Friday, October 8, 2010
Silent Night
On most nights, by midnight I would be too tired to play. Even in college, I don't think I practiced that late. But on many Christmas eves, I'm in church to play Silent Night just before the end of the service. The lights dim, and people pass flames from their candles along the pews. We usually play in D, so it's in a low, singing part of the oboe. I always hope I have a reed that will do it justice. It's at the same time very solitary and very connected. I focus on playing each note well - both in time and in tune, and on playing in a way that will feel natural and peaceful to the congregation when they sing. I feel connected to the other people in the service, and I want the final notes in the room to be the most beautiful I'm capable of playing. But I'm not playing for a conductor, or a teacher, or a judge, and I won't leave the service hoping it would be considered a good performance. Unless I struggle with the mechanics of the instrument, more than any other time I play, I just enjoy the experience in the moment that it's happening. And though I've done it for many years, in it's own way, it is always a pivotal experience. The next time I play with an ensemble, I will still sit on the front of my chair, count with my fingers on my leg, and remind myself to relax and breathe when I have something hard to play; but I will try to take some of the in the moment playing from Silent Night and let it be part of the pieces and places where it doesn't come as easily.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Art Escape - Washington DC
This trip was a great experience. The last time I rode a train in the US, I was nine and rode from Atlanta to Chicago, but the year I worked in Italy I rode the train often, and it was one of my favorite parts of being there. What I liked about it in Europe was the built in down time to think, and watching the scenery. What I looked forward to most about this trip was another chance to get to know the other teachers.
It has worked out for me in the Cohort that I’ve spent most of my time with the string group, which in a lot of ways has been great. They’re fun to be around, and it gives me a different perspective. The person I sat with on the train was also an orchestra person, and had never been to DC before. I’ve been several times, but always with either a school group or with someone who knows their way around, so this was a chance for me to really get my bearings. We decided to focus on the Museum of American Art and the Hirshhorn Museum, but to also at least walk through the other major museums on the mall so she would get a taste of what is there.
When we went to the dining car Friday night, there was one seat in a booth with three other APS teachers, and just across from that was one seat with a couple and a single woman, not with the group. I took that seat and had an interesting conversation with the lady I sat beside. She was taking the train from Tuscaloosa, AL to Greenville, SC. I never thought about being able to do that. I knew you could take the train from New Orleans to Atlanta, then up to DC and NY, but I never thought about using it for the intermediate stops. She had been to visit friends and was on her way home. She seemed like maybe she had had a hard life, but also an interesting one, including some time living in Panama. When the couple across the table left, two other teachers from the Cohort sat down. They both teach in a school near one of mine, and it was another chance to have a conversation outside of a meeting or concert.
I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would Saturday morning. All in all, a berth would probably have been more comfortable, but the seats are pretty spacious. Once we got off at Union Station, the group going to Anacostia took a cab, and everyone else headed out on foot. Being able to walk and use public transportation is one of the many things I love about going to DC. We started out at the Museum of American Art, but found out it didn’t open until 11:30, so we walked back to the Museum of Natural History. That was never one of my favorites when I was younger, but I really enjoyed it this time. I spent most of the time I was there in the area about the very early years of life on earth. A big picture concept I had never really thought about was that the organisms that developed first had to generate and build up oxygen in the air over a long period of time before it would become hospitable to larger organisms. Maybe that wasn’t in my eighth grade earth science book…
Back at the Museum of American Art, we spent time in the gallery where the portraits of the presidents hang. I learned that, by marriage, I share the same last name as the man who painted the famous George Washington portrait (Gilbert Stuart). All of the portraits were traditional except for the one of Bill Clinton. From there we went to the section on civil rights, and then a section with modern-looking sculptures. At that point, hunger set in and we walked to the National Art Gallery for lunch. I know there are probably other good places to eat on the mall, and in fact someone on the train back said the food at the American Indian Museum was great, but I tend to be a creature of habit with things like that. I think the food is really good, and I like to sit next to the glass wall with the water cascading over it. It’s sort of a peaceful break in the middle of the day. We didn’t actually spend any time in the gallery itself, and in looking at the Smithsonian guide discovered it isn’t actually part of the Smithsonian. We wanted to spend time in the Freer and Hirshhorn galleries, so we stopped at the Freer Museum first. I’ve never spent much time looking at Asian art, but my roommate from Italy is an artist (painting, quilting) and recommended that we see the Peacock Room. It was beautiful, and probably not something I would have gone into if she hadn’t recommended it. The Hirshhorn Museum was very spacious, which I liked. I wondered if I would connect with the paintings more if I had at some point made an attempt to develop that skill. It’s not a gift I think I have, but what Daniel Pink was able to do in a week’s class with his before and after self-portraits makes me wonder if I might be able to learn more than I think. I generally connect with music much more easily, but it may be just because it’s something I can relate to creating.
