Meanwhile, I want us to focus on the "you're wonderful" (and the corollary "I'm wonderful") idea for a bit, because it touches on some genuinely crucial dynamics as you continue in college music study. As we discuss this, I'd like you to listen to the first tracks of "The Darling Conversations," a series of dialogues (with many musical examples) between the Grammy-winning cellist David Darling, a cofounder of the organization Music for People, and Julie Weber, who for many years led the MfP facilitator-training program.
You can access the "Darling Conversations" as well as other listening reserves for this rotation at https://audio.depauw.edu. Log in with your network/e-services/Moodle username and password.
You can access the "Darling Conversations" as well as other listening reserves for this rotation at https://audio.depauw.edu. Log in with your network/e-services/Moodle username and password.
For Wednesday, please listen to the Introduction and "It's You" tracks, which should be the first two (I can't actually see your list--long story). You'll notice that fairly early in the "It's You" track, David and Julie suggest that teachers and parents should use the word "genius" rather liberally with children and students, in the sense that each of us are capable of "genius moments."
This idea of thinking of ourselves as "geniuses" pushes a lot of buttons. Some people get upset by the idea. So as you listen to that conversation, feel free to substitute another word for "genius"--maybe "we are all capable of extraordinary moments."
One of the underlying ideas of Music for People is that anyone can express her or him self and connect with others in a beautiful, extraordinary way--right now, right here, without any additional training needed.
This may seem to contradict the idea that you and I need years and years of rigorous training in order to perform classical music or jazz in a deeply proficient and engaging way. This is true, too. To perform complex music written by someone else in an effective way does take a lot of practice and training. They aren't contradicting that! The idea is that with the musical skills and creative vocabulary you have right now, you can create some authentically expressive music.
So I'll be interested to read your reactions here in the comments section, and to talk with you in class on Wednesday.
Today's activities were also designed to get us thinking about aspects of what it means to be a musician in the 21st century. Inviting others to participate, working together, and being co-leaders in what can be called an "intentional community."
Here's your assignment: listen to those two tracks (Introduction and "It's You") of the Darling a Conversations. Read the description of Music for People at http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_for_People_(organization), and the short overview of David Darling's work at http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Darling_(musician). You can also look through David's website at www.daviddarling.com and the Music for People website at www.musicforpeople.org.
Then write a response to both the listening and the activities in class today. If others have responded before you, please read what they have written and feel free to respond--the intention here is that we can have a conversation.
You can enter a comment in a box below. In the future, if you are the first person to comment, just click where it says "No Comments."
ReplyDeleteIn the recording, "It's You," many of the things the narrators said express the same ideas and thoughts our class had about yesterday's leadership exercise. A lot of us had doubts about getting up and yelling or dancing around by themselves in front of the rest of the class, but after realizing we all had to do it, we seemed to become more comfortable with the idea.
ReplyDeleteAlong with this, it talks about how we all believe we are not good enough to play as well as those people around us, but that we are all capable of doing that. Sort of saying "You're wonderful! You can do this, just like everyone around you can!"
I love that the "It's You" recording talks a lot about everyone having the capability to do wonderful things - this was talked about using the word "genius." I personally don't have much of an issue with the word genius, even though I think it connotes natural intellectual abilities. I do believe a better way of describing this would be with a broader term, though. Perhaps "talented" would work better, but that also has its own connotation.
ReplyDeleteI love the overarching idea that everyone is capable, or special, in their own way. I definitely think a positive parenting style in which parents make their kids believe that they have special qualities that will allow them to do great things with their lives is valuable. If a child is always told that life is all about being "the best" and it's so hard to achieve being "the best," then he or she will not be motivated to try to do big things with their lives.
Like the "It's You" recording, Tabatha, and Elizabeth, I agree with the idea that students should be told that they're talented by nature and capable of great things. I think too often education systems tear students down by telling them they're not good enough. Particularly in a world so focused on achievement (whatever that means) I think society often becomes too focused on perfection and attaining the unattainable.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion of the word "genius" and telling everyone that they're great reminded me of a scene from the movie Whiplash, which came out at the end of 2014. The movie focuses on the relationship between a jazz percussionist obsessed with becoming "one of the greats" and a sadistic teacher that uses mental and physical abuse to motivate his students. During a scene, the teacher explains his teaching methods by saying "There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job'." He further explains that by telling students "good job", teachers allow complacency and students aren't pushed to their full potential.
