Another of My Musical Influences Has Passed Reverend Calvin Thomas

On April 3, 2010 my mother and I were given the news that my uncle(my mother's brother) passed away shortly after eating his breakfast. At first the details were unclear, but we knew he had been sick and ailing since December 2009. It is very unclear how long he was actually sick, because he was keeping his illness a secret for as long as he could. "He was handling things his way," my mom seems to believe.





The first bit of information he gave us was back in December when he took low sick with Renal failure(sp). I guess he figured he should let us know something when that happened. His usual baritone/tenor voice sounded so frail and breathy. He would still try to reminisce about the old times when he and my mom and their younger sister grew up. My mom says he remembers EVERY THING!! She used to think he'd be making most of it all up, since there was no way to really remember all that! But he filled his church with loving stories of his family especially with memories of his sister and her special operatic soprano voice to the point that when they met my mother and aunt, everyone felt as if they had already met them long ago.

He was a college professor of music, was a pastor and minister of music at his church. When I became a teacher, helped me with many questions and concerns of teaching music and how to design lessons for the students. He also critiqued my students performance and gave insightful help whenever I needed new ideas.

He was a great talented man, thought very critically, and touched lives everywhere he went. I miss him dearly.

Reflecting on the ARTAPS class to date

I have been out of commission for a while because of no computer to work from. I had and always had every intention to stay on track and keep my thoughts on point, but things always happen, and there is nothing you can do, but wait and hope that help is on the way.







This entry deals solely on my reflections of the ARTAPS course I elected to take. First off, I am glad I elected to take this course because I am surrounded by fellow music teachers who want to make a difference in how instruction is delivered in their classrooms. I joined the class because I wanted to open my mind and teach and think outside my ordinary usual manner and, in turn, free my children's thinking as well. The purposes of the class are clear: to perform, to create, to appreciate music. At times, I get challenged to move outside the comfort zone way of doing things, that my style gets to be "old hat" and old hat is boring and monotonous. The kids deserve a fun and exciting, challenging musical experience. I was the most qualified for the job, so I must make it happen for my students. The course is very innovative and contains presentations that are highly relevant to me as the leader of my musical society( my classroom) and is helpful in many ways.





I look forward to each class, as each class brings about a better understanding of what is expected of me as a student. I really want to do a webinar for the first time! I enjoy learning and putting to use new technological ideas. These are great tools that did not exist when I was in high school yet were evolving when I was in college, and as technology expands, so must my ideas to keep with the times. The class is very useful in my everyday life, in that I am consciously aware now of my thought process and in which way I am using my brain. I truly tend to be more right brained. It's inborn!

MARCH 13, 2010 Reflections on Class

Today's class has been more of an enlightener throughout the entire day, as more information has been distributed. During our initial session, the class was given a presentation from Courtney Bryant, a member from the first Cohort who went documented her class's Descriptive Case Study of the Art Room: The Remix of Creativity and Technology. In her study she was able to document all of her findings from Preproduction Planning, Peer Conversation, Interpersonal Behaviors, Symbolism? Metaphor, Peer Conversation, Motivation, and insight. The video the students put together demonstrated their complete understanding of their tasks, and how well they worked together to achieve their end result. She made constant reference to SQ1 Preproduction Planning and why it was important. " Give them enough direction. Do NOT make the assignment to broad so they won't be all over the place" trying to make sense of what it is they should be doing.

The thing she really found insightful was the peer interactions and the sense of motivation they derived from this assignment. They were deeply engaged and invested their time well.

We concluded that this presentation utilizes the 6 aptitudes from Daniel Pink: 1 Story- kids were connected to their work and gave ownership and personal experience 2. Symphony- all students see how it comes together- both visual and auditory 3. Design- they designed their own work of art incorporated characters/ music! 4. Empathy- they can see from other's perspective, shared through peer conversation. (Synthesizing- product was layered per Gardner) 5. Play- the work took on human characteristic so you could see how they felt( they used masks, computer animated graphics 6 Meaningful- of course this was a real life portrayal that had significant meaning for the students.

Break Out Session #1

Dr. JansevanRensburg shared with the group that we may subscribe and view her blog should we have concerns about what items we were unsure about. At this point, the entire class admitted we were still foggy about what was needed from us for this course. I was unclear about what a Action Research really was and how to apply it to what I do in the classroom everyday, but when I received a form on which to place my aim, things began to clear up.

Break Out Session #2

Natalie Colbert is instructing the participants of her session to compose an original work that we will perform at some point in public. She shared a performance that she observed which was a tribute to the composer's deceased brother. Based on things in life he enjoyed, the original work was crafted to sound as aestetically pleasing yet remind her while sharing with the audience these things. The piece featured sounds of a cathedral and swirling glass as the constant sound. By the way she described it, one could tell it was indeed remarkable.

So then, shall we, the members of this session create a piece along the same lines as what she heard. No instruments will be used, unless absolutely necessary. In our session today, we all came up with a list of sounds that we hear in everyday life. We also came up with events that provoke feelings and thoughts. Somehow, we educators will create something meaningful for an audience to enjoy.

