an art curriculum

Here is the proposal, come out of discussions with Buffy (in particular), Vic, and Stephanie. First of all, the cycle of applied art classes is two years long, and would repeat the second time around (but more challenging and in greater depth) and for students who stay at TAS for more than two years. For instance, this year we are offering:

Cycle I- basic drawing (fall), watercolor/ink (winter), and clay modeling (spring).

In addition, every year each term will feature a week long workshop emphasizing a set of related skills focused on a large project:

tile making (fall), instrument making (winter), and bookmaking (spring)

This is the core of the proposed art curriculum. There is also a cycle of music classes, which will be repeated every year:

music history (fall), rhythm (winter), and songwriting (spring)

Of course, there are other important (and even required) courses as well, such as:

metal working, photography, aesthetics, music lessons, film, filmmaking, anatomical drawing (proposed), and writing workshops

Notice that the spring term has a quite integrated experience planned, as a student might opt to take classes in songwriting, poetry writing, as well as the book construction workshop. This is ideal. Too much integration might seem monotonous to our students, but I like how this works out.

An important aspect of the art program will be field trips and brief, in school workshops. For example, twice a month, perhaps instead of the "presentations" period, or student government, or in a teacher's absence, the whole school would participate in a drawing or sound workshop. A nice example of this is to have the students pair up, and then quickly sketch their partner's face without looking down at the paper. They would share their experiences of both drawing and being drawn. Here is a proposed sequence for each of these workshops:

first, a brief, guided meditation
then, several rapid iterations of the exercise
then, the sharing of the experience
then, a sustained attempt at the exercise (to build concentration and stamina)
finally, a closing meditation and an evaluation of the workshop

For this coming school year (2009-10) there are three major and interesting exhibitions to attend. In NYC, at the Morgan Library is a presentation of their large William Blake holdings.
At the Philadelphia Museum is a retrospective of the Russian Modernist Gorky. Most importantly, at the Guggenheim, is the first Kandinsky Retrospective in many years.

Please read this carefully. Also, scroll down for a primitive table of the curriculum cycle.

Back on the 18th

  Thank you to Vic, Buffy, and Stephanie for their help in pulling the art program together. I am off to the beach for a week or so. Back on the 18th. My reading list: Kandinsky, some poems of Pasolini, a couple of Ian McEwan novels, a book of Samuel Palmer's paintings, and Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian.

  I am really looking forward to this coming school year.

mr. kandinsky and the art-music link

i have a super-fundamental question about vassily (or wassily) and his whole integration thing. i admit i am not so well-read on the matter. hep me. please.

my main objective (along with learning what he's all about): are there things to directly lift from his work to put into our program? this is to serve the goal of avoiding wheel-reinvention.

does anyone have a link (or even a traditional footnote) leading to a succinct (or moderately not) accounting of mr. kandinsky's specific approach to:
* integrating the arts
* the integration of visual and auditory art forms
* the whole thing of all that stuff being interrelated
* the fundamental unifying premise of all this unity jazz
* a manifesto of sort of the type of tethering to be found in the art-music continuum?

i wanna know what kandinsky's experience of this idea was-
* did he speak of specific moments of inspiration that are to be noted?
* did he speak of art education?
* did he teach artists with music?
* what ideas did he have of specific ways to look at art and listen to music?
* what music was he speaking of?

i'd love to hear these ideas articulated in his words. if that's difficult to pin down, it would also be good to hear it in the words of a scholar who is concise- i need to know the general vibe.

i'm hoping the man's words will inspire me to come up with some real-time activities/ exercises to use in the program.

There is much to respond to. Here's a few:

I suggest we speak of a "Music/ Sound Department" rather than a "Music Department". When we say "sound" our field of reference is immediately much larger and includes the totality of our students' lives. We are seeking to encourage students to relate to their senses, and sound is what the sense senses. Music is: a construct/ a type of purposeful sound/ a category we project onto experience. By encouraging a wider appreciation of the sonic environment we will deftly contextualize and include sonic experiences that would otherwise be debatable as being music. I am, of course, referencing mindful environmental listening and avant-garde music. In a nutshell, the "silent" John Cage piece.