From that point, it was sort of a mission of time and space. We spent about 30 minutes each in the Museum of American History and the Air and Space Museum. Both were more crowded than I remembered from last time I was there. We saw the Star Spangled Banner, which I think used to hang in the entry way. We walked through the instrument section and saw the Stradavari quintet. It’s cool to get to see the instruments, but I really hope someone plays them often. It would seem like a waste not to.
I’m usually really interested in the airplanes, but by the time we got to the Air and Space Museum, we were both tired. I checked the movie times just on the off chance we could see “To Fly”, but it would have been too late. We ran into someone from the group there, then someone else on the way back to the station. Once we boarded the train, everyone seemed to settle in pretty quickly. I was hungry, but didn’t have the energy to go to the dining car and talk, so I settled for a bag of pretzels. Sleeping going back was about like going up. If they could just make the seats lie flat…
I enjoyed being able to look out as we went through north Georgia. I wouldn’t want to travel that way every weekend, but for this kind of experience I thought it was great. It provided three things that are important in getting to know people: time, space, and shared experience. Even if we don’t’ get to see each other again for months, we will have that in common.
It has worked out for me in the Cohort that I’ve spent most of my time with the string group, which in a lot of ways has been great. They’re fun to be around, and it gives me a different perspective. The person I sat with on the train was also an orchestra person, and had never been to DC before. I’ve been several times, but always with either a school group or with someone who knows their way around, so this was a chance for me to really get my bearings. We decided to focus on the Museum of American Art and the Hirshhorn Museum, but to also at least walk through the other major museums on the mall so she would get a taste of what is there.
When we went to the dining car Friday night, there was one seat in a booth with three other APS teachers, and just across from that was one seat with a couple and a single woman, not with the group. I took that seat and had an interesting conversation with the lady I sat beside. She was taking the train from Tuscaloosa, AL to Greenville, SC. I never thought about being able to do that. I knew you could take the train from New Orleans to Atlanta, then up to DC and NY, but I never thought about using it for the intermediate stops. She had been to visit friends and was on her way home. She seemed like maybe she had had a hard life, but also an interesting one, including some time living in Panama. When the couple across the table left, two other teachers from the Cohort sat down. They both teach in a school near one of mine, and it was another chance to have a conversation outside of a meeting or concert.
I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would Saturday morning. All in all, a berth would probably have been more comfortable, but the seats are pretty spacious. Once we got off at Union Station, the group going to Anacostia took a cab, and everyone else headed out on foot. Being able to walk and use public transportation is one of the many things I love about going to DC. We started out at the Museum of American Art, but found out it didn’t open until 11:30, so we walked back to the Museum of Natural History. That was never one of my favorites when I was younger, but I really enjoyed it this time. I spent most of the time I was there in the area about the very early years of life on earth. A big picture concept I had never really thought about was that the organisms that developed first had to generate and build up oxygen in the air over a long period of time before it would become hospitable to larger organisms. Maybe that wasn’t in my eighth grade earth science book…
Back at the Museum of American Art, we spent time in the gallery where the portraits of the presidents hang. I learned that, by marriage, I share the same last name as the man who painted the famous George Washington portrait (Gilbert Stuart). All of the portraits were traditional except for the one of Bill Clinton. From there we went to the section on civil rights, and then a section with modern-looking sculptures. At that point, hunger set in and we walked to the National Art Gallery for lunch. I know there are probably other good places to eat on the mall, and in fact someone on the train back said the food at the American Indian Museum was great, but I tend to be a creature of habit with things like that. I think the food is really good, and I like to sit next to the glass wall with the water cascading over it. It’s sort of a peaceful break in the middle of the day. We didn’t actually spend any time in the gallery itself, and in looking at the Smithsonian guide discovered it isn’t actually part of the Smithsonian. We wanted to spend time in the Freer and Hirshhorn galleries, so we stopped at the Freer Museum first. I’ve never spent much time looking at Asian art, but my roommate from Italy is an artist (painting, quilting) and recommended that we see the Peacock Room. It was beautiful, and probably not something I would have gone into if she hadn’t recommended it. The Hirshhorn Museum was very spacious, which I liked. I wondered if I would connect with the paintings more if I had at some point made an attempt to develop that skill. It’s not a gift I think I have, but what Daniel Pink was able to do in a week’s class with his before and after self-portraits makes me wonder if I might be able to learn more than I think. I generally connect with music much more easily, but it may be just because it’s something I can relate to creating.
