{"id":7703,"date":"2025-06-11T12:45:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7703"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:45:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:45:21","slug":"the-wooten-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7703","title":{"rendered":"The Wooten Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Personality Profile<\/strong>
2024-25, Division 4-MS, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Amelia Sandstrom & Esh Schaden
<\/strong>The Communicator Online
Ann Arbor Community HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Wooten began learning bass at age two and started performing at five. His oldest brother, Regi, taught him and his four older brothers the basics, but more importantly, the power of curiosity. Despite his early introduction to music, Wooten didn\u2019t feel that he knew music or himself fully until he spent some time with Tom Brown Jr. He taught Wooten that music and nature are intertwined, and inspired Wooten to teach this connection to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with five Grammys under his belt, among countless other awards, Victor Wooten is widely recognized as one of the best bassists of all time. He teaches at his music camp, \u201cWooten Woods\u201d, and continues to perform with renowned musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that we\u2019re all living a musical life,\u201d Wooten said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any way not to, you just don\u2019t have to call it music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Wooten was born, his brothers had already decided that he would be a great bassist. Growing up in a musical family, he learned quickly and fell in love with his art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI learned music in the exact same way you learn to speak: you didn\u2019t have any lessons, you\u2019re in the jam session from day one,\u201d Wooten said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a music teacher, Wooten frequently highlights this idea of learning from those better than you. At his camps, the beginners play with the pros, letting them grow exponentially. This musical growth is something that Wooten hopes all his students will find, but he believes that a greater takeaway is the life lessons he teaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wooten\u2019s Mother, Dorothy Wooten, played a key role in teaching him many of these life lessons, especially in terms of what he valued as a person and a musician. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe world needs more than just good musicians, we need good people,\u201d Mama Wooten said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo give you a little secret about our camp, music is just to get people here,\u201d Victor Wooten said. \u201cIf I say Victor Wooten is doing a music camp, I get a lot of people, and then we can teach life lessons through music.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The connection between music and life became apparent to Wooten when he started teaching music. Learning to play music as if it were a language made it so that he saw music as many equal parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI realized everybody\u2019s teaching notes, but I know that there\u2019s more to music than notes,\u201d Wooten said. \u201cAnd for some reason, I came up with the idea of breaking music into 10 parts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book \u201cThe Music Lesson\u201d, <\/em>Wooten describes this part-by-part breakdown of music: notes, articulation, technique, feel, dynamics, rhythm, tone, phrasing, space and listening. He believes that by looking at more than just one or two parts of what makes music, one can understand what they are creating on a deeper level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI realized that all of these things that we were talking about were life qualities too,\u201d Wooten said. \u201cSo by teaching them through life, you get to the essence quicker.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wooten was already known as a renowned bassist towards the end of the 80\u2019s, however, his perspective on music, nature and life would change with the turn of the decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI first made the realization about music and nature and how they are very similar in 1991, when I took an outdoor class led by a man named Tom Brown Jr.,\u201d Wooten said. \u201cTom Brown Jr. gave me another way of teaching, and it really wasn\u2019t that different, but I was able to add things to it by asking more questions than giving answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Militzer, a CHS student, recently attended Wooten\u2019s camp, \u201cWooten Woods\u201d, with the Community High Jazz Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVictor Wooten\u2019s teaching style is very interactive, he really lets you figure things out.\u201d Militzer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wooten\u2019s camp is strategically placed in the middle of Tennessee, where you can see trees for miles during the day and a sky full of stars at night. Without strong cell service or other societal distractions, the camp provides a haven for the unification of music and nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wooten works with people like Bob Heminger \u2014 a nature enthusiast, teacher and saxophone player \u2014 to incorporate nature into his camp. Heminger leads nature-based exercises where he teaches students to listen and notice the things around them, skills that can be used as a musician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the CHS Jazz trip to Wooten Woods, the students woke up at seven every morning for a nature activity. One morning activity was Tai Chi with a local expert, and another was a blindfolded drum search, where students were blindfolded in the woods, then told to find a beating drum without that fifth sense. It was not required, but encouraged, that campers also do this barefoot to help them fully tune into nature and their intuition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were really freeing moments like walking barefoot on those stones following the sound of the drum,\u201d said Lila Fetter, a senior who also attended the camp. \u201cIt was horrifying in some ways but also just \u2018wow.\u2019 I feel so inspired to write songs again.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unconventional methods of teaching such as blindfolds, bare feet and Tai Chi left a lasting impact on students and helped to cement the art of listening. Wooten\u2019s childhood helped weave music into his soul, and Brown taught Wooten to weave music into the world. Now, through his camp, Wooten gets to share the connection between music, life and nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-15. Personality Profile<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The personality profile captures the life, interests, accomplishments of well-known or interesting people, based on interviews from multiple sources. The subject(s) should have experiences, thoughts and accomplishments worth reporting. Anecdotes add to the personality profile. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity; reason for sketch is made clear early in story<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Emphasizes fresh angle; individualizes person<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Colorful, lively presentation; effective form\/style<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Descriptive writing demonstrates the concept of \u201cshow, don\u2019t tell\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Reflects adequate research, sound interviewing techniques from a variety of sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Avoids encyclopedic listing of subject\u2019s accomplishments<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Effective use of quotes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Interesting; appeals to the emotions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Personality Profile2024-25, Division 4-MS, News Writing By Amelia Sandstrom & Esh SchadenThe Communicator Online Ann Arbor Community HS Victor Wooten began learning bass at age two and started performing at five. His oldest brother, Regi, taught him and his four older brothers the basics, but more importantly, the power of curiosity. Despite his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,63],"tags":[217,221],"class_list":{"0":"post-7703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-nw","7":"category-personalityprofile-nw","8":"tag-2024-25","9":"tag-division-4-ms","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Mikayla Mazza","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=14"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-20f","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}