So you may have noticed that I haven't been posting often....or really at all. I'm going to try to nip that in the bud though, before it gets out of hand and I'm suddenly rediscovering this blog after forgetting about it for a year. Which is just my way of saying I'll try to post more often.
This month was, if possible, even more busy than April. We have all our final projects getting assigned/due (specific cause of stress: English), and Ultimate got more intense (I hate shin splints so so much now). It was just plain old HOT last week, which always makes me lethargic and prone to slacking. And to top all that off, our bathroom is being re-done, which means I have to take little mini-shower things in the bathroom on the first floor...bleh.
AND, meanwhile, there's been all sorts crap created by the cuts going on within the school district.
They've already shut down a school because of low-enrollment, and, as always, there is talk of cutting the arts, because that's the first to go when times get hard. And this year, they did it. They're cutting music in the elementary level, which means all sorts of teachers are getting displaced who have seniority over some of the teachers in the junior highs and high schools - which in turn means that those less-senior teachers are being laid off in favor of the older teachers. And when I say "less-senior" I don't mean 5 or 6 years; teachers with up to eleven years of experience are being affected.
And so this brings up two issures: the first is the age-old question: which is more important, seniority, or good teaching? There are some really great teachers who are going; the choir director at Central, who is our school's choir program, and who is also half of the entire music department (yup, we have two teachers for all the choirs, all the bands, and orchestra) has been informed she has been laid off. Not only will a new choir teacher be coming from an elementary level, and probably be unprepared to teach high school students, they will have to deal with a much smaller group next year; approximately half of the concert choir is graduating this year.
Our band director has talked to us about all this; he has told us that, while nothing is final yet, there is a possibility that if things continue next year, he may be next. He's been at Central for 14 years; he went to school there, and he directs not only our concert/symphonic band, but also the freshman band, the orchestra, and jazz band. He has also told us that though he may be safe for this year, and maybe even the next, if things continue as they are, and he can't rely on his job safety, he may have to look for another, more stable job elsewhere (i.e., at a private school), because he has a family, and he needs to look out for them.
I'm going to be honest: if he leaves, I'll probably quit. So will about half the band and orchestra most likely, and it's easy to imagine how that would continue to devolve: the program would suffer, and being in band would no longer be a point of pride for those in it. It might take years before the program is brought back to the level it's at now.
The impact on the program because of these new teachers wouldn't be the only problem either, which brings me to the second issue: elementary music being cut.
Most students in band (this isn't as true for orchestra) only begin their instrument because of band in elementary school. Without that class, we never would have picked up our instrument on our own. Obviously, students will still join band in junior high, but they've just lost two, possibly three years of practice on their instrument. Where before they at least had some knowledge, now they have none. Of course the junior high and high school programs will suffer! You've got students with less experience, and probably less of a connection to their instrument in your band now!
And so suddenly, the quality of your band has just gone down dramatically.Which usually (not always, but generally) makes it less fun to play in. It is fun to be in a good band; it's nice to be able to feel pride in the way you sound. When your band doesn't sound very good, there's less incentive to stay in it. And so the program continues to suffer.
There are some people who say so what? Isn't the education of our children in areas like math and reading and science more important anyway? I can't even begin to address that in this post; already it's way too long. Obviously, I disagree, and many of the reasons why are adressed in Karl Paulnack's welcome adress to the parents of incoming students to the Boston Conservatory of Music.
And so those are my thoughts, and I'm going to end with a quote:
Music is the manifestation of the human spirit, similar to language. Its greatest practitioners have conveyed to mankind things not possible to say in any other language. If we do not want these things to remain dead treasures, we must do our utmost to make the greatest possible number of people understand their idiom. --Zoltán Kodály
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Nostalgia.
So, I pretty much took a little walk down memory lane today, with the following results:
This Pippi Longstocking movie. I used to love the songs in it, and for the longest time it was one of those movies that I remembered watching and I couldn't find on Youtube. And now I've found a video with all the songs! Now all I need to do is find the soundtrack on Amazon...
And did anyone else every watch The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus? Not the stop-motion version, but the 2000 version. That was another one I could never find, mainly because I didn't know the name of it, or really any details except for that it was about Santa Claus and that there was some fairy battle involved. Also, that Santa almost died in it.
And then I found this: Freddie the Frog. I had completely forgot I had ever seen this. I vaguely remember having a dream about it once. I don't even remember most of the scenes/characters in the trailer! But I do remember the frog, and his wicked aunt...
And I had to look up Sky Dancers (I like that country rock is considered a type of dance in this clip)1, even though I only ever saw like one of the episodes. I was way more into Princess Guinevere and the Jewel Riders, which, I should mention, I originally figured out the name of by searching, "jewels owl wizard portals" on Google. Google is obviously magic.