From that point, it was sort of a mission of time and space. We spent about 30 minutes each in the Museum of American History and the Air and Space Museum. Both were more crowded than I remembered from last time I was there. We saw the Star Spangled Banner, which I think used to hang in the entry way. We walked through the instrument section and saw the Stradavari quintet. It’s cool to get to see the instruments, but I really hope someone plays them often. It would seem like a waste not to.
I’m usually really interested in the airplanes, but by the time we got to the Air and Space Museum, we were both tired. I checked the movie times just on the off chance we could see “To Fly”, but it would have been too late. We ran into someone from the group there, then someone else on the way back to the station. Once we boarded the train, everyone seemed to settle in pretty quickly. I was hungry, but didn’t have the energy to go to the dining car and talk, so I settled for a bag of pretzels. Sleeping going back was about like going up. If they could just make the seats lie flat…
I enjoyed being able to look out as we went through north Georgia. I wouldn’t want to travel that way every weekend, but for this kind of experience I thought it was great. It provided three things that are important in getting to know people: time, space, and shared experience. Even if we don’t’ get to see each other again for months, we will have that in common.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Action Research Project outline
Problem
In schools where students have band once or twice a week in the afternoon in a non-traditional classroom space, focus is often not optimal. Most of the students are beginners with regard to reading music, but they do not learn at the same pace. Students who learn less quickly and are not able to read and play the song flute sometimes become disruptive while students who learn more quickly get frustrated if the pace of the class is slow.
Domain / Design
Of twenty 4th grade band students at one of my schools, six students work well and have made good progress in a group, so I will continue to see them once per week in that setting, and they will not be part of this project. Starting April 28th (after the CRCT is completed), I will split the remaining fourteen into two groups. I will continue to see seven of the students once per week for thirty minutes in a group, and the other seven once per week for an individual five minute lesson. Barring school interruptions, I will see each group for five weeks, concluding on May 28th (I am at this school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons.) I will give a short pre-test and post-test to evaluate reading music and song flute skills to compare progress in the two groups.
In schools where students have band once or twice a week in the afternoon in a non-traditional classroom space, focus is often not optimal. Most of the students are beginners with regard to reading music, but they do not learn at the same pace. Students who learn less quickly and are not able to read and play the song flute sometimes become disruptive while students who learn more quickly get frustrated if the pace of the class is slow.
Domain / Design
Of twenty 4th grade band students at one of my schools, six students work well and have made good progress in a group, so I will continue to see them once per week in that setting, and they will not be part of this project. Starting April 28th (after the CRCT is completed), I will split the remaining fourteen into two groups. I will continue to see seven of the students once per week for thirty minutes in a group, and the other seven once per week for an individual five minute lesson. Barring school interruptions, I will see each group for five weeks, concluding on May 28th (I am at this school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons.) I will give a short pre-test and post-test to evaluate reading music and song flute skills to compare progress in the two groups.
