Inside King's-Edgehill School
You will be able to appreciate, I'm sure, my situation as a Music teacher and attempting to be effective in keeping students engaged while also holding them accountable. After all, academic institutions use grades to calibrate successes and failures. It's easy to mark theory and technique, but art and musical preferences are unique to an individual. We don't all 'like' the same things and music has such a broad scope of emotional strings. So, when reaching out to my music students, I have two obligations and objectives. As we're coming up to a reporting time, I need numbers and a way to substantiate them. That being the case, I contacted Grade 12 student, Katie Goddard to submit some work. Katie is in a unique situation: she tested out of IB SL Solo Performing in Grade 11 (with a grade well above the international average, too, I am pleased to report) but chose to pursue her music studies in Grade 12. With her Grade 12 credit already earned, I gave her the option to study her music as she sees fit, setting her own goals and expectations along with supplying me with a rubric for her ongoing assessment. She does have to take a theory test each cycle too, but she doesn't seem to mind. She scores top results on those as well; there are "no dents in her armour". She is currently in two School ensembles and has been the Lead Female cast member of the past three School Broadway musical productions. She's a true 'triple-threat' on stage.Katie shared these recordings with me today to meet her obligation for continued assessment. I think everyone will be on the same page as understanding them being more therapeutic and heart-warming. I remember well when Fast Car was released: it struck me then and a thousand times since. Today, equally so with Katie's rendition:
I love music so, so, so much. It’s been this crazy amazing beautiful part of my life, and it’s given me so many opportunities and helped me in so many ways. It’s strange to me that on a bad day it can be soothing and stress relieving, and on a good day it just brightens everything and adds so much colour to the world. Music has all these brilliant and complicated details, and they can appear completely in contrast of one another depending on how you choose to see them. I think it applies everywhere. We use music to express the way we see the world, a personal vantage point. It’s the same with visual art, dance, and theatre. I think our minds naturally look for a way to empty themselves whether that’s onto a canvas or into a libretto, we are all just trying to translate our emotions into something expressible, and easily understandable.
Music gives me stability and it helps me to understand myself. I’m so grateful for all the musical opportunities I’ve had at School in the past number of years! Thank you Smitty for everything.
Find out more about the International Baccalaureate Programme at KES by downloading our IB Guidebook.
