New Poll About Creativity in America

According to a new poll released by TIME, Microsoft and the Motion Picture Association of America, no other trait is more admired by Americans than creativity.

More than intelligence, compassion, humor, ambition and beauty, Americans ranked creativity #1 among these traits. And then there’s this:  “62% say creativity is more important to success in the workplace than they anticipated it would be when they were in school.” Clearly, we have to rethink the importance of creativity in our schools so that our students can be successful and happy in life.  

After all, we all know that life is tough and getting tougher; we all know that our country is being challenged from within the government and on Main Street. And that’s where creativity (also called “ingenuity”) has served America so well in the past. 

According to the same poll, only 35% view the U.S. as the current leader in creativity. But here’s the kicker: “for those saying the U.S. is not a leader…31% (say that) schools are not building creativity…” Simply put, we’re losing our edge because we don’t value students’ ability to think creatively. The good news, though, is that creativity can be taught and immediately applied by children hungry to use their imaginations and their skills – if we give them the opportunity!

If you have read this far, you are probably interested in making a difference in your students’ creative lives. May we suggest: “Creating a New Hit Song”. This program is a hands-on residency of variable length where students learn how to take facts, opinions and feelings and create an original song. In so doing, we demonstrate how discipline, form and ability meet with the creative impulse to make something meaningful or beautiful. Of course, this is central to not only the state’s COMMON CORE CURRICULUM but to the goals of educators, business leaders, child development advocates and parents.

As important, when we come to a school for an in-the-classroom residency, we provide your teachers with tools that they can incorporate into their skill set. This is especially true when we work with the same teachers over a period of years.

Speaking of statistics, our experience is that test scores go up when we are part of a school’s approach to education. For three years, we worked in a school in Freeport, NY during which time the students’ scores improved dramatically. While we cannot take full credit for that improvement, the principal has cited our work as being an integral part of their approach to the whole child.

Lastly, it should be said that creativity is fun. It makes us happy to feel connected to our own ideas and to share them with others. So, contact us and learn how we can stimulate your school’s creative potential, have lots of fun and…just maybe…be the start of something that will change your student’s lives forever.

Beth & Scott Bierko (800) 364-5381 or info@bethandscott.net

10 Ways to Live Below Your Means

This is a guest post from my other Blog, "Learning Money". http://bethandscott.blogspot.com/

1. Identify and cut those expenses that are “leaky holes”, things like magazine or movie subscriptions or even the health club if you don’t use it. 

2. Don’t dine or snack out. Bag your lunch and if you must snack, pack drinks and munchies in your bag or car.

3. Avoid impulse purchases. Anything that costs over $100 should be put off for 1-2 weeks to determine if you REALLY need it. 

4. Don’t upgrade anything electronic to the latest and greatest unless it’s necessary.

5. Spend less on gifts at the stores and more time making cards, writing poems or songs and expressing your feelings without spending money on your loved ones.

6. When you go to the grocery store or any store for that matter, buy what’s on your list and then LEAVE.

7. Use the library instead of buying books online or for your e-reader. Trade books with friends and family, too!

8. Buy used stuff, especially cars.

9. Drive less. Consolidate your trips. Drive slower to save gas. Better yet, take a bike, a walk or just stay put.

10. Get re-interested in learning, in enjoying what you already have and hanging out with your family. Play games, be creative, keep up with friends or write in a journal. The more time we spend not spending is money saved and a life well-lived.

I Am Thankful

Here's a song we recorded today to express our gratitude and love for one another, our family, friends and the values we share.

May your holiday be full of great conversations, laughter, tasty food and lots of hugs!

Beth and Scott
"I Am Thankful"
Words and Music by Scott Bierko
©2011 Bierko Productions

What We’re Most Grateful for in 2011

Our Good Health. Despite the onset of middle-aged aches and pains, we still remain capable of getting up every day, shopping for food, cleaning, making meals, doing our job, chopping the firewood and playing with the dog. Thank God for our Kripalu yoga practice and the teachers who blessed us with their knowledge. We also thank the many wonderful healers, doctors and others who tend to our mental, physical and spiritual well-being.

Our Family. It’s not easy being a great mom and dad to two teenage girls. In fact, we make lots of mistakes and kick ourselves almost daily for not being perfect parents. That said, we are thankful because we have great kids who are compassionate, funny and beautiful. What a blessing to witness their transformation from helpless little babies into responsible adolescents and young adults ready to take their turn getting things “right”.