Resume
Elizabeth (Betsy) Wilder Stuart
_______________________________________
Education
University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina
Master of Music Education, May 1994
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
Bachelor of Music in Music Education, June 1991
Jonesboro Senior High School, Jonesboro, Georgia, June 1986
Teaching Experience
Teacher, Elementary Band
Centennial Place, Hutchinson and Boyd Elementary
Atlanta Public Schools
July 2009 - Present
Teacher, Secondary Performing Arts
American School of Milan, Italy
August 2006 – June 2007
Instruction for band, chorus, strings, piano and drama classes in grades six through twelve
Organization and direction of two school-wide performances of The Sound of Music
Band Director
Pinckneyville Middle School, Gwinnett County, Georgia
August 1997 - June 2001
Six band classes daily, weekly jazz band and weekly combined-grade band
School and community performances and enrichment activities
Organizer and host for GMEA District 13 Middle School All-State Band Auditions
Over-night travel for students to St. Louis, MO and Charlotte, NC
Teacher, General Music
Adamson Middle School, Clayton County, Georgia
August 1996 - June 1997
Daily general music / piano lab classes in grades six through eight
Substitute Band Director
Eagles Landing High School, Henry County, Georgia
September 1994 - November 1994
Instruction for band, guitar and music theory classes
Direction of after school marching band rehearsals
Continuing Education
Georgia State University Choral Conducing Workshop
June 2006, Alan Raines, Director
Ohio State University String Teacher Workshop
July 2006, Robert Gillespie, Director
Other Work Experience
Administrative Coordinator
Georgia Institute of Technology, Nanotechnology Research Center
June 2008 – June 2009
Communication with researchers interested in becoming users of the facility
Coordination of clean room orientation classes
Travel arrangements for faculty and staff
Survivor Benefits Coordinator
Delta Air Lines Employee Service Center
February 2003 – August 2006
Calculation of survivor income and retirement payments
Research of Delta and government benefit plans
Testing of calculation system for accuracy and plan compliance
Tier 1 Representative
Delta Air Lines Employee Service Center
September 2001 – January 2003
Response to inquiries regarding insurance, retirement, disability and travel benefits
Airport Customer Service Agent , Delta Air Lines
January 1995 - December 1995
Graduate Assistant, University of South Carolina Bands
July 1992 - May 1994
Room Attendant, Yellowstone National Park
August – October 1991
Customer Service, Chick-fil-A Southlake Mall, Morrow GA
June 1986 – December 1991
Academic Honors
Phi Kappa Phi, August 1991
Golden Key Honor Society, Spring 1990
Pi Kappa Lambda Honorary Music Society, Spring 1990
Dean’s List, University of Georgia, 1986 – 1990
Georgia Governor’s Honors Program, 1985
Georgia All-State Band, Orchestra and Chorus Participant
All-State Piano Soloist
Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra,
_______________________________________
Education
University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina
Master of Music Education, May 1994
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
Bachelor of Music in Music Education, June 1991
Jonesboro Senior High School, Jonesboro, Georgia, June 1986
Teaching Experience
Teacher, Elementary Band
Centennial Place, Hutchinson and Boyd Elementary
Atlanta Public Schools
July 2009 - Present
Teacher, Secondary Performing Arts
American School of Milan, Italy
August 2006 – June 2007
Instruction for band, chorus, strings, piano and drama classes in grades six through twelve
Organization and direction of two school-wide performances of The Sound of Music
Band Director
Pinckneyville Middle School, Gwinnett County, Georgia
August 1997 - June 2001
Six band classes daily, weekly jazz band and weekly combined-grade band
School and community performances and enrichment activities
Organizer and host for GMEA District 13 Middle School All-State Band Auditions
Over-night travel for students to St. Louis, MO and Charlotte, NC
Teacher, General Music
Adamson Middle School, Clayton County, Georgia
August 1996 - June 1997
Daily general music / piano lab classes in grades six through eight
Substitute Band Director
Eagles Landing High School, Henry County, Georgia
September 1994 - November 1994
Instruction for band, guitar and music theory classes
Direction of after school marching band rehearsals
Continuing Education
Georgia State University Choral Conducing Workshop
June 2006, Alan Raines, Director
Ohio State University String Teacher Workshop
July 2006, Robert Gillespie, Director
Other Work Experience
Administrative Coordinator
Georgia Institute of Technology, Nanotechnology Research Center
June 2008 – June 2009
Communication with researchers interested in becoming users of the facility
Coordination of clean room orientation classes
Travel arrangements for faculty and staff
Survivor Benefits Coordinator
Delta Air Lines Employee Service Center
February 2003 – August 2006
Calculation of survivor income and retirement payments
Research of Delta and government benefit plans
Testing of calculation system for accuracy and plan compliance
Tier 1 Representative
Delta Air Lines Employee Service Center
September 2001 – January 2003
Response to inquiries regarding insurance, retirement, disability and travel benefits
Airport Customer Service Agent , Delta Air Lines