A workshop- the intent is to open the ears and to become more present in the sound environment.
The Paper Pass:
A large sheet of paper is passed around a circle of standing students. Instructions are given to do this as silently as possible. Moving slowly/ moving quickly. Listening becomes wonderful and vast. After several rounds, a different paper is used, one that makes it easier or more difficult (use paper/ tissue paper/ light cardboard). Use a contact mic to amplify the paper as it is passed- always a hoot.
Variations are to ask students to make a sound on purpose when the paper is theirs or to maintain a particular sound/ sonic texture as it is passed around. Totally awesome. I love this one- got it from R. Murray Schafer.

Another workshop- same basic idea as the first.
Environmental Listening:
Students in small or large groups go to a place to actively listen for a given amount of time- let's say 1-3 minutes. After the listening event, the students take notes on paper of what sounds they experienced and discussion is had. If possible, a recording of the event is played back repeatedly. This can be done anywhere, but finding a great, colorful spot (many layers of soft and intermittent sounds) would be nice, as well as a much more mundane environment.

These above exercises are bedrock experiences in listening that will enhance any "music" that follows.

A fundamental musical experience:
Time: Maintaining a Rhythm:
Establishing a short-lived rhythm is usually not a huge challenge- maintaining it over a span of time usually is. As solos and as groups students will produce extremely simple rhythms (beginning with 2 sounds arranged in short phrases of 4 pulse length) using hand or mallet percussion and challenge themselves to not stray from tempo or rhythmic structure. Complexity is ratcheted up, demanding higher and higher concentration. This experience will teach students to raise their level of engagement with their bodies and aspects of the sounds they produce.

*************
On "commemoration of emotions"/ the emotional content in art/ music:
I have to raise a question to this as a default presupposition.
In my experience, that happens rarely in the creative process and only slightly less rarely in the moment of receiving. In my experience there are many more times when the creative process is simply that moment of being present with the materials/ getting out of the way. I see creating as a thing to simply do- a process-based mindset to enter without referent to product or "inspiration". Getting into it. Being engrossed. Being there with the materials. Seeing a show or an art object is a moment to appreciate another person's beautiful moment of creativity/ presence.

The emotional content piece is valid, but only as one of many angles.

I feel it's important to include that not all pieces of art work carry a "meaning" or were intended to "express" anything or that they do in fact do that. Framing the subject is crucial- I am uncomfortable with limiting "art" as a goal-oriented communication.

I am not entirely comfortable with going down the path of ascribing emotional meaning to art objects or Beethoven pieces or Hank songs. It's never made sense to me. Sensual experience of anything is subjective and complex- this angle has always seemed limited to me. It has always seemed a distraction from the immediate, fundamental sensual experience- that of luscious sensation. Writing "meaning" on top of a flavor or a color or a sound or any sensation is to leave the mental/ experiential place where the action is- the world is happening! It smells and is noisy and has shape we can see and touch and taste.

The Hank Williams song you mentioned does have lonely/ sorrowful lyrics (like most of his songs), but the music is actually not so much of that feel- it's a danceable major-key waltz. Other words could be written for that exact music and it would be a "happy" song. The issue I have is that the sound is being ignored for the sake of the text of the lyric. That reading of the song would work just fine in a literature class, but I feel limited using this model in a music class.

I get the therapy angle, but I don't want to lose the fundamental of experience angle.

The musician is perhaps the most modest of animals, but he is also the proudest. It is he who invented the sublime art of ruining poetry.

-Erik Satie

Some Thoughts...

A few of us at TAS are involved in developing not just the art and music program, but the Contemplative Education program as well.

The two programs have some overlap: in the art and music programs the idea is to push kids out of the perspective that art is something one “produces and consumes” and rather that it is a way of being deeply engaged with the world. The contemplative ed curriculum seeks to cultivate a small group of students who dedicate a school year to consistent mindfulness practice during the school day, which includes supporting each other in that practice and taking part in trainings to deepen that practice. I would like to bring in former students to discuss the ways that they use mindfulness in their own lives, as well as monks and teachers and practitioners of various modalities.

