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1 Peach stone4 Container for gratuities10 Dough dispensers14 Period of time15 Single-celled organism16 ___ row (stretch in many a college town)17 Scoring partner?19 Piece in a mosaic20 Looking down on21 They become wind instruments when “f” is added23 In the manner of24 Alaskan city on the Bering Sea25 The ___ Moines Register26 Faith with Five Pillars28 Got going30 “My deepest apologies"32 Khaki color33 Use a needle and thread34 Wet dirt35 Libertarians' 2020 presidential candidate38 Small island39 Skin pic40 Long period of time41 1992 Stacey Dash rom-com featuring a credit card con43 Antagonist in “Coco"47 Suffuse48 E.R. employees49 Real comedian50 Jacuzzi product51 Come to a point54 Stave off55 Trivia host’s clue57 Like a straight shooter59 Gucci of fashion fame60 “The Answer Is …” memoirist Alex61 Word paired with “neither"62 Roach or rat63 Jousting horses64 Donkey1 Nuts in some pies2 Sci-fi collection first published in 19503 Site of a University of Washington satellite campus4 Far from feral5 Unruly kid6 Combined, as assets7 Nativity scene figure8 Illegally assist9 Doneness option for a burger10 Toward the stern11 Testing phase12 Common duck13 Hot and humid18 News anchor’s hand-off line22 Khloe, to Kim, informally25 Signify27 “What gall!“29 ___ Mahal30 “Get it?“31 Deeds list them33 Drill instructor’s rank, often: Abbr.35 Groups that improvise songs36 Bit of hope, metaphorically37 Daughter’s sibling, perhaps38 Put together, like an anthology41 Unfortunate occurrence42 Need for catching butterflies43 Coat, as with chocolate44 Raw or burnt color45 Statues' midsections46 Frolicking marine mammals48 Zellweger with two Oscars52 Tunneling insects53 Strong wine54 Inquires56 Day care enrollee58 Benedict’s nickname, maybe

solution

In a different key: Meet the Boston Typewriter Orchestra

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It looks like a group of people at work, in the 1960s. But what the Boston Typewriter Orchestra creates with its old-school, mechanical typewriters is a mix of music, comedy and satire. There’s definite beat, rhythm, even tune. To offset the lack of actual notes, there’s often singing, with comedic lyrics also commenting on work culture.

“You will not be able to turn on, tune in and white out / You will not be able to lose yourself in copy and paste and skip out for coffee during meetings / For The Revolution Will Be Typewritten,” go the opening lines of one song.

The core members are Derrik Albertelli, Christopher Keene, Brendan Quigley, Alex Holman and Jay O’Grady, aged 40 to 60, all with day jobs (biologist, software engineer, banker, crossword constructor, librarian). All members dress in formal work wear when playing.

They’ve been playing together since 2004, perform live in the US and have released three albums, the latest being Workstation to Workstation (2020). Tunes drawn on a range of genres, from metal to hip hop, and their music is also available on their website.

Wknd chatted with Albertelli about why they do what they do — and how.

How did you come up with the idea of music from typewriters?

A former member of the group, Tim Devin, received the gift of a typewriter from his girlfriend while they were in a bar one night. He started typing along to the music, which began to annoy the staff there, who asked him to stop. He replied, “It’s OK, I’m the conductor for The Boston Typewriter Orchestra”. Thinking there was something to the idea, he decided to call up a handful of people to see whether or not he could make it a reality.

How does it work — do you need a certain number of musicians, a certain variety of machines?

It’s effectively like a drum circle. We typically do not like to perform with less than four people. At a maximum we’ve performed with nine. The variety of machines is an important element. Some are large and have a really thumpy sound while the smaller portable models have more snap. We regularly employ plastic sheets, metal pipes, bells and any other materials we can fit into our typewriters.

What kind of music can a typewriter make? How would you describe it?

When we began, everything was mostly an improvised jam. We eventually grew to adopt more traditional song structures and added lyrics and singing. Surrounding all of this is a sort of stage performance where we’re playing the role of office drones. Interstitial comedic bits are a feature of our live performances.

They always dress in formal work wear when playing, and the lyrics of their songs are satire about work culture too.

What are its limitations?

We’re not creating notes per se, so melody is not an option and that’s a big part of the reason why we introduced singing. Another [limitation] is the simple fact of using these machines like instruments. They take a beating and don’t always respond the way you want them to.

What’s the most surprising thing to you about music from typewriters?

That we’ve been doing it for so long… for over 16 years. The public’s sustained interest in the group has carried us further than any of us had ever anticipated.

Who is this music for?

Generally, it’s for people who are into percussive music or niche acts. Typewriter enthusiasts definitely make up a fair part of our audience.

What’s the easiest and most difficult kind of music to play on a typewriters?

I find being able to fall into a hip-hop type of groove to be the easiest because it’s rhythmic, translates really well. Because the attack of a typewriter is so sharp, hip hop helps to humanise it a bit.

Music teachers, fearing a lost generation of performers, are forced to improvise

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Get them young, or not at all.

For music teachers in schools, that’s been an unwritten rule for a long time. And now, in the age of the novel coronavirus, it’s a bit of a warning.

Is a “lost generation” looming?

The pandemic has shut down most in-person schooling throughout San Diego County since March, and in-person schooling is vital to music lessons, especially for beginners. Hard to correct a student’s finger position on a clarinet or the bow angle on a violin over Zoom.

