Nick
Undergraduate
Music Education and Philosophy |
Nick
Undergraduate
Music Education and Philosophy |
This post includes my travel through Florence, Paris, and Barcelona between 4/14 and 4/23! ISS Siena had their Spring break across these dates, allowing me to take this travel. 4/14: Spring in FlorenceI took the day to travel to Florence and see the gardens at Villa Bardini (Giardino Bardini), as the gardens were blooming! It was an especially warm day, and I fell asleep on the train-ride back to Siena. 4/16: Travel to ParisMy plane left from Florence, so I caught an afternoon train from Siena to Florence with my luggage. From there, I took the T2 Tram to the airport and found my terminal. There was an hour long delay to board the plane, and at one point the person working the terminal requested all passengers with my plane ticket number to approach the gate. I did so, and stood behind five people listening to what she had to say. Turns out they needed to fly with five less people... and ended up telling those in front of me they were selected to not fly. The airport paid for their overnight stay in Florence, and I quietly re-entered the crowd. Below are some pictures leaving Florence, over the Alps, and flying into Paris! I should have expected more issues with the airline. We landed in Paris, and the pilot gets on the speaker, stating "I made the decision to fly without any of your luggage due to the windstorm. It will be arriving tomorrow morning. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused." Passengers were in an uproar! As we landed an hour late into Paris, the bus schedule into Paris was different than I had expected. I met a new friend, Sarah, who was also confused by the bus system. She's an American who has lived in Israel the past four years completing medical school, and about to move to Pennsylvania for her residency. Together we figured out which bus to take, where we were at the final stop, and how to get to our respective destinations from there. After checking into my hostel, Les Piaules, I decided to head into Paris and find something to do. This was around midnight. I was still very frustrated with the flying experience, and with having almost no luggage (still had my carry-on). I found myself at a nearby bar named Le Zorba and danced a lot. It was at this moment that I started to have fun in Paris - this feeling never left! The images below are of the French Opera (Garnier Palace), and the scene at Le Zorba. 4/17: Easter in ParisI started my morning at the Louvre. I had, at most, two hours of sleep - my entrance tickets were for 9am! Below are images of da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the crown of Louis XV, and Delacroix's portrait of Frédéric Chopin. After the Louvre, I walked along the Seine River towards the Eiffel Tower. I was shocked by it's height! And the gardens leading to the Tower reminded me of that leading to the Washington Monument in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, as you might observe in the pictures, there was a lot of construction happening at the bottom of the tower. Luckily, this was not a visual issue at night! More to come on that. Père Lachaise Cemetery was only a fifteen minute walk from my hostel in Belleville, Paris. And, it was along the way to a Parisian rock climbing gym I wanted to go to! Though I was unable to spend Easter with people I knew, I did get to spend it with some of the greats! Below are Marcel Proust (left), Oscar Wilde (middle), and Jim Morrison from The Doors (right). Last but not least, Frédéric Chopin. Next, I walked about twenty minutes until I reached Arkose Nation - the climbing gym I mentioned! It was a really cool place. A bit smaller than I was expecting, and I did not climb as well as I had hoped to (it had been about five weeks since I last climbed in Buffalo!). Overall, it was a lot of fun. From here, I dropped off my climbing gear and took the metro to Sacré-Cœur. This is the point that overlooks most of the city skyline. I spent my night here, looking at the skyline and walking the streets of Montmartre. 4/18: April in ParisBelow are images from my hostel, one from second floor window, and the other from the bar on the first floor! It was an interesting setup - you check-in at the bar, and they give you your hostel information. As a guest, you get breakfast for three euros, and there are events all night for those looking to stay up! I managed to meet many people through the hostel. This morning, I had a conversation with Lindsey, a physician's assistant from Alabama who was solo traveling Europe for six weeks. Images from Jardin des Tuileries! I had an hour here before my entrance ticket to the Musée de l'Orangerie. Though the gardens were tranquil, they reminded me of the ending scene from M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening... so glad nobody started walking backwards. The main exhibit at Musée de l'Orangerie was Claude Monet's Les Nymphéas (Water Lilies). These two rooms were ovular shaped, each with four long paintings by Monet covering the perimeter. The rooms were designed for these eight paintings, and meant to be a silent space for meditation just like Monet used his gardens for. Below are two images of his works. More artwork from Musée de l'Orangerie. The top row is all Monet: La Barque (left), Coin d'etang a Montgeron (middle), Le Bassin aux Nymphéas, Harmonie Verte (right) Bottom Row: Les Périssoires (Caillebotte, left), Grande Nature Morte (Picasso, middle), Femme au Ruban de Velours (Amedeo Modigliani, right) I followed the Seine River towards Notre-Dame, taking these images along the journey! It was really interesting seeing the burned sides of Notre-Dame. It's clear there is still a lot of work to be done in restoring the cathedral. I had my first crêpe here, and then saw this man laying down in the middle of the road on my way back to the Eiffel Tower. No idea why... I discovered composer Erik Satie's apartment was right by the Sacré-Cœur! The one he often compared to a closet, and where he stored his 100+ umbrellas. I also saw that it was available for rent... perhaps