Spontaneous Sounds

I am suspicious of seeing cell phones in my classroom, but I don't always see them when they're being used because kids are crafty. In this case, recently I received an email from Hannah Koopernaes (Grade 11) with an audio attachment. After her IB music class finished uploading the required material for their course assessment, the group turned to having some fun learning a couple of tunes for what was then expected to be a 'live' Arts Gala, as the "house band". In doing so, we began working on a few different songs, one of which features the oboe. Okay... we have one of those in our collection, played by Mitchell Larkin (Grade 11). So, as the group attempted to play the piece, during the second run-through of the song, Hannah had the idea to record it on her cell phone so that she could have it to practice with after class. She sent it to me a couple of weeks ago when schools went into lockdown, just out of interest’s sake. This recording is raw, but delightfully transparent in exposing a natural occurrence in the process of learning a tune as a group. This will hopefully give you insight into exactly why I love my job. But nevertheless, I will remain suspicious of the cell phone in times ahead!