Mr. Trust prepares for the best Holiday Concert yet!

“This year, we are going to be focusing on community,” Mr. Trust says when asked about the much-anticipated Holiday Concert. 
That means song offerings relating to Christmas as well as Hanukah and Kwanza. There will even be a song from Thailand, regarding a holiday that happens there in November.
The popular show takes place at MS 51 (5th Avenue and 3rd Street) on December 20th.
In addition to singing, there will be dancing – sort of.
“I’m hoping to have a group singalong,” Mr Trust says. “And group movement too, with all the kids throughout the grades. These will be movements that we can teach to the adults.”
We’re all looking forward to the moving and shaking that will surely bring down the house when PS 39 takes over MS 51. We hope to see you there. 

We’re still looking for parent volunteers for the night of the show. If you’re interested, please contact Susan Moesker at susan@caeny.org.

For current updates on the concert, and to hear mp3s and videos of the featured songs, go to www.ps39.org

Meet Mr. Trust

Hard to believe that everybody’s favorite music teacher, Paul Trust, did not start his career journey anywhere near music education. His original goal was marketing and advertising, which, of course, we could all easily picture him doing.

Ultimately, though, and luckily for us, he chose his stronger passion. He joyfully shares that love every day with PS 39 students.

“My sister, who is four years older than me, was a drummer,” he says of his musical beginnings in Rockland County, New York.  “She was always involved with the band. I always watched her.  She would always be with her practice pad, very diligent in trying to get better. She had her upper classmen that she really loved to learn from. And I learned from her. You learn by watching others to see how they do.”

He had a teaching influence as well, to complete the Paul Trust remix.

“My mother’s a teacher, so it kind of runs in the family,” he says.

Not long after watching his sister bond and grow with the drums, he chose his own musical path. However, his choice was quite a different sound.

“When in third grade I had to choose an instrument,” he says. “I chose the tuba, only because my best friend chose the tuba. Little did I know that it would dictate the rest of my life.  It’s funny how things work out like that.

“I loved the tuba. It was this humongous instrument and at first I was making these horrendous sounds out of it. Over time, though, I really worked at trying to get better.  I finally could say I was a musician and really play the instrument.”

Even at an early age, people were noticing that Mr. Trust had a special relationship with music.

He says, “I just remember some of my teachers from first, second and third grade who would come to see our concerts. They would notice how into it I was. I’d be tapping, I’d be moving, so they realized that I really enjoyed music. It really starts from elementary school and what you do with it.

“From there, I continued with tuba all throughout junior high and high school. Some of my friends were playing guitar, and so I started to get involved in bands. Tuba really wasn’t such a rock-and-roll instrument, so I switched over to bass guitar. And I continued with bands all the way through college.”

While at the State University of New York Oswego, he majored in business with plans to get buttoned-down in the business of marketing.

 “When I first moved to the city, I tried to get into the advertising world,” he says, “but I hit my head against a concrete block. I could not get into creative. I could get jobs in ad sales, but not creative. So I thought, I could really try to work hard at that, or I could work really hard at what I love even more, which is music.”
So off he went, for his second bachelors, at City College. His major was Jazz Performance. Eventually, he earned a masters in music education from Queens College.

His first stop: teaching at a high school in Queens for four years. But fate held even more in store for him – and for us.

“I wanted to try something different,” he says, “so I decided to look around. Just through some of the avenues I pursued, my resume wound up with Ms. De Paz. She interviewed me and PS 39 sounded like a great school.

“As I said, I really fell in love with music from my elementary time. I’ve already done the high school for several years, so I decided to check out elementary school. And I love it.”

His experience at PS 39 keeps him playing many different tunes.

He says, “With high school students, there is a difference between the freshman and the seniors, even though they are all still young adults at that point. But I come to this school and I teach everything from Pre-K to fifth, and the difference is so huge.

“With Pre-K, it’s really a lot about exposure and movements and expressiveness. But in fifth grade, we’re trying to read through music charts and gain experience with music notation and performance and instruments and what have you. So I really get a nice, broad spectrum.”

Through his teaching at PS 39, Mr. Trust has uncovered some truths about students and music.

“I think there are some students who gravitate toward music,” he says. “It seems to come naturally to them. But I also want to say that just because somebody shows a gift doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going to be a better musician than someone who doesn’t.

“I feel a lot about what makes a good musician is your ability to focus and to work on your craft. It doesn’t matter how great your gift is if you don’t put it to use. So someone who is maybe not [musically gifted] may not find it as easy as someone else, but if they really work at it, they can become a fantastic musician.

“Charlie Parker, the great jazz saxophonist, was apparently horrible when he started. Papa Joe Jones threw a cymbal at him at an Open Mike to get him off the stage. So he went home and he practiced and practiced and practiced. And now he’s one of the greatest jazz artists who ever lived. It’s just a matter of putting your mind to it and focusing.”

Mr. Trust also has advice for parents who may feel that their children are moving toward a musical passion.
He says, “If parents feel that their child has an interest in music, then they should let them be exposed to different instruments. What I do here is try to expose students to what’s out there. I teach them a bit about reading music and about different songs and different composers, from back in the day to modern times.

“But ultimately, if the child decides that they want to play piano or guitar or drums, let them pursue that and take lessons. Let them try to take it seriously.

