This blog is practically an abandoned lot at this point, so bereft of recent entries is it.
Since I seem to be using up more of my writing juice in texts to Nik I thought I would share some of them with you. (Self indulgent and a bit silly? Why yes! Yes it is! But you get a blog entry so hush!) (Also, can we all just heave a collective sigh of relief that I have unlimited texts? Because otherwise I would be in big trouble phone bill wise.)
Sent 7-Feb-2011 15:26:17
Playing with static electricity and an acrylic scarf = fun
Sent 7-Feb-2011 12:59:00
No yoga tonight, my teacher's partner's father just died :(
Sent 7-Feb-2011 12:52:36
I. has just stolen my diary [Ed. That's 'daily planner' for you all not up on BritSpeak] and is complimenting my handwriting and doodling. Now she and her seat partner are colouring on the first page because she was *shocked* (and possibly a little bit offended) that it was blank. How lucky am I/these kids?? Our bus has been driving along Embankment and is now trying to get through Trafalgar square before driving along St. James park and the palace before getting back to school. IN THE SUN! Freaking magic.
Sent 7-Feb-2011 12:40:22
All the other teachers have sat themselves at the front of the bus thereby leaving two classes to fend for themselves so they're all screaming and falling out of their chairs. Do I try to police them or just let it go? I'm defaulting to just playing with the kids...well, that and texting you! The concert was really interesting, seeing how the LSO put the whole thing together. So much sun! It feels like spring! Can we go on a picnic/ramble when the weather gets nice?
Sent 7-Feb-2011 10:33:14
On a bus! Going to the Barbican with a load of Year 1 kids who keep singing the songs for the concert, they know the words really well! These kids were my first nursery tykes and I kind of love them. Plus, the sun is shining and one of them keeps telling me random animal facts, like did you know that the humpback whale has longer fins than even the blue whale? Or that German shepherds are stronger than wolves?Apparently these things are so...I like hanging out with these kids. Already this week is better than last!
Sent 6-Feb-2011 23:32:00
I'm still a good 15 minutes from home...The pub was much fun. One of my favourite people from level two improv has shown up again and he elicits the most fascinating stories from people. He just goes ahead and asks the personal questions and then people(English people even!) actually answer them! It is great fun to be around.
Sent 6-Feb-2011 23:17:04
Poke.
Showing posts with label story telling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story telling. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Monday, March 1, 2010
Such a cool life
I worked all this weekend project managing one of the continuing education weekends that the Professional Development department does. It was nice: I carried a lot of equipment and got to chase people down about actually paying for said weekend, met lots of interesting people, got to go food shopping with someone else's money (my favorite! So many cheeses!), and sketched. Besides the fact that I was underground without windows for two days it was a good way to pass the weekend and get paid for it.
On Saturday night I went to a dance improvisation performance. It was...interesting. If nothing else it reinforced the fact that I have opinions about improvisation. A couple of pieces were extraordinary- one guy tied himself to a chair with his shoe lace and eventually crushed the chair by falling over it so many times. He clearly had a clowning background and was wonderful. Eventually one of the audience members tried to help him with the shoe lace and he kept trying to tie her long, blond hair to the now decimated chair. Here's why it worked: one single, clear idea that was engaging, developed over the course of the time, and had a bit of mystery- "what's going to happen next? The chair is in pieces, is that the end or no, no, he's trying to put it back together....!" There was a clear reason to be watching.
The final piece was a duet that involved both dance and speaking/acting. That was great because they were clearly listening to what was being said and done, they kept bringing back both topics and movements that had happened before, and both the dance and the text was at a high enough level that it was entertaining to watch/listen to on its own as well as reinforcing the other.
Ones that didn't work- a self indulgent, far too long solo wherein the woman blinked a lot (intentionally) and talked about tea- which was clearly because something needed to be said and what else was there to say? It felt like a send up of beat poets but sincere and just bad. Also, if it is going to be billed as a dance performance? Please move. I'd be willing to watch someone stay perfectly still on a stage if they had a good reason for it, but this? I'm sorry- no.
Today, however, I had a SINGING LESSON. Which was awesome. I just love my singing lessons. Particularly because we keep working on things that I am so scared of. I had my gamba with me because we had consort this afternoon (awesome- with a violone player as well. So much fun, such ridiculous clefs, I love reading off of manuscript notation: "Is that a smudge, a quaver rest, or a note?") and Jilly had me not only sing and play at the same time (Super Scary but also so. awesome. I kept holding on to notes and just rolling around in the interval. Delicious.) but also do chords and sing at the same time, identify where in the key I was, and sing on scale numbers. It's all stuff that I feel like I should be able to do and should already know down pat because of all of my music school training- but I feel like I don't so it is scary and I lose confidence quickly. We did some singing in harmony and then started on a jazz tune- "Day Dream" I think it was called. It's got a bunch of crazy chord progressions but I learned it and sang it in tune within about 5 minutes. Woo! I'm going to keep working on it this month and figure out how to play the bass line on the gamba at the same time.
