A pause for Advent 1 (2014): Together

One of the things I love about Christmas is that it brings us together.  This time of advent and Christmas is one that brings us together.  Christmas creates community.  As advent begins, we come together for many occasions:  get togethers at Christmas with friends, seeing our family, Christmas parties at places of work.  For me, apart from the many concerts which I organise at school for Christmas, there are the carol services, church services.  These, for me, are the most wonderful part of Christmas.  There is warmth, joy, love and community in singing and rejoicing in the Saviour.




There is unity that a small Baby, Jesus, who was  God made human brought and brings about community and oneness.




Wise men, of higher birth, shepherds of lowly birth were all brought together in one place. All of us, from different places are brought together at Christmas.




All of us can experience the togetherness of Christmas.




There are people who are alone, let's try and notice them, show them our time and try and include them somehow.  There are opportunities to spend time with others if we seek them.  Perhaps we could all find someone to include this year at Christmas.




In Matthew 18 v 20, Jesus says "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."






I am so grateful for all the opportunities I have for community, for those two or three, or many more- for there Jesus is with us, sharing his peace and joy. I am thankful for the joy and beauty and community of the carol service which I had the privilege to take part in today.  Many gathered, many felt the peace and joy and anticipation and excitement of remembering Jesus coming and rejoicing that he comes to, to us too.




I hope you experience togetherness this advent.

Donning the orange tablecloth and philsophising...

You know how my husband has this habit of describing my clothing sometimes in less than complimentary ways.  I should point out as a disclaimer that he does often say things look pretty or nice so I wouldn't want to cast him as a villainous critic,  but this outfit prompted another classic remark.   "Hmmm, why are you wearing a tablecloth?"

And he only saw the skirted part!!! The dress in question is a vintage orange-checked dress that might give Elizabeth Bennett a lurid run for her money- it has a distinct Regency look to it- I bought it in Maldon at Truly Scrumptious (what a great name for a vintage shop) when out for lunch there and actually found it quite hard to style!  Vix and Curtise always don vintage maxi frocks with great panache, ease and originality and I confess to being stuck for how to make this dress shine in a way that my vintage muses  manage to.  I do confess to toning it down in a way that might make you shudder Vix! I paired it with black- cardie and scarf, brown boots and added an orange starry belt and orange slice earrings.


Have I ever mentioned my 10 year teaching plan? Well,it's not exactly my teaching plan, but from my first year of teaching, I wrote one Christmas song a year, to be performed by the children with the aim that I would have a complete nativity after 10 years of teaching.  I've pretty much remained on track apart from maybe two years. I've got 6 songs so far (that I can remember!)  and this is the start of my 8th year of teaching.  Well, this year, I didn't really get around to writing anything over the holiday- the inspiration suddenly strikes, always, it can't be forced.  I had an idea a couple of weeks ago for just the first line of the lyrics which I quickly typed into my phone.  It got to this weekend and I thought, "Eeeek, it's only 4 weeks till the concert/service!" and nothing was written so this Sunday I wrote the lyrics.  Singing assembly and choir both fall on a Wednesday and it got to midnight on Tuesday night, when CBC and I returned from orchestra in London.  Therefore, I stayed up until 1.30am working out the melody, structure and a rough version of the accompaniment. It was still a rough work in progress but I HAD to get it done for this Wednesday or it wouldn't have happened.

On Wednesday, I explained to the choir that I had written them something new and I apologised that the piano would sound dodgy because I hadn't quite worked out the part yet.  They all encouragingly said it didn't matter. I sang and the sweeties all clapped and said they liked it with one saying, "It's a yes from me!"

We then learnt it together and I was so happy with them-there were only 22 children on Wednesday (we've gone back to just years 5-6) but they made the sound of 50.  I always write very complex rhythmic lyrics and they really went for it and tried hard and pretty much nailed it.  There's a section at the end where I explained there would be a small group singing a descant part and said I hadn't quite worked it out but it might sound something like "....". Lo and behold, a small group took it upon themselves to improvise a descant together when we sang that section and I said they'd got the job! Sometimes, you can just leave it to people to come up with something when you give them the idea, and they saved me a little work!

Now I've just got to pin down that piano part and stick it into music notation software...

