Kulture Klash Conversation with artist Nathan Durfee

At this year's Kulture Klash I had the privilege of interviewing Nathan Durfee a visual artist here in Charleston, SC. I talked to Nathan about on of his most recent works, Search For Song. Click on the image below to listen to this interview.




See more Audio at TeacherTube.com.


To see more images of artwork created by Nathan visit his website at: http://www.nathandurfee.com/

Pure Theater's Hogs: The Interview

Coming Soon.... my conversation with Rodney Rogers about Pure Theater's production of Hogs.

Pure Theater's production of Hogs: PREP KIT

Tomorrow night I will have the opportunity to watch Pure Theater’s production of Hogs, a new adaptation of Ibsen’s play Enemy of the People.

I am eager to see how Rodney Rogers interprets Ibsen’s play for modern audiences. In Ibsen’s original play the character of Dr. Stockmann is subjected to the slings and arrows of the “tyranny of the majority” when he steadfastly defends the need to speak the truth. Stockmann's struggle to be heard over the shouts of the majority is sadly all too familiar still today. In a world dominated by bumper sticker politics and for profit journalism Ibsen's message is highly relevant.

Speaking before a jeering crowd Dr. Stockman proclaims that,

“The most dangerous enemy of truth and freedom amongst us
is the compact majority--yes, the damned compact Liberal
majority--that is it! Now you know!”

Moments later the doctor continues,

The majority never has right on its side. Never, I
say! That is one of these social lies against which an
independent, intelligent man must wage war. Who is it that
constitute the majority of the population in a country? Is it the
clever folk, or the stupid? I don't imagine you will dispute the
fact that at present the stupid people are in an absolutely
overwhelming majority all the world over. But, good Lord!--you
can never pretend that it is right that the stupid folk should
govern the clever ones I (Uproar and cries.) Oh, yes--you can
shout me down, I know! But you cannot answer me. The majority has
might on its side--unfortunately; but right it has not. I am in
the right--I and a few other scattered individuals. The minority
is always in the right. (Renewed uproar.)

Below is a clip from Arthur Miller’s 1966 adaptation of the play.

I found some of the statements Bill Moyers made in 2008. He speaks about how democracy only works when ordinary people claim it as their own. So it's up to you to tell the truth about this country we love. It's up to you to tell the truth about what's happening to ordinary people. It's up to you to remind us that democracy only works when ordinary people claim it as their own.

City Paper review of the play:
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A66116

The Immersed Teacher: Joshua Bell

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing, hearing, and feeling the music created by one of the greatest living volinists in the world, Joshua Bell.











My favorite part of the performance came after the intermission when Bell performed Ysaye's "Violin Sonata in A Minor".



The tune of Ysaye's work was very familiar to me. It was half way through the performance that it struck me, the "death chant" tune was the same that is played in the background of the opening title sequence for the film, The Shining.



$32.17
That's how much money Joshua Bell made when he played in a Metro station in April 2007. It was part of an experiment by The Washington Post that examined the question, will busy commuters take the time to stop for beauty?
Read the full article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

The Immersed Teacher: Fall Training _________The Warsaw Philharmonic

Tonight I heard the Warsaw Philharmonic perform at the Gaillard Auditorium. I went to the performance tonight eager to hear Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6. Instead I left with a new appreciation for Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.

The Warsaw orchestra opened with a piece titled Orawa composed by Wojciech Kilar. At the center of the piece was a jagged melody that was repeated while surrounded by a sea of slicing sounds. The following is the image that was singed into my mind as I listened to this opening work:

Later that night when reading the program I discovered that Orawa is a word reminiscent of "olawa", which denotes a mountain pasture; its grass cover trampled by sheep and on which young shepherds celebrated the end of the grazing period with a rousing "zbojnicki" (robbers') dance. Orawa is a kind of musical painting of mountain nature and the highland folk.

The next piece featured the pianist Valentina Lisitsa which the program described as having "the kind of talent that comes along once in a generation." I am not a fan of piano concertos but Lisitsa's performance won me over. Her playing impressed not only me but also my 9 year old daughter Zoe. Lisitsa's flurry of fingers sparked repeated exhalations of wonderment and amazement from my daughter. At times her fluid mastery of the keys approached a surreal state. The following is my illustrated response to her performance:

The following video is an example of the magic that I witnessed tonight:

The final performance was Tchaikovsky's Symphony #6.
Interesting thing that I learned. If you squint your eyes during the performance everything disapears except for the muscians hands and bows. It made the visual effects that much more interesting. Here is the image that this work inspired:

An outline of the program

Overview

The Immersed Teacher Program offers master teachers the unique opportunity to create their own professional development opportunities through an extensive and comprehensive immersion into performances and exhibitions of art.