An important part of both of these programs is “seeing and listening”. A relaxed, meditative “taking in” of what is happening around oneself is in itself an integrative experience. We tend to analyze things first- put them in context, break down and seperate the elements of the experience, before we actually take the whole thing in consciously. Rather like when someone is talking to me and I focus just on the logic or the pausibility of their statements, missing the emotional tone, or the communicative intent of the things she is saying.

We do this with the arts all the time. It seems that most people who are not trained in one art or the other tend to like things for reasons that aren’t all that clear to themselves, and as such, attibute it to “taste”, which is a fairly passive way of experiencing something. They don’t analyze much at all. A lot of trained artists over-analyze, and are so busy contextualizing that they miss a more direct, communicative experience.

By learning to relax and observe more holistically as one experiences a film, or a painting, or a poem, or a piece of music, one has the whole experience available for later analysis, certainly, but also for later experience- in the sense that the experience is there for the mind to draw rich analogies to and from as new experiences trickle in.
This is an integrative experience. I am coming to believe that all experiences like these strengthen the brain’s ability to integrate new experiences and re-integrate old ones. And integration- neurologically speaking- is the main task for an adolescent.

That is the key to these programs: to ground them in the goal of integrative experiences. First, a relaxed, accepting awareness. Second, a physical, skillful application of materials. Third, the sharing with others. Self-awareness-> Skills-> Relationships.

The sharing with others is the feedback loop being completed, an important stage of integration which is the external representation of an internal process. There are parallels to therapy, where the stages of the deepening therapeutic relationship and the slow exposition of painful material is the indicator of the neural integration of painful past experiences.

Being a part of a community is a deeply healing experience. In a psychological or emotional or spiritual sense I presume "healing" to mean neurological integration. Art is the expression of a community. And for healing to happen, the experience must be shared. It includes others. It must. No one "heals" in isolation.

Thus, Art.

Some workshop ideas

Here is a proposal:

Four workshops for the entire school to participate in. The goal is to connect the visual, the musical, and the subjective, immediate experience of creating. Students will be in small groups and hopefully a few graduates and former students can help facilitate them.

These workshops are just ideas, starting points, drawn from a discussion I had with Buffy:


wrkshop #1: one hour, September. Students, armed with japanese ink and brush will be asked to practice evoking a particular sensation, for instance a rain storm, and then painting (quickly) how it feels. After a few iterations of this, each student will be asked to sit facing another student, and will paint that person’s portrait, without looking at the paper.

wrkshop #2: one hour, October. Students will be asked to revisit workshop #1 briefly. They would then be asked to represent a melody they hear in terms of line on large sheets of paper. We might add color and texture as well.

wrkshop #3: longer, maybe 1.5 hours, November. This is an exercise from the Creative Audience concept, developed by John Daido Loori. Students would draw something quickly with charcoal. The student’s partner glances at it quickly, and closes her eyes. She then reflects upon it, and relates back how she felt while reflecting upon it. The artist then relates his experience of creating the piece.

This all would be leading to the dulcimer building workshop in February that Vic and I conduct. A fourth workshop would be a little more music oriented, and would happen in January.

Please keep in mind that these are VERY sketchy. I haven't gone back and reread Daido Loori's book nor have I looked too hard for other exercises. Please suggest some if you know of some.

notes from Vic

my short list of goals-
** an overall focus on making art and music available to all students at
any technical level (scheduling activities that, by design, allow any
student to produce satisfying results).
** inspiring students to actively include creative (music/ art) and
meditative activities (practicing/ creating) into their ongoing lives.
** encouraging students towards a broader appreciation/ approach to their
art form.
** expanding the known universe- introducing students to diverse modes of
expression.
** providing access to facilities (studio space).
** providing technical skills needed for expression in a given art form.
** i would be most jolly with a focus on contemporary art (inherent form/
abstraction/ improvisation/ challenging the form) and allow for these
concepts to be explored in all media- art/ music/ dance, etc. and stuff
like that. sort of thing.

