So far he’s made it through the first round, which whittled 3,300 nominees down to 290. Brandeis Marin teacher Jesse Scott wouldn’t mind adding “Grammy winner” to his resume. It’s a real possibility now that he’s been shortlisted for the Grammys’ annual Music Educator Award.
Next month, Scott learns if he’s through to the semifinals, on his way to the Top 10 and a trip to the Grammys next February.
Considering how much he loves his job, and how much his students over 17 years have loved him, Scott deserves the prize.
“Obviously with a national award, it’s not unlike winning the lottery, a long shot at best,” Scott says of the Grammy Award. “I think of it as a total honor to have made it where I am. Any further distance I go is icing on the cake.”
The K-8 Jewish day school in San Rafael has some 170 students enrolled, and most of them learn and play music under Scott’s direction.
A conservatory trained bass player, Scott grew up studying and loving all kinds of music, from pop and jazz to classical. After 17 years at Brandeis Marin, he has added Jewish music to the list. Though not Jewish, he appreciates the richness of Jewish music, something he passes on to his students.
“I lead services in Hebrew and do song leading,” he says, “but as a non-Jew walking into the Jewish community I’m amazed how music is at the center of the culture. Why shouldn’t that also be true at Jewish day schools?”
To that end, Scott, 42, routinely arranges Jewish liturgy, klezmer tunes, nigguns and holiday songs for band and chorus. That’s in addition to the AC/DC and Stevie Wonder songs his kids get to play.
Scott has turned Brandeis Marin into a “Shul of Rock.”
Like the 2003 screen comedy starring Jack Black, Scott, too, turns his music room into a glorified garage band haven at 7 a.m. every morning before school officially starts.
Monday mornings, the jazz band rehearses. Tuesday it’s chorus, while Wednesdays through Fridays the rock band bangs heads. Every day at 6:30 a.m., Scott arrives in the music room, which boasts three drums kits, five keyboards, a dozen guitars (electric and acoustic) and a symphony’s-worth of brass, string and reed instruments. Posters of Jimi Hendrix and Johannes Brahms look down kindly on the young players.
Some of Scott’s rock stars are as young as 8 years old.
His beginners “run to the drum set, they run to the electric guitar,” Scott says. “They don’t necessarily know what they’re doing. We start young, and by middle school they are playing two or three different instruments.”
Scott’s impact stretches beyond the classroom. Some former students have gone pro, backing up superstar artists such as Michael Bublé and John Legend, and others going on to become composers, singers and music majors in college.
Noa Zimmerman, an incoming high school senior, started music classes with Scott when she was 8. She credits him with bringing her out of her shell and finding the courage to sing in public.
“This gave me the courage to play songs for people,” she said in a video testimonial submitted to the Grammys. “Now I have recorded three albums of original music. It’s all because of Mr. Scott encouraging me. “
She also looks back fondly on her early-morning jam sessions.
“We were elementary school kids playing Led Zeppelin,” she added, “which was really exciting for us because even though we were really tired, his passion for teaching us kept us coming every day. It was a great way to start the day, playing music with friends.”
Scott, a graduate of San Rafael High School, says he knew early on that music would be his career. His father was a rock and roll radio DJ who took his toddler son to rock concerts. Equally adept at playing several instruments, as well as writing and arranging music, Scott took the job at Brandeis when he was 25.
A parent at the time had connections with the Bill Graham Foundation, which went on to fund the music program at the school. At a time when cuts to arts education took hold across the country, Brandeis Marin expanded it.
That means no child is left behind when it comes to making joyful noise.
“We believe everyone can do music and everyone can improve musically,” Scott says. “Music is for everyone. When a parent comes in and says ‘My kid is tone deaf,’ I don’t believe in that. Anyone can improve.”