UpTime Prizes presents
The Teacher
Eight original songs, written for the people who teach. Free, and yours to keep.
Read the invitationEvery morning, teachers walk into rooms and do the quiet work that holds the world together. We made something for them.
Eight original songs, built on the big band swing of the 1930s and 40s and carried into today. Each one comes from a different tradition of thinking about what it means to teach — though you would never know it from listening, and you do not need to.
It is a gift. There is nothing to buy.
The three stages
The music does not
simply play.
The music does not simply play. It arrives in three stages.
First the Invite — an original melody that greets you on its own terms. Then the Nudge — a rhythm that moves without rushing, until you are ready to rise. And then the Prize — the song itself, the UpTime swing — and the morning is yours.
Press play, then press snooze to move through the stages. The Invite and the Nudge each loop until you press snooze. The Prize plays once.
Three-stage demo
Beat the First Bell
1The Invite
2The Nudge
3The Prize
Looping — press Snooze when you are ready
Press Play Demo to begin.
Three-stage demo
The Standard Bearer
1The Invite
2The Nudge
3The Prize
Looping — press Snooze when you are ready
Press Play Demo to begin.
Three stages, every morning, for as long as the alarm sounds.
The Eight
Eight songs.
They arrive one morning at a time.
Timeless in the Now
Heart Before the Grade
The Engine Catching
Fires That Move
No Barriers Left
Between Almost and Yes
The First True Sentence
The Tradition
There is more
if you want it.
Beneath each song is a way of thinking about what it means to teach — traditions of thought that stretch back further than any of us. You never need to know them to enjoy the music. But if you are the kind of person who reads the placard beside the painting, there is more here for you.
The zone where growth actually happens (Vygotsky)
Nobody asks teachers what they love (the argument piece)
The lesson that sticks (Kolb)
The fire you cannot light for someone else (Deci & Ryan)
The questions that outlast us (Perennialism)
The standard nobody has met yet (Idealism)
Before anyone can learn anything (Humanism)
What speaks to those who speak to us (the founder piece)
Hey teacher,
I have not watched many videos of teachers at work. A handful. But one stayed with me.
A man was walking down a hallway and came to a spot where a faculty member was standing. There was a commotion coming from somewhere. He asked what was going on, and she pointed to a classroom. He went in — four or five small kids in the middle of it — and then he did something I keep thinking about. He lowered himself. Got down to where they were, almost like he was one of them. And he asked them, calmly, what the problem was.
Authority and compassion in the same voice, and not a trace of effort in it. It did not look like a technique he had learned. It looked like the way he moves through the world.
That was natural for him. For most people it would take reaching — a decision to be that person in that moment. For him it looked like nothing at all.
I remember moments when a teacher was authentic with me. Not performing the role. Just being a person in the room. Those moments have stayed with me my whole life.
What is remarkable about your work is the timing of it. People meet you during a formative, delicate, powerful stretch of life — when we are becoming more than we were, working out who we might be, slowly wearing down the rough edges. In the years when we are trying to grow a little, get a little better, reach a little higher, you are standing right there.
The more I sat with that, the more one question kept coming back.
What speaks to those that speak to us?
I did not have an answer, so I made one. Eight songs.
They are original — written and recorded for this, built on the big band swing of the 1930s and 40s and carried into today. Each one comes from a different tradition of thinking about what it means to teach, though you would never know it from listening, and you do not need to. They are just songs. They are meant to be enjoyed.
They are free. There is nothing to buy and nothing to sign up for beyond letting us know you are a teacher. Once they are yours, they stay yours.
Play them on a Monday when the week has already decided to be difficult. Play them on a Friday when it is finally over. Play them in the car, or in an empty classroom before anyone arrives.
Thank you for what you do. We hope to see you on the other side.
— Abraham
The access
Getting your copy
The Teacher is free for educators. Here is how it works.
- 1
Start at uptimeprizes.com.
UpTime Prizes is a different kind of alarm — it wakes you with original music in three stages. Understanding that first is what makes the rest of this make sense. - 2
Get the app. It is free on Android, and The Teacher lives inside it.
- 3
Enter your school email below. We will send you a link.
- 4
Open that link on your phone. The album unlocks, and it is yours.
The email arrives within a few minutes. If you do not see it, look in spam — and if it is there, mark it Not Spam. That turns the links back on, and it helps the next teacher get theirs.
These are alarm songs. They arrive one morning at a time, when the alarm sounds. That is what they were written for.