A good point from a friend, a working artist...

What is art? Who knows!

A piece of art can invoke an emotional sensation. A kid can learn to channel their emotions into a drawing, painting, sculpture, theatre, piece of music etc. A kid can learn to recognize that he felt an emotional response was stirred while seeing or hearing art.

In education, I guess the first step would be to help the kid learn to recognize their emotions and then you can prove to him that a similar feeling of outrage, desperateness, loneliness, joy, love, desire was felt by another human being in the past-- the proof being the artwork that commemorates that emotion.

Then you can give him the skills and tools to build a commemoration of his own emotions. I think the first step is to prove that something other than words exist to communicate and learning to recognize art when he is confronted by it.

What are we doing?

The TAS art and music program is in strong restructuring phase. Unlike, say, the Math Curriculum, the art curriculum has become a bit ad hoc. Productive and enjoyable, but hardly the kind of philosophically coherent experience we would all prefer. On this blog, open for all to see, will be (hopefully) the working out of the various problems we face in creating it.

Too many people see art as either something that other, talented people do, or something that is consumed like any other product. Both of those statements are true to an extent: other, talented people do make art and we do consume it in the form of exhibitions, books, reproductions, recordings, and so forth. But instead of seeing genius as something remote, perhaps we should look at exceptional, almost beyond-human artists such as Picasso as gates to our own world. They are teaching us to see, to hear, to taste.

If we merely buy posters or mp3's and they serve only as background or to heighten or memorialize certain experiences, then what are they? They are products, no more. But if an interesting meal inspires you to become more involved in how and what you eat for weeks at a time, than that is something far more.

Our art and music program should point in one direction: that our students become deeply engaged in the materials that make up our lives: light, sound, time, speech, food, relationships, space...

I believe we all experience this quality of engagement on occasion. It is a form of enlightenment- it passes quickly and cannot be held onto, but it happens. Let's have it happen over and over.

Individual Instruction

The primary purpose of music instruction is to establish basic skills for those students who do not have them. Unfortunately, an awful lot of guitar lessons are not particularly musical, in the sense of dealing with musical problems. An analogy would be if one took drawing lessons only to the end of being able to draw pictures of kitty-cats, and never once grapple with problems of perspective or tonal harmony.
With that in mind I see these as the basic skills in music:

Listening closely for structure: understanding the role of melody, harmony, rhythm, and space
Creating melody
Playing basic chords on guitar and piano, especially understanding the role of minor and 7ths
Playing basic rhythm

From there, one proceeds to basic technique in guitar. This would be developed much more significantly by Vic during his visits to TAS

After basic skills, come basic composition, teaching compositions to others, performing with others, and basic improvisation with others. These would be mostly dealt with in the workshops.

A third part would be for students who desire to play in public. A goal could be performing at the winter fundraiser and at an end of the school year event.

Posting

Anyone can read this blog. Anyone can comment on the posts. To write posts, you will need a google or blogger account. If you haven't received an invite, let me know.

pete

Some Thinking Aloud

Art: I see five dimensions in the art program:

basic skills (perception and execution)
public display (self-composure, communication)
self-exploration (self-awareness, being a creative audience)
communication (intent, awareness of the audience's subjective experience)
historical context (arts relating to other arts and historical epochs)
crossover with other arts (ways that arts effect each other and interact)

Let us get to work...

Erik is wondering about us. It is time to get some things done. A picture of Satie is just right because Paris in the pre-war years was the apex of the many arts influencing each other. Picasso often walked with Satie from the dingy suburbs into the city; Satie wrote cubist music with oddball, strikingly visual, titles. Along with Cocteau and Diagliev, they launched some pretty radical theater and ballet. Satie earned his living playing in can-can and caberet clubs, it was only later that his friends made him famous.
So, for now, he's the patron saint. And remember: there is a big Kandinsky show opening in NYC this September...