And hard to generate the kind of friendships, teamwork and sense of belonging that arise from playing together in an orchestra or band when you can’t play together.

A 6th-grade music class practices at Del Mar Hills Academy of Arts & Sciences in the “before” times. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

It was just two years ago that the San Diego Unified School District was celebrating a milestone: 100 percent of its schools now offered music instruction.

“Research has shown that an arts education improves school climate and culture, and increases student and parent engagement — ultimately contributing to improved academic achievement,” the district said then.

In the Poway Unified School District, a team of “X-Ploration” teachers has been rotating among the elementary schools for the past five years to make sure all 16,000 students get introduced to musical concepts like rhythm, beat and tempo.

Now teachers throughout the county find themselves improvising, a familiar skill for musicians, but one deployed this time with potentially long-lasting implications for how many students get engaged enough in the art form to want to keep doing it.

“Music right now is so important for kids because it is such a good outlet for dealing with life’s struggles,” said Paula Richardson, a music teacher at Wilson Middle School in City Heights. “It helps them cope. So we’re all trying to stay positive. We can still do music things and be successful.”

Richardson, recently named one of five teachers of the year in the county, paused for a few seconds and then continued.

“The mantra is: Let’s try. If we can make the best of this situation, we’ll all — students, teachers, parents — be better people when we come out of it.”

She paused again.

“Fingers crossed,” she said.

Creating excitement

In the “before” times, Robin Dye was a traveling teacher, showing up once a week at eight elementary schools in San Diego to introduce fifth-graders to music.

One of her colleagues is a woman who taught Dye how to play the flute — when Dye was a fifth-grader.

“I am a product of the school system here, and I know the value of getting passionate about music early,” said Dye, who went on to get a degree in music education at San Diego State. She’s starting her 10th year as a teacher.

Born into a family with musical interests — one uncle played professionally — she started on the piano at 5 before her elementary-school introduction to the flute.

What that showed her is that classes in elementary school are mostly about generating excitement for music, not directing a child toward a particular instrument. That can come later, she said.

Pre-pandemic, the excitement came from recorders to play and ukuleles to strum and plastic buckets from Home Depot to bang on. There were choirs. It was all very hands-on.

The sudden shift to remote learning in the spring was chaotic. Not everyone had access to computers, let alone instruments. Zoom and other online platforms aren’t set up for everyone to be playing their instruments at the same time. (Ensembles you see performing on YouTube, each player in her or his screen-square, are actually separate videos edited together.)

Even when schools open for in-person teaching, music classes figure to be problematic, given that the novel coronavirus is spread through the air and kids would be blowing on instruments and singing out loud.

So the emphasis now on schools throughout the county is on the non-performance aspects of music. Teaching them how to listen to music, how to recognize patterns in the notes, how to create their own song snippets.

There will still be some playing — on recorders in some schools, on rhythm sticks and tambourines in others. Students might be broken up into smaller groups online, where they can listen to each other play and collaborate on songs. The whole class may play along while the teacher leads them in a song — but only the teacher’s microphone will be on. The others will be muted.

“Even in COVID, we’re trying to provide lessons that give students the chance to find that thing that they love,” said Kimberlee Broaddus, assistant principal for the Poway district’s X-Ploration model. “Maybe the arts will become their passion for life. This is still an opportunity for us to light that spark.”

Musician Jose Gurria looks in on a student during his online drums class in Mexico City. (Getty Images)

Plato speaks

The website for the NAMM Foundation includes a link to a collection of research citations and quotes about the cognitive, educational and social benefits of music lessons.

It runs more than 150 pages.

There are studies showing how teens who take music in middle school score “significantly higher” on algebra assignments in ninth grade than those who don’t. How schools with music programs have higher attendance and graduation rates. How almost all of the winners in the nation’s most prestigious math and science competition for high school seniors play an instrument.

The website includes a quote that shows just how long people have understand the value of music lessons: “I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.”

The quote is from Plato, the Greek philosopher, who was born about 2,500 years ago.

Joan Li doesn’t have to read the literature on this. She’s lived it. Now a music teacher in San Diego, she grew up in a family where everyone played the piano or the violin. She started early at home, then took private lessons, and got into band in middle school. She’s been teaching for nine years, most of it in San Diego Unified.

“One of the great things about music is it’s a universal language,” she said. “It speaks to everybody.”

The key now, she said, is speaking it in a way that engages students watching on a computer screen. “We can’t roam around in the classroom while the students are playing,” she said, “so we need to figure out ways to use the digital formats that will still allow them to find some expression in the arts.”

Richardson, the middle school teacher who has just started her 14th year, is used to clearing away hurdles to learning. When she realized that the master schedule at Wilson was preventing some kids from taking music, for example, she helped re-do it.

But COVID-19 is something else, she said.

Because of the online limitations to performance-based teaching, her classes now are about music appreciation. How to listen to it. What it does to us when we hear it. How it’s composed.

For students who want to work on playing an instrument, she’s started a “music club” that will meet during flex time and break into small groups. They’ll use computer software to record and share songs.

This was going to be a special year at Wilson, she said. Student interest in music is high. A new performing arts center is being built.

“All the things we worked so hard for we can’t do right now,” Richardson said. “It’s frustrating. But that’s the world we live in right now. Everyone is frustrated.”

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In a different key: Meet the Boston Typewriter Orchestra

Music teachers, fearing a lost generation of performers, are forced to improvise