Intro:
Sam, Sam, and
Josh were assigned the difficult task of making a performance using
music, based on the theme of globalization. They were also required to
incorporate the sub-themes of magical realism/surrealism,
revolution/oppression, indigenous culture, and environment/nature. What
follows is a chronicle of their daily progress.
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Day 2:
With all the basics figured out, day 2, showed lots
of progress, primarily a rehearsal of the newly written drum music. It
is hard to convey how amazed I was with their rhythm, and I believe that
it will make their performance great. The rhythms are based on Latin
American origins, nicely putting in the theme of indigenous culture as
they had hoped. They all but finished finding quotes, which will later
be incorporated into a Power Point presentation. While that is playing,
the plan is now to read pieces they wrote and have the drums follow
along. The rest of the themes, nature/environment,
revolution/oppression, and magical realism/surrealism, will be
incorporated using the presentation, and the literary pieces, as
initially planned.
Day 3:
Day three was
so short, that little was accomplished by anyone. However, Sam, Sam, and
Josh managed to all but finish the huge difficult Power Point
presentation. It is very impressive, as can be seen in the image below.
Besides this, they had another impressive rehearsal. Now all that needs
doing is the writing of the literature, and syncing it to the music.
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Day 4:
With the due
date only a day away, things started to get a little more rushed. Since
the music room was only available at first, Sam, Sam, and Josh started
out the day with another rehearsal of the drums. They made a change in
their plans, so that now the drums would mostly emphasize the
presentation, and the literary pieces would only have a simple, basic
snare rhythm. In the second half of the time period, they put the
finishing touches on the Power Point presentation, which is really
spectacular, and started to finalize their literary pieces. There were
no changes in the way the topics will be expressed.
Day 5:
On the last work day,
everything had to be done by the end of the period, ready for the
performance the following week. However, since Sam, Sam and Josh had
used their time wisely, and done their homework, they got to spend a
lot of time having a pizza lunch. What a relief it must have been to be
done!
Day 6:
With
their work done, Sam, Sam, and Josh had their first dress rehearsal.
Tech problems prevented the Power Point presentation from working, but
they still shined. The deep written work, and the powerful music
combined to make an amazing performance. Bravo!
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Day 1:
During the
first day of work, lots of basic ideas had to be figured out. Although
some of this was done previously, it still took much of the first
period. Here is what was decided. The goal is to use percussion
instruments along with quotes, writing, and a presentation to
communicate the theme, “Globalization in Latin America,” and the topics,
magical realism, revolution/oppression, environment/nature, and
indigenous cultures. The plan is to read quotes enhanced by drum music
in the background, followed by a slide show. The music will be based on
Latin American influences. One example of such a quote is “The companies
roam the world with no checks and balances in search of misery and
poverty and unemployment, because they will tell you in their own
testimonies that naturally in these areas you will find the lowest
wages.” – Charles Wenham. At this point it is not clearly decided where
all of the topics will go, but, they will definitely be woven throughout
the material. All in all today was research and planning, so the results
were not so apparent.
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