I'll move there, grab a piano, and buy some umbrellas. Images from Montmartre. At sunset, I met my friend Yasmín from the previous night dancing at the skyline spot. We both brought food and wine to share at this spot - it was amazing watching the sunset and then lights appear throughout the city! 4/19: Last Day in ParisAfter starting the morning with breakfast at Les Piaules, I headed to Musée d'Orsay. My entrance ticket was for 10am. The museum itself is located along the Seine River, somewhat across from the Louvre, and is an old railway station-turned-art museum. Below are images of my favorite artworks: Top Row: Profil de Jeune Fille (Aristide Maillol, left), La Rivière (Maillol, middle), Pine Trees with Figure in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital (Van Gogh, right). The Second Row is all Van Gogh: The Starry Night (left), Portrait of the Artist (middle), Fritillaires, Couronne Impériale dans un Vase de Cuivre (right) Third Row: Terrace of a Café on Montmartre (Van Gogh, left), Nymphéas Bleus (Claude Monet, middle), Les Glaçons (Monet, right). Last Row: Bal du Moulin de la Galette (Renoir, left), Coquelicots, or La Promenade (Monet, middle), Lilas, Temps Gris (Monet, right). There was also an interesting exhibit on Antoni Gaudí and his architecture, preparing me for what was to come in Barcelona! Below is an image of me from the fifth floor of the museum. I made my way to a second gym in Paris - Climb Up Paris - which was located in the southern part of the city. I was really worried about my luggage along my travel to the gym. Air France notified me that it landed in Paris in the morning, and that it would be delivered within 24 hours. Yet, in 24 hours I was to get on a plane on Barcelona. The anxiety! Below are some images of the gym - so cool! I got in on a student discount for only five euro. There were so many climbing problems, inclines, and uniquely set routes. I made a friend - Jacques, and together we worked on a purple V5 route that had many in the gym stumped. The picture of food is not random - I ate dinner here! Really cool cave with many holds. They named it a "spray-wall" because the holds almost look like spraypaint. There are no actual routes on this wall - it is up to you to make a route and use your creativity to create something new! Quite the provocation. My body was much happier to climb this day than it was at Arkose Nation. Below are two videos I took at Climb Up, including the purple route I mentioned earlier!
After Climb Up Paris, I headed to the Eiffel Tower. I had an entrance ticket to the second story of the tower at 10:30pm, so I brought some food with me around 9pm and watched the sky darken and the tower illuminate. Here are three images I took of the city from the second story of the tower! So many lights! Any Roy Hargrove fans? As seen along my metro ride back to Les Piaules. Could it be? Yes! My luggage came in right when I was walking into my hostel, around 12:15am. I was absolutely ecstatic - for a brief moment, it didn't even matter that they lost it! So happy to find my luggage, I brought it upstairs and then spent the rest of my evening on the first floor of Les Piaules. I met a person that night named Julia who was a teacher at an international school in Weiz, Austria! She offered to show me around southern Austria if I ever make it that way, and I hope to do so one day! 4/20: To Barcelona!My flight to Barcelona was significantly smoother than the one to Paris. I received my luggage upon arrival, and it was easy to find the "Aerobus" that would take me into Barcelona. From the city center, it was a five minute walk to my Airbnb - a single room in a couple's apartment. Their names are Tatí and Fernando, and they love The Walking Dead. It would blast by my room all night. I believe they were in the third season. Barcelona was much colder than Paris. And, as you can probably see, there were many storm clouds which led to problems! The weather was abnormal for Barcelona and made me adapt my original plan - to swim and spend most of my time outside - to finding indoor museums and wearing a coat. After dropping off my luggage, I walked from my apartment to La Sagrada Familia. I will say more about the Sagrada later, but for now it is a large unfinished basilica designed by Antoni Gaudí. It is a fascinating, and puzzling, building to see. I say puzzling, because I found it to look so different than anything I had ever seen before. I knew very little about the Sagrada Familia or Gaudí this day, but as I learned more about the meaning behind his work, I developed a deeper appreciation for the architecture. The last image is of the Cathedral of Barcelona. It was really rainy at this point, so I took the picture and ran back to my apartment. After the rain cleared a bit, I tried to head back out and see more of Barcelona. Right near my apartment was La Rambla, the famous boulevard that runs through the city center. Walking along this street, I found my way to Mercado de La Boqueria - the open market with all sorts of goods. Below are many images of the seafood, chocolate, and fruit. I was really tired after my multiple late nights in Paris and travel by airplane, so I called it an early night in Barcelona. Besides, it became a downpour while I was walking along La Rambla, so it didn't make sense to be out. To be honest, I felt pretty disappointed with Barcelona this night. This was because of the weather, the architecture I didn't understand yet, and because I was still thinking about Paris. Luckily, my experience got much better across my next two days in Barcelona, as I began to learn more about Gaudí, the culture of the city, and the nightlife. 