Goals

• To create a professional development opportunity for classroom teachers through a comprehensive study, attendance, and interpretation of multiple performances and exhibitions of art.

• To help classroom teachers develop and publish lessons inspired by performances and exhibitions.

• To establish and maintain through teacher submissions an Internet archive of lessons created by immersed teachers.

• To nurture a collaborative community of teachers who practice the integration of arts into the traditional classroom curriculum.

• To help teachers develop horizontally articulated lessons that address multiple learning modalities through the integration of visual art, music, dance, theater, and opera into the classroom curriculum.

• To empower and engage teachers as architects of classroom curriculum.

Program Overview

Part One: Preparation

• Dissemination meeting:

1. Introduction to the program (format for the teacher's portfolio, lesson template)

2. Overview of the festival performances

3. distribution of background materials (e.g. art cheat sheets, P.R. promotional materials for performers).

• P.R. / Interview workshop: The basics of interviewing and the protocol for conducting interviews.

• "Spark Notes Cheat Sheets" Short two page summaries of each type of art form presented at the festival. These would need to be created. (for an example see: http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/)

• Media and academic criticism

• P.R. materials sent out by the performer's promoting their work (Bios, Promo clips, etc.)

• Listening/viewing notes in response to the teacher's review of the performer's work on CD, DVD, or YouTube.

• Discussion with professors who teach the Spoleto class offered during the Maymester session at the College of Charleston.

• Identify the performances that will be attended during the festival and brainstorm possible classroom connections

Part Two: The Spoleto Immersion Experience

• The teacher and his or her "performance escort" attend 5 performances.

• Write pre and post performance reflection notes for each performance attended

• Conduct and collect interviews (see portfolio summary for details).

• Collect and write reviews for each performance attended.

• Participate in blogs for performances attended.

• Attend or listen to podcasts of the "Conversations With" series.

Part Three: Collaboration with Peers

• Presentations to teachers attending the Spoleto teacher's workshop. These presentations will share the teacher's impressions, interpretations, inspirations, and possible classroom connections with other educators attending the workshop.

Part Four: Creation and Publication of Lessons

• Participation in a Socratic Seminar (a.k.a. round table discussion) focused on impressions, interpretations, and inspirations from the performances.

• Lesson creation workshop (end of June)

Part Five: Publication of Lessons (July)

The teacher will use the following format to write, revise, and publish a Spoleto inspired lesson:

1. Teachers use the lesson template to format their lessons

2. Lessons are submitted electronically and are sent out for review by two educators

3. Teachers review peer feedback, make revisions, and electronically resubmit the revised lesson plan.

4. Lesson reviewed by Spoleto and posted on the Spoleto Festival web page.

The Immersed Spoleto Teacher Portfolio

The teacher's portfolio will be created, maintained, and continuously updated before, during, and after the festival. The primary purpose of the portfolio is to help the immersed teacher to document his or her immersion experiences so they can be used as source material to develop classroom resources. The portfolio will contain, but not be limited to the following sections:

Research

• "Spark Notes Cheat Sheets" Short two page summaries of each type of art form presented at the festival

• Media and academic criticism

• P.R. materials sent out by the performer's promoting their work (Bios, Promo clips, etc.)

• Listening/viewing notes in response to the teacher's review of the performer's work on CD, DVD, or YouTube.

Performance Notes

The teacher will record his or her pre and post reflections for each performance attended during the festival. The teacher will be exposed to a variety of methods used to record one's reflections during a performance and will then use a method they selected to record their reflections during the performance.

Interviews

• Teacher Conducted: The teacher will conduct and compile interviews with artists and producers of shows in the festival.

• Teacher Conducted: The teacher will interview the "performance escort" that accompanied him or her to each performance.

• Professionally conducted: The teacher will collect interviews conducted by professional interviewers.

• The teacher will attend or listen to by podcast the "Conversations With" interviews conducted during the festival.

