I'm very much looking forward to this summer! It has been a gem-packed, fulfilling winter semester. Now I'm rolling through the end of spring with my hands in the dirt, enjoying some gardening and long evenings with my son. Here are some highlights from the semester!
I was inspired by many incredible scholars:
Dr. Ruth Wright
Firstly, CWRU Colloquium lecture by Dr. Ruth Wright on February 2nd. These special talks are held on Fridays at 4pm throughout the academic school year and open to the public. Dr. Wright read from her soon-to-be-published article: “Is Gramsci Dead? Revisiting Hegemony in 21st Century Music Education," which brought into debate the appropriateness of canonized structure in the music education classroom. Through her studies in sociology, recent practices of popular music in education (Musical Futures) and concern for marginalized students and through conversation at this talk, she seems to be under the opinion that such officiated notions of what is and is-not might prune the practice to a death of irrelevance.
Check out her work! She's brilliant: http://www.music.uwo.ca/faculty/bios/ruth-wright.html
Next, I attended the moving address by Dr. Roberta Lamb, the featured speaker at OMEA's graduate forum, February 8th. Dr. Lamb has spent her career researching gender and music education. In her talk, Dr. Lamb offered her experience as a gay, female educator teaching in both United States and Canada, along with many stimulating questions. The room, of leading Ohioan scholars and their pupils, was alive with open conversation, tears and challenges from generations spanning five decades. Thank you Dr. Lamb!
At the same conference, I was lucky to catch two talks by Dr. Daniel Keown, of Youngstown State University. Topics he has studies seem to circle around seeking increased connectivity to students: psychology of music in multimedia, film music, sound effects design, interdisciplinary approaches and culturally diverse learners. In this case, his talks were about teaching the art of soundscapes and teaching film music. He established solid arguments for the use of these avenues of music, as well as sufficient resources for launching and a demonstration of their scholarly tenacity. Very compelling! I was able to employ some of what I learned about soundscapes with my K-2nd grade classes this spring.
http://www.ysu.edu/directory/people/daniel-keown
Dr. Karen Salvador, Associate Professor at University of Michigan-Flint, gave a guest lecture in my Vernacular Music class on Feb. 21st. Her research specialty and her passion is in progressing educative conditions for students with learning differences. In our time she addressed Universal Design and ESSA, as well as a history and modern status of appropriate treatment of related speech and circumstances. Together, we reflected on our misunderstandings, and postulated tactics to bring about justice in our classrooms for all students.
https://karenksalvador.weebly.com/
Finally! A scholar for my musical soul: Merima Ključo. This world renowned, virtuosic accordionist and composer simply blew me away. I first heard her music on a late-night drive, NPR radio scan, and sent my husband Lawrence on a mad scavenger hunt looking for "that accordion player who was playing on the radio around 8:30 pm, something with chanting Arabic text..." He found her, I found everything she has recorded... and then I saw her name pop up on the posters for City Music which are frequently hosted by St. Jerome Church! I was blessed to have the opportunity to meet her, and to write a review (published in the Colinwood Observer, March). Thank you CityMusic, Merima Ključo, and all the staff at St. Jerome Church who made this experience possible.
http://www.merimakljuco.com/
Along side all of these inspiring scholars, I was blessed with a incredible students and awesome musical opportunities. I'll ramble a little about my students, because I love them so much and am so thankful for our time together. As school comes to a close tomorrow, along with my time at St. Jerome Elementary, this post serves as a bittersweet farewell.
At CASE, I performed in three concerts. In the 2018 Choral Showcase Invitational, Feb 16th, I had the opportunity to collaborate with the Cleveland School of the Arts R. Nathaniel Dett Concert Choir and Case Men's Glee as TA and ensemble member of Case Concert Choir. It was great to meet the students and the legendary Dr. Woods along with Dr. McCorvey; we shared dinner over the recently released Black Panther soundtrack. Case Men's Glee blew me away with "Workin' for the Dawn of Peace," chilling and soul wrenching all at once. Next I was honored to have the opportunity to conduct Case Chamber Choir at our spring concert in the breath-taking Maltz Performing Arts Center in a piece by Gwyneth walker, Changeless. Finally, on April 16th, I performed and helped manage the extraordinary performance of seven combined ensembles including Case Choir's and Orchestra as well as Beaumont Children's Choir and Bach Children Choir, and choirs from Church of the Covenant singing Rutter's Mass of the Children and other selections. Dr. Horvath's conducting of Humperdincks Hansel unt Gretel was simply enchanting.
Just last week, the students of St. Jerome Elementary school, with the support of our pastors Father Bill Jerse and Father Walsh and our principal Mrs. Coan, presented a spring concert, "Let There Be Light."
I simply cannot overstate how hard these students worked to put on this production. The narrator, Elijah Washington from Mrs. K. Coans first grade class did an outstanding job, providing the through line based on award-winning children's book, "The Old Turtle," by Douglass Wood. The theme of the concert was seeing God in other people, especially as we face the tragedies of our lifetime. Soloists led us in opening and closing numbers which incorporated dance and student drumming.
The first and second graders demonstrated soundscapes of various nature scenes. Each type of earth would play on their own, claiming that God was like them, and then all of them played at once to create a chaos that demonstrated the argument about who God is. First claiming that God is like themselves, the earth eventually comes to see God in others as they watch the feud that erupts between people.
The third, fourth and fifth graders sang songs representative of eleven countries with texts in nine languages other than English. The sixth and seventh graders performed self-composed raps and designed electronic and acoustic beats which addressed issues in our community today including racism, gun violence, depression, teen pregnancy and familial failure to support youth. In each rap, the students demonstrate how we can turn away from our selfishness and back to God by finding God in one another while we try to love one another.
The seventh and eighth graders took a major role in assembling the program, managing the stage set, lighting, sound, videography and crew. They had an inside look at how shows are put together, from beginning to end. I'm incredibly proud of their leadership.
Since the concert, we have been working on recording these songs so the students can share their music further. Students with interest spent a day with me learning about audio recording equipment, set-up, techniques and program options. I hope they continue to rap and record for the rest of their lives!
Finally, I was honored to play the baccalaureate mass and graduation ceremony for the Eighth Grade Class of St. Jerome Elementary School on Thursday May 24th. Here are some photo's of my wonderful students! I'll miss you all.
