CMW mourns the death of Ted Sizer, who, back in 1995, advised Sebastian (then a sophomore at Brown) that he should not be afraid to pursue such an outlandish idea as a neighborhood string quartet residency that combines music and music education with community building and social justice.
Dr. Sizer served as a member of CMW's advisory council, and was the featured speaker (along with Deborah Meier) at Education, Art, and Freedom: An Exploration of Philosophy and Pedagogy, the two-day symposium that CMW presented in May 2004.
"You need an adult community. You need friends, probably teachers who know the same kids, and you have to have a lot of time for “kid talk” because your impression through teaching the subject that you teach may be different than your colleague’s perception in the subject she teaches or the way the kid acts.
Good schools have multiple communities: there’s you, the teacher and your kids, and then there’s you, the teacher and the other teachers who teach the same class of kids. But there also has to be an adult culture. An adult culture should be full of critique. Not only of the adults’ work but also judgments about what’s going on with kids. Very few schools give time for that. That’s supposed to happen by osmosis. [laughter]"
Here is a link to a pdf containing his complete remarks from the 2004 symposium's Public Forum.
More about Ted Sizer's life and work here and here.
-Heath Marlow, CMW staff
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I'm glad we got two opportunities to play the Beethoven quartet; it's too beautiful of a piece to only play once! Both performances were a success in my mind: We really did come together as a team to make some great music come alive. A lot of audience members commented on how impressed they were that we sounded as cohesive as we did...they were surprised that we'd only been rehearsing for about a month!
Photo by Kirby
I left the stage with a bubbling excitement about what we had accomplished. This kind of excitement is a common occurrence in my life, but it all the better when I have awesome colleagues to share it with!
-Carole Bestvater (Fellow)
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Aaron was kind enough to write up a transcript of the interviews with CMW students that Carole conducted on the bus ride back to Providence following the Boston Philharmonic concert trip. Here are a few excerpts (outtakes):
CB: What did you think of the concert?12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
On Sunday, October 11, Community MusicWorks families boarded a bus and headed up to Boston's beautiful Sanders Theatre to see a performance of the Boston Philharmonic featuring violinist Feng Ning.
Jesse's pre-concert talk on board the bus
A busy street festival slowed our travel to Boston and we thought we were going to miss the first half of the concert, but the ushers graciously let us enter quietly in between movements. We arrived to hear Feng Ning play the Brahms Violin Concerto.
The audience clapped enthusiastically and he played two encores for us. For most students, this was the highlight of the concert:
"I liked the short songs after the concerto because they were funny!""It was interesting how he played and plucked at the same time. He must have some seriously strong fingers."
After intermission, we returned to see the orchestra play Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 7. The piece was truly exciting:It was a great start to a season of exciting concert trips. Looking forward to seeing you on the next one!
-Aaron McFarlane, Fellow
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A special invitation to PSQ and CMW fans from Christina at The Providence Athenaeum:
Friday 10/16, 5-7 pm
Salon Series: So, What’s the Story? Part Three: Bass-Baritone Frank Ward on researching and singing the African-American songbook and other works along life’s way. In addition to the standard classical and operatic repertoire, Ward has sung the works of African-American composers of art songs and spirituals, and researched and brought to life vaudeville, minstrel, and musical theater songs, circa 1900. Songs define their times and pass on stories from one era and one culture to another, letting us travel through time and space. Join us for a conversation about Ward’s musical itineraries. For Athenaeum members and their guests. For more info: call Christina at 421-6970 or visit providenceathenaeum.org.
Free to guests of CMW. No need to sign in or make a reservation. Just come and enjoy the evening and (we hope) participate in the conversation.
I first heard Frank sing at the PSQ house concert at Phoebe and Peter's loft two or so years ago, and thought some of your fans might be his as well. Please join us!-Christina Bevilacqua
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Reprinted from CMW's 09-10 season program book
Welcome to our 13th season! Community MusicWorks continues to grow in our commitment to the intersections of performing, teaching, and community, and we are blessed to have you as a listener, participant, and supporter.10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)