Music Curriculum, first version

Playing music is not for everybody, on the other hand, should we require an introduction to music class? Or is the music program just one part of the art curriculum, a subsection? We are talking about creating a fair amount of visual-aural crossover, so how do we do it?

I have sketched out the intro to music class I will be teaching this fall, so perhaps this is a place to start. I am using pieces of music that I am very familiar with, and using some of the same musicians in different contexts to build familiarity with personal style and aesthetic choices. If anybody has suggestions, please post them. But more helpful would be posting ideas about cross over from OTHER classes, especially visual art.

The approach I have settled on is to organize music into categories of purpose, with vivid examples from multiple traditions. Students will be expected to be able to identify and describe the most prominent features of each.

For instance:

Soaring Music (the Devotional): Black Gospel ("Give Me Wings", "Daniel in the Lions' Den"); Pierre de la Rue (Motets); John Coltrane Quartet ("A Love Supreme"); Milton Cardona ("Bembe"- a fantastic afro-cuban CD- the rites of Santeria)

Intense and Labile Music (the Romantic): this is music that emphasizes more of an individual's emotional world, rather than the ecstatic, transpersonal longing of the Devotional. Beethoven ("Sonata Pathetique"); Hank Williams ("I Feel So Lonesome I Could Cry"); Joni Mitchell ("Blue"); Amalia (various Portuguese Fado performances).

Proportional Music (the Classical): this is music where structure and the balanced introduction of material is the overarch characteristic. Haydn ("Erdody Quartet"); Chinese Classical ("Guang Lin San", "Ping Sha Luo Ya"); Bimsen Joshi (Indian Classical, "Rag Todi")

Purposeful Music (the Programmatic): obviously, music for specific occasions or purposes. John Phillip Sousa, traditional sea shanties, the soundtrack to 2001

Experimental Music (the Provocative): music written to get the audience to listen in a new way. Erik Satie ("Vexations"); Henry Cowell ("Exaultation"); John Cage ("Sonatas and Interludes"); Captain Beefheart ("Trout Mask Replica"); John Zorn; Sonic Youth; Albert Ayler; etc etc.

Part Two of the class would look at structure- Songs, Improvisation, Composition. It would then break down the elements of musical form to Melody, Rhythm, Harmony, Space.

It is very unlikely that we would make it to Part Three, which would be a look at a number of pre-rock American Genres such as Swing, the Great American Songbook, Delta Blues, New Orleans Jazz, Gospel, Soul, early Country, and regional folk musics.

There it is. What next?

Confusion?

Vic, like many, you seem to be a victim of my lack of clarity. I take it that you don't understand the (albeit developing) concept of "emotional listening"...

Quoting myself:

Emotional listening would be along the lines of paying deep attention to the subjective experience of a performance or piece of music.


We all do this, to an extent. What I am trying to describe is this skill:

Listening openly, without judging or categorizing
Observing my response- emotions, physical sensations, memories
Continuing to observe my response, without analyzing or judging my response
Expressing that response through music, poetry, painting

(edit for clarity)

pr

The big and little pictures...

(deep breath!) There are four tributaries converging here:

• the music workshop. how many hours per day, what are the skills being taught, how are these being related to cognitive and emotional goals, what are the performance goals...
• the year-round music program which will perhaps involve types of listening (analytic, emotional) , types of performance (solo, duo, group), singing, music history, instrument building and repair, world music, and a webcasting radio station.
• the arts program which will be have a couple of levels of involvement, but will of course emphasize use of materials, the intimate relationship between audience and artist, history, and the contemplative dimension of drawing and painting.
• the over-arching development of contemplative practice at TAS, which students may enter through Zen, art, Shim Gum Do practice, community involvement, or all of these.

