failure in a sense.
00:35:43
Speaker
And it's really true that art, I mean...
00:35:47
Speaker
Wow, I'm about to quote a Kelly Clarkson song.
00:35:49
Speaker
See a millennial.
00:35:50
Speaker
What doesn't kill you gets you stronger.
00:35:52
Speaker
Oh, what a bop.
00:35:56
Speaker
Oh, great.
00:35:57
Speaker
It was great.
00:35:58
Speaker
Everyone says, oh, the Kelly Clarkson show.
00:36:00
Speaker
I was like, oh my God, I'm so old.
00:36:01
Speaker
I remember her when she first auditions for American Idol.
00:36:04
Speaker
I know, it's wild.
00:36:06
Speaker
Actually, speaking of that show, you know that they showed Neurodivergence.
00:36:10
Speaker
I should have given a shout out to Spin the Spectrum for doing DJing with hip hop.
00:36:15
Speaker
And that actually was on the Kelly Collection show.
00:36:17
Speaker
So ironically, that was a great way of adding that in.
00:36:23
Speaker
Exactly.
00:36:24
Speaker
Well, Andrew, it was a pleasure talking with you today.
00:36:28
Speaker
And I'm sure it was equally as a pleasure for the listeners to listen to your story and your experiences and your work.
00:36:35
Speaker
And thank you to the listeners for listening today to the Able Voices podcast and to next time.
00:36:43
Speaker
All right.
00:36:43
Speaker
Sounds good.
00:36:44
Speaker
Peace.
00:36:53
Speaker
Able Voices is a production of the Berkeley Institute for Accessible Arts Education, led by me, Dr. Rhoda Bernard, the founding managing director.
00:37:02
Speaker
It is produced by Daniel Martinez del Campo.
00:37:06
Speaker
The intro music is by Kai Levin, and our closing song is by Sebastian Batista.
00:37:11
Speaker
Kai and Sebastian are students in the arts education programs at the Berkeley Institute for Accessible Arts Education.
00:37:18
Speaker
If you would like to learn more about our work, find us online at berkeley.edu.au.
00:37:23
Speaker
slash B-I-A-A-E or email us at B-I-A-A-E at Berkeley, that's L-E-E dot E-D-U.