I find this idea extremely interesting. I think it correlates with the discussion on genius because, according to the teacher, by calling students or peers "geniuses", we would be telling them that they don't need to try anymore.
I don't agree with the idea, but it's something interesting to consider.
Exposing people to the idea that they are capable of things that they are told they aren't through encouragement and love is a great way to push people to try new things, or push someone out of a comfort zone (for a good reason.) "It's You" is an interesting take on how encouragement of a liked activity can bring value to an activity.
ReplyDeleteGenius isn't a word I particularly like, but I think the dialect that was offered brought a new light to the word, and I really appreciated that.
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ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the emphasis on encouraging students to focus on the possibility of our own greatness. Especially in the classical music world, where an emphasis on competition is placed in order to supposedly create the best musicians, it is easy to forget the very human aspect of music that makes it so enjoyable to begin with. Where it's a consequence of societal expectations to succeed in everything we set out to acheive, or not, reiterating the importance of enjoying the activity to begin with will inevitably enable our experiences with music to work to it's greatest utility. A helpful non music analogy is comparable to how people might view their careers: a successful career is one that doesn't feel like work, but naturally bleeds into many aspects of your life, and in a sense, our attitude towards music should be that way too. Believing in the ability of yourself and the work you are doing is an important part to creating a meaningful and authentic musical experience.
ReplyDeleteI think encouraging the “genius” of all is crucial, especially in classical music. Many of the people who grow up to become professional musicians begin studying music in the early years of childhood. These people often have the opportunity to do so because their parents can afford to pay for and bring them to lessons. What does this mean for the children who don’t have access to lessons and for the adults who came across classical music later in their life? I found the point made in Monday’s class about the performer/audience separation very interesting; I think the concept of the “elite performer” stops a lot of people interested in learning to make classical music from doing so whether out of intimidation, inadequacy, etc. Using a liberal definition of “genius” affirms one’s musical potential, which is great for countering the “elite performer” concept. I personally see “genius” more as a wholesome means of encouraging amateurs though as opposed to a pre-professional teaching device—I think between time constraints, expectations of quality, and the status quo of the professional world, “genius” might become much more of a gray area than the (to me) more explicitly positive concept it is regarding life-long, non-professional learning.
ReplyDeleteI really like and agree with the ideas the "Music for People" organization presents. I think it's important to create a safe and happy learning environment because I believe that's the best way that people will feel comfortable developing their skills. Encouragement is never a bad thing when learning something new or learning something that's exceptionally difficult.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't think we're all geniuses, I think it's important that we all know we're capable of doing great things. I'm not sure about other people, but whenever I'm done with my lessons and my assigned teacher tells me that I did good work and to keep it up, I'm naturally in a good mood for the rest of the day. I think encouragement is extremely important in nurturing a skill.
While I acknowledge that positive encouragement is vital in any learning environment, I still feel that *more liberal* use of the word "genius" is potentially problematic. There are many ways of reinforcing a young artists passion as they grow and develop their skills. But let's, for a minute, step back and analyze the word itself: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "genius", in its adjective form, means "very clever". Great. Doesn't really help my point. However, if one were to dig deeper, and search "clever", an interesting perspective takes shape. One definition sates "nimble-handed", in accordance with what Darling discussed in "It's You", but going further, it means "with skill". We all know skills take time to develop and many many hours of honing and refining. To substitute the term "better musician" with "more experienced" is redundant! Preposterous, even! Isn't there a famous phrase among golfers that reads "There's always someone better, and one day, they will find you... and they will beat you." Now, please don't assume I'm turning the field of music into a competition. To the contrary! The very fact that "being better" exists is exactly why the passion we developed as young musicians drove us to *be better*. To better ourselves, to, in turn, better each other is the reason we're in this classroom in the first place. It's the reason we chose to attend a school such as DePauw. The term "genius" would work, yes. But I don't feel it is necessary to create the healthiest possible learning/teaching environment.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of encouraging the use of genius moments because sometimes you already have the info you need to succeed. The moment when everything comes together and makes sense is definitely a genius moment. However, I feel that the most nurturing and encouraging learning environment is not always the best way, especially in music. Sometimes you need that person to keep pushing you further and further no matter what it takes, because in the end you just want them to be happy with the way you play. If someone says good job, its telling you what you did was good no matter how well you did and can be very detrimental to your learning and growth. I feel you need that person to tell you you can do better because they keep pushing you to learn and grow more. Even if you feel you’ve become the best you can be it’s good to have that one person telling you, you can go further.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is never false in acknowledging the greatness in a person. Our pure existence is what makes us great, it is something beautiful not nobody here on eath can exactly explain. What "Its You" says as I interpreted it, you can touch in on the greatness of ones own existence through musical expression. It is this that makes any person great. Using the drum to tap in (pun intended) to a shared human experience is a great way to connect with peers musically. In class, there was an energy that formulated around a given tempo, and without too much thought or focus, the whole class was capable of keeping a tempo and expressing their own inner energy through a drum. What we were able to do so naturally is what is great. I agree, we ARE great.