More from Vic

my main question is about what the focus is and how much time there is to
work with.  if it's an hour a day sort of thing then that helps me to better
design what they'll be building and figure on how much of the work i'll need
to do ahead of time for them- making kits for them to assemble- that sort of
thing.

if it's a longer building session more can be done (and designed) by them
and the instrument making thing can take on more dimension- talking about
what makes it work- the effect of materials- amplifying- all that.  if we're
having shorter building sessions sharper focusing can be done.

the raw logistical things help me to form my ideas- how much time/ space/
how many people. if the focus of the week is best on music making and higher
functions there is is likely best to make the instrument making super simple
...that can be done.

if necessary, i think we could have instruments built and ready to use after
a minimum of 2 or 3 hours of assembly.
how long do they build/ explore and adjust/ compose on/ teach the
instruments?
who's in the room?  how many students/ teachers?

vr

More from Vic

my main question is about what the focus is and how much time there is to
work with.  if it's an hour a day sort of thing then that helps me to better
design what they'll be building and figure on how much of the work i'll need
to do ahead of time for them- making kits for them to assemble- that sort of
thing.

if it's a longer building session more can be done (and designed) by them
and the instrument making thing can take on more dimension- talking about
what makes it work- the effect of materials- amplifying- all that.  if we're
having shorter building sessions sharper focusing can be done.

the raw logistical things help me to form my ideas- how much time/ space/
how many people. if the focus of the week is best on music making and higher
functions there is is likely best to make the instrument making super simple
...that can be done.

if necessary, i think we could have instruments built and ready to use after
a minimum of 2 or 3 hours of assembly.
how long do they build/ explore and adjust/ compose on/ teach the
instruments?
who's in the room?  how many students/ teachers?

Some Perspective Taking

 I'm mostly concerned with the focus and scope and the
project- if we're going to build i think it will need to have more time in
the workshop.  in your comment it looked as if you were suggesting that in
one hour on monday 5-10 students would complete instruments- absolutely not
possible even in the best imaginable shop.

i am also suspect of setting out too firm of a schedule- i'd like to have a
solid idea of how to start, a good idea of where we want to lead and a
flexible approach to how things will progress in time.

i think it's important not to rush anything for the students- i would like
there to be too much time (easy to fill by exploring) rather than not
enough.

lots to discuss- i'd prefer to talk in real time.

vr

Comments: Reposted...

There is a third way of listening, I think.

* Background/passive/party listening
* musical/structural listening
* EMOTIONAL listening

Emotional listening would be along the lines of paying deep attention to the subjective experience of a performance or piece of music. Basically:

"What is your internal/subjective correlate to the piece of music?"

Not simply "how does it make you feel", but the immediate experience of FEELING that the music evokes and how it changes. Simple words are not adequate. Action, response, responding with poetry, music, drawing, movement. Communicating WITH the performer or composer. Not simply "consuming" and not complex-ly "analyzing".

2ish ways of listening...and more

hey all-
lots to respond to.

i see 2 ways of listening-
*party- to listen and just simply enjoy (passive/ textural experience) basic consuming
*active/ musicianly- to be hearing structure and patterns as a dominant part of the experience

a great overall goal of the music program is to bring people (serious music students and lay people alike) closer to the latter category.

lesson ideas- ---have students participate with the sound they are used to passively consuming

***students bring a song [or just start right in with any ramones song (my fave of the moment- sheena is a punk rocker)]- it gets used/ analyzed for structure. pick it apart as if it were a lesson for actually learning how to play it. include discussion (specific examples in the song) of structure/ form (building/ releasing tension, repetition, chord structures, verse/ chorus)

***find the basic rhythmic pulse, ask student to maintain this (extremely simple) rhythm (simply tapping the table/ book) through the song (tapping along with recording) beginning to end- very important to go all the way through the song- we're working on shifting the essential way the student relates to time and to get them to actively participate/ break the barrier.

***find a simple bass line (one that represents the chord structure) and teacher plays this through the song. if possible, go for having students do the same (or just come in on the chorus) on 1- or 2-string guitar/ bass. coming in on cue will be a good test of being there with the music and will emphasize the function of the chorus.


getting students to record is a great thing- gotta make the technology super simple. immediate. people say "garage band" is easy for this, but as of now i have no experience to offer (but i bet this would be good). starting with cassettes would work and be low-pressure.


webcasting radio stations- could be great. would involve good material on learning the computer/ microphone. could be a great hook to draw in students.