January 1995 - December 1995
Graduate Assistant, University of South Carolina Bands
July 1992 - May 1994
Room Attendant, Yellowstone National Park
August – October 1991
Customer Service, Chick-fil-A Southlake Mall, Morrow GA
June 1986 – December 1991
Academic Honors
Phi Kappa Phi, August 1991
Golden Key Honor Society, Spring 1990
Pi Kappa Lambda Honorary Music Society, Spring 1990
Dean’s List, University of Georgia, 1986 – 1990
Georgia Governor’s Honors Program, 1985
Georgia All-State Band, Orchestra and Chorus Participant
All-State Piano Soloist
Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra,
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Story
Tonight was the APS String Fling. It was organized by a friend and colleague, and I live near Grady HS, so I went and had a great time. Even though I’ve been to many more school band concerts than string concerts, it felt comfortable in the way that sitting in an auditorium with kids and parents feels. The biggest difference between now and when I was a student was probably the parents taking pictures with their cell phones. Parents were talking, kids were talking, and small violin and cello players were making beginning attempts at tuning. The concert was one hour – the perfect length to me. Anything more than that and it’s hard to sit and pay attention. The kids played Beethoven and Cold Play, and part of me wished I was still on that side of the stage.
I went by myself, but as it turned out, the person I sat next to has two students at Centennial, and one who just finished there and is at Inman. She’s from Mobile but moved at some point in her life to New Orleans. I know that because our conversation began with her visit to Atlanta the day before hurricane Katrina, which turned out to be a move. I’ve never lived in either place, but I have cousins in Mobile, and friends who own a pizza restaurant in New Orleans. She is a pediatrician, and she and her husband have been to Paris, but not to Italy. I found that out when she asked me how long I had taught. This is my sixth year in Georgia, but I taught for one year in Milan. She asked if I spoke Italian, and I had to admit the only sentence I can still say is “The lights don’t work in my apartment. May I please have the key to the basement?” Her oldest daughter plays the violin. The other two have also tried it, but at the moment it doesn’t seem to be their thing. She said she was surprised that she liked playing with them when they each were in a Suzuki program, and her oldest now plays on the violin she used.
When the concert was over, I walked home. It was a moment when I loved that I live in the community where I teach, that I could walk rather than drive to hear a concert, and that people often have their lights on and their blinds open at that time of night. I love the houses on Myrtle Street, and since it was still light, I took a detour. I found out that my favorite house has a grand piano in the front room and that in several houses you can see all the way through from the front to the back. If I’d spent the evening inside, I might have spent time pondering things that frustrate or concern me, but since I was outside, I didn’t, which was nice.
Before I went to the concert, and my thoughts were still on my day at school, I thought some about the students I have who haven’t really learned enough on the song flute to have a good chance for success on an instrument, but the year is almost over, and next year I’ll have a new group of fourth graders, which means limited time to help them catch up with the rest of the class. If I could give them more one on one time, would it help? What keeps some of them from practicing at home? Why has my fifth grade saxophone player forgotten to bring his instrument the last three lessons? He has the most potential of anyone I have at that school, but he probably won’t make it in a middle school program if he doesn’t take his instrument to school. If they sign up and say they want to learn to play an instrument, I want that to happen for them. What happens when time runs out, but they need more, not just in band, but in their other classes? In fourth grade, they still want to learn and do, even with obstacles. When does that stop for some of them?
On my walk home tonight, I thought about the fact that during an hour long concert, I learned more about the story of the person I sat beside than I know about many of my students. Even though most of that was spent listening to the kids play, the in between times were focused and interested conversation. We had never met, but we found several ways we were connected by common interests. Her story, and the way I could connect it to my own, added a new dimension to the time I spent at the concert.
Even though in clock hours I’ve spent much more time with my students, that kind of connection can be hard to get in groups of 10 or 15 or 20, especially when the goal is to pass on a set of skills. If I knew more about their stories, would I find ways to pass those skills on more effectively for them? If everything is going well in their lives, they probably have lots of energy to give to learning. If it’s not, they have less. It can be hard in 45 minutes twice a week to sort between the everyday frustrations of being a nine year old, and a child struggling with larger issues. They each have their story, but how often do some of them get time with an adult who has time to really listen, in the way they would like to tell it?
