The Secret Song

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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“I made this, my first film, because I wanted other people to see what I saw,” says first-time director Samantha Campbell. Her usual day job is running her family’s foundation, The Campbell Foundation, an organization committed to the protection of natural resources. But she chose to make her first film about music education. “I first met Doug Goodkin because he was my kids’ music teacher,” she tells us. “From the very first occasions I had to experience school ceremonies and musical performances, I marveled at the way every child shined with vibrancy and musicality.

“I also had a growing worry about technology encroaching on childhood. Was it affecting children’s ability to use their bodies, hands, eyes and brains in ways that supported their development as human beings? Was Doug’s thoughtful approach to teaching a crucial counterweight to this worry?

“The Secret Song” offers a thoughtful view of the final chapter in Doug Goodkin’s 45-year career of teaching music to children in San Francisco. A lifelong musician, Goodkin confesses that he “loved learning, but hated school.” So he teaches children differently than the traditional methods he was raised with.

Dropping in on what would turn out to be a tumultuous final year of teaching, “The Secret Song” offers an insightful look into Goodkin’s teaching approach, and in real-time shows a program that prioritized group-learning, movement, dance, and instilling music “through the ear, not through the eye” adapting to an online format during the COVID pandemic.

We also meet Goodkin’s close colleagues and friends, James Harding and Sofia Lopez-Ibor, who will take over the music program in his wake.

Early in the film, we see children’s eyes light up as simple rhymes and clapping patterns evolve into complex jazz pieces within a single class. We observe the power of group sing-alongs that foster deep connections and joy. These successes are threatened by the COVID crisis, but Doug Goodkin gets his musical ideas across through movement, games, and improvisation. This culminates with a student-led performance that spans a vast musical spectrum.

“The Secret Song” has its Florida Keys Premiere on February 21 at Tropic Cinema. Filmmaker Samantha Campbell, will be here to do the introduction and lead the Q&A.

She points out that Doug Goodkin likes to cite a quote by E. B. White: “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”

“Early on in my adult life, I was convinced that the world is a mess that needs fixing,” says Goodkin. “But I also sensed that life is short, that miracles and beauty abound and that we would do well to pay attention to them. In a stroke of good fortune, I stumbled on a life that allowed both to happen at once. Alongside my 45 years at The San Francisco School is a parallel life of traveling and teaching the Orff approach to music education – some 50 countries to date banging on xylophones and slapping our bodies.”

Yes, this is a documentary. Nevertheless, it will resonate for you with such uplifting movies about music teachers as “Mr. Holland’s Opus” or “Quartet” or “Music of the Heart.”

Come rejoice with Doug Goodkin’s “farewell performance.”

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com