Trying new things.

One of the main questions my students are asked by the examiner in their LAMDA exams is about their understanding of the pieces they are performing. They could be asked to explain the mood or themes of the pieces. I had found recently that students were often just explaining what happened in the piece rather than their opinion on how it made them feel.

LAMDA does say that they want to hear the learners opinion. Two candidates could have a different opinion on what the mood is but as long as they can explain why they think that neither of them would be wrong.

I used Paula's idea of using visual aid to help my students think more about their pieces. I asked them to draw a picture of their piece. Not what was happening in it but how it made them feel - the idea behind it. The exercise ended in some pleasing results.

The first students poem is called 'The Last Dragon' by Judith Nichols and is about a dragon who dies. The most common answer from students is - the poem is sad because the dragon dies. This student explained her drawing to me saying that her shapes got smaller because this represented the dragon losing his strength through each verse of this poem. Holding the picture whilst performing the poem also had an effect on her performance changing her vocal expression as she was really thinking about that strength fading as she was performing.

This picture represents a poem called 'Sir smashem uppe' by E.V Rieu. The poem is about someone who comes to visit for tea and proceeds to break many objects in the host's home. The host manages to keep their cool. This student explained that the smooth and swirling lines shows how the host stayed 'refined' (a great word for a 10 year old!!) in the way that he talks to his guest. She says the the sharper shapes show the clumsiness of the guest.

I found that this exercises not only got my students thinking of different answers but really engaged them and sparked their interest to do something new.