4/21: A Rainy Day with GaudíI awoke to downpour, still feeling disappointment. Sticking with what I was familiar with, I went to La Boqueria to have fruit for breakfast. I bought an incredibly overpriced umbrella along the way, and thought to myself "I'm 99 away from how many I'll have in Satie's apartment!" Next, I headed to see Gaudí's Casa Batlló and Casa Mila. I did not enter either of his designed homes because they were very expensive, and I read online that they were way too small to be priced so high. But, I did read about them! To me, the more interesting story is of Casa Batlló (the first three images). The architecture is designed with a reason, though this reason is debated. The first theory is that it resembles the legend of Saint George, who supposedly killed a dragon with a sword. According to the theory, the building is designed to represent the legend, with the roof being the dragon itself. The other theory is that Casa Batlló was designed to resemble Monet's Les Nymphéas (yes, from Musée de l'Orangerie!). Salvador Dalí agreed with this theory. What I find most interesting is how the railings by each window were designed - to look like skulls! The last two images are of Casa Mila. I followed Gaudí's footsteps back to La Sagrada Familia, where I had an entrance ticket for 11am. As I already included photos of the whole exterior, I do not include them here. However, the first two picks are of sculptures around the main doors - a bassoon player, violin player, and lute player! The interior of La Sagrada Familia was breathtaking. I had never seen anything like it before. The designs were so unique! My audioguide taught me that Gaudí designed the exterior to be harsh, representing the suffering of Jesus Christ on multiple levels (to be explained later). Then, instead of including these depictions on the inside like most places of Christian worship, Gaudí designed the interior to be open and spacious. A true believer in the connection between nature and God, the pillars are designed to look like trees, expanding into the ceiling like a canopy. Clearly, the many colors from stained glass are to bring a feeling like the forest into the Sagrada. There are also entrance points for natural light throughout the interior. Gaudí removed all straight lines and angles from the interior, as these "did not appear in nature." Lastly, there are hidden creatures throughout the interior, to be found by you when you come here! Upon exiting, you find yourself by these modernist, angular representations of the death of Jesus Christ. They are really strange to see at a place of worship. In the last image, you can see how Gaudí designed the exterior to represent Jesus's suffering. There are six angled pillars leading into eighteen smaller grey pillars. The six symbolize his strained muscles, and the eighteen represent his ribcage. When La Sagrada Familia is finished, it will have it's tallest tower in the middle symbolizing Jesus Christ. It is to be measured at 172.5 meters, purposely under 173 meters which is the height of the nearest mountain. Gaudí believed the work of humans should never exceed the natural work of God, explaining the height. Fun (and sad) fact! Gaudí is actually buried here, in the crypt, and saw almost none of it built. During the early stages of its construction, he was hit by a tram and died. Random, right? But that just goes to show how much the people of Barcelona believed in his work and felt it symbolized their city and culture. Since his death, they have continued to build La Sagrada Familia for close to one hundred years. And, after learning this fact from the audioguide, I was very careful around the trams in Barcelona. Next, I began the long route to the famous Sharma rock climbing gym in Barcelona. Designed by famous climber, Chris Sharma! The gym itself was average, but became really fun after about forty-five minutes when many people came in! I made a few friends and we had a dynamic move competition. This entails sending your body off the wall to a nearby hold which you can't normally reach. Similar to the purple problem from Paris! The most difficult part of the gym was the completely horizontal area underneath the structure in the fifth picture. After two hours of climbing, I had tea and watched some of the other climbers. My evening did not end until very early the next morning. After staying in my apartment until 11:30pm, I went out and had dinner at an outdoor vendor on La Rambla. Then, I made my way to Marula Café, a smaller nightclub which I had researched. It had live music, as you can see and hear in the video I attach! After the band was finished, a DJ began to play Latin and funk music, and this led to a very late night of dancing. I had a great time, and fell asleep at the apartment around 5am to the peaceful sounds of The Walking Dead. 4/22: Last Day in BarcelonaThe next morning, I had entrance tickets to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. These were for 11:15am! It was my first non-rainy day in Spain, though the temperature was still cold in the morning. The museum was great! Picasso donated most of his artwork to the museum upon his passing, as he completed most of his work in Barcelona. As such, the museum was designed like a biography, showing how his artwork developed from his earliest sketches to the cubist style. What I wasn't anticipating was the small exhibit on Picasso's work with Erik Satie! Turns out, the two worked together on a ballet titled Parade, featuring Picasso as the designer and Satie as the composer and musical director. There were so many artistic/musical connections between Paris and Barcelona. Below, you will see that multiple paintings are titled "Las Meninas." This is because Picasso took the famous painting, Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez, and reworked it fifty-eight times. There were not fifty-eight in the museum, but there were many! Top Row: L'Espera; Margot (left), Las Meninas (middle, right). Middle Row: Las Meninas (all). Last Row: Las Meninas (left), Dos Peixos (middle), Jacqueline (right). After two hours at the museum, I walked back to La Rambla. I had an hour before my entrance tickets to Güell Palace. I thought I was getting a good deal on lunch, with two tapas and paella for eleven euro on the street, but then the waiter told me I had to order something to drink. All drinks were over eight euro - I can't believe I fell for the trap! But the paella was very good. Images from Güell Palace, designed by Gaudí! Around 4pm, I started my journey towards a