It was a gorgeous, sunny, spring-like day today. Beautiful. So I took the opportunity to take a nice walk from Highbury and Islington down to Angel in order to get to consort. Such interesting shops along that road too.
After consort I met up with a friend of mine from the acting improvisation class that I took last month. He is starting up a theatre company and is looking for collaborators for the music. We'd talked really briefly about it at the weekend but talked much more fully about it over "coffee" (hot chocolate with marshmallows) today. I'm going to a rehearsal on Friday to meet the rest of the troupe and see what they've come up with so far. Our initial discussions make it seem like we're very much on the same page, so hopefully that will turn out to actually be the case!
I went to a contact jam this evening because my choreographer/dancer friend Ellie has been telling me to come and it was cool to watch and I played a bit, but mostly I didn't really feel like improvising for a whole group of people that weren't listening and communicating with the music at all. There was a guitarist there and I jammed with him for a bit which was great, but ultimately I just felt really out of place. Which is too bad.
Anyhow, all things considered? A brilliant day.
On Saturday night I went to a dance improvisation performance. It was...interesting. If nothing else it reinforced the fact that I have opinions about improvisation. A couple of pieces were extraordinary- one guy tied himself to a chair with his shoe lace and eventually crushed the chair by falling over it so many times. He clearly had a clowning background and was wonderful. Eventually one of the audience members tried to help him with the shoe lace and he kept trying to tie her long, blond hair to the now decimated chair. Here's why it worked: one single, clear idea that was engaging, developed over the course of the time, and had a bit of mystery- "what's going to happen next? The chair is in pieces, is that the end or no, no, he's trying to put it back together....!" There was a clear reason to be watching.
The final piece was a duet that involved both dance and speaking/acting. That was great because they were clearly listening to what was being said and done, they kept bringing back both topics and movements that had happened before, and both the dance and the text was at a high enough level that it was entertaining to watch/listen to on its own as well as reinforcing the other.
Ones that didn't work- a self indulgent, far too long solo wherein the woman blinked a lot (intentionally) and talked about tea- which was clearly because something needed to be said and what else was there to say? It felt like a send up of beat poets but sincere and just bad. Also, if it is going to be billed as a dance performance? Please move. I'd be willing to watch someone stay perfectly still on a stage if they had a good reason for it, but this? I'm sorry- no.
Today, however, I had a SINGING LESSON. Which was awesome. I just love my singing lessons. Particularly because we keep working on things that I am so scared of. I had my gamba with me because we had consort this afternoon (awesome- with a violone player as well. So much fun, such ridiculous clefs, I love reading off of manuscript notation: "Is that a smudge, a quaver rest, or a note?") and Jilly had me not only sing and play at the same time (Super Scary but also so. awesome. I kept holding on to notes and just rolling around in the interval. Delicious.) but also do chords and sing at the same time, identify where in the key I was, and sing on scale numbers. It's all stuff that I feel like I should be able to do and should already know down pat because of all of my music school training- but I feel like I don't so it is scary and I lose confidence quickly. We did some singing in harmony and then started on a jazz tune- "Day Dream" I think it was called. It's got a bunch of crazy chord progressions but I learned it and sang it in tune within about 5 minutes. Woo! I'm going to keep working on it this month and figure out how to play the bass line on the gamba at the same time.
It was a gorgeous, sunny, spring-like day today. Beautiful. So I took the opportunity to take a nice walk from Highbury and Islington down to Angel in order to get to consort. Such interesting shops along that road too.
After consort I met up with a friend of mine from the acting improvisation class that I took last month. He is starting up a theatre company and is looking for collaborators for the music. We'd talked really briefly about it at the weekend but talked much more fully about it over "coffee" (hot chocolate with marshmallows) today. I'm going to a rehearsal on Friday to meet the rest of the troupe and see what they've come up with so far. Our initial discussions make it seem like we're very much on the same page, so hopefully that will turn out to actually be the case!
I went to a contact jam this evening because my choreographer/dancer friend Ellie has been telling me to come and it was cool to watch and I played a bit, but mostly I didn't really feel like improvising for a whole group of people that weren't listening and communicating with the music at all. There was a guitarist there and I jammed with him for a bit which was great, but ultimately I just felt really out of place. Which is too bad.
Anyhow, all things considered? A brilliant day.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Scotland: Number 3
Many of you who read this blog will know that the first time I came to England was when I was nine. (Heck, many of you who read this blog were ON that trip.) Many of you who read this blog will also be familiar with my family's tendency towards remembering trips and events by the food that we ate there. Many of you have probably heard about the potato story. (Which isn't so much a story as it is a tall tale.)
Which brings us to Edinburgh.
