What The People Are Saying
Martin Hawkins, Parent
Throughout the time that I’ve known him, Eric Hayslett has consistently displayed a love for spending time with kids and sharing his love of music with them. He has a talent for engaging them in a fun and thoughtful way, while at the same time inspiring them to learn to think beyond their self-imposed creative limitations. He is respectful, humorous, nonjudgmental, and selfless. He develops a rapport with his clients, and simply loves ‘giving back’ to his community. (partner since 2002)
Fredia Brooks, Former President Links, Inc. San Jose Chapter
I can count on Eric Hayslett and his services – he listens, he provides what is required and more, and is willing to ensure a high quality experience with his musical entertainment. He is a professional with years of experience in the music industry and always eager to share what he knows with young people. He’s a teacher, counselor, music coach, and entreprenuer. (partner since 2009)
Tracy Bowers, President Links, Inc. San Jose Chapter
We highly recommend Eric Hayslett for any project that focuses on musical development and training for the youth in our community. This year, for the first time in its history, the Arts Facet of The San Jose (CA) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated sponsored several student musicians to perform at the 2019 San Jose Jazz Festival on the Next Gen Stage. Eric Hayslett was a consummate professional. He eagerly accepted the engagement and mentored 9 middle school and high school musicians over a 10-week period. Eric brought a keen sense of musical expertise as well as diplomacy, discipline, and respect for the musicians, their guardians, and The San Jose (CA) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated. Starting in June, Eric worked with the kids every Saturday for approximately 2 hours to hone their skills, help them select songs suitable for the venue and their skills, and helped to get them ready to perform at this major event. Eric’s ability to assess the talents of each kid resulted in a 45-minute performance that showcased the skills of the group as an ensemble as well as each individual as a solo performer. The audience in attendance gave the students and Eric a standing ovation at the end of the performance. Through his leadership, the kids delivered a magical performance that was diverse and showed both depth and dynamism. Their performance was the result of Eric’s patience, constant encouragement, and support of the kids. He created an environment that allowed the children to feel loved, respected, and heard. He built the self-confidence of the musicians and delivered an experience which they (and the Links) will not soon forget.
Annette Wright, Parent
I'm still beaming from the performance of San Jose State of Mind on Saturday afternoon. It was so exciting to see all the hard work and practice produce a wonderful afternoon of music 🎶 Congrats to Trent, Kameron, Kynnedy, Ariel, Laila, Nicole, Christine, Daniel and Brock for a wonderful performance. Thank you to Eric for his time, his mentorship of the group, his encouragement, the radio station tour and interview opportunity for the group.
San Jose Multicultural Artist Guild, Arts Education Program
Eric Hayslett is a workshop instructor for SJMAG’s Education program and is currently teaching two workshops, Lyrically Speaking and Drum It Up at several schools. His classes were the most requested at our Workshop Arts Expo on August 19, 2015. His workshop lesson plans include basic instruction in reading music, playing the drums and congas, and are in accordance with the California Visual Arts and Performing Arts Content Standards. (partners since 2004)
Majestic Way Elementary School
LaKeisha Blackshire, Principal
I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Hayslett while he tailored his amazing program for my elementary students. The program ran for eight weeks as an after-school program. Mr. Hayslett has a fun and easy disposition with the students. He made the class fun and enjoyable and was able to easily work with all the various grade levels present, K-5. Each session was deliberate, thoughtful, organized and involved all the students. At the end of the program each student had taken a key role in the process and created and recorded their incredible original song called “Ice Cream”. The students’ enthusiasm, joy and pride can be heard as they belt out the lyrics they created. I absolutely love the program and we will be beginning a second session later this month. I am extremely pleased with the whole process and professionalism of Mr. Hayslett. I would highly recommend him to work with the students at your school.
I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Hayslett while he tailored his amazing program for my elementary students. The program ran for eight weeks as an after-school program. Mr. Hayslett has a fun and easy disposition with the students. He made the class fun and enjoyable and was able to easily work with all the various grade levels present, K-5. Each session was deliberate, thoughtful, organized and involved all the students. At the end of the program each student had taken a key role in the process and created and recorded their incredible original song called “Ice Cream”. The students’ enthusiasm, joy and pride can be heard as they belt out the lyrics they created. I absolutely love the program and we will be beginning a second session later this month. I am extremely pleased with the whole process and professionalism of Mr. Hayslett. I would highly recommend him to work with the students at your school.
Discovery Charter School, Pheonix
Helen S. Cox, K/1 Teacher
I had the pleasure of working with Eric Hayslett with my K/1 class for an 8-week music session. We all really enjoyed our time with Eric. We wrote a song together with the numbers 1 – 6. First, Eric worked patiently with the students to come up with words that rhyme with each number. They then chose their favorite words and came up with a catchy line for each number. After some editing and rewrites the song was complete. The students practiced their song and recorded it. The kids had lots of fun creating music. I would highly recommend this workshop to any kids/teachers interested in a real-life collaborative writing project. It took a lot of patience and tenacity on Eric’s part to succeed. In the end, the music was cute and best of all, the kids owned it. I think they were very proud of themselves and said they’d love to do it again.
I had the pleasure of working with Eric Hayslett with my K/1 class for an 8-week music session. We all really enjoyed our time with Eric. We wrote a song together with the numbers 1 – 6. First, Eric worked patiently with the students to come up with words that rhyme with each number. They then chose their favorite words and came up with a catchy line for each number. After some editing and rewrites the song was complete. The students practiced their song and recorded it. The kids had lots of fun creating music. I would highly recommend this workshop to any kids/teachers interested in a real-life collaborative writing project. It took a lot of patience and tenacity on Eric’s part to succeed. In the end, the music was cute and best of all, the kids owned it. I think they were very proud of themselves and said they’d love to do it again.
