I have heard MJ's "Man in the Mirror" 3 times today... once when I was on the bus coming home from the LIMES Afterschool Program, a second time when Mark was singing it because it was stuck in his head from an Urban Humanitarian Video they watched in class today, and third when he played it on his new computer which has all his music from his old one (yay for backups) and the two of us sang along!
I don't think I even knew this song until I went to Sweden and it was the song my cooperating teacher had picked out for us to teach in the popular music class that week! (They have an awesome system composed of music theory, popular/singing music, keyboard and guitar--music four times a week, super jealous!) I had the sheet music in front of me (which, for my visual-minded self, is a must) and pecked along on the piano so the students (equivalent of 8th graders) could learn it. However, they knew the song all too well. I feel they were more up to date on American culture than I was. The movies, the fashion, the music, even the food. They wanted to know every detail of life because they idolize popular American culture, yet hold true to certain wonderful, Swedish ideals. And like I said; they knew what was popular back in the states better than I did... Oh smarty pants 8th graders...
Today's hearings are just a reminder of the emotional tool of music--it's power to take me back to a place and time and remember my exact feelings for the day. It's also a contagious tool, spreading messages with meaning.
Today, I connected on a new level with the older group of kids at our afterschool program. I have "taught" music for the past 3 weeks. And when I say "taught," I probably mean shared. It's not like my classroom at home where I was bounded by the TEKS and regulations of non-music educators who want to highlight the amount of education we can address. Yes, in my classroom, my kids knew what a whole note was and how to write and read rhythms, they knew where on the map all the countries were that we listened, sang, and played games to. They knew the names and classifications of band and orchestra instruments. (And we usually found some time to have fun in there, too!) Here, I don't have my same resources, my countless books, large display boards, or individual whiteboards, nor my awesome risers (I miss teaching quite a bit if you can't tell--and most of you know, I was in an underfunded district and lucky to have what I had...). My kids had the highest expectations to succeed, to participate, and to excel in everything they did in my classroom. My first graders were treated like 3rd graders, and consequently were just as smart as such! My fifth graders acted like adults and I brought them back to the wonderful world of youthfulness (though there were times where they thought we were being too corny, but they secretly loved it and enjoyed watching me act like a goofball.)
I believe the children here are inherently more musical. As we wait for all the kids to trickle onto the field after coming from their different schools, one girl waited with me, eager for music. She wanted to learn a song on the lyric sheet she had seen from the week before. I accidentally played the backgound track for her (no vocals), no indication or anything, and she came in right on beat, right on pitch. I had to help her past that, never seeing a rhythm and only hearing the long 32 bar intro, but still, that is something even my older kids would have trouble doing. Another thing is singing up high. I don't know if the boys just go through voice changes later here or what, but they sing up high like it's nobody's business. Yet again, not embarrased. They hear the form. They feel the beat. And they learn lyrics way quicker than my kiddos at home! I love it!
Anyway, in LIMES, we sit outside, as close to the sun as I've ever been, on a concrete basketball court and use a little iPod player that Jessie lets me borrow (oh how I miss my gigantic white speaker box/iPhone player!), and I teach songs by rote and, in the case of the older kids, provide them with a lyric sheet. This was a big no-no for me personally back in the states. I mean, you sort of have to with the younger kids, or only teach really easy songs. But my older kids, I didn't want to teach them a song, I wanted to teach them a tool that they could then use to learn all songs! I wanted them to see music reading as a skill and music performance as an art. But here, it is nice to not have the same pressure, nor all the resources, because you are left with music as an art. We (my helper today was Mrs. Emily--who is another first term SO and was trained in singing from early on!) sang two songs with the older kids today; "In the Jungle," something they have heard and can relate to and another song that is completely new to them. I do this for many reason; kids love to sing along with songs they've heard (heck, adults, too!), especially when they have the words in front of them. But singing a new song causes them to listen, train their voices, and learn new rhythms and melodies. New songs make you better. Our new song is a ballad and they sound amazing!! Unlike my 4th and 5th graders back at home, my older kids (these are 5th and 6th graders) aren't predisposed to embarrassment. I can tell music is a past time for them--it's a bonding art. Even on the buses here, you'll here locals sing along to songs!
Could you imagine singing outside the comfort zone of your car back at home? No, because society says that only good singers should sing. Lamesauce (Mark's and I's new phrase: lame sauce or awesome sauce; they're really fun to say and came from our new-found obsession with Parks and Rec!). All people should sing. It's a natural gift from God. Whether you are good or bad only deals with your training and your perceptions. The fact that you can sing is what counts. I had non-verbal students last year, and they may not have sung words, but they could sing music. I had a mostly deaf student whose favorite thing was feeling the speaker box or the piano for vibration. He could sing. It's not about pitch, it's about feelings, expression, emotion, verbalizing these abstract words, performing and letting go of societal pretenses and enjoying a God-given ability. And where is that in my mandated TEKS?!?
Back to LIMES...yet again...they aren't embarrassed to sing and consequently sounded wonderful on our new ballad. Children's voices are so pure and amazing. The same kids that get in trouble for hitting each other or sometimes throw rocks and the good ones that are little angles; we sang together, an ensemble, a unified choir of pure, beautiful voices. The enjoyment that lit up in their eyes... the calmness and sincerity, with a dash sadness, we shared as we felt what the music was saying... It's all enough to tempt the water from your body to sit alongside your eyes to see the performance or make the hairs on your arms applaud.
I put an extra line break in there so that you could take a moment to reflect. And figure out that "arm hairs applauding" is me saying that it gave me goosebumps. :)
"If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place, Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make The Change"
You can listen to the whole song here.
I think I might have to indent my tangents from here on out, just so that I can realize how off subject I get when I have tangents inside of tangents inside of rambles.
