I frequently refer to the many advantages which keeping this blog has conferred – upon pupils and myself. Out of the blue, I recently received a very generous gift thanks entirely to the existence of this blog. The gift was from the Dutch guitarist, composer and teacher, Eugène den Hoed and took the form of a mountain of sheet music of original compositions for guitar along with a CD.
Eugène teaches in the Centrum voor de Kunsten in Bergen op Zoom and, from time to time, appears as a panel member in competitions run by the European Guitar Teachers Association (EGTA*).
You can hear Eugène playing excerpts from his compositions here
Many thanks, Eugène.
* The president of EGTA is John Williams
I was asked recently about the benefits for pupils of being recorded – and those recordings being posted on this blog. Normally the answers would be fairly straightforward:it allows people who don’t normally access our lessons a chance to hear them play – peers, family, distant relatives, class teachers, management, the general public etc.
- it provides a deadline by which pupils are meant to have arrived at a polished performance
- it allows more performance opportunities than the normal diet of concerts could allow
- it provides a record of work
However, as this question followed hot on the heels of a recording session, some benefits of the recording session itself (as opposed to the broadcast) sprang to mind:
- the pressure of being recorded promotes a focus and concentration not easily summoned up in weekly lesson
- although the option of a second take exists (unlike concerts) nobody really wants to do this and the red light always feels special
- the moment of truth allows pupils to experience the difference between thinking a performance was ready and realising that, under pressure, it is not quite as ready as it seemed – this all happens in a friendly atmosphere and no recordings are posted without the agreement of all concerned – pupils are invited to suggest a date when a replacement recording might be made
- when a pupil in a group lesson is recording a solo, the others learn that part of teamwork sometimes means simply taking a back seat
Today’s lunchtime Guitar Group rehearsal featured a short, slow introduction followed by a longer and much more upbeat section. Pupils had been encouraged to relax in the holidays and to refrain from practice in the hope of returning refreshed. So I wasn’t too disappointed to hear that the intro was a little rough round the edges (and in the middle to be honest). However, when the more rhythmic section kicked in, it sounded as though the group had tripled in size, confidence and joie de vivre. Put simply, teenagers appear not to be fond of slow music. The gaps make them uneasy and the reduced tempo, rather than relaxing them, can put them on edge. What to do? Should one, through increased hands-on exposure to slower tempi, cultivate their ability to rely on an internal, as opposed to audible, beat? Or, realising that they are giving up half of their lunch break*, choose items to which they will respond more readily – thereby increasing the chances of a spirited, successful concert item? Answers on a First Class postcard……
* for multi-instrumentalists, not the only time this will happen in the course of a week
“I actually like naughty children. Tomorrow’s leaders aren’t going to come from little goody-goodies who never do anything. They’re going to come from the creative ones who are … giving you mayhem. And if you can guide those in the right direction they’re the ones who will pay the big returns.” (Rick Williams)
Rick Williams, along with Honor Rhodes & Jennie Bristow (of Spiked Online) joined presenter Mariella Frostrup in a lively discuss of diverse opinions on parenting and schooling on Radio 4’s Bringing Up Britain. You can Listen Again to episode 1 (of 2) here. Details of both broadcasts of episode 2 here.
Having signed up for updates from National Year of Reading (not the town - the activity) I received an e-newsletter today containing this advert for the campaign:
Pressed for geographical associations conjured up by the guitar, most people would cite Spain or perhaps Latin America when thinking of the nylon-strung guitar; Britain & U.S.A when thinking of rock, and perhaps the Celtic nations and U.S.A when imagining traditional or country music. Do you ever wonder what people, whose culture is not related to any of these, get up to on the guitar? Have a look at the work of Enver Ismailov from Ukraine:
Apologies to Dorothy (who tagged me) for the delay in responding. What I hope this picture (oringally uploaded by Lorelei Ranveig) represents is connectivity in its widest sense. This is the element about which I am most passionate in teaching. On a superficial level, this refers to the apparent ability of the practical study of music to enhance other areas. More symbolically, it represents striving to overcome:
- the imaginary primary/secondary/tertiary divisions
- those divisions which, for practical reasons, stress the separateness of subjects over the shared principles
Wherever possible,often through analogy, I like to flag up connections and shared ideas, principles, techniques, concepts between music and, say, language, science, maths, sport. The following posts, written around 18 months ago, might serve to illustrate:
Connect 1 - Connect 2 - Connect 3 - Connect 4 - Connect 5 - Connect 6 - Connect 7 - Connect 8 - Connect 9
In turn, I’d like to tag David Gilmour, Don Ledingham, Donald McDonald, John Connel, & Ollie Bray. These are the guidelines which have been passed on:
1. Think about what you are passionate about teaching your students.
2. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
3. Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
4. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.
…to find them engaging. Berkley Astronomer, Clifford Stoll is also a computer expert who tracked down a KGB hacker. Despite this level of expertise and the attendant benefits, he disagrees with the trend of increasing the presence of computers in schools. While I can’t go along with this, I’d be interested in reading his reasons. Nevertheless, he is an extremely engaging speaker – a amalgam of Emo Philips, Albert Einstein and Phil Kay.
Ewan has come up with an interesting invitaion to cite examples of inspirational talks, lectures etc on video. The background to the idea is an initiative at LTS to watch, reflect upon and discuss the content. Among others, Ewan cited Ken Robinson’s outstanding 2006 TED talk, “Do schools kill creativity?”
My own suggestion is Professor Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture” at Carnegie Mellon University in Sept 2007. The title of the lecture is, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” At 76 mins, brevity is not its forte, but I’d defy anyone to remain uninspired or unaffected by this. Like Ken Robinson’s talk, the subject matter is serious but the tone is extremely humorous.
In last night’s edition of Horizon, entitled How Your Memory Works, neuroscientist Dr. Donna Addis of Harvard University showed MRI scans highlighting similarities in brain activity when volunteers were either reflecting upon the past or imagining the future. It would appear that these two areas are sufficiently related to provide an axis of time along which we enjoy freedom of movement. As if to corroborate the findings, one of programme’s other subjects, suffering from considerable memory impairment, turned out to have little vision of the future.
Of all the time arts (music, performance poetry, dance, mime, film, theatre, animation) instrumental music is perhaps the one which relies most heavily upon this axis, as narrative thrust cannot be helped along by language, image, location etc. I should imagine, awareness of the axis is heightened when one progresses from appreciation to performance and, perhaps, eventually to musical arrangement & composition. Midway through a crescendo, for example, a performer ought to have some idea of the beginning and end volumes. The feeling of inevitability wrought by composers into the arrival of the big tune is often organically achieved by seeds sown earlier in the work and (unconsciously) noted by the listener. Beethoven and Sibelius are both famed for their rigorous attention to this aspect of form.
Does the study of music simply employ this axis or is it able to enhance it in any way? If indeed possible, is enhancement necessarily a good thing? Would it be possible to prove music’s role in this area? Is there any current research into this area?