Our Business. Like most Americans (many others around the world), we are struggling harder and making less. Instead of the incremental progress and accumulation of assets our parent’s generation enjoyed during their 40’s and 50’s, we are finding it a struggle just to survive in this economy. Despite this downturn, we feel lucky to have many, many loyal and wonderful clients who share our love of music and children. We are so fortunate to have a job, especially one that allows us to work together, have fun and make a difference in the lives of the people we serve.

Our Country. The U.S.A. is going through a crisis brought on by years of unsustainable growth, a certain measure of greed and a lack of compassion for each other and our environment. Our hope is that our leaders and our fellow citizens will make the smart, difficult choices necessary to promote long term prosperity for our children’s generation.

Nature. As we look around, there is so much wonder and beauty in our natural world. We are lucky to make our home in the woods where wild turkeys and deer parade past our window and squirrels, chipmunks, woodpeckers, spiders, skunks and swans share the trees, the reservoirs and the clean air with us two-legged folks.

Needs and Wants. A comfortable couch, a warm furnace, a roof that doesn’t leak and two old cars that still run are all blessings that come to us courtesy of the people who made and sold them. As musicians, we’re fortunate to have drums to bang, guitars and ukes to strum and microphones so that audiences can hear us. How lucky we are to have shoes, socks, pants, shirts, sweaters and coats.

You. Maybe we’ve met, maybe you’ve heard our songs or maybe you’re being introduced to us for the first time. We’re glad you’re here, a fellow traveler in this wacky, wonderful world. May you be blessed with abundance, love and gratitude.

Happy Holidays Around the World

Does your community celebrate the holidays with any annual traditions? We're not referring to big sales on toys or clothes, but to those old-timey opportunities for folks to gather, to laugh and to sing the songs of the season. Beth & Scott's program, Happy Holidays Around the World, now in its fifteenth year, once again brings the perfect mixture of ingredients to please everyone at your school.

"First, we gather together," says Scott Bierko. "children, parents and teachers, creating a real sense of community. Second, we provide the audience with a super-fun show with important educational content, multiple styles of music, a brightly colored set and lots of on-stage participation by the kids and the adults. Lastly, we mix in a sense of warmth and just enough love to leave the audience smiling."

Beth & Scott and Friends teach kids that we may be different on the outside, but inside we're all very much the same.

"Like Scott says in the show," remarks Beth Bierko, "We gather to give light to the darkest time of the year, by sharing food, exchanging presents and giving thanks for all that we have. Mostly, we travel great distances to be with the people we love - family and old friends. I think of that word, "community" and see it's about how we come together throughout the world to create a oneness that's at the heart of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas".

Happy Holidays Around the World brings together songs that everyone can dance and sing to, humor that tickles even the most serious of teachers and a sense of connection that makes for lifelong memories. As one principal recently said, "You are a tradition at our school. If I ever thought of not booking you - the teachers would get rid of me!"

Find out why so many schools ring in the holidays with Beth & Scott and Friends' show, Happy Holidays Around the World. It might be the best present you can give your kids this year.

Can't Find My Gloves

Can’t Find My Gloves

(to the tune of “Can’t Buy Me Love” by Lennon & McCartney)
New Lyrics By Scott Bierko Copyright 2011 Bierko Productions

Can’t find my gloves

Can’t find my gloves

Can’t find my gloves

I want to go outside and make snow angels in the snow

I want to take a ride on my new sleigh but I can’t go

No I can’t go so says my mommy

‘Cause I can’t find my gloves

I want to build a snowman but my hands will get too cold

I want to have a snowball fight but I can’t so I’ve been told

No I can’t go so says my mommy

‘Cause I can’t find my gloves

Can’t find my gloves

Until I find ‘em I can’t go

Can’t find my gloves

No, no, no, no

I’ve looked around and up and down everywhere that I could think

I’m not gonna wear my sister’s gloves they’re  little and they’re pink

Then I can’t go so says my mommy

‘Cause I can’t find my gloves

6 Pro Tips for Marketing to Digital Natives

I've heard it said that we (those over 35) are "immigrants" to the technological culture, meaning that we came from a world that existed before we were all glued to our electronics. The people younger than us are "natives" - they've had a cell phone in their hands, a computer on their laps and an Ipod in their ears for their whole adult lives (or longer).

If you're looking to establish your brand to these folks, I suggest that you read the following article. It's one of the best ones I've come across. The author puts a definitely positive spin on this digital generation's earnest dislike of the hard sell and gives alternative means to making friends with them on their turf.