I mentioned my plan to one of my colleagues who said to me, after my mentioning the late going to bed, "But surely, you are making too much work for youself? Isn't it easier to go with something written?"  But for me, this is something important.  I see myself not just as an educator but trying to be an inspiration, as a model of living this thing that you love. If the children see that I am a composer, they will have belief in my educating them on composition, they will know you can do something purely for the love of it, not just because you want to get something out of it (though it would be nice to have a second item published).  In addition, I have composed for the love of it from a young age.  My pieces may not be works of art or anything amazing and I think my old professor of composition, who I know had faith in my abilities as a composer would not be impressed by my primary songs. BUT writing keeps the brain fresh, it keeps you loving what you do. I don't want to give up the things I love because I am tired and exhausted as a teacher.  I don't want to be old and jaded and lose my creativity (not saying this has happened to anyone at all, but I know it can...).  The art and composing and love of it will get me past it.  One item a year is not so hard to achieve- hence why I made it an aim to write one a year for 10 years. (though I write other pieces and make other arrangements).

I absolutely HATE the phrase, "Those who can, do, those who can't, teach." - It is an absolute lie and anyone who conforms to that opinion would be a terrible teacher and ostensibly sums up the lack of respect a small idiotic minority have for teachers.  I want to ensure that I don't just teach, I DO. I play my flute, ideally to a high standard, I compose, I listen and appraise, so I can confound  that ridiculous idea. I blog also for school, so I am always looking for inspiration and new ways of approaching blog posts and resources to include.

Hope I don't trip over my orange checkered hem as I get myself down from that soapbox.

On a completely different note (a G#!), something really odd happened with my computer earlier- I was downloading a zipfile with 8 photos from my e-mail and I left it doing its thing.  When I looked an hour later, I noticed that the green transferring thing was still going on, Puzzled, I looked at it and it was still only half way. When I opened the folder I'd sent it to, it had inexplicably copied one of the photos 46,800 times into the folder!!!!  How odd! How or why?

Hope all is well with you and thank you for all your kind comments.  Glad you were inspired by the drum making post. If you missed it, it's worth a look for learning the process and the amount of work that goes into it.

Hugs to all
xx

Linking to welcome to the Weekend with Claire Justine

What is it? #20

Hi there,
Today, we have another vegetable collage made to resemble something.  Something, I'm not entirely sure about so I'd appreciate some advice on what YOU think it is!



What about last week?



Last week's photo caused a little consternation- Gem really didn't like it and I kind of get what she meant. I tried to look at it with the eyes of an observer who was not in possession of the knowledge of what it was and I saw it possible as the tummy button of a gold/brass statue, the close up of the top of an apple without its stalk or indded a large vase with water at the bottom- it definitely looks like there is water in there.  But there isn't - It IS indeed the close-up of an instrument- a French Horn to be precise so well done to those who thought that! Go Tasha, Char and top marks to Lizzie who mentioned the brass family- yay, go Lizzie!!!

Leave your comments on what you think it is below!
xx

10 comments:

1. 
   Trisarahtops12:43 pm

   I'm going with a squash, or similar kind of vegetable, hole where the stalk was. x

   ReplyDelete
2. 
   two birds2:01 pm

   I looks like a glass vase or bowl to me.

   ReplyDelete
3. 
   char2:36 pm

   Hmm, maybe an instrument?

   ReplyDelete
4. 
   Lisa4:08 pm

   Some kind of funnel? An inverted traffic cone?
   Lisa x

   ReplyDelete
5. 
   Elizabeth Rebecca6:52 pm

   Some kind of brass instrument.
   
   Lizzie's Daily Blog

   ReplyDelete
6. 
   Natasha Hill7:46 pm

   Ooh I love these posts you do Kezzie! At first glance I thought it was possibly a very up close shot of the top of a plant or even a fruit - but I also get the feeling of an instrument of some kind, like a trumpet. I also promise I haven't forgotten your letter and will reply as soon as I can! - Tasha xxx

   ReplyDelete
7. 
   Hook, Line and Sink Her9:06 pm

   Inside of a flower pot. xxx

   ReplyDelete
8. 
   Pink Haired Princess9:12 pm

   Glass vase or something similar? I don't like it...the angle and not knowing what it is, is freaking me out that I could fall down it (you know if I could fall into a photo).