The first time I was in Edinburgh was on a one day side trip during the Great England Adventure. We took the train, it rained all day, we saw the castle, we had lunch in a pub and watched a practice parade for the Norwegian (?) King, and we had huge, massive, "shipping container" sized potatoes with shrimp curry on them. It was totally delightful and a highlight of the day. (Possibly even the trip. Well, that along with the family of swans that I fed while we were on the canal boat so that they followed us and picked at the stern for the whole week.)
Now, I don't know if this is the same potato shop- because for one thing I remember there being a counter with stools on the side of the room and for another thing this potato shop is all vegan and vegetarian. But it is red, it is in roughly the right location, and 16 years can change any number of things and so I suppose it is possible that this is, in fact, the same potato shop. Regardless of the authenticity of the shop, I will tell you that you can smell the baking potatoes from half a block away, they are generous with the cheese, and the whole place is a hippie haven. Yum.
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Tykes Get Traditional
In my new effort to keep up to date with lesson plans and what not I have also tried to keep up to date with topic links so that the songs and musical examples have something to do with what the tykes are learning. One of the reception teachers pointed out that Traditional Stories was a couple of weeks ago, but WHATEVER. It was still this half term and that's close enough for me!
I found this wonderful song. Well, I've known this song for ages- but I found wonderful lyrics for the tune. Do you know "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" I love that song, I really do.
These words are for traditional stories. For instance (this is an example I made up and in the style of the lyrics but not from the actual song which is, I think, copy written)
I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, Do you know my story?
or
I sold our cow and got three magic beans, I sold our cow and got three magic beans, I sold our cow and got three magic beans, Do you know my story?
or
My hair gets longer day by day, my hair gets longer day by day, my hair gets longer day by day, Do you know my story?
or
We wear our shoes out every night, we wear our shoes out every night, we wear our shoes out every night, Do you know our story?
Clearly I could keep doing this all day, but I'll stop now.
Some of the stories chosen in the real lyrics (that are on the CD) are less popular, so I started off the class by listening to the song and then finding out if they knew all of the stories. This turned out to be a fascinating exercise since what ended up happening was that in each class there were a couple of tykes who would volunteer to tell stories.
Have you heard a four or five year old tell a story? It's amazing. There are no "um's" or "ah's" and strange things are important- there isn't really any dialogue, but the structure of the story is all there. They understand how these things work. They know the stories. Well, the ones that they know, they know. Would you remember that Jack bought the beans from an old man? I mean, I think if I were telling Jack and the Beanstalk I would have remembered that there *were* magic beans, but not necessarily how they came to be.
The difference in storytelling style was made abundantly clear when I got to the third and final class because no one in that class knew the story of Rumpelstiltskin. It was up to me to tell them the story. Do I really remember how Rumpelstiltskin goes? No. I mean, sort of? My version was full of "So he was like 'blah blah blah' and then she was all 'blah blah blah'" Which is silly. And hard to follow. And not clear and concise and full of the important things like the tykes' versions were. Also, does Rumpelstiltskin burst into flame and then end when he is jumping up and down so mad at the Queen/peasant girl? Because in my version he did and the other teachers disagreed...
I found this wonderful song. Well, I've known this song for ages- but I found wonderful lyrics for the tune. Do you know "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" I love that song, I really do.
These words are for traditional stories. For instance (this is an example I made up and in the style of the lyrics but not from the actual song which is, I think, copy written)
I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, Do you know my story?
or
I sold our cow and got three magic beans, I sold our cow and got three magic beans, I sold our cow and got three magic beans, Do you know my story?
or
My hair gets longer day by day, my hair gets longer day by day, my hair gets longer day by day, Do you know my story?
or
We wear our shoes out every night, we wear our shoes out every night, we wear our shoes out every night, Do you know our story?
Clearly I could keep doing this all day, but I'll stop now.
Some of the stories chosen in the real lyrics (that are on the CD) are less popular, so I started off the class by listening to the song and then finding out if they knew all of the stories. This turned out to be a fascinating exercise since what ended up happening was that in each class there were a couple of tykes who would volunteer to tell stories.
Have you heard a four or five year old tell a story? It's amazing. There are no "um's" or "ah's" and strange things are important- there isn't really any dialogue, but the structure of the story is all there. They understand how these things work. They know the stories. Well, the ones that they know, they know. Would you remember that Jack bought the beans from an old man? I mean, I think if I were telling Jack and the Beanstalk I would have remembered that there *were* magic beans, but not necessarily how they came to be.
The difference in storytelling style was made abundantly clear when I got to the third and final class because no one in that class knew the story of Rumpelstiltskin. It was up to me to tell them the story. Do I really remember how Rumpelstiltskin goes? No. I mean, sort of? My version was full of "So he was like 'blah blah blah' and then she was all 'blah blah blah'" Which is silly. And hard to follow. And not clear and concise and full of the important things like the tykes' versions were. Also, does Rumpelstiltskin burst into flame and then end when he is jumping up and down so mad at the Queen/peasant girl? Because in my version he did and the other teachers disagreed...
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