by Brian Gnojek and Midori Samson
Week 2, Day 1 (June 11, 2012):
Teaching was a little difficult today at the Catarman SPED Center, because they were doing some kind of workshop at the main auditorium where we had taught last week. We were able to find an outdoor area to teach, and we taught a basic musical staff (only three lines), with each staff corresponding to a sound you could make with your body (clap, slap, stomp). By the end of the class, the students were reading basic music, and COMPOSING music by relating the high and low sounds to the cadence of words their teachers use: "Sit, down! Sit down!" "Pay attention, Pay attention," "Do you homework…" etc. We extremely impressed with the progress these students have made in essentially 3 days of class.
Week 2, Day 1 (June 11, 2012):
Teaching was a little difficult today at the Catarman SPED Center, because they were doing some kind of workshop at the main auditorium where we had taught last week. We were able to find an outdoor area to teach, and we taught a basic musical staff (only three lines), with each staff corresponding to a sound you could make with your body (clap, slap, stomp). By the end of the class, the students were reading basic music, and COMPOSING music by relating the high and low sounds to the cadence of words their teachers use: "Sit, down! Sit down!" "Pay attention, Pay attention," "Do you homework…" etc. We extremely impressed with the progress these students have made in essentially 3 days of class.
Day 2:
We spent today making musical instruments (shakers) out of plastic bottles, filled with sand, rice, and rocks, and decorated by them with colored pencils and pastels. One of our students wrote in her journal at the end of the day, "Today I learned that you can make a musical instrument out of anything!" :-)
Day 3:
Today we began planning for the end-of-the-week performance. Because the students do not have instruments besides their new shakers, we have decided we are going to sing and use our shakers and bodies to make the accompaniment. As it happened, at different points in the last week, we heard the SPED students singing "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye, and the CNHS students sang "12:51" by the Philippine group Krissy and Ericka, so those are the songs we decided to perform. After assigning who would sing solos/duets (just a few lines of music per person), we began with some breathing exercises and vocal warm-ups to get the kids going, as well as some call and response to work on singing on-key.
The day ended with a brownout, but we got to see how beautiful the night sky was when there was no light pollution from the city. The team spent some quality time out on the back porch doing what we do best: goofing around and making each other laugh.
Day 4:
Today was the day we really started to put the music together for the performance. We used what they had learned about rhythms to write out accompaniment figures for the shakers, and for those that didn't have their shakers, we just did clapping and stomping feet, which was an important part of the music!
Day 5:
Today was the dress rehearsal at our performance space, the Catarman Municipal Auditorium. We ran everything a few times and did our best to get the students to SING OUT! By the end of the day, we felt pretty confident that the performance would go (relatively) smoothly. We were treated to a wonderful dinner by Marissa, the principal of CNHS, whose birthday was July 15. We (Midori and Brian) have been enjoying the food here, and this dinner was no exception: fish dip, flan, pancit, chicken wings, and a big birthday cake! We also had some mango salsa made by one of the only other Americans in Northern Samar, Lauren, who we were introduced to by our friend and part-time guide, Brenfred Romero. It was a really fun gathering, and reminded me that one of the best parts of this trip so far (and would prove to continue through the end of the trip) was the amazing people we met. Everyone was so friendly and helpful and supportive. Our jobs would have been extremely difficult if not impossible were it not for them.
Day 6:
The big day! The morning rehearsal went well, though it was a little tough keeping the kids in line with so much going on. The performance went very smoothly, and the students performed fantastically. The performance space was a large outdoor space and the town theater in Catarman. The stage was beautifully decorated with props donated by the teachers of CNHS and SPED including flowers, balloons, posters that the students created with our visual art teacher, Tighe, and a huge banner with a photograph of the governor of Northern Samar. It said that he, along with the mayor of Catarman supported Project Philippines and was decorated with the 4 words we incorporated into our lessons throughout the workshop: expression, trust, individuality, and respect. The amount of effort that both schools put into the performance day really showed us how much it meant to them that we were there. This was also made clear when we reflected on how much our students had grown in the last 2 weeks. We remembered how much they struggled to speak up during "Shabuya" in our first class. But during the performance, each student showed no hesitation to sing their solos loud and move with the music. We were extremely proud. Midori and Brian were also able to each do a solo, and we played the Poulenc Sonata as well, which was new (and I think a little confusing) to our Philippine audience, but very well received. After the concert was over, the team was treated like rockstars. Almost every student wanted their picture taken with us, our autograph, a "remembrance", or at least a hug. It was very touching, and many of the students had made us remembrances of their own. We ended the day with a well-earned night out with Brenfred, and Julius and Ray, who had helped us the entire 2 weeks with transportation, meals, and anything else we needed. Unfortunately, Midori had caught a Philippines cold with a high fever and had to stay home to get some rest. We all had to turn in fairly early because our flight out the next morning was at 6:30am.