ReplyDeletelol ignore "not nobody" XDDD
DeleteI think the drum circle "community" aspect of our class is really great. It gets us to become more comfortable doing things that would be considered "silly" in front of a group of people. It's important to become comfortable because as musicians we are constantly asked to go out of our comfort zone, and the more we can adapt to a situation the more we are going to enjoy what we do, and flourish doing it. acknowledging everyones potential for greatness in our classroom settings, which is a safe non- judgmental space is a first step in getting comfortable with "silly" or maybe even strange situations.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the listening, I disagree that is a bad thing to say that someone is better than us at something. Someone can be better than you because they have more experience. I think it is important to not let saying someone is better than you be a self- degrading remark. I think it should be an encouragement to work harder to become better and eventually reach the proficiency of that person you are comparing yourself to.
While I do agree that genius should be a liberally used term, I think they go about it in the wrong way. Experience only goes so far in certain aspects of our lives, especially in music. People have different strengths and weaknesses, which is why some people pick up on theory quickly versus those who get solfege quickly. We all have genius, but I think we all have it in different ways. I think my own genius lies in my ability to learn quickly, but I also think my weakness lies in my lesser ability to remember details and specifics, which is why memorization of lyrics and solfege is so difficult for me. I'm incredibly jealous of people who can do either of those things, but I also realize I have my own strengths that I'm confident in. I think that is where individual genius lies.
ReplyDeleteI also completely relate to their discussion on community music making process of lifting people up no matter what mistakes they make. It is so important that feel good vibes are bouncing around while making any type of music. People making music, whether considered good or bad by normative means, is beautiful. Nothing is more amazing that when a group of people with varying levels of involvement with music find themselves singing or making music spontaneously or to have fun. I find those moments to be the most memorable.
There was one thing that really stuck with me from both class and the recording “It’s You”. This particular concept that stuck with me was the idea that anyone and everyone has the ability and the capability to do incredible things. The recording used the word “genius” and how people should use the word a bit more liberally as a way to encourage and to make them feel better about themselves. I believe that using words such as “genius” or “wonderful” are beneficial to a person’s development and their overall well-being. In a world where, just as Sarah said, people are being constantly torn down by others, this use of positive feedback becomes all the more important.
ReplyDeleteThis was demonstrated in our class on Monday when we all had the opportunity to lead the drum circle. At the beginning, everyone was hesitant and not very comfortable dancing in the middle by themselves. But as class went on, everyone got more comfortable with the idea until we really didn’t think twice about having to do it. With everyone shouting “You’re wonderful”, we all overcame our anxiety and started to have fun with it. I think that this proves at least some of the power of encouragement. I think the words “You’re wonderful” say more than just that. I think they say, and I’m going to borrow Tabatha’s last line because she hit the nail on the head, “You’re wonderful. You can do this, just like everyone around you can!”
I think that everyone can do great things, however, some people will do greater things than others.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the "It's You" recording just because it talks a lot about being wonderful the way you are and is super uplifting and encouraging. I think for people involved in music, feeling up lifted is one of the most important things considering you are constantly under pressure with people judging your work and watching you.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the "genius" thing goes, I am not sure if I agree with it entirely. I think that being encouraging is important but to tell someone they are a genius may be an exaggeration.
I think that some people are born with more natural talent in a certain field than others. There will always be the people who are just naturally very good at what they do and branding them with "more experience" I feel isn't the best fit. However, people who may be better than you at something could have more technical training than you and for that reason they have "more experience" with that...but in general some people are just naturally better at certain things compared to others.