Escaping the conservatory bubble
Part one! NEC meets blogging, boys from South Boston, and the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship
Today I learned that stickers do not impress boys. I also learned that saying “I said so because I’m the teacher” does. And, as it turns out, this is quite a powerful tool when you are a 25-year-old girl trying to control a group of slightly rowdy 10 and 12-year old boys in an after-school classroom. I have quickly figured out that these boys are not nearly as interested in the relationship of Picasso to music or in the difference between a canon and a fugue as I was hoping (included in my initial curriculum plans, of course!), but their uncensored reactions to the things I present are so honest and insightful that I am constantly surprised (and often delighted!) by their responses.
I am a violist at NEC, studying with Martha Katz for the second year of my Graduate Diploma, and fortunate enough to be one of the 2006-07 Boston area Albert Schweitzer Fellows. The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship was founded in 1940 to support Dr. Schweitzer’s medical work in Africa during World War II, and has since expanded to include programs across the United States, encouraging students in health-related professions to follow the example of Dr. Schweitzer in living a life of service. Dr. Schweitzer wrote extensively on topics from philosophy to nuclear testing, music to politics, and is especially known for his belief in service and in setting an example through this service: “[my philosophy of life] does not allow the scholar to live for his science alone, even if he is very useful to the community in so doing. It does not permit the artist to exist only for his art, even if he gives inspiration to many by its means. It refuses to let the business man imagine that he fulfils all legitimate demands in the course of his business activities. It demands from all that they should sacrifice a portion of their own lives for others.” (Civilization and Ethics, p. 269.) The mission of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship is to reduce disparities in health and healthcare by developing “leaders in service” – individuals who are dedicated and skilled in helping underserved communities, and who influence and inspire others by example. [Lots more info! Go to www.schweitzerfellowship.org, and check out the bios of current fellows and project descriptions, inspiring Schweitzer quotes, Fellowship news.]
And good news for all of us musicians, because a few years ago, the Fellowship became interested in including a few students from NEC in its mix of students from med school, PA school, optometry school, dental school, and every other traditional “health profession,” as well as many that are less-traditional. My Fellowship project involves teaching an interdisciplinary music class at an after-school center in South Boston called the Paraclete Center (www.paraclete.org). An old convent-made-after-school community center, once I stumbled upon it (after the perhaps prerequisite lesson on “how things never work out as you would expect”), the Paraclete Center now seems like the ideal place for me this year. The Center is the brainchild of Sister Ann Fox, who is exactly what you might expect of a Sister: quiet, compassionate, humble…and a powerhouse. She began the Center in 1997 as a place that could offer the neighborhood middle school children of South Boston an enriching, diverse learning environment to supplement their daytime education and provide them with the extra assistance and tutoring needed for them to gain acceptance into one of three “exam” Boston public high schools. Through the Center’s various after-school offerings, its mission is to provide its students with the possibility of an alternative future. 40% of its students live in public or subsidized housing, and 35% come from immigrant families that do not speak English in the home.
And so what am I doing there? Teaching my class of 10- and 12-year-old boys about Bach and Beethoven, about Janis Joplin and Dave Brubeck, about meter and rhythm and musical form and modes and melody. And to play the violin. (or, sort of how to sort of play the violin!) I believe so strongly in the power of music, and in the need for it especially in the lives of children, as a part of their development, as an emotional outlet, as a way to stimulate creativity. And while many schools have some sort of music program, band class, or after-school choir, I believe that music is not often taught to children in a way that relates to their lives or to their other academic subjects, and so it is often difficult for them to connect to music in a meaningful way. This year I wanted to design a curriculum that integrated music with life – with art, politics, history, social dynamics, literature, science – so that the kids I taught would find a way to connect with music and would develop a lifetime involvement in and appreciation for the arts.
And of course things do not proceed entirely as planned (back to lesson #1), and after several curriculum-writing (and site-identifying) pitfalls, I quickly learned that if I was truly going to engage the minds and spirits of these boys, I was going to have to do it with a lot of activity, a lot of interaction, a lot of hands-on. Me lecturing on the connections between music and Shakespeare was going to get me about as far as a car with a flat tire. Offering violin lessons, however, in conjunction with some music appreciation that both explored various kinds of music and also covered the basics of musical form and theory, of note-reading and violin-playing – now this has proved to be a much better plan. So each week I spend hours and hours planning my classes (lesson #2 – as much as I respect and admire music teachers in public middle schools, I could never be one. Good to know), which go by in a whirlwind of exercises, games, violin-playing, flashcards, quizzes, boy-talk, singing, viola-playing that to me feels like some sort of nervous mayhem and to my boys feels (I hope, I think) like a pretty cool, pretty fun, pretty interesting, not-too-serious music class with Ms S.
And in these following blogs, I will be recording various thoughts and impressions from the class and the opportunity, insights into the Schweitzer Fellowship and dips into days at the Paraclete Center, reflections on how this particular effort of mine to find a way to get my music out of the practice room and into the community has been working (or not). I began teaching in September, so the first few entries date back to those earlier days of teaching as I reported them to my mentors at the Fellowship and at NEC. So I hope you enjoy! Welcome to the ride.