"Galumphing" in the Classroom

I went to teach yesterday prepared to "galumph", although I knew my younger choir would not need too much help with being inexhaustibly energetic and excited.  On the complete opposite end of the spectrum I made an educated guess that my older choir would be very low energy, being that they are in their early teens, have had a long day of academic school and just got back from a week long vacation!

As I predicted both choirs were exactly how I thought they would be in rehearsal. The younger choir, ages 5-9, were full of energy and excitement.  They entered my classroom with a buzz, singing remnants of the music they remembered from last week and declaring to me the interesting things that had happened to them since I had last seen them.  They truly are the physical reality of "galumphing".  I kept this in mind as I presented an excited yet somewhat controlled demeanor in my lesson for the day.  Occasionally too much "galumphing" creates a loud buzz that is difficult to teach over! When they left after their rehearsal I could not stop thinking about why or how these children were so energetic after a long day of school.  Don't get me wrong I would more often rather children to "galumph" and be energetic and excited about choir then have to pry the energy out of them.

My senior choir arrived fifteen minutes after the junior choir left. The majority of the senior choir is 10-15 years old. As usual they came into my classroom declaring how exhausted they were from the day and when I asked them to stand for warm ups there was the occasional, "My legs are so tired, can we just sit", request.  I, being in a "galumphing" sort of mood from my junior choir was trying to get the senior choir energized through movement and one silly song game.  My efforts were thwarted by the "exhaustion" of my students.  There are the occasional days where any students are truly tired and no matter how energetic you are they may just need to have a "tired" day.  Taking this into account I decided to bring up the term "galumphing" with my senior choir.  When I said it they laughed and said, "That's a silly word". (By they way I'll reiterate, they laughed, which I will be counting as a burst of energy!) 

When I asked for a definition they answers were creative and outlandish and my students were beginning to use their imaginations and snap out of their "exhaustion" for a few minutes.  After a montage of creative definitions I read the definition by Nachmanovitch and they all understood.  

I would say out of the 45 minute "tired" senior choir rehearsal yesterday, my students gave me about 20 minutes of pure energy just from the discussion of "galumphing"!

"Galumphing"

In my reading of Nachmanovitch I came across the term, "Galumphing" (Nachmanovitch, 44). I have not been able to get this term out of my head the past few days, especially as I am coming up with my lesson plans for my classes next week as they get back from their week long vacation. I must include this small passage on the definition of "galumphing" in order to explain why it has been on my mind. "Galumphing is the immaculately rambunctious and seemingly inexhaustible play-energy apparent in puppies, kittens, children and baby baboons- and also in young communities and civilizations. Galumphing is the seemingly useless elaboration and ornamentation of activity. It is profligate, excessive, exaggerated..." (Nachmanovitch, 44).
At first glance of this word, "galumphing" I simply thought, "What a fun word!". Fun and playful are key descriptors that come to mind. When I f stepped foot into my classroom at the beginning of this year I admit I had a set, detailed lesson plan of what the students "would" be able to do and what they "would" learn by the end of my lesson. It was very structured and I learned almost immediately upon implementing my first lesson that structure is only good to an extent. It was good that I had a game plan of the materials, repertoire and games I wanted to use that day. I have always been a good "planner" and "organizer". What I was not good at, yet was "galumphing". In becoming a teacher you are granted the responsibility for a group of children which can be misinterpreted as "power" over this certain group. I admit I entered my first day of class more with the notion of having "power or control" over my classes and with this power and control I would be able to build and improve young musicians.
Those days of the "power" notion ended quickly! I still want and hope that my teaching will help guide my students in their musicianship as well as help them develop an appreciation of music. By the third week of teaching this year my demeanor had changed and I was able to free myself of my prior mindset. (Thanks to a few professors in my graduate work!) I thankfully realized that my students who were coming to me after a long day of academic schooling, wanted, needed and were unavoidably going to "galumph". To be quite honest after a long day in graduate classes I needed it as well. So I have taken this idea of playful energy and exaggeration and put it into my teaching and my still organized lessons.
When I read this excerpt last week I realized that this is the word I have been looking for to describe how I need and want to approach teaching music. I teach at an elementary level where the children are always filled with excessive energy and spontaneity. I really feel that especially as your students get older and perhaps a bit lazier due to fatigue an amazing approach to education could revolve around this simple, silly word. When I think back to my core high school classes like history, English, Spanish etc. I recall my favorite teachers and the classes where I learned the most were the ones that forced me to "galumph"!

Everything Truely is Art

I was thinking this weekend about the activity we did in class last week involving the beat and solfege cards. When I used this activity the goal was to re-create the song that the children had heard. I was not truely focusing too much on the patterns that the actual square cards were taking. When I did this exercise last week in class with my fellow graduate students I noticed how even the mere set up of these cards in a block form is art. It is funny how we set out to create a "pre-determined" art form, in my case music, and wind up creating unexpected are simply through the process. After reading the quote from my last post the statement by Nachmanovitch that "Everything we do is art" really is starting to sink in. I want to consider approaching the physical act of music making as art not just the product of this act.

"We have no art, everything we do is art" (Nachmanovitch, 19)

When reading recently I came across the titled quote in Free Play.  "We have no art, everything we do is art, " according to the Balinese.  I really was effected by this quote in the sense that it is so true.  Nachmanovitch uses a number of examples of how we improvise in different professions without even realizing it.  Specifically he referenced how our everyday speech is in essence an improvisation.  This quote and idea of the unplanned and unpredicted are so "un-classroom like". It is true that there needs to be "planning" in terms of being an educator but how can we take an idea of an undetermined outcome and use it in the classroom with out a pre-planned end goal?  (I hope this is making sense!).  If "everything we do is art" perhaps as music educators we are simply trying to enhance and call to attention this art, rather than "create" or "teach" art/music.  I'm not quite sure where I am going with this, perhaps a new attitude and approach to "teaching" music in the classroom that I myself may attempt.  Nachmanovitch goes on to say that the,"teachers art is to connect" (Nachmanovitch, 20).  Is this true? Maybe as an educator it is my responsibility to draw out this connection of how our daily lives that are in essence the art connect to music.  

I will be following up with these notions in the next blog~