Music, part I

I remember my Grade One teacher, Mrs. McKenzie. I don't remember a whole lot about Grade One, except that we sang, and sang, and sang as she played the piano. There were actually three pianos in our elementary school, and more than enough teachers to play them. So you can well imagine what that school sounded like sometimes with three pianos and three or more classes singing or dancing or stomping.

I remember well another teacher, forget her name, but she played the guitar. She was fresh from teacher school, college, or whatever it was called. We sang the songs of the day--- We Shall Overcome, If I had a Hammer, Blowing in the Wind, Where Have all the Flowers Gone? and One Tin Soldier--- tells you a bit about the time I was in school and, I think, says something about her attitudes towards life.

If we want to be memorable to our students, why can it not be because of what we do to expose our students to music?

More on this subject later.

Creative Dance (?)

I have just finished reading our text on creative dance and as I did so I realized that when I did my survey of my fine arts experience I had over looked, or perhaps mercifully forgotten, my sojourn into the world of dance.

If we ignore my ill founded dancing at weddings and family reunions, too numerous to mention, and that unfortunate disco period, there remain two momentous experiences in actual dance that might be of note.

I can recall being a Penny Whistle flute during a Christmas concert of some antiquity. I cannot say for sure if this truly was an example of creative dance, as I recall myself as an eight year old trying desperately to remember the sequence of steps with my main goal of avoiding the other flutes. For those of you with children, or who will have children in the future, you can or will be able to appreciate the joy of attending school functions to watch awkward dancers and off key singers doing their best.

A better example would be my career as a Norwegian Folk Dancer when I was in university. Our group danced at numerous events. My favourite dance was the "Oxen Dance", a symbolic representation of two healthy males fighting over the attentions of a female. I guess if there is a good reason in this world to fight, it is to fight over the charms of a woman. Details on the "Oxen Dance", for those of you really interested in it, can be found at http://www.svenskhyllningsfest.org/folk_games.htm.

A picture for Keith

More musings on a Sunday morning

Musing one;

It is, to me, sometimes amazing, sometimes enlightening and sometimes scary how the introduction to the arts in this course has changed my perspective on things, even ordinary things like what I choose to read in the newspaper.

Following my weekend routine, I was looking through the Vancouver Sun from November 15. Usually I read the book reviews, maybe a bit about the theatre, but being newly attuned to things I looked at an advertisement for art and read an article about an art exhibit for an artist named Alan Wood.

Nestled in the advertisement was the website artists4kids.com. The link is http://www.artists4kids.com/home.php

There is an art gallery in Vancouver for children and proceeds from the sale of art goes to assist art education. There are also resources for teachers. I reccomend at least a brief review of it.

Musing Two;

Alan Wood is an immigrant from England who settled in BC an d works with acrylic and paper and is fascinated by landscapes, especially Canadian. He currently has an exhibition at the Winsor Gallery in Vancouver caled Drams and Memories. The website for that is http://www.preview-art.com/previews/11-2008/wood.html

Examples of his work. are found at the beginning of this etnry. Although subtle and refined, as befitting a 73 year old artist, these would be examples that any student could use for inspiration.

Photos referred to in my comment to Amanda

Miscellaneous Notes on an Art Show

"I dreamed a dream in times gone by... Then I was young and unafraid, And dreams were made and used and wasted." Fantine in Les Miserables, scene 5

Better late than never to record my observations of the Art Show.

Firstly, Willow did most of the preparation work so kudos to her.

Setting up the show was fun. Everyone found, and some actively looked for, work to be done. Everyone was upbeat and many hands make light work.

I was impressed at the great variety of the artwork. I can really see that some TCs stretched their imagination and the imaginations and the talents of their students to create the art. I can easily see how some of the projects, such at but not limited to, examples such as the geometric shapes and colour your own molecule would serve to reinforce ideas and concepts in the minds of the students far more firmly than review and instruction.

The extent and variety of techniques and media was astounding. I think that when I have a class, I will spend the first weeks teaching my students a variety and range of techniques and media so that they can more fully appreciate the options available to them. Then they can be let loose to express their imagination to the fullest extent confident in what they are doing.

And as for dreams? Our students are young and full of dreams. We, as their teachers, must strive not to waste our students' dreams.

Remembrance Day Remembered

Poppy

Poppy we are but children small,

We are too little to do it all.
Children you may do your part.

Love each other is how you start.

Play without fighting.

Share your games and toys.

Be kind and thoughtful,

To all girls and boys.

I had a chance yesterday to attend a local high school to see its Remembrance Day assembly. I chose to go there because I was interested to observe the responses of teenagers to this day. I was told that the school presents the same assembly programme each year. I was impressed by the sincere attentiveness of the students to the programme as I feared that they might not be appropriately respectful. It seems, based on their comments, that Canada's involvement in Afghanistan has reawakened an appreciation for veterans.

I was taken back to the first Remembrance Day ceremonies that I attended when, dressed in my cub scout uniform, we marched in a parade on a crisp clear and cold November morning, down mainstreet and to the local Legion for the laying of wreaths. This occurred just a few short decades after the end of the Second World War--- my cubscout leader fought in it. It was a time when war was looked on with distaste, a reflection of the society at the time and its reaction to the events in Vietnam, yet Remembrance Day, while not a day to glorify war, was a day to celebrate the freedom of choice for us in Canada.

I also found this poem which was used in an elementary assembly. It is a simple poem that speaks to both Remembrance Day as well as social responsibility. I was told that while everyone knows there will be an assembly in the elementary schools, it "sneaks up" each year and often there is a scramble to put together an appropriate presentation.

I watched the ceremony from Ottawa. There was a change in the ceremony this year. Canada has one remaining war veteran from the Great War (the War to end all Wars [a misnomer if there ever was]) who is 108 years old. There was a Passing of the Torch ceremony ("To you, from failing hands we through the torch; be yours to hold it high") as this last veteran passed on the Torch to veterans of World War Two, The Korean Conflict, the peacekeepers of the 1960s-90's and the current forces in Afghanistan. As I watched this, I wondered what the young students think of when they consider Remembrance Day, aside from a day where there is no school. Will they relate this day to a day 90 years ago or to modern day? And what can we as teachers do so that World War One and all it stood for in Canada does not pale in significance like the War of 1812, a footnote in our history?