   ReplyDelete
9. 
   Shamu Boo4:50 am

   Picasso's toilet

   ReplyDelete
10. 
    Miharu Julie7:05 pm

    Nice post
    would you like to follow each other ?
    I'll follow back after it
    
    Www.miharujulie.com

    ReplyDelete

The making of a drum

I have alluded to this in various other post. Isn't it funny, but you can trot off the trivial blog posts just like that, but something different and exciting, you totally put it off! I think that any post with oodles of photos that you have to/want to do in a certain order is always rather an arduous task, no matter how much you might love the subject or the actual doing of it.

When my Mother first asked me if I would like to come to a Drum-making workshop, I was excited at the prospect of being able to make my own musical instrument but a part of me was thinking about 3 broken djembe drums at school that I might possibly be able to fix myself if I attended the workshop.  Yes, you've caught me on it-an ulterior motive was lurking.

Arriving at the Scout-hut on the Sunday with my Mum, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The workshop was run by Jambeats  https://www.facebook.com/pages/JamBeats/214036119292.  We met out tutors, husband and wife team from Canvey Island in Essex who make drums and lead drum circle workshops in Essex. I was quite surprised that there were only 4 of us on the course but you do need the amount of attention, so I understand now. They had already bought drum frames, we all picked the size we wanted- my Mum chose the smallest size and I chose the biggest!

Before we started, we had a sort of introduction or meditation moment where something or other was burned and we had a moment of quiet thought and listened to the sound of Native American flute playing.

Then we were handed our frames.  We burned any small designs we wanted to go inside the frame using the wood burning tool which I found rather difficult to handle. I simply drew an Ichtus (Christian fish symbol) and my initial “K” and some dots. The others all drew some sort of symbols. 

The next stage was to fetch our skins. These were deer skins from Scotland and they had already been cut to size and a long strip of skin for the tying.  These had been soaking overnight as the skins are hard and rigid unless wet and impossible to work with.  Thus, we worked on top of an old towel.



The skin I chose was incredibly thick, whereas the one my Mum received was very thin.  Next we had to place the frame in the middle of the circular skin and measure the places to punch the holes so it reached the rim of the drum – this was complicated as the pencil marks kept rubbing away between drawing them and picking up the hole-punching tool. I struggled with the punching as the skin was so thick and the tool was quite hard to manouvere compounded with a very weak right wrist. Nonetheless,eventually I succeeded.



All three of us ladies struggled with it, but eventually got through.

Once our holes were cut, the next stage was to stretch the long length of deer-skin that had (thankfully) already been cut for us in order to make it long enough to bind the skin to the frame.  Again, this needed lots of strength in the wrists.  Every so often, it was important to spray our skins with water in order that they stayed flexible and didn't dry out.



Have you ever done those maths patterns were you join dots 180 degrees across a circle with lines and then move onto the next pair of dots to make a pattern?  threading the skin through the hole was just like this.


It felt rather strange to think I was handling a large damp deer skin.

Eventually all holes were connected with the skin.

The next stage was to tighten the skin, going round from the beginning hole to the end, round and round, tightening it more each time. This took a good 40minutes or more- it's surprising how there is always more give in the skin and it's important your skin is nice and tight to ensure the drum has a good tone.


I did need a bit of help with this part as my wrists were aching lots by now and my right wrist seizes up all the time- a lot of strength was needed.

The next stage was to bind three strings in 90 degree angle together, this involved wrapping the remaining string around the sttrings and going back to the top.

Here you can see when I had bound three quarters of the cords/strings together



You had to ensure that the cross that you made (for holding the drum to play it, like a bodhran) was a comfortable size for YOUR specific hand as it would be awful to make your own personal drum that hurts you hand because it is too big/small.

After tying your final cord, the next stage was to neaten up the edges since the skin will dry in the messy looking position unless you tame/train it to tuck itself against the wood.  We did this by gently banging drawing pins into the skin (these would be taken out a few days after the workshop)

Here's Mum hammering.


You can see the detail of my skin here- there was a clear outline of the vertebrae of the deer.  I'm sorry to any vegetarians but apparently, most of these deer skins are just chucked away unless a tanner will take them and 'process' them. The tanning is the part which adds considerably to the cost of a possibly free deer skin.  My teacher is currently learning tanning skills.

The drum was left to dry.

The next stage was to make a beater. We were each given a silver birch stick which had been debarked. Our teachers always make sure that their sticks/wood  are always 'windfalls' as it were and these came from a holiday in Cumbria apparently.