Day 7:
Just a quick note to finish our trip to Northern Samar. We woke up at around 4:30am, packed our stuff and drove to the airport. We got out of the car only to find that several of the students from the Catarman National High School were waiting there to see us off! In addition, they sent us with a large piece of paper, about 4'x4', covered with notes and pictures and letters to us. It was a wonderful, beautiful gesture, and it is something we'll never forget. We were able to see them on the other side of the fence until our plane began takeoff. What a wonderful way to end the first two weeks of our trip.
We spent today making musical instruments (shakers) out of plastic bottles, filled with sand, rice, and rocks, and decorated by them with colored pencils and pastels. One of our students wrote in her journal at the end of the day, "Today I learned that you can make a musical instrument out of anything!" :-)
Day 3:
Today we began planning for the end-of-the-week performance. Because the students do not have instruments besides their new shakers, we have decided we are going to sing and use our shakers and bodies to make the accompaniment. As it happened, at different points in the last week, we heard the SPED students singing "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye, and the CNHS students sang "12:51" by the Philippine group Krissy and Ericka, so those are the songs we decided to perform. After assigning who would sing solos/duets (just a few lines of music per person), we began with some breathing exercises and vocal warm-ups to get the kids going, as well as some call and response to work on singing on-key.
The day ended with a brownout, but we got to see how beautiful the night sky was when there was no light pollution from the city. The team spent some quality time out on the back porch doing what we do best: goofing around and making each other laugh.
Day 4:
Today was the day we really started to put the music together for the performance. We used what they had learned about rhythms to write out accompaniment figures for the shakers, and for those that didn't have their shakers, we just did clapping and stomping feet, which was an important part of the music!
Day 5:
Today was the dress rehearsal at our performance space, the Catarman Municipal Auditorium. We ran everything a few times and did our best to get the students to SING OUT! By the end of the day, we felt pretty confident that the performance would go (relatively) smoothly. We were treated to a wonderful dinner by Marissa, the principal of CNHS, whose birthday was July 15. We (Midori and Brian) have been enjoying the food here, and this dinner was no exception: fish dip, flan, pancit, chicken wings, and a big birthday cake! We also had some mango salsa made by one of the only other Americans in Northern Samar, Lauren, who we were introduced to by our friend and part-time guide, Brenfred Romero. It was a really fun gathering, and reminded me that one of the best parts of this trip so far (and would prove to continue through the end of the trip) was the amazing people we met. Everyone was so friendly and helpful and supportive. Our jobs would have been extremely difficult if not impossible were it not for them.
Day 6:
The big day! The morning rehearsal went well, though it was a little tough keeping the kids in line with so much going on. The performance went very smoothly, and the students performed fantastically. The performance space was a large outdoor space and the town theater in Catarman. The stage was beautifully decorated with props donated by the teachers of CNHS and SPED including flowers, balloons, posters that the students created with our visual art teacher, Tighe, and a huge banner with a photograph of the governor of Northern Samar. It said that he, along with the mayor of Catarman supported Project Philippines and was decorated with the 4 words we incorporated into our lessons throughout the workshop: expression, trust, individuality, and respect. The amount of effort that both schools put into the performance day really showed us how much it meant to them that we were there. This was also made clear when we reflected on how much our students had grown in the last 2 weeks. We remembered how much they struggled to speak up during "Shabuya" in our first class. But during the performance, each student showed no hesitation to sing their solos loud and move with the music. We were extremely proud. Midori and Brian were also able to each do a solo, and we played the Poulenc Sonata as well, which was new (and I think a little confusing) to our Philippine audience, but very well received. After the concert was over, the team was treated like rockstars. Almost every student wanted their picture taken with us, our autograph, a "remembrance", or at least a hug. It was very touching, and many of the students had made us remembrances of their own. We ended the day with a well-earned night out with Brenfred, and Julius and Ray, who had helped us the entire 2 weeks with transportation, meals, and anything else we needed. Unfortunately, Midori had caught a Philippines cold with a high fever and had to stay home to get some rest. We all had to turn in fairly early because our flight out the next morning was at 6:30am.
Day 7:
Just a quick note to finish our trip to Northern Samar. We woke up at around 4:30am, packed our stuff and drove to the airport. We got out of the car only to find that several of the students from the Catarman National High School were waiting there to see us off! In addition, they sent us with a large piece of paper, about 4'x4', covered with notes and pictures and letters to us. It was a wonderful, beautiful gesture, and it is something we'll never forget. We were able to see them on the other side of the fence until our plane began takeoff. What a wonderful way to end the first two weeks of our trip.
