We've written a lot about places we've been and things we've seen, but the most significant experiences we've had have truly been the people we've connected with. Teaching at Dar al-Kalima is obviously the center of that. Here are a couple of pictures of the school (and, yes, we've been lacking in good people shots thus far, which we'll be correcting soon--it seems that all the times we could take people pictures, we are in the midst of working with the students :)
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| The entrance to Dar Al Kalima--one of my Music Appreciation students coming down the hill |
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| Dar al-Kalima students hanging out in the cafe (functions just like Pearson Commons at CSP) |
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| Seniors in the high school at Dar al-Kalima letting off steam in the new fieldhouse (There placement exams are coming up very soon--major pressure for them) |
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| The main classroom building at Dar al-Kalima (David usually teaches one floor up) |
Wednesdays--teach a general education Music Appreciation class--translated with the able and insightful help of Najwa Raheb, piano faculty member and spouse of Pastor Mitri Raheb. So far Kathy and I have led a survey of Western solo vocal music over the past milennium, a version of the Poehler lecture, and next week a survey of African American Spirituals (tying those into other music that also became part of social protest movements, such as the Baltic Singing Revolution and South African Freedom Songs).
Fridays--co-teach voice lessons and a voice studio class with Hassan, a fine musician and young faculty member
Saturdays--co-teach more voice lessons and the music ensemble with Hassan
The students have been delightful to work with, and very responsive. Voice students are open to trying new things, and they all have improved. I'll leave names out right now, as I haven't asked their permission to talk about them. Snapshots--one is a very hard worker, and taps into online programs to help her learn how to play the piano and read music. Another is a passionate singer with a big voice--he was a winner in the school's version of "Palestinian Idol" a couple of years ago. Another young woman is a skilled performer who is singing in concerts on her own already. Another is quiet and shy at first, but has blossomed into a bigger voice that is revealing color. Another is a young Muslim girl with a colorful voice that has approached me to get some extra lessons--and I hear her singing on her own as she walks between classes. They are all eager and look to the future with hope--several have asked me about coming to the US to study with us at Concordia--would be delightful to have them.
The ensemble is very interesting. The students possess skills in Arabic music that I could never hope to match, but need work on reading and--something not part of their culture--singing in harmony. We've started learning a spiritual ("Keep Your Lamps"), an African song (Uya i mose) and a canon ("Now I walk in Beauty"). They are eager to learn and love the progress they are making.
The Music Appreciation class is very interesting. The language barrier is even bigger in this subject, but they are attentive, ask good questions, and raise interesting insights. Yesterday in the lecture I gave on church music and the impact music can have on society, they latched onto the story I shared of the Baltic Singing Revolution--the enormous singing festivals of hundreds of thousands, and the Baltic Chain of 1-2 million people in 1989 of people holding hands across all three Baltic countries in one long chain as a protest. Prof. Raheb related with them her experience in Germany and seeing the Berlin Wall, and the students immediately related to the wall in the Occupied Territories. They were deeply moved by this, and I'm going to pursue this area more in next week's talk (my last with them.)
After class, another student who obviously has a deep heart approached me with his best English and talked about how music can touch the heart and change people--and how most people there want to love each other and live together, regardless of religion or race--and saw hope in how music can help bring that about. I let him and other students know about a choir I'll be working with in Jerusalem tomorrow morning--the YMCA Youth Chorus that brings high school aged Palestinians, Arab Israelis, and Jewish Israelis together in one chorus (here is a Huffington Post that includes a Youtube link to a project they just did:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/10/ymca-jerusalem-youth-chorus_n_5968274.html
The Dar al-Kalima students were thrilled to hear about this and wanted to know much more. Right now, it would be impossible for most of them to go the six miles to Jerusalem to participate in this chorus, but maybe someday it will be possible--hopefully music can help to bring down the walls--even if it is simply the walls in our hearts.
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