I went by myself, but as it turned out, the person I sat next to has two students at Centennial, and one who just finished there and is at Inman. She’s from Mobile but moved at some point in her life to New Orleans. I know that because our conversation began with her visit to Atlanta the day before hurricane Katrina, which turned out to be a move. I’ve never lived in either place, but I have cousins in Mobile, and friends who own a pizza restaurant in New Orleans. She is a pediatrician, and she and her husband have been to Paris, but not to Italy. I found that out when she asked me how long I had taught. This is my sixth year in Georgia, but I taught for one year in Milan. She asked if I spoke Italian, and I had to admit the only sentence I can still say is “The lights don’t work in my apartment. May I please have the key to the basement?” Her oldest daughter plays the violin. The other two have also tried it, but at the moment it doesn’t seem to be their thing. She said she was surprised that she liked playing with them when they each were in a Suzuki program, and her oldest now plays on the violin she used.
When the concert was over, I walked home. It was a moment when I loved that I live in the community where I teach, that I could walk rather than drive to hear a concert, and that people often have their lights on and their blinds open at that time of night. I love the houses on Myrtle Street, and since it was still light, I took a detour. I found out that my favorite house has a grand piano in the front room and that in several houses you can see all the way through from the front to the back. If I’d spent the evening inside, I might have spent time pondering things that frustrate or concern me, but since I was outside, I didn’t, which was nice.
Before I went to the concert, and my thoughts were still on my day at school, I thought some about the students I have who haven’t really learned enough on the song flute to have a good chance for success on an instrument, but the year is almost over, and next year I’ll have a new group of fourth graders, which means limited time to help them catch up with the rest of the class. If I could give them more one on one time, would it help? What keeps some of them from practicing at home? Why has my fifth grade saxophone player forgotten to bring his instrument the last three lessons? He has the most potential of anyone I have at that school, but he probably won’t make it in a middle school program if he doesn’t take his instrument to school. If they sign up and say they want to learn to play an instrument, I want that to happen for them. What happens when time runs out, but they need more, not just in band, but in their other classes? In fourth grade, they still want to learn and do, even with obstacles. When does that stop for some of them?
On my walk home tonight, I thought about the fact that during an hour long concert, I learned more about the story of the person I sat beside than I know about many of my students. Even though most of that was spent listening to the kids play, the in between times were focused and interested conversation. We had never met, but we found several ways we were connected by common interests. Her story, and the way I could connect it to my own, added a new dimension to the time I spent at the concert.
Even though in clock hours I’ve spent much more time with my students, that kind of connection can be hard to get in groups of 10 or 15 or 20, especially when the goal is to pass on a set of skills. If I knew more about their stories, would I find ways to pass those skills on more effectively for them? If everything is going well in their lives, they probably have lots of energy to give to learning. If it’s not, they have less. It can be hard in 45 minutes twice a week to sort between the everyday frustrations of being a nine year old, and a child struggling with larger issues. They each have their story, but how often do some of them get time with an adult who has time to really listen, in the way they would like to tell it?
Monday, April 26, 2010
Symphony
It always feels good to be the one of the first ones to “get it”, whatever it is. It could be a joke, or an idea someone is explaining. For many of us, probably the pleasure of “getting it” has a lot to do with other people recognizing that we got it. For someone who really has mastery of the concept of symphony though, maybe they are often, at least initially, so far out in front, they don’t get that satisfaction, whether they are seeing patterns of human behavior, or patterns of planetary motion. People who really see the big picture probably have to wait sometimes for others to say “great idea”, and by the time they do, people may already be saying “of course it works that way,” as though it has always been obvious.
Gardner talks about lumpers and splitters. I probably lean more toward being a splitter, and an idealist, with hopefully some ability to bridge my islands. I admire people who seem to naturally look at things in terms of cause and effect and see people and situations as they are, rather than as they would like them to be. Being able to see things accurately seems fundamental to being able to connect them well; and being able to put those two skills together probably offers a life of both more realistic expectations and greater peace. But maybe people who really have that ability just have to get their satisfaction from knowing inside that they get it, even if no one connects with their idea at first, and from looking forward to more things they will be able to see as they have more pieces to put together.
