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entertaining u newspaper: your monthly guide to entertainment
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by rick grant
rickgrant01@comcast.net
B+ NR 65 min
Bruce Mack is a composer, bandleader, and keyboardist who discovered he could motivate school children to write and perform music with very little musical knowledge. I met Bruce and viewed his movie When Fried Eggs Fly at MOCA last Wednesday evening. Bruce stars as a charming motivator of children in a special project at PS3 (Public School #3) in the West Village of New York City.
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The documentary was shot in 2006 by Constantine Limperis, whose dogma-style, handheld camera work is not recommended for people with eye problems like me. Nonetheless, the film focuses on Bruce’s laid-back method of dealing with hyper 8-year old city kids. Bruce’s concept was to have his students compose a song and perform it for the film, all the while keeping their teachers and parents involved. The project involved Bruce’s percussion students on marimbas, congas, and drums. The kids came up with the music and rhythm while the parents were responsible for writing the lyrics.
Under Bruce’s masterful tutelage, the kids learned quickly, requiring them to play the rhythm many times to get it right. Of course, he had to contend with kids that can’t stand still, let alone concentrate for more than two minutes. His main goal was to make the project fun and gradually instill the discipline needed to accomplish his goal.
Indeed, Bruce has a real gift for teaching and motivating kids and adults. After the film, Bruce came out on stage. In a short time he had the audience singing an original song in three parts, with a third of the audience singing the rhythm. His positive vibes and magnetic personality had complete strangers doing his bidding. It was remarkable. Even I participated, hypnotized by Bruce’s charismatic presentation.
In the film, funded by private grants, Bruce is seen dealing with 162 8-year olds who were peaking on their Coco Puffs sugar high. Just watching these kids was driving me batty. His five-minute university method of teaching dispenses with theory and concentrates on getting the kids to count the measures while holding the meter. One kid, who is obviously a gifted drummer, was playing traps with perfect meter. His dad was a Russian-born drummer, but he’s the kind of natural talent who just started playing the drums one day and never needed any instruction. He just wants to play in real world situations and not mess around.
During Bruce’s crash course on music, he fights the same battle every day that teachers fight everywhere in the classroom. He tirelessly teaches the most elusive of skills, self-discipline and self-esteem, while avoiding apathy, boredom and lack of confidence. The viewer is drawn into the process and rewarded with seeing the composition come together. Many of these West Village parents are artists and musicians themselves, which made it easy on them, but others had never done anything like this before. It was interesting to watch them get into the process with Bruce’s encouragement.
Clearly, Bruce is a talented and inspirational teacher who works well with both kids and adults. The film will serve as a model for other school districts that want to incorporate a similar program. The real goal of the program is to inspire kids to learn more about music. By giving them early goals of writing songs and learning music theory, they are fully engaged and motivated students.
Bruce Mack’s motivational prowess is the key to making this program work. His steely patience with these rowdy but street-savvy kids was fascinating to watch. He never lost his cool, and in one case, a girl with above-average intelligence suggested a change in the song that had not occurred to Bruce. He told the girl she had more talent at composing than he did.
When Fried Eggs Fly is available on DVD through its website whenfriedeggsfly.com and other outlets.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
