It was one of my teaching goals this year--don't let my own perfectionism keep my choir from enjoying their successes. And it was a success. I was so proud of my girls' expressive singing and professional behavior. Sure, there were a few hiccups (as one of my 8th graders put it), but overall a very nice performance, and without a doubt my memories of my first concert as a real teacher will be happy ones.
Both of my groups are sad to put these pieces away. For each grade there was one piece that they really connected to. My seventh graders adored dancing and drumming to "Kwaheri." Every day they would walk in begging to sing it. I also loved teaching "Kwaheri." I say that the way I did it wasn't very music-teachery, but really it was very organic and even mostly authentic to its roots. We learned the melody first, then added the dance to it (that's how I won them over and tricked them into not being afraid to sing in front of me/each other). Then we all learned the drum part (using vocal rhythms--altos got to be "bum pa dum pa dum dum" while sopranos got to be "chchcha"). Secretly, as they practiced it, I was observing who was capable of having independence on the part. Then they sang the melody while I stood near the sopranos and sang the highest part. I've learned that proximity makes all the difference in teaching choir. By the time I "taught" them the soprano part, they already new it. The same went for the lowest part. Although, in retrospect, I probably should have taught that one first because lower harmonies are more of a challenge. In the end, not once in this process did we pick up a piece of paper. But hey, neither do the Kenyans. :)
This is my favorite thing about my seventh graders this year--once I hooked them, I got to keep them. A bunch of girls said that the Haydn piece was their favorite probably because by the time I taught it, I had them eating out of the palm of my hand. So much so that they never doubted my reasons for having them speak in British accents and skip around the room. I'm hoping that I can make that enthusiasm last the whole year.
The eighth graders enjoyed our African-style piece, but their favorite (by far) was "When You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt. It has kind of become our classroom theme--you do great things when you believe in yourself. The overall message is incredibly relatable and so important for young adolescent girls to hear. We did a writing assignment to help them connect the meaning to their own lives. I couldn't believe how open they were with me--the responses literally made me cry over almost every single paper. You probably don't care about the psyches of little 8th graders quite as much as I do, but here are some of the my favorite pieces anyway:
Circle your favorite phrase or verse of the song. What draws you to those particular words?
“They just are really real. Lots of times you have hope then it’s gone in a blink of an eye and you are empty.”
“It’s the part of the song where the girl changes her mind and really stands up to her fears.”“Because sometimes things can’t explain your feelings and you find yourself doing stuff you never thought you would have.”“I’m drawn to it because it looks so simple but there are so many meanings behind it.”“Because it means that they’re facing their fears, even if every bad thing is going against them.”From one of my Four Oaks girls: “It’s just make me think about moving to a different place each year.”“Our hearts have a song or story that is supposed to be our life, our song, our story. Our decisions along with others changes parts or lines of our song.”“Well, to me it says that if you set your mind on something and work hard enough at something, that I can achieve it. And that’s the miracle. And that your hope can be lowered when someone could do something to hurt you, but you keep your head up high.”“My favorite sentence is ‘You will when you believe.’ I love this saying because it shows really once you close your eyes and really go for what you love, anything can happen.”
Who are the women singing this song? What are they so afraid of? How did they overcome that fear?“The women singing this song is one the negative, useless, hopeless girl who is lost, confused and scared. The second girl is someone standing strong and courageous showing her you can achieve miracles no matter what. The second girl brings the first girl over to the hopeful side of not giving in to those thoughts. They are afraid of wars, fights, problems, and suffering. They, in the end, overcome their fear and realize even in the darkest times, you can push through.”“The women are confident and caring. They are afraid of someone and they are trying to escape that fear.”