well-known outdoor climbing spot in Barcelona - Zona d'Escalada de la Foixarda! Finding the tunnel was difficult, and approaching the tunnel was a bit odd, but it was so cool! As I did not bring lead climbing gear, I stuck with the lower level holds. Many climbers came here to practice their traversing skills. Traversing is lateral movement in climbing, requiring a focus on technique and foot placement. I made friends here who had been climbing in the tunnel for a years. Turns out, people come just about every night in the summer, sometimes staying as late as 1am climbing together! To finish the night, I took the metro to a stop near Park Güell. Along my steep walk up to the park I came across yet another outdoor climbing wall - the rock wall outside Park Güell south entrance. There were about ten people here, including my new friends Nico and Marian. The rocks were natural, having been cemented there over a century ago. Some of the places for feet were quite smooth from climbing use - but it was a great challenge for natural traversing! Then I entered Park Güell, the public park designed by Gaudí. Like La Sagrada Familia, I noticed his use of expanding the tops of pillars to make roof coverings. There were many bridges like you can see in the pictures, which were amazing to walk over and under. The park overlooks the city and the sea, and I imagine it would be even more beautiful with sunny skies! I spent about two hours here, and then used the remaining daylight to traverse. I also watched the sunset from this point. Below are images of the wall, the sunset, and a video of my traversing. 4/23: Returning to SienaI stayed out until 4am dancing at Marula Café, and falling asleep to Season 3 of The Walking Dead. Then, I headed to the airport to return to Florence. After taking the train to Siena, I walked back to the apartment. I got back around 8pm, and then a few minutes later Edoardo and Michela arrived with their friends Rachele and Nico. Together, we took this photo, one that the three of us had planned since before I left for Spring Break! I am very thankful to be with my host family. They have become one of my favorite parts of this whole experience; I always look forward to spending time with them! It makes me sad to think I am approaching the end of my stay here, but I believe our connection will continue long after I leave. I can't wait to come back to Siena! Edoardo and Michela are to my left (your right), Nico and Rachele are to my right (your left). Thank you, and congratulations for reaching the end of this very long post! I hope you enjoyed reading it. More is to come soon - about my final three weeks at the school, one last trip I have planned, and the end of my stay. Talk soon!
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This post outlines my weekend trip to the Liguria region of Italy. Here, I visited the Cinque Terre region and Porto Venere. Cinque Terre is the most beautiful place I have ever traveled to, so there will be many pictures in this blog post! 4/9: Cinque TerreI stayed in the city La Spezia on the recommendation of Edoardo and Michela. From here, it was easy to take the train towards the five coastal towns that make up Cinque Terre (five lands). The names of these towns, in directional order from La Spezia are as follows - Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. I bought the Cinque Terre Card which allowed all day access to the trains between La Spezia and Monterosso, as well as access to the hiking trails. Though the coastal trails from Corniglia to Manarola, and Manarola to Riomaggiore (the famous "via dell'amore") were closed, I had a feeling that I could find lesser-taken hiking trails. My goal for Saturday was to hike from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. Starting the morning in La Spezia, I had breakfast at a cafe and then headed to a local market to purchase fruit for my trip. The third picture is of the beautiful trees in La Spezia: When waiting for the train to Monterosso, two girls came up to me asking if I spoke English. They needed help finding their way out of the train station. It was clear they were from America, and so I asked where they were from. Turns out they were students from Cornell here on spring break! Small world. Along the train ride I sat with a man who only spoke Italian. It was his second time in Cinque Terre, and I asked him for advice regarding which town to watch the sunset in. He told me "Io non so" or, in English, I don't know. Haha... but him and his wife were very nice and interested in what instruments I play after I told them I was here working as a music teacher. Here is what I walked out to after arriving in Monterosso: After a short walk towards the mountains, I arrived in the actual town of Monterosso. Here is an image of the famous Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista in Monterosso: Then, I started along the 1 1/2 hour coastal hike towards Vernazza. This hike was quite steep, constantly going up and down. I quickly realized a hike to Riomaggiore would be hard work. Once I got around the first mountain and was heading towards Vernazza, a large storm cloud came into sight. Soon, I reached the point that overlooked Vernazza, and it was here that I met a married couple - Hoa and Pascal - who offered to take my picture. Hoa was born in Vietnam; Pascal in Southern France. However, they have lived in Minnesota for fifteen years to raise their children, and now intend to move back to Europe. The three of us descended into Vernazza, and had lunch together in a restaurant that overlooked the pier. It was an interesting day to be in Vernazza because the storm was causing many waves to come towards the shore. I was very entertained watching these waves while waiting for my food. I had Trofie al Pesto on the recommendation of Edoardo, and then gelato afterwards looking at the sea. Next, I started along the hour long hike to Corniglia. Here are some images I took along the trail. The last two pictures are of Corniglia. And, here are some images of Corniglia. The last image is of the organ in the Chiesa di San Pietro.