When I started to write this, I remembered a quote about people starting out seeing everything individually. I couldn’t remember the whole quote, or even the writer, but in the age of computers and automation, it took about two minutes to find it on Google:
To the young mind everything is individual, stands by itself. By and by, it finds how to join two things and see in them one nature; then three, then three thousand; and so, tyrannized over by its own unifying instinct, it goes on tying things together, diminishing anomalies, discovering roots running under ground whereby contrary and remote things cohere and flower out from one stem.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
from The American Scholar – Mere Thinkers and Men Thinking
Gardner talks about lumpers and splitters. I probably lean more toward being a splitter, and an idealist, with hopefully some ability to bridge my islands. I admire people who seem to naturally look at things in terms of cause and effect and see people and situations as they are, rather than as they would like them to be. Being able to see things accurately seems fundamental to being able to connect them well; and being able to put those two skills together probably offers a life of both more realistic expectations and greater peace. But maybe people who really have that ability just have to get their satisfaction from knowing inside that they get it, even if no one connects with their idea at first, and from looking forward to more things they will be able to see as they have more pieces to put together.
When I started to write this, I remembered a quote about people starting out seeing everything individually. I couldn’t remember the whole quote, or even the writer, but in the age of computers and automation, it took about two minutes to find it on Google:
To the young mind everything is individual, stands by itself. By and by, it finds how to join two things and see in them one nature; then three, then three thousand; and so, tyrannized over by its own unifying instinct, it goes on tying things together, diminishing anomalies, discovering roots running under ground whereby contrary and remote things cohere and flower out from one stem.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
from The American Scholar – Mere Thinkers and Men Thinking
An Empathy Symphony Connection
I started out writing about symphony, but after I’d been typing a few minutes and went back to read, I realized I had drifted more into empathy than symphony. And truth be told, I’m probably better at empathy than symphony. I look a lot at how what I do fits into the human side of where I am, and I spend time thinking about responses I get to things I say or do; but that probably would be more about empathy and human relations than about seeing a bigger picture or making conceptual connections. I’m looking at how what I do affects other people and thinking about how they will feel about and respond to that. It doesn’t necessarily involve making broad connections – just individual ones. If the idea of symphony, and synthesis, is first about seeing, and then about connecting ideas, maybe this is more of a symphonette, since it’s about making connections to people and ideas on a small scale with a larger picture in mind.
If I want to work well within my building, I know I need to understand the people I work with, big and small, and be able to connect with them and even understand how they connect with each other. To the extent that they don’t get me and I don’t get them, we’ll probably struggle. If I only look at how things impact the band program, it’s going to be hard for me to foresee challenges that may come up related to how other people will react. I need to always be thinking about how what I do will impact other programs, and maybe especially other people’s daily school life. To the extent that I can do that, I will probably get more long term buy-in and therefore support. I think the same idea holds true for connecting with my students. I love playing the oboe, but not necessarily for the same reasons a third grader is motivated to learn the trumpet. If I assume the same things motivate us both, I’ll probably miss the mark and they’ll eventually lose interest. But in that light, if I don’t see for them the big picture of what is possible, and let my teaching be guided by that, whether or not those things are part of their 3rd grade goals, I will probably limit them because I won’t be helping them prepare for goals they may have later, and maybe that connects back to symphony as well.
If I want to work well within my building, I know I need to understand the people I work with, big and small, and be able to connect with them and even understand how they connect with each other. To the extent that they don’t get me and I don’t get them, we’ll probably struggle. If I only look at how things impact the band program, it’s going to be hard for me to foresee challenges that may come up related to how other people will react. I need to always be thinking about how what I do will impact other programs, and maybe especially other people’s daily school life. To the extent that I can do that, I will probably get more long term buy-in and therefore support. I think the same idea holds true for connecting with my students. I love playing the oboe, but not necessarily for the same reasons a third grader is motivated to learn the trumpet. If I assume the same things motivate us both, I’ll probably miss the mark and they’ll eventually lose interest. But in that light, if I don’t see for them the big picture of what is possible, and let my teaching be guided by that, whether or not those things are part of their 3rd grade goals, I will probably limit them because I won’t be helping them prepare for goals they may have later, and maybe that connects back to symphony as well.
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