You can see a piece of red suede which was already cut and sewn into a little boxing glove shape for us.  They tend to search for suede and leather items in charity shops which can be cut up for their drum workshops so I like the fact they are trying to be sustainable.

We sanded any rough bits from the stick and then began stuffing wadding into the 'glove' whilst stuffing the stick in to get it in the correct position. You had to really stuff it tight in order to make a nice solid beater



After applying a little superglue to seal the edges of the glove to the beater stick,  we wrapped waxed cord around the beater to secure it.


As a final cosmetic detail, we used the wood burner to add detail to our stick. I tried to start making an attractive chevron and dot pattern which due to my inability to use the tool properly, became rather messy. I also put a cheeky K on the very end of the stick.Wish I'd tried to draw a dalek!


And here you can see my finished drum and beater. Oh how I wish I could have played it BUT it was important to let the drum dry out of natural light for 3 weeks, turning it to ensure every surface and piece of skin got completely dry.


And here we all were with our drums!

I honestly didn't realise it would be such an incredible experience- I actually felt quite emotional about it- I feel completely hippy saying this but the connection you made to this instrument through making it is amazing.


And finally, here is the sound of my beautiful drum.  I think she needs a name.

There's an irritating buzz on the video- there are still a few drawing pins stuck in-hoping it is them!

xxx

Craft and surreptitious maths investigation!

It was Sunday at 1pm and we had to be at my sister's for 2pm for my niece's 5th birthday party, half an hour drive away.  Problem was, I hadn't made her a card and UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES would a bought-card be tolerated in that household, my sister would be really disapproving/disappointed in me as would I. In myself, I mean.

Thus, I decided to do create a quick fun card I had been thinking about as an idea for a card that children could make for their friends' or relatives birthdays.  It would be a sneaky fun way that parents could get their children to do some maths investigation,  whilst having craft/making fun.  It was based on something that my Father-in-law and Brother-in-law write in cards to each other.

The idea is, you take the age of the recipient and try to make that number in as many ways as possible.  This of course will vary, based on age.

To support your child doing this of course, particularly if they are younger, you can provide cubes or marbles/multiple objects. 5 for very young children (just addition) or 10 or just a whole bag, so they can count out the objects to make the sums.

Image from TTS group

You can choose to use one operation, e.g. adding or all four: multiplication, division, addition and subtraction.  Fractions or decimals could be involved for Year 4-6 children (8-11 year olds)

You will need to make it fun then by providing either a set of wonderful coloured pens (CBC has these delicious Staedtler fineliners that I used) OR you could use number outline stickers OR  stamps OR funky-foam numbers

Staedler fineliners from Hobbycraft*

Clear Stamps from Hobbycraft*

Anitas outline stickers From Hobbycraft*

Yep, also from Hobbycraft*- pretend they are numbers...

Once you have sourced your 'fun element' then get said child to try and find ways to make the number. (might want to try on scrap paper first)  As you can see, I tried to make mine in a way that my 5 year old would understand.  Don't forget encouraging/leading/extending words such as 'How about trying to combine more than 2 numbers?' or 'What about subtraction?'

For even younger/lower-developmental stage children, you could just get them to draw/stamp five objects together, e.g. 5 hearts, 5 stars, 5 footprints.

To finish mine off, so it didn't look SO much like a 5 year old did it, I added gold outline stickers round the edge to give it a border and some dots.  And just so you know, I drew a HUGE multicoloured 5 inside but it was messy so you don't get to see that.

And there you have it, a card that can be made for anyone of any age, that gets your child investigating numbers along the way.  Also would make a possible man-card.  WOMOTM, My father-in-law , you know what you're getting next year....

My Father-in-law would expect something like this though... Eeek, genius child eh?!

Image borrowed from bodysmartinc.com*

Hope you like this idea.  Let me know if you try it out.

Best wishes,

Kezzie


xx

*Disclaimer:  the large number of references and links to Hobbycraft does not mean I was bribed/sponsored/endorsed/paid by Hobbycraft to write this post, I merely wanted to find a way for them not to sue me for stealing all their images by making you all go shopping there as method of appeasement! Rather like offering a goat to the gods/totem pole.

*  Disclaimer no. 2: Regretably, Bodyincsmart.com didn't sponsor me either, but go and look at all their pretty sums- maybe you can buy one to save me once again....

****



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