After spending around forty minutes in Corniglia, I started my search for a trail that would take me to Manarola. Though the costal trail was closed, I found these signs that pointed towards a route through Volastra. Little did I know that the trail would take me uphill on a forty minute hike to Volastra - it was the hardest part of the hike. The middle image below is of Corniglia after hiking 3/4ths of the way to Volastra. My first time uploading a video! This is of my walk towards Volastra. Towards the end of the video I zoom into an image of Manarola in the distance. The next few images represent the next parts of my hike. The fourth image is of the church I saw when arriving in the small town of Volastra. Then, after some searching, a man pointed me in the direction of his "favorite trail" to Manarola. He warned me that it was a challenging hike, but it wasn't as tough as the one to Volastra. The Google Maps image is of how far inwards I had hiked from the sea to reach Groppo. As I am not paying for service, I had downloaded the Map beforehand and was using my location for reference. First images of Manarola! I arrived here around 6pm just as the sun was beginning to set. However, there were many clouds, and I worried that I would be unable to view the sunset from this spot. I had also not made it to Riomaggiore yet. I quickly got some food, sat and looked at the scenery, and began to search for a hiking route to Riomaggiore. There was no path to be found! So, I rushed to the train station, but accidentally took the train back to Corniglia instead of to Riomaggiore. This was not where I wanted to spend my sunset, so I jumped back on and headed to Manarola. Spending my evening in Manarola was a fantastic decision. These are some images I took of the sunset, which was miraculously visible after all the clouds. In fact, as you can see in the images, the clouds only added to the experience. The photo of me at the sunset was taken by my new friend Ally, an exchange student who is studying in Spain. I finally found my way to Riomaggiore after the long-day. Here is an image of Riomaggiore at night, and gelato (strawberry, chocolate, caramel). 4/10: Porto Venere + Cinque TerreI woke up exhausted after my hiking day! So, it was difficult to find the motivation to travel. After a slow start to the morning I caught a bus to Porto Venere. Porto Venere is amazing! The second image shows my walk to Chiesa di San Pietro (not to be confused with the one in Corniglia!). This church was formed in 1198. The rest of the images are from the church. Images around 5pm the next day from Riomaggiore and Vernazza (sitting by the ocean). The Mediterranean Sea at Vernazza. An interesting rock formation at Vernazza (I had to walk through that hole to see it), and then the sunset once more at Manarola. After the sunset, I finished my evening here talking with two new friends - Yula and Alina. They were from Germany and had driven to Manarola for Spring Break. We talked about all sorts of things - the war in Ukraine, learning languages, perceptions of American politicians, the differences in history education between Germany and America, World War 2, etc. We exchanged contact information, and they told me if I ever come to Germany (more specifically, Bamberg) to let them know and I'd have a place to stay.
I'll finish this blog here - I hope you enjoyed the stories! Hello again! This blog post outlines a short day trip Jill and I took on Sunday, 4/3. The MorningJill and I met outside of my apartment at 7:15am to a cold and foggy Siena. Our train left around 8:15am, and we had to catch the bus to reach the train station. Here is a photo I took of Siena that morning: Arriving in PisaWe arrived in Pisa after a two-hour train ride, with a connection in Empoli. As we both had evening plans in Siena, we only had about three hours to spend in Pisa. First, we headed to the leaning tower! After spending some time here, and taking our pictures, we went into the ticket office and were recommend to go to "Camposanto Monumentale." This is a burial ground within the Cathedral Square of Pisa, very close to the tower. There was a very eerie feeling in here, as we walked over graves and near Roman sarcophagi. Here are some pictures: Next, we visited the Cathedral di Pisa: And on our way back to the train station, I took these photos of Pisa's landscape: It was a beautiful day for the three hours we spent here! Then, on our way back, storm clouds started to roll in. We timed the travel perfectly. Pisa is a very small city, and to be honest, there is not much to do or see other than the tower and the few monuments within the Cathedral Square. If I were to do it again, I'd maybe spend four hours here to not feel as rushed.