According to the work of Daniel Pink, we are incorporating The Six Senses, Six R-Directed aptitudess that will enable us as teachers to develop a "Whole New Mind" and become more creative and perceptive in our approach as educators.

One of my Musical Influences has Passed

Mrs. Gloria W. Crabb, who I named in one of my earlier blogs as one of my musical influences has passed. Mrs. Crabb was the Director of the Children's Choir, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Sandusky, Ohio. She gave me my first solo in the choir "God Gave Me A Song (That the Angels Cannot Sing). She was very encouraging, telling all of us to do our best for the Lord. She put up with us children even when we acted up, but she made us do right. I grew up listening to her beautiful organ and piano playing, that I took piano lessons and eventually played at church, but nothing like her style. It truly was a gift. I have numerous recordings of her playing while I sang solos and different songs she played for church service. If you never heard her play, you truly missed some beautiful music.
On Wed January 20, 2010 the most talented and most wonderful person whom I loved dearly, lost her battle with lung cancer. She was 76. I knew she was sick, but I had no idea until a church friend told my mother that she was placed in hospice and that nothing else could be done for her.

Every time I go home to Ohio to visit, I make it a special point to rehearse and sing/ play piano with the choirs that I had joined before coming back to Atlanta. On Sundays when I first arrive to Sandusky before choir rehearsals for the week begin, I always go to the choir stand and greet the members to let them know I was back home, making sure I see Mrs. Crabb. Well the last time I went to the choir stand to say hello, she seemed standoffish, spoke her hello, and quickly left. I really thought that was strange for her to do, and as I was greeting the other members, that thought remained in my mind, although I didn't tell anyone but my mother who was in Mississippi at the time.

A church friend remembers seeing Mrs. Crabb before she found out why she was sick, that she would be so exhausted walking in and around church, pausing to catch her breath a lot!

Although some people knew of her illness, it was really kept quiet and many people do that, for reasons I do not know. I would ask those who know me to keep me in their prayers, but only they know why they keep silent. My uncle "Kike" just died Friday morning 2/26/10, and he wasn't telling how bad he was feeling either.I will miss him.

I will miss her everyday. Mrs. Gloria Crabb.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROGRAM 2/26/10

Here @ Long, the orchestra has been preparing for our Black History Month Program. It was wonderful to see all 3 grade levels react history and dress out in skits. The band did a great job playing "Dirty Diana"and When The Saints Go Marching In", the chorus performed "I'll Be There" and "Didn't My Lord", and the orchestra performed" We Shall Overcome",and I must say we, the orchestra did a great job! The programs happened 3 times, once for each connections class, so by the end of the day I was exhausted!!! The first time we performed, we fell apart slightly because the lower voiced instruments were going too slowly! They have got to learn to listen across the sections. They all do! At times the violins wanted to slow things down as well.

I thought to have a small chamber group perform the selection in the hallway as each grade level assembled in the gym. Strangely, I instructed the students that we would be performing 3 times, and that my chamber group would be performing in the halls first, and would be quickly returning to sit with the rest of the orchestra, but they kept asking me would they have to perform for each connections time? Didn't get that, but they really enjoyed the all day camaraderie and the orchestra celebration at the end of the day!

The CWLONG MIDDLE SCHOOL ORCHESTRA IS MOVING FORWARD IN ALL DIRECTIONS: WE ARE NOT JUST STANDING STILL

Finally a reality for me! I have been teaching for 15 years here in APS, and I have struggled to get my kids in the past to buy their own method book( before the textbook adoption), buy rosin, that t-shirts was just a dream.

This year, I composed a 5 Point Orchestra Focus plan that I shared with my principal, making t-shirts, rosin and a few other things MANDATORY. It has worked. I got my parents to buy into the orchestra program, get the kids practicing more at home, and doing fundraisers because I had planned to take the kids to Disney( but somehow, that fell through??!!).

But we were able to purchase not one shirt, but TWO!! A grey t-shirt that says " The Crawford Long Orchestra is moving forward in all directions. We are not just standing still", the other is a long sleeve polo where our logo will be placed. And every child has his/her own rosin. I am soooo excited!

Holiday Performance CW Long Orchestra

Hello! It has been a while, but I have lots to say! The CW Long Orchestra, under my direction has worked diligently to prepare for our holiday program at the school. I had a total of 56 members, mostly from the 6th grade. The majority of my musicians were violinist. The 2nd largest group is the cello section. The viola and bass are rather small. The selections we performed were "Do You Hear What I Hear?", "March of the Metrognome", and "Bloosy Woosy". We performed 3 days in a row: Tuesday December 15, 2009, for the parents @6:00pm, Wednesday, December 16, 2009 for the student body, and Thursday, December 17, 2009, @ Southlake Mall, Morrow, Ga.

A major challenge is motivating my kids to see an actual future in strings. I know that music will be somewhere in their lives, but because they are so young, their interests may change and that's okay. It is also a challenge to settle the students down, stop chasing each other and being silly in a room full of costly equipment, to be little performers who understand they represent the school in a major way and that all eyes are on them and it is important how their audience perceives them. They still want to chew gum, talk loudly and frolic. I stress to them,"...The way they rehearse will be the way they perform. So is it important enough for you that your audience boast on the good you do, or talk negatively about how poorly you do?"