• paired playing and composing at the piano-------great stuff. does wonders. i like the idea of having one pair teach another pair to do their thing. there's something about working in a group (pair) that makes more structure happen (would likely make the compositions easier to learn).
  

• beginning guitar instruction----also great. bass too. and dare i say it- drums...
  

• group singing, led by a current student----yes-do it if there's interest. have sporadic visits from a voice teacher.
  

• the instrument workshop------i am interested in getting ideas from all people. tell me more about the audience idea.
  

• Vic's other visits for guitar, banjo, mandolin, etc-----i'm hoping for 3 or 4 visits/ year. happy to fill in where my knowledge helps most. want to make the sound-oriented event be more approachable- would like suggestions/feedback on that.
  

• outside instrument instructors (for an extra fee)---getting more happening is good. yes. follow the interest.
  

blogging!
vic

The Whole Music Program

So, we've got a problem. I have had some success with having two kids work as a team on the piano, playing different parts of one of their own compositions. Actually, quite a bit of success. On the other hand, I am really limited in what singing I can do (only for now, hopefully), and my guitar playing is not sophisticated. I am beginning to play guitar again.
How do we approach a year round program? I think one thing might be bringing in a guitar teacher. He or she would have to be good with technique and more interested in sound than just songs. But I do know a guy who is a good "song" teacher- you know him- who the kids would find satisfying. But he isn't so sonic oriented. But he knows recording pretty well...so maybe it is a good idea?

The other thing is this idea of webcasting a radio station. Perhaps I could get a listening workshop going in the spring that would be something like having students make CDs or playlists of musics in different genres... pre-romantic classical, be-bop, sixties rock, etc. That plus the recording skills might attract some students.

Additionally, our audience for the instrument workshop could be a non-musician feedback group. I have some text I will post on this idea of the "creative audience".

Here are some elements to consider for the music program:

• paired playing and composing at the piano
• beginning guitar instruction
• group singing, led by a current student
• the instrument workshop
• Vic's other visits for guitar, banjo, mandolin, etc
• composing-teaching the compostion-performing
• outside instrument instructors (for an extra fee)
  

I left my notes at home

But...some quick thoughts:

first, we must rethink the entire art program. Goals?

• That our students shift from seeing the arts as a consumer/producer relationship to
  it being communal, expressive, spontaneous
• That they understand the role of form and the use of materials but never lose their sense of play.

As for music, I see us as developing several lines of study:

instrument maker-->who composes a tune-->teaches it -->hears it back
deep listener of many musics--> can we start an online radio station?
piano player primitive who understands tone and mood, and the several dimensions
of music e.g. rhythm, register, harmony, melody

Pete

thoughts on the instruments

hey all-

i'm looking forward to the instrument building week. as of now, it's likely to be a lot of strings.

as it is i've been thinking mostly of monocords and harps. dulcimers or lap steels could be great too. tools will be drills and saws and files and it'll all be super straight-forward. simple construction and a focus on the essential function of the instruments. also- i'll bring some pickups for students to try out- magnetic and transducers.

the instruments will be assembled on boards in a very simple and elemental way- want to be able to focus on the idea of music/ instruments rather than the craft end, though that will obviously be in there too.

i'm hoping that the experience/ process of conceiving and making music and then creating instruments to do that with will be the real lesson- i'm basing lots of this on the idea of court composers having musicians and instrument makers on staff. chicken and egg- instruments/ music. i predict students will modify their designs many times.

we'll need lots of zither pins (like on an auto harp/ piano) will be needed...and a tuning wrench. i have a source for these.

i'll bring my books and some sketches of my own and the specialized tools and materials we'll need.

we'll need to use a decent power drill- is there one available?

it's good for me to have an idea at this point of the scale of the project- any estimate of the number of students interested in the project would be great (for the purposes of ordering materials) as well as how much time is available.

looking forward!

vic