Below is an example of a teacher interview conducted during the 2008 Spoleto Festival:



To see other interviews go to:
http://spoletoteacher.blogspot.com/2008/06/conversation-with-hotel-modern.html


Reviews

For each performance attended the teacher will

• Collect one or more published reviews

• Write an original review written by the teacher.

• Participate in conversations about performances posted on blogs.

Classroom Connections and Lessons

In this section the teacher will attempt to capture the genesis of classroom connections to the performances and his or her overall Spoleto experience. The teacher will include personal reflections, drafts of lessons, and other materials needed to build lessons.

The Immersed Teacher Web Site

LESSONS

Posted in this area are fully developed lessons ready to be used in the classroom. Fully developed lessons that have been aligned with state standards. Each unit includes an abstract, list of materials, handouts, step-by-step descriptions of activities, student assessments, and grading rubrics.

DIY LESSON CENTER

Posted in this area are modules of information that visitors can use to build their own lessons custom designed for their classroom curriculum. Modules include artis bio handouts, video clips of performances, audio and video interviews, reviews of performances, and research.

IMMERSED TEACHER BLOGS

Links to blogs created by teachers participating in the immersed teacher project.

ART IMMERSION OPPORTUNITY CLEARINGHOUSE

Calender of scheduled visual and performing art events.

CLASSROOM LESSON: Reanimating Primary Source Documents through live-animation performance

Summary: Discovering original interpretations of primary source documents through a live-animation performance.

Objectives
The student will:

• Select and analyze a primary source document

• In this lesson students will use the staging techniques of visual art, object theater, drama, music, film, modeling and performance to present an original interpretation of a primary source document.
  

• Write an original narrative based on evidence from a primary source document.
• Use puppets, models, and story telling techniques to stage a narrative based on a primary source document.

Materials
Live-animation materials: dolls and other miniature items that can be used in a small scale theater production.
Projection devices: Here are some suggested ways students can present their live-animation performance to an audience.

• Elmo projector

• Camcorder and tripod (shoestring tip: an old VCR camera can be directly connected to a television or LCD projector and then be used to present the students "live action".

• Overhead projector

Activity: What is a primary source?

1. Project or write the following definition:
Primary source - source created by people who actually saw or participated in an event and recorded that event or their reactions to it immediately after the event.

2. Discuss with students how our perception of history is shaped by primary documents.

Activity: An introduction to live-animation theater
Students watch the following video clip from The Great War created by members of the theater troupe Hotel Modern.

1. Pre-viewing questions

Before showing the video clip ask students to ask themselves the following questions:
What is the narrator reading in the background?
Where in the clip is the "suspension of disbelief" created? When is this suspension destroyed?

2. Show the video clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRbe2GDjZRI)

3. After viewing the clip return to the pre-viewing questions and ask students to share their answers with their peers.

Activity: An interview with the members of Hotel Modern

In this activity students will watch video clips from an interview with the members of Hotel Modern.

In the first clip Herman Helle explains how he relies on the audience's imagination during the performance of The Great War. In the second clip members of the troupe explain how they conduct research when creating their performances. The third clip presents a discussion with the troupe on how they use the suspension of disbelief in their performances.

IMAGINATION

RESEARCH


THE SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF

Activity: Creation and presentation of a live-animation performance based on a primary source document.

Task: Students plan, stage, and present a live-action performance based on the text in a primary source document. Divide students into groups of three or four.

1. Selection of a primary source document

Students identify primary source documents from either a list of documents preselected by the teacher or they use the Internet to make their own selection.

Tip: Letters and diaries work the best for creating a live-action performance.

2. Instruct students to plan, write, and stage a live-animation performance that illustrates the ideas and concepts presented in their primary source document.

3. Assign or allow members of each group to choose the following group roles: narrator, sound effects, actor #1, and actor #2.

Station #1: The Exposition

Each group of students uses maps, charts, and objects to present the setting, time, historical context, and main characters of the work.

Example: In their presentation of "The Great War" the theater troupe Hotel Modern used an Elmo projector to project a map of Europe onto the video screen. The troupe members maneuvered toy cannons and ships around the map to show the buildup of the military in European nations on the eve of the first world war. Troupe members also used cigars and handshakes to provide a more subjective comment on how these alliances between the European nations were created during the lead up to the first world war.

Station #2: Live-animation presentation illustration of the narrative.