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| 2016/03/14 21:17:23瀏覽140｜回應0｜推薦8 | |
| Sowash: “Manet: Spanish subjects” for oboe, clarinet and bassoon. In the 2012-2013 school year I visited, twice, a remarkable K-12 Cincinnati school called “Leaves of Learning," a resource center where home-schooled students come for enrichment — for one or two classes, or for several classes on two, three or four days a week. I was very impressed with the joyful, easy tone of the school and the students’ genuine enthusiasm for learning. You may know that, in addition to being a composer, I also write and publish books for young people about Ohio history, animals and folklore. As a result, over the past thirty years, I’ve spent a day or two in more than 2,000 Ohio schools as a Visiting Author. I became very accustomed to schools, but only as a 'One Day Wonder.’ Too, in my twenties and thirties, I had been a Scoutmaster. I’ve always felt happy and at ease with young people. I like them and they like me. I had plenty of experience showing kids how to do things — in Scouts and in the schools I’d visited — but I had never a regular teacher, never committed myself to regularly recurring instruction sessions for a particular band of young souls. After my second day visiting Leaves of Learning, my host, teacher Terri Burch, said, “You should be teaching here!” I baulked, scoffed. “I’m not even certified.” “You don’t have to be certified to teach here. Talk to the principal, offer a course or two and if there are enough enrollees, you’ll teach.” Well, we set it up for me to start in September of 2014. I would teach only on Wednesdays. Two classes: Music Theory and The Art of Storytelling. I figured I’d give it a try for one school year. I told the principal that I would also be willing to substitute for the teachers of some other subjects as well … Language Arts, History, French. As it happened, the French teacher was unwell and I was soon ‘subbing’ for her quite often. It was a little daunting at first. My French is strong but it was rusty. In college, I studied French intensively and did well. But that was 45 years ago. I’ve visited France many times since, often staying in the homes of friends who spoke only French. I've benefited greatly from their patient, humorous corrections of my gusty, improvised, somewhat surreal French. But teaching? Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you know how best to teach it! Still, as a sub, I only needed to stay a little ahead of the students in order to lead the class. I found that I loved subbing in French, imparting the mnemonic devices that have worked for me, working the students to create new ones, sharing stories of my adventures and blunders as an American joyfully floundering about in French. Plus stories of French history, culture and cuisine, garnered from my reading and experiences. I am ardent about France, the land of my father’s ancestors. Unfortunately, the French teacher became increasingly unwell and in January of 2015 her bad health finally forced her to retire. The principal invited me to take over the French program. I gulped, but accepted the challenge. Being halfway through a school year would present a particular challenge but I figured I’d survive until May and then we’d see. Teaching French the way I thought I could best teach it, free from the constraints of the lesson plans that are necessarily imposed on a substitute teacher, turned out to be a slice of Heaven. I’ve loved every minute of it. The school policy encourages creativity in both faculty and students and we make the most of it! The students are great souls and we love to laugh and ponder together as we explore the intricacies and delicacies of this beautiful, expressive, eccentric language. In my Scout troop we had a saying: “If it isn't fun, it isn't Scouting.” If something we were doing wasn’t fun, we knew we were doing it wrong. I apply that same approach in my classes with the happy result that we laugh together, frequently, often loudly. I’d love to give you examples, but this message is already getting too long! Sorry! Another time. When the school year ended and summer began, I found that I missed teaching very much. I signed on for another year and my enthusiasm for teaching French (and Music Theory and Storytelling, which I have continued to teach) is unabated. In June, Jo and I are taking a group of students and a few parents to Montréal and Quebec City. There is talk of another school trip next summer … to Paris. I’ve told the students, “Let’s see if the trip to French Canada is a success and then we’ll consider Paris.” I expect to continue teaching at Leaves of Learning for several years, into my seventies. I tell the students, “I’m the school's Oldest Living Teacher.” They laugh. “I’m Gandalf,” I tell them, “and you’re the Hobbits!” They laugh, but in a way, it’s true. I’ve got the white beard and I’m very interested in them. I'm jolly but a little mysterious; I’ve been “out there,” doing various things in the wide world while they've growing up in the Shire. Most of my trips to France have resulted from my music, one way or another. I’ve been there for rehearsals, performances, recordings. I’ve written many works for my French musician friends. My two “Impressionist Suites” for reed trio, for example. Each movement attempts to evoke the spirit and character of a major French Impressionist painter. Today I’d like to share with you the final movement of the first of the suites. It’s entitled, “Manet: Spanish subjects.” French people are fascinated by Spain; so far as I can tell, the French seem to consider the Spanish to be more spontaneous than themselves, in closer touch with the earth, with basic passions. To the French, Spaniards seem to be more alive, more authentic, living lives that are more vivid, colorful and spicy than theirs. Just look at “Carmen” or the Spanish subjects in the paintings of Manet. By contrast, the French seem to view themselves as overly cultivated, too cerebral, too self-conscious, more than a little jaded. Of course, to an American like me, an outsider, these attitudes seem almost laughable, laden with stereotypes. But delicious to discover. I hope my delight comes across in this movement. Note that it ends with all three musicians shouting “Ole!" To hear it played -- beautifully! -- by oboist Mark Ostoich, clarinetist Ron Aufmann and bassoonist Mark Ortwein, click here: http://www.sowash.com/ To see a PDF of the score, click here: http://www.sowash.com/ |
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