Friday, February 15, 2008

Residency at Belmont Day School

Last month, we spent two weeks being schoolteachers. We were the artists-in-residence at Belmont Day School, where Emily and Julie went to school when they were kids. Their parents were kind enough to let us live with them during that period in Cambridge, MA. This was fantastic because between Debby Bruskin’s fantastic cooking and Sam Bruskin’s extensive CD and wine collection, we were fairly happy coming home after a long day of work!

We spent our days at the school, working with each class (pre-Kindergarten to Grade 8) on music. We incorporated many ideas and themes, including how to listen to music, the history of the piano trio, as well as improvisation and composition! It was really rewarding to be able to work with the students as we saw all of them more than once during our two-week stay. We even played with some of the students in their school assembly, which was really fun.

The students and staff at Belmont Day School welcomed us with open arms and open minds. They made me feel like a part of their family, even though I had never attended as a student. Students came to us with gifts and food, and here is an example of a wonderfully sweet card made by a little girl.



Note how the instruments all have happy, smiley faces!

We even had a snow day! Having grown up in Vancouver, we did not get too many snow days, so this was really exciting for me. Everything was so beautifully covered in a blanket of white snow. This was a view out of the bedroom where I stayed (thanks, Amanda!).

While we were in the Boston area, we also visited our friends at WGBH. We recorded a live performance and in-studio interview with Cathy Fuller, which will be aired next month. WGBH had moved into a new location recently and the studio was beautiful and airy, with a beautiful new piano.

On the right, Emily and Julie are pictured with the members of the beginner string ensemble at Belmont Day School, along with the wonderful String Instrumental Music Director, Debra Thoresen. It was such a treat and so much fun to work with the young students!


Having spent two weeks living the life of a schoolteacher, I gained a new appreciation for teachers. It is a wonderfully rewarding job, but it takes absolute devotion, time, patience and energy to inspire young people.

3 Comments:

At 11:15 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Donna,

You make Julie's and Emily's parents sound rather old fashioned and traditional. She does all the cooking and he collects all the CDs and the wine? Perhaps she cooks all the time when guests are around because she is the better cook. But I bet that he does all the cooking AND washes all the laundy when guests are not around so that she can tend to ordering the CDs and picking out the wine.

Be sure to let us know when the WGBH broadcast will be aired in March!

Horatio

 
At 10:27 AM, Blogger LoieJ said...

Loved your music last evening in Virginia, MN. I don't know how you can stand winter in formal gowns, but I did see the legging peek out one time!

 
At 9:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It makes you wonder about the time in a young life when they branch away from the routine of formal classical studies to do (what they think)is their own "tang." In America, this seems to happen more with each generation compared to Europe, Russia and now China where an appreciation for the dicipline endures in spite of the tween years. I know popular culture, single-parenting, and peers have much to do with this change of attitude, but continue to work with them for all of you set a supportive example them to follow. The movie "School of Rock" isn't what it's cracked up to be when innocence is robbed, and they realize that the label gets up to 80% of a 99 cent download cuz fans don't want to buy CDs as much as before the scourge of file-sharing.

J.Cee

 

Post a Comment

<< Home