This was my Summer “Music Club” in Oleksandria, Kirovoghrad Oblast (now Kropyvnytskyi), when Ukraine was 10 years old (as an independent country). I told the students I would teach through the summer and did a needs assessment to find out what they wanted to learn. They were able to vote and the clear winning topic was “Music”. I knew nothing about music, but I learned. All summer, in the hot and heavy daylight, my students trekked to school to learn. I taught myself and the students about music in the English language- it’s context, development, influences, lyrics, and impact. We looked at genres of music that had important roles in history. My students had primarily been exposed to pop music, but we dove deeper and broader and they heard music that they had never heard before. My parents came for a visit that summer and my dad taught about American folk and protest music. And, I’ll never forget when we studied “progressive rock” and they listened to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” for the very first time. They were bent over the lyrics as its initial beat began and everyone was trying not to move because sweat was pooling where skin met desks and chairs… and slowly their heads started to bob along with the beat. And sometimes we stopped songs early, if it seemed like it was not engaging, but not so with “The Wall”. They listened to the entirety, with quiet glances of shock and wonderment. And, they were quiet when it ended. The silence was surreal. And, we dissected the language and symbolism of that wall and then they each made a brick where we wrote our unique, personal characteristics. And we built a new wall, and their language bubbled forth again. I was humbled to watch them commit to learning when they could have chosen any activity, and inspired by their willingness to grow and be changed.
Here are my students. Where are they now? What are they doing? Who are they now?
