education, music + process
1 1/2 years ago in Dave’s curiosity class, my term curiosity project was to learn all that I could about education systems over the course of ten weeks. Since then, and especially now that I have joined the education field, I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about education models.
I won’t go into detail now (or else this will turn into a novel), but in my brainstorming (and by drinking the Ken Robinson kool aid), I realized that my orchestra + choir classes were the what taught me the most relevant and long-term content.
In Deb’s class, I made a book explaining how music has guided my education, using a piece by Tchaik. that my orchestra played back in 2005 – I don’t think I’ve ever played my orchestra music for anyone, but alas, the time has come (=
At first I was hoping to get a video up here, as I know we are a hugely visual culture and perhaps more of you would be apt to watch the song in its entirely if there was some sort of visual (= However, I was reminded of Mr. Nelson always telling us to “keep our eyes above the stand” AKA, stop trying to listen to the music with our eyes.
So…now it is that time for me to pass along this knowledge and encourage the same. Some of the best performances we had were when we turned the lights off and had to rely on just two senses to create music: touch and hearing.
Our generation is over stimulated – it’s so easy to multi-task and do 15 million things at once, but with this opportunity also comes the consequence of losing sight of the details that perhaps seem minute, but in all actuality are major components of the whole.
With that said…I encourage you to put everything else aside for 9 minutes and 31 seconds and enjoy some Tchaikovsky.
Here’s the recording of my orchestra at the 2005 Vienna International Youth + Musical Festival playing the 4th movement of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C:
storytelling of a T-Rex fraternity dissapointment
While in Seattle this past weekend, I found myself in FAO Schwartz. The salesman, I quickly learned, was a MASTER storyteller. Apparently, he’s also his family’s historian and maintains all the family records and stories because he’s “excellent with remembering names and dates.” He told me a handful, maybe in case I didn’t believe him.
Anyway, after a few stories were told, I asked to tape him. Normally when I ask this, people become camera shy. But oh no. Not this guy. It was almost as if he had been waiting for his big break for years. Without further ado, I present the story of T-Rex fraternity disappointment:
thinking about agency models, my future, collaboration + orchestras
Part A: I suspect I am joining a number of soon-to-be college grads in my quest to figure out what the heck I will be / desire to be doing with my future.
Part B: The recent trip I just took to New York with the ad. program for the one show helped me reach a number of conclusions regarding my future career. At least for now – I’m sure plans / ideas / mentalities will change with time.
Part C: Both my high school orchestra and choir recently won their respective state competitions. best of the northwest. the overall program won a grammy signature school title. again. freaking awesome.
So, adding all these parts together, I’ve been thinking of where I want to end up post-school and why I want to be there.
The wonderful thing about choir/orchestra, was that we were all there around a common idea: music. Not competition, but making music because that was our passion. Coincidentally…or I’m fairly confident, not so coincidentally at all, the reason the Sprague music program is so strong is because it’s not based around winning, it’s based around a community and a passion for the “work” aka, creating music.
Reading all the articles in the paper of the recent successes, it’s interesting to note the quotations of the students – this is a huge window into the core structure of the program:
“He [Mr. C, choir director] told us this morning to make it our goal not to impress but to inspire.”
“”Mr. C’s” advice: “Make the audience feel something.”
Possible one of my favorite cheesy (or maybe “feel good” is a better term?) Mr. C quotations – but honestly so entirely true – not just for music, but for life: “The voice is located halfway between the brain and the heart. Use them both.”
Of course the Sprague music program is competitive; however, competition was never and appears to still not be the primary motive of what they’re doing. Mr. C and Mr. Nelson always said – we’re not in this to compete, and if that’s the case, we’re doing this for the wrong reasons. HOWEVER, if we are in this competition – we’re going to compete to win.
Huge. Huge. Huge. Doing things for the right reasons. Having a purpose. Common goal. Camaraderie. This stuff can’t be found in many places.
…so…transferring this to my current life…the struggle I have with working in an agency is that it’s very competitive…but not necessarily around that common core point like I spoke of above (categorizing all agencies together, I know there are a million various agency models, I know agencies w this structure exist).
Not to say this is bad. Just maybe not for me, at least at this point. I want to collaborate with a team around a common shared goal/idea/passion…such as in an orchestra or choir. Of course there are commonalities in agencies…clearly. But it’s not the same. Clients/accounts are consistently changing…I’m not sure I could work for an agency on an account I wasn’t passionate about.
And maybe this means I need to look into client side work…or maybe I really need to join an orchestra for awhile. Or maybe this is all just food for thought.
…while I’m lauding my past high school’s music program, check out this year’s Camerata at State:
a visit to Coney Island
Laura, Ryan and I ventured to Coney Island a few days back. Man, what a trippy place. Crazy history and…it’s just weird. I’d love to go back there at night or during the famous hot dog eating contest. SUCH A STRANGE PLACE!
Here’s our first reaction to Coney Island:
Lola Staar’s (abandoned) Dreamland Roller rink:
Creepy doll window display we found in little Russia, which happens to be right next to the abandoned fair:
Shoot the freak, live human target:
Clown water? Also, please note the spelling of “raceing”
Park benches…sans the bench part…
Yup. That’s Coney Island.
Trippy.