Michelle-isms

Horn players do cool things episode 1:

This was a few years ago in Belgium. I had had reconstructive surgery on my esophagus and a large hernia repair 5 weeks prior, and was told I wouldn’t be able to play for 6 mo. I knew that I was already going to Belgium with my daughter, and that I would be presenting – but shortly before the trip I was actually invited to perform with a group of talented people (who were much cooler and talented than I). This wasn’t the performance, rather a video of the time my daughter, Daniela and I participated in a new Guinness book of world records entry for largest horn choir, in the Ghent Square!

You can find us at :55, 1:15, and 1:43 😂 in case there are doubts.

OFFICIAL VIDEO #IHS51gent - Wake the Dragon! Guinness World Record for "largest ever French Horn Ensemble" 402 horn players from all over the world attempted to wake the famous dragon on the spire of t...

Hi friends!

Let’s talk about the indelible imprint that music made on my soul, and why it’s important for us to seek after that, in our interactions with our students.

Falling in love with music-making is often not inclusive of perfection, rather the result of exploration, experience, and a recognition of feeling. It is a product of seeing a place to exist within the sound, and the possibilities of contributing to those colors and textures. It's the ability to "see" a place for yourself, and an acceptance of that possibility.

My journey is not extraordinary, by industry standards, but is is a beautiful one, that has taken a very broken girl, to a place where she understands the virtue of healing, and helping others. My journey is a colorful one, an authentic one, a relatable one, an ordinary one - with what I consider extraordinary results of fulfillment and wholeness.

In my relationship with sound, I learned to say everything that I could not "say" out loud. I learned to translate every song of birds, every ounce of emotional pain, the effervescence of pure joy, the menacing darkness of anger, the feeling of a cool breeze as it grazed the side of my cheek, the smell of rain.

But first, I needed to fall in love, and acknowledge the power of that love.

Check out my latest video here:

https://youtu.be/KXXA-dHEAs4

If you like this, or other videos, or blog posts, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel, www.youtube.com/michellerimoli and "like" Michelle-isms on Facebook, or send me your feedback, through my website: www.michellerimoli.com, with suggestions, or words of encouragement!

The Day(s) I Fell in Love Let’s talk about the indelible imprint that music made on my soul, and why it’s important for us to seek after that, in our interactions with our students. F...

Music is Like…. Diving in to a world of Colors, Textures, Characters and Feelings within the Realm of Sound

In previous entries, we established that although “Music-speak” is important, for an understanding of traditional terminology and notation, it is also a confusing, and often a "non-repeatable” concept for the young learner.

For example, What is a crescendo… really? Yes, you are supposed to amplify the projection of sound. Is it stronger, or louder… how much so, and how fast should it progress? How can I remember?

Lets take the term “Allegro”. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines is as “A brisk lively tempo”. www.musictheory.org.uk, defines the term as “fast”. www.8notes.com states, “ Allegro - Fast, lively; also - cheerful-ly, joyful-ly, with joy. Originally understood in the Baroque period as 'joyfully, cheerfully', the term has changed over the years and now generally relates to tempo - fast and lively.”

So is the Allegro like a bunny skipping through the grass, a fiery dart soaring through the sky, or a wild stallion galloping fiercely through the open prairie to escape capture? All are "fast", but all would possess a vastly different environment of sound.

Can a young learner replicate tempo with accuracy and regularity without context?

What if, in addition to reviewing traditional musical terminology, when introducing a student to a piece of music, we initially perform the piece, or play a recording, as context for exploration. Our student should listen with their eyes closed. Then, we ask the following questions:

1. If you could see the sound, what color would it be?

2. If you could touch the sound, how would it feel under your fingers?

3. If you could feel it in your heart, what emotion would it be?

4. If you could embody it, what character would you experience?

By asking those questions, and having a student answer in their own words, you have empowered them to assign context, setting, atmosphere, and character to the music. You have taught them about “Character Cues”

They write their character cues on a sticky note, and place it over the music. Now each time they approach the piece, they can be reminded that the piece was a soft heather blue, fluffy and warm to the touch, it was soothing, and gentle, but also filled with openness and inviting. The piece was like a lonely moon that rose from behind the dark mountain silhouette, and provided light and hope to an otherwise dreary and cold night.

Why…

1. Obscure musical terms are forgettable, because they are not anchored in a feeling that a young learner can seek after.

2. When a young music-maker gets nervous, the first thing that leaves the room, is short term memory (obscure musical terms).

3. The music then becomes ink on a page, rather than a means for communicating a message or evoking an emotional response in their audience.

4. It is difficult to replicate ink – it is difficult not to replicate texture, color and feeling.

What I have found, in my years of teaching is the following:

1. When a student has a routine, a process to follow, during a performance opportunity, it takes them to a place of comfort and familiarity. For horn players, particularly, it becomes very important, because of the number of potential “pitfalls” that await.

2. If the Character Cues are on a sticky note, and you train the student to read it before playing a piece, you train them in the process.

3. They are reminded of the following:
a. Empty
b. Breathe a deep cleansing breath
c. Tempo (sing the song in your head, as you
briefly tap the tempo on the tip of your nose)
d. Color
e. Texture
f. Character
g. Feeling

4. By the time they have gone through their “steps” they have reduced the level of anxiety associated with the performance, and have taken themselves to a place of familiarity. They know this place, because they created it, and have interacted within it many times. It has nothing to do with the ink, the symbols, rather an environment that is uniquely theirs.

