Ashley McCracken

Program & Operations Intern

How has music education impacted you?

The music education I got both in-school and out-of-school has been one of the most impactful learning experiences I’ve had in my life. I was fortunate to have music classes for a few years at the elementary charter school I went to, and it was there that I learned that I had perfect pitch, a natural gift for music listening that I’m VERY fortunate to have. My parents enrolled me in private piano lessons (as well as flamenco and ballet classes), and though my focus was mainly on learning the notes, in the long run, music helped me with my concentration, work ethic, and creativity, especially once I started learning Jazz improvisation. 

I ended up taking this experience and running with it, graduating from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in Music Industry Studies, which I’m hoping to extend into a Doctorate in Musicology eventually. Listening to music, playing piano, analyzing compositions, producing my own albums, and of course, teaching people music, is what I was meant to do. I’m so grateful for my early formative years listening to pop music on my iPod Nano, singing The Beatles in my elementary school music class, and watching my family improvise music at our family music nights for immersing me wholly into this wonderful art.

Why did you choose ETM-LA for your internship?

At first, ETM-LA was one of many places I was looking to intern at, but once I read more about the organization’s mission, its teaching styles, and watching the videos on the website, I realized how special it was. Seeing how much it connected with my prior experience learning music in schools, I focused intensely on it. I remember watching one of the videos on the page for volunteering, and they brought up ETM-LA’s motto, “Music Makes My Life Better”, and I was like, ‘Yeah! It really does!” Music is a human art that has persisted for millennia for good reason, and my life especially would be so much less colorful if I didn’t have music in it. 

What are you hoping to gain from this experience?

Initially, I came in wanting to learn more about practical database maintenance and possibly pick up some side experience with teaching by being in an environment where that was the main topic of conversation, however already, just two weeks in, I’ve gotten a LOT more than that! I’ve gotten a scattered variety of experience all over the map, like visual editing and design principles (both in still graphics and videos), new methods of organizing information like resources and website layouts, and time management! Time management has been a crucial part of the ETM-LA experience so far, with so many big events coming up. It’s been very exciting; there’s always so much to do.

What has been the most challenging part of your intern experience so far?

The commute has been pretty difficult; I’m going from Pomona to Burbank by public transit. I’ve been waking up at 5 AM everyday, and often come home at 8 PM. The three-hour commutes were quite intimidating at first; I was worried about the sudden large chunks of time I had where using my computer to work on personal projects was not an option, or at least not an easy one. I’ve grown to actually quite look forward to them now, actually. Nothing about the actual internship proper has been outside my control; I’ve been able to handle the large amounts of new information very quickly.

Why do you believe in ETM-LA’s mission?

Right now in the USA, there’s a sort of hostility towards arts education in schools, with many people seeing all the arts as being less valuable than more “practical” STEM topics. I was lucky to be flooded with music in many ways as a child, but I shouldn’t have to be the lucky one.

Everyone needs the creativity, humanity, passion, and joy that listening to, creating, dissecting, and discussing music brings. The best engineers, programmers, and mathematicians are the ones who also understand the humanity of the people they’re designing this world for. I believe ETM-LA, in aiming to bring music education to the schools of under-resourced communities, is doing the whole world a huge good that will pay itself forward for generations. Thank you to ETM-LA for taking me on as an intern, and thank you to the LA County Department of Arts & Culture for making it possible!