Moving on to slightly more recent, we had Winx, which I remember from around 6th grade, and W.I.T.C.H., both of which were originally Italian, something I didn't know. I do know I got really far into the whole W.I.T.C.H. thing before I stopped. Both of them were definitely cooler once they got midway through the whole plotline...these first episodes are just annoying.
Well, that was fun, but I should probably stop now.
1 Wow, I just watched all of that clip, and I definitely don't remember the show being that bad...
This Pippi Longstocking movie. I used to love the songs in it, and for the longest time it was one of those movies that I remembered watching and I couldn't find on Youtube. And now I've found a video with all the songs! Now all I need to do is find the soundtrack on Amazon...
And did anyone else every watch The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus? Not the stop-motion version, but the 2000 version. That was another one I could never find, mainly because I didn't know the name of it, or really any details except for that it was about Santa Claus and that there was some fairy battle involved. Also, that Santa almost died in it.
And then I found this: Freddie the Frog. I had completely forgot I had ever seen this. I vaguely remember having a dream about it once. I don't even remember most of the scenes/characters in the trailer! But I do remember the frog, and his wicked aunt...
And I had to look up Sky Dancers (I like that country rock is considered a type of dance in this clip)1, even though I only ever saw like one of the episodes. I was way more into Princess Guinevere and the Jewel Riders, which, I should mention, I originally figured out the name of by searching, "jewels owl wizard portals" on Google. Google is obviously magic.
Moving on to slightly more recent, we had Winx, which I remember from around 6th grade, and W.I.T.C.H., both of which were originally Italian, something I didn't know. I do know I got really far into the whole W.I.T.C.H. thing before I stopped. Both of them were definitely cooler once they got midway through the whole plotline...these first episodes are just annoying.
Well, that was fun, but I should probably stop now.
1 Wow, I just watched all of that clip, and I definitely don't remember the show being that bad...
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Woodynets Biographies
"Ali “Jesus” Olmstead began the Woodynets after being told repeatedly that the oboe WAS NOT A JAZZ INSTRUMENT. Instead of admitting defeat and drinking birthday cake milkshakes to drown her pain, Ali took charged and formed her own freeform jazz group. She began by inviting Charlotte “Banana’s Are Magical” Hecht, who had received great acclaim at the first grade talent show for her stunning rendition of Mary Had A Little Lamb, and was an accomplished recorder player. After the invitation, Charlotte dedicated herself completely to freeform jazz clarinet.
Ratih “Sheepland” Sutrisno was the second to be brought into the fold. She began her musical career at a young age, performing alongside her parents and two sisters in the Indonesian version of “The Partridge Family”. At the tender age of 10, Ratih announced her decision to begin her solo career as a bass clarinetist. After releasing three full albums and one EP, to much critical acclaim, Ratih abruptly disappeared from the music scene for a year. When she returned, she had renounced the bass clarinet in favor of the B flat clarinet and the Woodynets, as well as grown an additional two inches. Rumors of kidnapping and brainwashing have circulated about this sudden switch, but it is more likely Ratih simply came to realize that people who played bass clarinet were weirdos (and, let’s be honest, have you seen Max May? Case in point).
The rest of the group was finagled into joining through a mixture of sweet-talking, begging, bribing, and blackmailing.
Anri was born in a tuba case, but for years ignored her calling and destiny, instead turning to the flute. It took her five years to stop fighting her fate and begin her budding relationship with her tuba. The two are now happily married, and were in fact approached by Ratih about joining the group at their wedding.
Chelsea Kipp and Helen Wieffering both began playing the trumpet with their middle school bands. After a mere three weeks of this ridiculous instrument, both realized that clarinet section was far superior, and as an added bonus, contained more girls. While Helen has continued on this course and now views her short stint in the trumpet section with regret and shame, Chelsea switched to the French horn and regained some measure of respect for instruments made of brass (though perhaps, it is true, not for those annoying trumpets). Both were convinced to join by Charlotte; it is believed some photos from "The Incident" were used as persuasion.
Ally Fulton was a skilled concert violinist, renowned throughout the world for her masterful performance of the Sibelius Concerto, with Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony orchestra, as well as her recording of Beethoven’s violin concerto with conductor Rafael Kubelik and the Philharmonc Orchestra. She was born in Chelm, a small city in Eastern Poland. After being admitted at the Warsaw Conservatory at age seven, she studied with Carl Flesch and George Enescu. After a tragic accident at age 10, in which the speed of her playing caused a fire in which nearly all of her hair was burned off, Ms. Fulton permanently put down her bow. She found the lack of music in her life too much to bear, and picked up the clarinet a year later. She found out about the group through a mutual friend.
