Practicing Improvisation
Greetings from Atibaia!
Things are going beautifully in Brazil--I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day yesterday! I have been enjoying giving classes each day. With a lot of my students, we have been focusing on breathing and improvisation. Most of the students have not been taught to breathe correctly for playing an instrument, and it takes a lot of time to learn this and practice it.
I have also been doing improvisation with my students because those who participate in the church orchestra are often required to improvise their part off of a sheet with just the words and the chords. The younger players, who have just recently graduated from their first-year method books, find this extremely frustrating because all they know how to do is read notes off of a staff. So, I am trying to help them learn how to apply this knowledge to the notes that make up each chord, to help them feel more confident reading off of a leadsheet.
Last night Micheli and I had dinner at a friends house, and tonight we will be driving into São Paulo (1 hour away) with Paul (our boss) to do a Bible study for college students from PIBA who study in São Paulo. Micheli and I have been having a good time using our APPLE computers together in the evenings, as well as in the office.
Prayer Requests: Praise the Lord that my classes have not been too tiring, and they are halfway through! Pray for a safe trip to São Paulo, and a beneficial Bible Study.
Things are going beautifully in Brazil--I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day yesterday! I have been enjoying giving classes each day. With a lot of my students, we have been focusing on breathing and improvisation. Most of the students have not been taught to breathe correctly for playing an instrument, and it takes a lot of time to learn this and practice it.
I have also been doing improvisation with my students because those who participate in the church orchestra are often required to improvise their part off of a sheet with just the words and the chords. The younger players, who have just recently graduated from their first-year method books, find this extremely frustrating because all they know how to do is read notes off of a staff. So, I am trying to help them learn how to apply this knowledge to the notes that make up each chord, to help them feel more confident reading off of a leadsheet.
Last night Micheli and I had dinner at a friends house, and tonight we will be driving into São Paulo (1 hour away) with Paul (our boss) to do a Bible study for college students from PIBA who study in São Paulo. Micheli and I have been having a good time using our APPLE computers together in the evenings, as well as in the office.
Prayer Requests: Praise the Lord that my classes have not been too tiring, and they are halfway through! Pray for a safe trip to São Paulo, and a beneficial Bible Study.
posted by Joy | 11:30 AM
3 Comments:
Hey Joy!! So glad to see how well you're doing. I am so excited for you. I wish you all the best! Talk to you soon.
Kristen
Oi Joy
Foi uma alegria tê-la em nossa casa ontem, e um grande prazer tocar com você. Foi um Grande Presente pra mim!!!!
You are a God´s Gift for us!!!
1 Beijo
Wania
Interesting point about music reaching people at a deep level. Coincidently, someone was describing to me how moved they were during Sunday's sermon during the patriotic medley that was accompanied by sweeping visuals that Faith put together. This person specifically described how the two things worked together on her. It was without lyrics. I think this explains why the music video genre can be so powerful as it has the capacity to fire both sides of the brain. The music alone is still potent but visuals alone are rather lame. Perhaps, sometimes the whole can actually be greater than the sum of the parts. I've passed on a DVD of our Patriotic Celebration to Chris and Dan to give to you.
Several folks said they were reading your blog.
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