My next blog post will be about my weekend trip to Cinque Terre. There are many pictures... stay tuned! The purpose of this blog post is to outline my experiences through the first half of student teaching at ISS Siena. In doing so, I have chosen four classes to focus on that provide an array of what music teaching and learning looks like on a curricular level across the age levels. My chosen grades are Grade 2, Grade 5, Grade 6, and Grade 10. Towards the end of this post, I outline my general thoughts about the school, the model and how I might adapt what I am seeing here in both American schools and future international positions. Grade 23/23/22 Grade 2’s unit of inquiry is about water and the water cycle. Rebecca and I are connecting this unit of inquiry to music through sound exploration, taking students through the different ways we can make music out of water sounds. In beginning, the students explained to us what they have been learning in their classrooms – how water gets from the sea to Siena. Rebecca and I set up the classroom like a theater, with the seats facing the piano. Then, Rebecca performed the piece “Jeux d’eau” by Maurice Ravel that is composed to sound like water. In this are water drop sounds, rain sounds, waterfall sounds, wave sounds, etc. The students were glued into her performance, and afterwards explained the different kinds of water sounds they heard through the piano. This was difficult for the Grade 2 students. I think they would have had more success if they heard the piano excerpt once more, but this discussion process took up the rest of the class period. 3/30/22 Today was my favorite class period yet. Ms. Rebecca and I moved all the desks and chairs to the edges of the room, and had students begin the lesson sitting on the floor. It was raining outside, and we asked them to listen to these sounds as she pulled up a recording (Beethoven’s 6th Symphony, 4th movement; storm movement). Grade 2 was asked to move their bodies in any way that felt natural during this recording, and the students were very committed to creative movement. At the end, we asked the students to tell us what story they pictured during their listening and movement. Each student had something different to tell us, of a storm that was coming towards the school, or of a wolf that ate one’s brother (imaginary, but perhaps this was a bit of hopeful emotional projection), or of a tornado that was coming to the family home. Ms. Rebecca and I compared their stories, and gave each student an opportunity to present. Next, we brought out a thunder machine – an instrument that sounds like a wind and thunderstorms. Each student was given a chance to play the instrument. After playing, they sat in their seats to watch a video. This was particularly effective with the rain happening outside of the classroom, making for a very realistic sound exploration environment. Once seated, we watched the scene from Disney’s Fantastia when the Gods are throwing lightning bolts at the creatures below while Beethoven 6 is playing as soundtrack. We compared this story to the stories we heard from students, and the students loved how close some of their stories were (comparing their storms to the storm they watched). One boy shouted “I am going to watch this movie at home on my iPad!”. 4/6/22 Today, we provoked the Grade 2’s learning with a video of a percussionist using all sorts of interesting performance techniques on a clear bowl of water. This included hitting bowls that floated along the surface, flicking the water, slapping it, dipping tuned opera gongs into the water to change the sound, and exploring different metallic instrumental possibilities in water. The students were absolutely floored by this performance, and really wanted to share the kinds of sounds they heard with their teachers. And, their explanations were pretty spot on. One girl described the direction of pitch change when the gong went into the water with her voice, a boy explained which of the three bowls was the lowest and why (because it was the largest), and a girl correctly guessed that the performer uses metallic instruments due to their resonance qualities. They are so bright. After watching the video a second time at their request, we discussed the kinds of instruments we have in our classroom that could sound like water. The students very quickly wanted to bring out the “thunder maker” again, even though this was thunder sounds not water sounds, and those who were sick last week were allowed a turn in making these sounds. Again, the students were floored. Unfortunately, the rest of the lesson was derailed because the students became distracted. From my perspective, I think we did too much group discussion in the abstract and too little hands-on kinesthetic sound exploration. The boys were jumping off the walls. Quickly, I jumped on the computer and pulled up a performance of “Sea Refractions” by Mitchell Peters for marimba, and asked the students if it sounds like the sea. They didn’t think it did (haha…), but were very calmed by the sound, and at least that helped with classroom management. I heard one of the boys say while leaving class “I don’t know why but I feel so tired all of a sudden.” Magic… Grade 53/22/22 Grade 5 is my first official class in the International School of Siena! I am so excited to begin. Grade 5 is towards the end of a unit of inquiry, which is focused on meditation music. Their task is to explore this music and eventually compose an original piece through garage band in the style. Ms. Rebecca began the lesson by leading group inquiry, asking the following questions:
