Written by John Bertles
Date: April 28, 2026
Bash the Trash is all about building musical instruments from trash, so you might think we’re a bunch of technophobes. But that is far from the truth; actually, like any good scavengers, we skim the best and most appropriate resources around us, and then put them to use. How we got here is a long and convoluted journey.
I’ve always worn several hats - my main hat is as co-director of Bash the Trash, but there are other hats I wear as composer, instrument-builder, and educator. Over the years I’ve been a teaching artist, standards-writer, curriculum-designer, assessment-creator, professional development consultant, etc.
As the director of a group of about 30+ musicians presenting live in-person shows for students audiences over the past 35 years, I’ve always been exploring how best to present for student audiences, and the past I’ve traveled the US advising arts organizations and presenting artists how to make their educational and school shows more dynamic, interactive and educational and hopefully transformational.
Now let’s transition to virtual, and take a time machine back to around 1998-99. I was the “Lead Teaching Artist” at Carnegie Hall, and Phyllis Susen - their visionary Director of Education - was looking for someone to spearhead her new initiative in what was then called “Distance Learning”. So I jumped in and was given the cool title of “Distance Learning Coordinator” at Carnegie Hall!
Back then, the only way to do this was either through major universities, or via donated time at the HQs of giant corporations who had the technology. I mean, we are talking about huge humming machines enclosed in temperature-controlled glass rooms with cables as thick as your wrist - that was the state of virtual back in 1999!
We embarked on a year of prototype presentations for a large cross-section of educators, each one subject to rigorous assessment with our participants. We explored a variety of formats to measure participant impact, buy-in and interest level. Over time we began to formulate some ideas of best practices for virtual presentations… and to me, as a director of live performances, there were immediate correlations with best practices for live in-person performances as well. Sure, there are technical differences, but the actual presentation skills used in relating to your audiences - live or virtual - overlap quite a bit.
The Carnegie Hall project dissipated and was siphoned off into several other areas; I continued on working almost exclusively with Bash the Trash’s live in-person performances…
…but then came the Pandemic. And suddenly all the lessons that I had learned through the Distance Learning at Carnegie Hall twenty years earlier became vital information. Within a month we were presenting programs to our fellow teaching artists about how to create their own virtual performances, and eventually during the course of the pandemic we presented over 200 virtual programs to schools, performing arts centers and other orgs.
Bash the Trash continues to present both live in-person performances and a wide range of virtual programs, and we continue to apply the lessons learned to both. Here are some of the “best practices for dynamic virtual performances” that we strive to include in our programs:
- - Pre-workshop - knowledge of participants, ages, special needs
- - Pre-workshop - what is the Goal? What does success look like?
- - Pre-workshop - curriculum connections for teachers appropriate to state/province/region
- - Technical issues - lighting, sound, background, size of field (head only? include shoulders/body?); presentation changes to accommodate special needs?
- - Avoid the talking head syndrome
- - Look directly into the camera (always the most difficult thing for me)
- - Make sure lips can be clearly seen
- - Change the focus frequently - show a photo, a video, use a different camera angle
- - Encouraging and leading audience movement frequently
- - Encouraging other forms of participation frequently - Q&A, turn/pair/share, etc.
- - Age-appropriateness - ability to change presentations on the fly
- - Focus on what is the goal
- - Flexibility depending on length and goal
- - Assessment on the fly
- - Connections and extensions for teachers
One of the things that we’ve noticed about our shows is that there is always a random element of uncertainty. At any time, one of our crazy musical instruments might just self-destruct on-stage - and when that happens, it has always been one of the most fun things for kids to see. We strive to keep that concept alive in our virtual programs by never using word-for-word “scripting”. Instead we work with our performers to create a sequence of educational “modules” for each program. Then each artist can follow this sequence in their own words, in a flexible way that emphasizes the respective skills and storytelling abilities of each performer, and allows them to be reactive to student needs and questions on the fly. So our programs are never canned or pre-scripted - we’re hanging it all out there live!
And really, there are some things that one can do in virtual presentations that you just can’t do easily live in-person. For example the use of technology to present short videos, show photos, charts or other correlating media is sooOOOOooo much easier and seamless in virtual.
We invite you to give a Bash the Trash program a whirl! We have great sessions on music, arts, and culture, and lots of sequential learning sessions such as ongoing virtual music lessons on a variety of instruments, and we’re always happy to brainstorm a new program to fit your needs. Contact us at bashthetrash@mac.com, check out our website www.bashthetrash.com, our YouTube channel, and explore of our CILC programs here.
John Bertles is an educator, composer and instrument-builder. Founder and co-director of Bash the Trash Environmental Arts LLC, an ensemble of 35+ musicians performing on musical instruments made from trash, presenting virtual presentations across the US and Canada as well as over 200 in-person performances annually in schools, festivals and other venues. Nominated for a Grammy and a Drama Desk Award in 2018 for creation and orchestration of an orchestra of on-stage instruments made from beach trash for the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit "Once on This Island”; recipient of Bennington College’s Visionary Leadership Award; twelve-time winner of the ASCAP Plus Childrens' Song-writing Award. Performed with YoYo Ma, Wynton Marsalis and Max Roach, and visited Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (Episode 1752). www.bashthetrash.com