Susan Leftwich, 8th Grade
My twenty-six students collaborated on writing and recording a song. Eric brought energy into my classroom every week. He was engaging, but more than that, he was motivating and inspiring to a group of adolescents who often struggle with who they are and what their place is in society.
Eric’s down to earth approach and obvious knowledge of the music industry focused my student’s attention. They produced a product that everyone was proud of. Eric delivered certificates and flash drives with our collaborative efforts as well as our original song.
The students were impressed, and so were the parents. I highly recommend supporting Eric in his future classroom workshops. He brings a wealth of experience to any classroom and inspires future generations to reach for their dreams.
My twenty-six students collaborated on writing and recording a song. Eric brought energy into my classroom every week. He was engaging, but more than that, he was motivating and inspiring to a group of adolescents who often struggle with who they are and what their place is in society.
Eric’s down to earth approach and obvious knowledge of the music industry focused my student’s attention. They produced a product that everyone was proud of. Eric delivered certificates and flash drives with our collaborative efforts as well as our original song.
The students were impressed, and so were the parents. I highly recommend supporting Eric in his future classroom workshops. He brings a wealth of experience to any classroom and inspires future generations to reach for their dreams.
Jennifer Hare, 7th Grade
Eric Hayslett’s Lyrically Speaking workshop is a highly recommended experience for your school and classes. Mr. Eric (as students fondly refer to him) is easy to communicate with and his initial contact with our school generated excitement and enthusiasm for this opportunity for musical enrichment. Upon entering the classroom, he engaged students’ attention immediately and clearly laid out the plan for the project they were going to collaborate to complete.
From the beginning, he made it clear that this is a project that everyone is going to be a part of creating. Mr. Eric encouraged individual, small group, and whole class brainstorming, discussion and idea fine tuning. He was very clear on specific aspects of the song writing that needed to be completed, and the first one was coming up with the genre of song. Students had many ideas, and Mr. Eric was able to incorporate the varied wishes into a plan and structure that the students could build upon.
Coming up with the title was another area where differing ideas were generated, discussed and compromise was facilitated. Being able to facilitate a discussion with middle schoolers and both honoring individuals balanced with the group as a whole was impressive to observe in action. In addition, when lyrics were written, Mr. Eric encouraged lots of writing! Students created so much material, that the next step was pulling out the lines that would make it into the final song. Students worked in groups, editing out what didn’t fit and revising what needed to be edited for the version that would be sung. Mr. Eric managed this whole process in a way that students who had lines which had been deleted or changed were okay with the transformation. They had buy-in on the process and understood the give and take and compromise that comes from working collaboratively with others. Life lessons like these were interwoven in the lessons Mr. Eric brought to each session.
When it came time to sing, students came together in small groups or to encourage individuals in singing the chorus or verses around the microphone. The professional equipment Mr. Eric brought at this time made the students feel like they were part of a more professional environment as well. Every student who wanted to sing had the opportunity to do so. Mr. Eric had provided a safe environment for students to take the risk of singing in front of their peers, and it was heartwarming to see students stretch their comfort zones and try it.
Mr. Eric has a talent for understanding what students can do, both encouraging them beyond their expectations as well as a reality of what needs to be done in order to complete the project. Every student was excited to receive the flash drive with the song and elements of the process on it, as well as a certificate with their name on it. They were proud of their lyrics poster, and have referred to their song multiple times since completing this experience.
Mr. Eric provided my students an experience of a lifetime and we are so appreciative of it.
Eric Hayslett’s Lyrically Speaking workshop is a highly recommended experience for your school and classes. Mr. Eric (as students fondly refer to him) is easy to communicate with and his initial contact with our school generated excitement and enthusiasm for this opportunity for musical enrichment. Upon entering the classroom, he engaged students’ attention immediately and clearly laid out the plan for the project they were going to collaborate to complete.
From the beginning, he made it clear that this is a project that everyone is going to be a part of creating. Mr. Eric encouraged individual, small group, and whole class brainstorming, discussion and idea fine tuning. He was very clear on specific aspects of the song writing that needed to be completed, and the first one was coming up with the genre of song. Students had many ideas, and Mr. Eric was able to incorporate the varied wishes into a plan and structure that the students could build upon.
Coming up with the title was another area where differing ideas were generated, discussed and compromise was facilitated. Being able to facilitate a discussion with middle schoolers and both honoring individuals balanced with the group as a whole was impressive to observe in action. In addition, when lyrics were written, Mr. Eric encouraged lots of writing! Students created so much material, that the next step was pulling out the lines that would make it into the final song. Students worked in groups, editing out what didn’t fit and revising what needed to be edited for the version that would be sung. Mr. Eric managed this whole process in a way that students who had lines which had been deleted or changed were okay with the transformation. They had buy-in on the process and understood the give and take and compromise that comes from working collaboratively with others. Life lessons like these were interwoven in the lessons Mr. Eric brought to each session.
When it came time to sing, students came together in small groups or to encourage individuals in singing the chorus or verses around the microphone. The professional equipment Mr. Eric brought at this time made the students feel like they were part of a more professional environment as well. Every student who wanted to sing had the opportunity to do so. Mr. Eric had provided a safe environment for students to take the risk of singing in front of their peers, and it was heartwarming to see students stretch their comfort zones and try it.
Mr. Eric has a talent for understanding what students can do, both encouraging them beyond their expectations as well as a reality of what needs to be done in order to complete the project. Every student was excited to receive the flash drive with the song and elements of the process on it, as well as a certificate with their name on it. They were proud of their lyrics poster, and have referred to their song multiple times since completing this experience.
Mr. Eric provided my students an experience of a lifetime and we are so appreciative of it.