5. As a teacher, it is much easier to ask a student, based on their answers, “did it appear to be (color)? If not, what color did you create? Was it fluffy, or slick and cold, like ice? Was it gentle and inviting, or angry and scary? Did it feel like a ball pit, or soft summer grass? By steering the student back to their character cues, they are able to replicate their performance vision, with greater accuracy, because once again, it is a place they saw and felt, and created.

6. Students become much more consistent in their performance practice and communicating a musical message, because their process always took them to a place that transcended the fear or failure.

7. This is particularly effective in a group setting, because a director can develop a collaborative concept map with the members of the ensemble, so that there is one compatible vision for musical storytelling, amongst the group. In addition to the character cues, a Director can establish a story, and each instrument group has a role to play. At any moment, they can ask “who are you in the story?” and the students can then understand whether their musical role is that of a protagonist (melody), antagonist (countermelody), carpet (harmony), or other environmental elements (fire, rain, wind, etc). They can write the descriptors over the top of the music line, to remind them of context.

This is, by no means, a replacement for understanding musical notation, or fundamental technique. It is a strategy for establishing a deliberate, relatable, repeatable, and memorable, performance practice that improves performance consistency, and teaches the young learner to connect with the realm of sound in a way that allows them to grow into compelling and memorable storytellers.

Please send me a message, sharing your experience, after trying to use Character Cues, and visit www.michellerimoli.com for more strategies and perspectives for teaching young music-makers!

How can we help create an inclusive classroom that reflects the diversity of our communities?

The following are thoughts associated with an article, Social Justice and Music Education: The Call for a Public Pedagogy (Allsup & Shieh, 2012).

“Having the courage to call injustice by the name can be the first step toward changing the situation. Music Teachers are in a special position to stand up for others.”(Allsup & Shieh, 2012)

This article cuts to the core of the intersection between the educator, the creator, the student and the advocate. It reveals the essence of the educator’s “contract” or stewardship to care and act in the best interests of the students they are entrusted with.

Allsup & Shieh begin by sharing their experience as two gay music educators growing up in the Midwest. The humiliation they endured through name-calling at the hands of not only students, but teachers. The shared another experience of five male students, in one of their urban high schools, who decided to come to school wearing high heels, and were attacked in the school cafeteria, causing their subsequent expulsion from school – but no consequence was levied upon their attackers. Later in the article, they elaborate that the culture of the school dictated the perception that they “deserved” the beating, for dressing inappropriately.

As part of a system, specifically the education system, teachers are often counseled to keep a low social profile and just do their jobs. Teachers often will not express a sentiment of advocacy for a social cause for fear of retribution and consequence to their career. Music teachers particularly, are encouraged to “stay in their lane”, as the issues often have nothing to do with music.

This article challenges the perceived safety in silence. In our silence, are we encouraging an environment of safety, emotional and social safety, within out classrooms. Is the classroom about the grade, or evaluation? Is the classroom a place where all call feel safe in their vulnerability.

Teachers face an “Imperative to Care”. It is not only a teacher’s job to teach the requirements of the subject matter, but also to recognize impediments to learning and safety, due to existing injustices to teachers and students, around them. None of that involves staying in any one lane, rather hovering to and fro to fully understand the classroom, the students, and ensure the culture is permissive of creation.

A teacher that can stand against social injustices, is willing to transcend the space of notes, rhythms, to embrace the challenges that potentially impact a student’s ability to create. They can ask the tough questions, for the sake of a collaborative understanding of diversity, and the goal of lowering the tolerance of injustice. The will have the courage to program socially significant literature, and discuss how it came to be, as a means for additional dialogue about a student’s potential role as a champion for justice. Through the realm of sound, there can be inclusion, diversity, and advocacy. It is a process that teaches students to scratch beneath the surface, and become aware of their surroundings, to exercise their voice in advocacy of others who may be less privileged.

Ultimately, as educators, we must listen to our students, to become aware of and understand their challenges, without judgment or condemnation. We must put in the time to truly, reflect on whether our classroom management or practices, create an inclusive environment, or whether these practices diminish our students and inadvertently create social castes. Allsup & Shieh state “It is important to recognize that while it is necessary to name injustices done to groups of people, this can also result in affixing labels to individuals, regardless of our intent. Each of us lives uniquely at the intersection of multiple cultures and multiple selves, some privileged, some not. While it is our right to name (and rename) ourselves, it is quite another thing to be labeled by someone else”.

We must speak out against factors that have the potential to create pain and subsequent scarring, to a child’s development, intellectually, creative or social. We must be open to this, and shelve whatever apprehensions we make have, before entering the classroom, pick it up on the way home, and engage in the personal development that will transform you into their champion.

Our classrooms must provide a safety for expression, and recognize the cultural, ethnic, gender, intellectual diversities, which help shape the environment. Then and only then, can a kid feel like they are “seen”; there is a place for them in your classroom, and they are safe to open their hearts to the music, which in turn leads to the realm of the extraordinary. But is starts with us.

Allsup, R. E., & Shieh, E. (2012). Social Justice and Music Education: The Call for a Public Pedagogy. Music Educators Journal, 98(4), 47–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432112442969

Social Justice and Music Education: The Call for a Public Pedagogy - Randall Everett Allsup, Eric Shieh, 2012 At the heart of teaching others is the moral imperative to care. Social justice education begins with adopting a disposition to perceive and then act against in...