From here, she investigated different ranges of pitch, dynamic, tempo, and rhythm. Then, the students were assigned to groups to make a “background” sound for their compositions. Meanwhile, Ms. Rebecca walked around the classroom and worked with each group individually, at times refocusing them on the task at hand. Not every student had a background track by the end of the lesson, with some students not completely understanding the style (one boy was composing drumbeats; another composing with 80’s synth sounds on garage band, etc.). It is the student’s task to finish these background meditation sounds by the beginning of next class for homework. 3/29/22 Today, we ended the unit of inquiry about meditation music composition. Connecting the lesson to last week’s lesson, we had five students play their composed meditation background tracks. Only five students composed these, and we wanted to move the lesson along rather than spend a few more weeks trying to motivate each of them in individually compose something. The class democratically voted on which meditation background track was best, and then that student’s track served as the class’s collective composition. Next, each students broke into small groups of three, and collaborated in deciding which instruments they would use in recording over the Garage Band background track. After this planning period, we came back together as a class and quickly moved to each group to record the sounds. This was not a particularly effective period of class because we didn’t have enough time, and the students kept talking during the recording process. I think expectations were too high for the students, and we were crunched for time to end this unit of inquiry. There was not enough time to play the meditation music recording for the class. I am unsure if we will play it for the class next week. 4/5/22 Today, we shifted from the unit of inquiry about meditation music composition to a new unit of inquiry – music production. The recording from last week was not played for the students. In starting this new unit, we provoked their inquiry through questioning. Ms. Rebecca and I asked the students “What are some things we produce that relate to music?” Student ideas include the following: instruments, musical scores, entertainment shows, listening devices, albums, CDs, tapes, headphones, Spotify (streaming services), advertisements.” Next, we asked the students “What can we create in our classroom that relates to music production?” Students were not ready for this question yet, so we showed a video of creating a homemade speaker for smartphones out of a toiletpaper cardboard roll. Then, the students had these ideas: “we could compose advertisement music for the school,” “we could make our own instruments,” “we could create our own ringtones,” “we could make our own playlists.” This was a slow class period, because it was mainly focused on inquiring and creatively thinking in the abstract. I worry that we lost some student’s attention through the process. I am now thinking of ways to continually engage students while provoking their inquiring minds. Grade 63/22/22 Today was my first day meeting the Grade 6 students. Ms. Rebecca and I meet with these students across two class periods on Tuesdays, split into halves, to reduce the teacher-student ratio. This is important for Grade 6 because these students are completing their exhibition projects – the final project in the Primary Years Programme (PYP), where young learners take themselves through each step of the inquiry-cycle and document their learning throughout the process with an inquiry topic of their choice. My role was to observe this class period. Half of the class was dedicated to wrapping up the Grade 6’s unit on protest songs, as we listened to protest music they had chosen. Some chosen songs include Bob Dylan’s “Blowing In The Wind,” One Republic’s “Truth Turn to Power,” Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up,” and Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” The other half was group discussion where the students offered their individual exhibition project topics and Ms. Rebecca wrote them on the board. These topics include: classical music, street art, botany and growth cycles, space and black holes, zoology (specifically birds), dyslexia, space and constellations, the role of dogs in society, design, horses, plastic pollution, and innovation during the renaissance. I am very excited to continue working with Grade 6. 3/29/22 Today, Ms. Rebecca and I had the full Grade 6 class during both periods. As a result, we decided it would be appropriate to have the students work on their exhibition projects in the first-class period, and independent work afterwards. It was difficult to manage the whole class together in one period. My role this day was to be an advisor to their exhibition projects. This was not an assigned role – I assumed the advisor position. It was a really entertaining class period, because each exhibition project topic is vastly different, and I had to use a lot of creativity in not only thinking of ideas related to their topics but also in not giving them the answers for their projects. Rather, I worked to provoke their discoverings, offering a tiny bit of content that they could research on YouTube, Google, Spotify, etc. Here are some examples:
I made my way to each student, steering their inquiry enough towards a content-rich path, and then stepped away to make sure I was not harming the inquiry-cycle process. 4/5/22 Today, Ms. Rebecca and I had to adapt our lesson expectations for Grade 6. Instead of meeting twice with Grade 6 across two periods, split in halves, we allowed all of the students to stay with the drama teacher during her formal observation at the teacher’s request. Then, during the last period of the day, we met with the students who most needed our help with their exhibition projects. One student in particular, the girl who is focusing on the three disorders dyslexia, dyspraxia, and dyscalculia, was struggling this period. There was a misunderstanding between teacher and student, and I directed my focus as co-teacher to her learning needs. Sitting down with her, we brainstormed ideas of how we could express her inquiry topic in musical form. Her ideas included the following: composing an original song, arranging an existing song by adapting its lyrics, finding music by composers with dyslexia to play behind her presentation, and finding compositions written about dyslexia. Ultimately, she made the decision to arrange an existing song and impose her original lyrics over its melody. She chose the song “I Don’t Know My Name” by Grace VanderWaal. Together, we decided she could write for two choruses and a