“I think it’s important not to force a child to play an instrument. They have to have an interest and a love. And they have to understand that maybe it’s not for them, or maybe it’s not for them now. They may lose interest, but they also may come back to it.

“That’s what happened to me for a little while. I sort of thought that I wasn’t going to be playing anymore. Where I was in my life, it just didn’t fit in, and I can’t believe I thought that at one time. Things come and go, but expose them to it. Take them to music stores. Let them bang on some drums and hit some pianos or pick up a guitar. Then have them take lessons and have them learn from a teacher who does that for a living.”

There also may be some exciting musical news to close out our exciting year at PS 39.  “There is a talent show in the works,” he says. “It is in the early stages of development. We’re shooting for the springtime. More information will be revealed, possibly a May date. That will give the children who do take lessons an opportunity.

“However, it doesn’t only have to be in music. I know some students pursue ballet. I even heard that there is a child here who is an amateur magician. It should be a nice, diverse show where kids who have the talent or who are working on pursuing some sort of craft can come and show what they’ve got.”

That will make us positively Glee-ful!  And we all thank Mr. Trust for keeping the music – and the inspiration -- alive every day!

-Ron Sklar- PS 39 Reporter At Large

PS 39 Parent Tony Garnier

Bassist and PS 39 Parent Tony Garnier

Like most of us, PS 39 parents Tony and Trish Garnier happily devote themselves to their child’s school life. Tony’s day job, however, sets him slightly apart from your average neighbor: he’s the bass player and band leader for Bob Dylan. 

Born in Minnesota (like Dylan) and raised in California, Tony now calls Park Slope home. He’s like a rolling stone, however, when he spends five or six months a year touring the world with Dylan. Trish, who was at one time Bob Dylan’s personal chef, met Tony while they both worked a Dylan tour. Now they have two sons, Luke (who is in Ms. Imperiali’s kindergarten class) and baby Tino. 

A professional musician who has been making a living at music since the seventies, Tony has played with an impressive Who’s Who of pop music (as if Dylan weren’t enough!):  Asleep at the Wheel, Paul Simon, Buster Poindexter, Robert Gordon, Tom Waits, and many others. He’s also played in Broadway orchestras, for TV commercial jingles, and in the house band for Saturday Night Live. 

“My mom had said, ‘Well, you didn’t choose the bass, the bass chose you,’” Tony tells me.  “I didn’t even think about it until years and years later. I like playing the bass, playing the supportive role. It’s a really important thing. I consider myself really lucky.”

Tony comes from a musical family. His mother is a music teacher and had played the church organ. His dad (who died in 2001) was a carpenter, but also sang opera. Tony’s grandfather, it is believed, taught music to a young Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong in New Orleans, way back in the day. 

 
“Out of fifty first cousins,” he says, “there are only three of us playing as professional musicians.”

His musical journey was not always intended as a first priority. He had started out on the straight and narrow before music became his life. 

“I was planning on becoming a lawyer,” he says.  “I was really into politics. I got out of high school a year early and started playing more. I went to college at U.C. Berkeley, but I wasn’t really into school. I was into playing.”

He moved to New York in 1978, building his solid reputation one band at a time. By 1989, he was playing with Dylan. It was just in time for Communism to fall and for the Iron Curtain to rock around the Bloc. 

“Those were heavy days,” he says of those historic Dylan concerts which took place right after the Berlin Wall came down.

Eventually, Tony was promoted to Dylan’s band leader, after G.E. Smith decided to stop touring. Of working and playing with the man himself, Tony says, “Bob has the final say as far as the shows are concerned. He is really open to almost any suggestions from band or crew members. It's one of the reasons he has such a successful touring operation; it's constantly evolving. It's probably a good lesson in how to run a long-term business.” 

Tony’s son Lucas, 5, is a Dylan fan, and has actually attended his concerts and recordings. He also traveled with the band on the road.  For his young age, Luke is quite the music connoisseur. 

“Certain songs Luke really takes to,” Tony says, “like earlier on he liked Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday. He likes singers and songs. He likes Chuck Berry, ‘Johnny B. Goode.’ He loved the songs on Christmas In the Heart [The Bob Dylan Christmas album, released last year].”

These days, Lucas is busier with school than with traveling. Although both Lucas and Tino still occasionally attend a concert with dad, the schedule is not as intense as when Lucas was younger. 

Tony says, “It was easier traveling with one kid, but with two, it’s difficult. Now that Lucas is in kindergarten, it’s really harder. He went to Europe twice. He went to Italy. While we were doing the Christmas album, he came out to LA and stayed.” 

Still, when Tony is on the road, father and sons manage to keep in touch the modern way.

“Lucas is really into Skyping,” Tony says. “He could open Trish’s computer when he was three. He could turn on the computer and find my name on Skype!” 

Tony plans to start Lucas on piano at around age seven (“Playing piano is something that every kid should learn. That’s a great thing for every kid.”), but for now, the intensely fun experience of kindergarten is more than enough. 

“A good teacher is everything,” says Tony of Lucas’ teacher, Ms. Imperiali.  “Lucas’ first day in kindergarten was so heavy, because it was our first real separation. The first day I picked him up, I asked him, ‘How was school?’ ‘Good,’ he says. But on the second day, he answers, ‘Really good!’  And now he says that every day! He never says he doesn’t like school. I mean, I liked school but he really likes it. What a great school!”

- Ronald Sklar, PS 39 Reporter at Large