Describe a time in your life when you were afraid. How did you overcome that fear?“I was afraid of death of a family member because it would make a hole in your family. I overcame it and realized it makes us closer.”“Many times I don’t do anything because of pain. I don’t want to out. I overcame that fear some by starting to do some things.”“When my parents got a divorce I was terrified. Boxes in the living room… things just wouldn’t be the same. Never again. I prayed a lot. Kept to myself. Things kinda traumatized me. Over time I learned things would get better. It was for the best.“One time I was extremely afraid of moving to a brand new state. Lonely, nervous, and lost on what to expect I didn’t know if I could ever move on from this experience I was devastated to go through. At first I thought I was alone, but no. I had family and friends with me every step of the way. Picking me up if I ever thought there was no way for me. The power of words changed the way I thought and helped me embrace change. That was the best thing that has ever happened to me.”“When I was five my parents divorced and I was forced to travel from house to house. On top of that since they both moved I had to go to a new school. I was so mad, and scared and didn’t want to even go to school because I didn’t know what to expect. I overcame this fear when I met all of the loving people at Prairie that welcomed me and helped me every day.”“I was afraid when my grandpa was in the hospital dying. I was afraid I would never see him again and that scared me because he was my inspiration and best friend. I overcame this fear by remembering that that’s better than him suffering for the rest of his life. I will always remember him because he is still with me, in my heart and he always will be.”“I am going to be scared when my sister moves out. I am scared because I will be alone in my house, like an only child. I will overcome this by hanging out with her at her house.”“I use to be always afraid of being myself because I thought that I was too weird, and now I’m not as afraid of showing myself, also I was afraid of what everyone would think but now I don’t care, as much.”
In your opinion, how does belief in ourselves help us get through rough times?“They help you calm down and get through things.”“To me, believing in yourself gets you through rough times because positive things bring hope, and if we believe in ourselves it has a huge positive impact on us and can bring us just enough hope to get through anything. You have to believe you can get through something, otherwise you never will.”“Singing, or doing what you love most, helps us.”“It shows us a way that isn’t quite as dark as what your in. It’s the silver lining.”“Belief is one of the most important attributes you must maintain throughout your life. This quality may save you one of these days. People take their own life because they have no hope or belief. If you are able to believe and hold on to that, even if it is only the littlest ray of hope it will help you through any situation or hardship. If you know there is a chance things can change, people will change their perspective on life and can understand nothing is set in stone.”“When you believe it means you trust, you think things are true. You believe in them. So when you are experiencing rough times and you believe everything will be okay it gives you hope and faith that things WILL be okay. It helps you continue day by day.”“We know that it’s just a road bump in our interstate. We can move past anything just because we can <3”
So now we're moving on to even more great music. For the seventh graders it will be an arrangement of Schubert's "The Trout," Mary Goetze's "Ode to Trees" (love), and Allan Naplan's arrangement of "Hine ma tov." For the eighth graders, Schubert's "Lachen und Weinen," Stroope's "Omnia Sol" (love love), and Washburn's arrangement of "Tango to Evora." I started thinking seriously about how I would introduce my pieces today, and I'm starting to feel like my endless supply of creativity is back. Thank goodness, because I was lost without it for a few weeks there!
Other projects are going well too. The play is starting to take shape nicely. It's just one or two kids and a few small details that are stressing me out. Amabile (the 8th grade women's select choir) is doing well, but it already feels like our time is running out. They love the music, so I guess I can only hope that they're telling me the truth when they say that they listen to it on Youtube all the time.
I got a nice compliment from a student the other day. One of my eighth graders came to my office after school last Friday because the LRC was closed and she was waiting for her ride and wanted to see if I needed help with anything. We both sat in there peacefully for a few minutes--her cutting some papers for me, me answering emails. The next thing I know, I look up and she's making a funny face at me. "What? Do I got some schmutz on my face?" I teased her with one of her lines from the play. "Nah," she replied, "You're just kind of the perfect teacher." I gave her my best you'll-be-getting-no-extra-credit-for-saying-this face. "No no, I'm being for real. It's like, we all respect you and stuff, but, you know, you get us. You run around like 'This is brilzies!' and 'You cray-cray, girl!' and it just makes class really fun." I credit a lot of this comment to my age and the fact that I can stomach Top 40 music.... but still, I don't know think she even knew how much I needed to hear that in that moment. <3