verse. At the end of the period, she asked if she could interview me about my thoughts on dyslexia, dyspraxia, and dyscalculia. I agreed to serve as her adult interviewee, and she interviewed me about these learning disorders on Thursday, 4/7. Grade 103/23-3/24 Grade 10’s unit of inquiry is about songwriting, particularly with pop songs. The students use three apps on their iPads in this songwriting unit – GarageBand, Hookpad, and Chordify. We meet with these students for three class periods each week – once on Tuesday, and two consecutive periods on Wednesday. Across this week, we focused on the four most popular chords in songs: I, IV, V, vi. We began by showing students a performance by the Australian musical comedy act Axis of Awesome, titled “Four Chord Song.” In this example, the band plays the same four chords on repeat while changing the style of the music, performing a total of 73 popular songs. The students thought this video was hilarious – clearly it stuck with them. However, when we tried to transition into making our own four chord sequences, students were seemingly either overwhelmed by the options or uninterested in composing. To inspire the students (or regain their attention), I asked the students to give us a favorite song of theirs. To my pleasant surprise, one shouted out “No Woman No Cry” by Bob Marley, and we explored this song aurally to realize it used the same four chords (I-V-vi-IV-V-I). Students completed the rest of the period experimenting with different chord sequences, and their task for next week is to come with a prepared four chord sequence. Looking back on the period, I wish I had played Charlie Hunter’s arrangement of “No Woman No Cry” while they worked, but alas, life goes on. 3/30-3/31 This week, Ms. Rebecca and I focused on the part of pop songs which we call a “hook.” On Tuesday, the day when we have one lesson, we played some songs for the students and asked them to identify the hook. We also had them count how many times they heard the hook. Then, we had some of them offer songs we could listen to and try to identify hooks in. I made a point to tell them which four chord sequence their chosen songs used, to hammer in the point that just about every popular song uses I vi IV and V chords. It was also a fun challenge for me to aurally recognize the harmonies of unfamiliar pop songs. On Wednesday, we transitioned into large group inquiry about what a hook actually is. Some questions we used were “Are all hooks melodic?” and “Are hooks always played in the beginning of songs?”. Then, Billy went to the piano to play a hook he knew. Next, we watched a YouTube video titled “What is a hook?” I do not believe this was the most effective use of time, because the content in the video only repeated what we discovered as a class through inquiry. Students then separated to find a hook they liked and learn how to play it on an instrument of their chose, to then show the class. I helped a boy learn the hook from “Never gonna give you up” on piano. Some start their piano studies with Mozart; others, Rick Astley. Students were asked to compose a hook for next class with their chosen harmonic chord sequences from the week prior. 4/6-4/7 The three class periods this week were quite challenging. After last week’s “hook” lesson, we moved on to composing melodies with their harmonic sequences. Each student was to present their harmonic sequences and hooks for the class – however, the students were hesitant to do so. I am unsure if this was due to insecurities or not having completed the assignment. Naturally, Ms. Rebecca was frustrated with her students’ level of preparation. I stepped into a bit more of a lead teacher role in this moment, and approached the presentation from a different perspective. I gave the students two minute to practice their sequences on their respective instruments – then, students explained to the class what their chosen four chord sequence was. Below is an image of these sequences: Next, those who felt comfortable playing the four chords aloud were able to play for the class, and each chose to perform. From here, I offered ideas of how I might try to improvise melodies with each of their chord sequences, such as starting pitches, examples of melodic sequences that “fit” the harmonic frame, etc. Each student separated to work on their melodies individually, while I walked around the room to check on progress. With one student, I played her chords (with her requested inversions on piano) while she experimented with different melodic ideas in the higher register of the piano. She didn’t want anyone else to hear her improvising, so we plugged in headphones so that only she could hear. I let her know that I would loop the four chords until she was ready to work alone. This proved effective – after eight minutes, she thanked me and said she now knows what to notate for the melody. Though as a teacher I wish I could have heard her improvising, as a learner I know this method was most appropriate for her learner needs. I can tell that these students are both unfamiliar and insecure about songwriting, and I am approaching this moment as an opportunity to creatively differentiate my teaching to each learner’s needs. As a musician, I understand that songwriting is a deeply personal and challenging task, and I want to provide a safe learning environment where each of them feel comfortable composing music. General Thoughts About IB After 3 Weeks |
Each night, Michela and I sit down together and learn each other's languages together. I speak in broken Italian, and she speaks in broken English. Here's a picture of our notebooks - I am very fortunate to be with this host family. | Eve and I stumbled upon the University of Siena's botanical gardens! |
Hi! My name is Nick Stanford, and I am one of the student teachers participating in the IPDS Siena program. This is the second IPDS program I have participated in, the first being IPDS Italy, where I taught in Torremaggiore in January 2020. I am a dual degree undergraduate student from SUNY Buffalo State College, earning my Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy degrees. Follow along my journey through this blog!