Abby plays only Asian flutes. She has no room in her life for any other instruments, or in fact, anything else at all, including last names. Abby is perhaps a little bit racist, but then, so is everyone else in the world. It is unknown how she was approached, as Abby never does anything but play the Asian flute, and eat macaroni (no cheese, as she is lactose-intolerant).
Jessie Austin learned to play the clarinet in 4th grade. After suffering multiple setbacks due to the difficulties of playing the instrument without the mouthpiece, she gave the clarinet up for good. She never played, touched, or even looked at any sort of instrument from this time until her 15th birthday, when, much to the amazement of her party guests, she spontaneously began playing the violin, tuba, and bassoon all at once. She abandoned the first two in favor of the bassoon, and found, to her surprise, that she was really quite good. She quickly took up the piano as well, developing a mastery of the instrument far beyond her years. She was invited to join by Anri; by that point, Ali had begun to resort to calling random numbers in the phonebook in hopes of finding a bassoonist."
Ali Olmstead came up with the idea, as it says above, for a non-jazz instrument free-form jazz group (exception is clarinets, which are sometimes used in jazz). I wrote our biographies for it. Even if it doesn't go anywhere (I doubt it will), I had fun writing them.
Ratih “Sheepland” Sutrisno was the second to be brought into the fold. She began her musical career at a young age, performing alongside her parents and two sisters in the Indonesian version of “The Partridge Family”. At the tender age of 10, Ratih announced her decision to begin her solo career as a bass clarinetist. After releasing three full albums and one EP, to much critical acclaim, Ratih abruptly disappeared from the music scene for a year. When she returned, she had renounced the bass clarinet in favor of the B flat clarinet and the Woodynets, as well as grown an additional two inches. Rumors of kidnapping and brainwashing have circulated about this sudden switch, but it is more likely Ratih simply came to realize that people who played bass clarinet were weirdos (and, let’s be honest, have you seen Max May? Case in point).
The rest of the group was finagled into joining through a mixture of sweet-talking, begging, bribing, and blackmailing.
Anri was born in a tuba case, but for years ignored her calling and destiny, instead turning to the flute. It took her five years to stop fighting her fate and begin her budding relationship with her tuba. The two are now happily married, and were in fact approached by Ratih about joining the group at their wedding.
Chelsea Kipp and Helen Wieffering both began playing the trumpet with their middle school bands. After a mere three weeks of this ridiculous instrument, both realized that clarinet section was far superior, and as an added bonus, contained more girls. While Helen has continued on this course and now views her short stint in the trumpet section with regret and shame, Chelsea switched to the French horn and regained some measure of respect for instruments made of brass (though perhaps, it is true, not for those annoying trumpets). Both were convinced to join by Charlotte; it is believed some photos from "The Incident" were used as persuasion.
Ally Fulton was a skilled concert violinist, renowned throughout the world for her masterful performance of the Sibelius Concerto, with Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony orchestra, as well as her recording of Beethoven’s violin concerto with conductor Rafael Kubelik and the Philharmonc Orchestra. She was born in Chelm, a small city in Eastern Poland. After being admitted at the Warsaw Conservatory at age seven, she studied with Carl Flesch and George Enescu. After a tragic accident at age 10, in which the speed of her playing caused a fire in which nearly all of her hair was burned off, Ms. Fulton permanently put down her bow. She found the lack of music in her life too much to bear, and picked up the clarinet a year later. She found out about the group through a mutual friend.
Abby plays only Asian flutes. She has no room in her life for any other instruments, or in fact, anything else at all, including last names. Abby is perhaps a little bit racist, but then, so is everyone else in the world. It is unknown how she was approached, as Abby never does anything but play the Asian flute, and eat macaroni (no cheese, as she is lactose-intolerant).
Jessie Austin learned to play the clarinet in 4th grade. After suffering multiple setbacks due to the difficulties of playing the instrument without the mouthpiece, she gave the clarinet up for good. She never played, touched, or even looked at any sort of instrument from this time until her 15th birthday, when, much to the amazement of her party guests, she spontaneously began playing the violin, tuba, and bassoon all at once. She abandoned the first two in favor of the bassoon, and found, to her surprise, that she was really quite good. She quickly took up the piano as well, developing a mastery of the instrument far beyond her years. She was invited to join by Anri; by that point, Ali had begun to resort to calling random numbers in the phonebook in hopes of finding a bassoonist."
Ali Olmstead came up with the idea, as it says above, for a non-jazz instrument free-form jazz group (exception is clarinets, which are sometimes used in jazz). I wrote our biographies for it. Even if it doesn't go anywhere (I doubt it will), I had fun writing them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)