6 Pro Tips for Marketing to Digital Natives

Artists on the Edge

Like many artists, Beth and I are struggling to maintain financial equilibrium in an economy that seems akin to a serious earthquake. While the life of an independent artist has never been without its share of minor tremors, we are currently experiencing some awfully big shocks that are threatening our ability to stay in business. Wouldn’t it be a shame if we had to switch careers at a time when we’re at the top or our game, when we feel like we have the most to share with children and teachers?

Before you get any ideas to the contrary, please know that Beth and I have no intention of giving up our lives as children’s musicians. We will continue to search for ways to trim our expenses and create more income. In the last year, we’ve examined our expenditures and saved quite a bit of money as a result. We’ve also invested a tremendous amount of time into marketing, becoming much more proactive when it comes to reaching our existing and potential clients.

We have also expanded and improved our programs. Since moving to our home in Yorktown Heights, New York, we’ve added new assemblies on wellness (Beth & Scott’s Nutrition Mission), character education (Do the Right Thing!) and, not coincidentally, financial education (Money Matters). We’ve seen tremendous growth in our song writing program, Creating a New Hit Song, not just in the number of clients who regularly book it, but in its usefulness to teachers.

Sadly, there are clients who have lost their funding. State and federal grants – once plentiful for schools in need - are harder to come by resulting in a decreasing number of opportunities for students in these districts. Just today, we found out that a school where we’ve had tremendous success for the last three years has lost their funding. By all measures (including test scores) our song writing program was an unqualified success according to the principal and the teachers. In fact, last year we were asked to speak at this school’s moving up ceremony where we were presented with an award for our commitment to the children of that city. As wonderful as it felt to be accepted and honored in that community three months ago, today it feels like we were declared “expendable”.

During most of the last twenty years, Beth and I were fortunate to see our income rise and our lifestyle improve. Married in 1992, we moved from a small apartment in New York City when we had children to a co-op in Westchester and finally to our own home in 2006. Like most Americans, we believed that hard work and education in one’s field were the ticket to consistent expansion and, eventually, a well-deserved retirement. In the meantime, we never longed for much in the way of material goods. To us, happiness has always been about enjoying our job, our family and friends and serving the community with our talent. And while we weren’t immune to the advantages of comfortable, beautiful things, most of our purchases were reasonable. Our choice has always been to measure our life not by what we were able to afford, but by how much time we were able to spend doing what we love with the people we love.

The hopeful part of me, the idealist who always looks on the bright side of life, wants to believe that what matters most cannot be taken away by a shifting economy. I cling to the rock that God has a plan and this is merely a passing phenomenon, a storm to be followed by bright, blue skies and happy, song-filled days. Heck, I grew up in an era where we laughed at zany comedians and sang ourselves happy.

Raindrops keep falling on my head 
But that doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turning red 
Crying’s not for me ‘cause 
I’m never gonna stop the rain by complaining 
Because I’m free 
Nothin’s worrying me 
(Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head ©1969 Blue Seas Music, Inc. )

Some forty years later, I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit to some fear. I worry that our country has lived too long on credit, that we’ve lost our competitive edge and become ill-equipped to find the higher ground while the tsunami approaches us. I watch our government, paralyzed by money, power and old partisan ways, and I feel that are leaders are arguing with one another about the values of their beach condos while the waves are building on the horizon. The current movements like Occupy Wall Street attest to our collective belief that the earth is opening up, that people are being swallowed up and our leaders are trying to use duct tape to keep things together.

At times like these, I’m convinced that music is not a luxury, but a spiritual, medicine for the soul. I also reject the claim that any part of the school curriculum is more important than another. In fact, we are the only country in the world that has created a hierarchy of subjects where math and english sit at the top, social studies and science are in the middle and foreign language, physical education and the arts rest on the bottom. This is an antiquated, artificial system that doesn’t take into account all of the best thinking that has been applied to education. Imagine what our country would be like if creationists wrote all the textbooks and scientists who don’t believe in climate change wrote all of the laws. Narrow-mindedness rules in our educational system and our country and our people are suffering as a result.

All of us can make a difference. We can speak out in defense of what we know to be true, what we intuitively and logically believe is best for our culture and for our citizens. In the end, I think that this is our best and only hope to regain our momentum, to be part of a world that values humanity and what humans create. I plan on being there, a bit bruised by the seismic forces around me, but still hopeful that we can rediscover our better natures.