Giant Dreams Midget Abilities Summary

Throughout the reading this week, the information presented in David Elliott and Bennett Reimer’s texts stressed the importance of music and more specifically, music education. “People everywhere find music rewarding, and everywhere we find people engaged in formal and non-formal efforts to teach and learn music.” (Elliott, 2014, p. 4)

David Sedaris is a popular comedic autobiographer who delivers intelligent and slightly embellished satirical content inspired from his memoirs and personal experiences. Sedaris’s short story “Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities”, is a magnificent mastery of his humorous writing style. The story is about David’s experience of him and his sisters being forced to take music lessons because of their father’s maniacal obsession to start a family jazz band. David eventually finds himself taking guitar lessons with the unique individual, Mr. Mancini, a midget. David and his teacher have a unique dialogue and references towards his guitar, which makes David feel like an outsider and uncomfortable, keeping secret “screwball” thoughts to himself. His guitar teacher’s disdain for him coupled with lack passion and interest ended his brief uninterested flings with the guitar regardless of how his father felt. People will honor an individual’s interest if the person means that much to them, however, there is always an end to the humor if the interest is not reciprocated. Sometimes an obliged imposition can create situations that make the imposed feel like an outsider in their own way. Personal interest and identity may not be the standard or acceptable in the positions they were forced into therefore, as a response, a superficial persona is created to camouflage true feelings. If the passion for a subject is nonexistent to someone,

James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” conveys how music serves as a form of communication, both at a small and large scale. Charting the development of the communication between Sonny and his brother allows us to view how the unnamed brother fails to meet Sonny at his emotional level by not understanding his pain. I argue that the text introduces Sonny as someone who “has never been talkative” to set the foundation for his growth from being voiceless to speaking both vibrantly and effortlessly through music (Baldwin 113). Over the course of the text, the unnamed brother begins to listen to Sonny to discover the connection between music and emotion. Therefore, the text argues that music is a crucial mechanism to communicate with one another—more specifically

Steven is a thirteen-year-old gifted drummer with an imagination that takes him from writing in his daily English journal to musing on his own life. The book is about his experience of the year his five-year-old brother, Jeffrey Alper, gets diagnosed with leukemia. He totally didn’t expect his little brother to get leukemia. This was a big change for him. From worrying about a drumming performance, and attention from Renee Albert, to a huge worry for his brother he had thought would only try to embarrass him. When people from school found out about Stevens sick brother, Steven gets a lot of attention and sympathy from his friends. As time passes and Jeffrey goes to his treatments, Steven stops doing all his school work to only think about his

In the memoir A Long Way Gone, author Ishmael Beah describes his survival journey as a lost child in his country, because of the civil war in Sierra Leone, then becoming a child soldier facing war daily, afterward the process that Beah went through during rehabilitation and finally in fear escaping the civil war. Ishmael Beah emotional journey has three stages of development in which Beah utilized music. In the first stage, Beah uses music as a survival mechanism to keep sane and safe. In the second stage, begins when he loses his brother and friends, Beah reaches the lowest point with the loss of his entire family again, some friends, music, and being forced to join the war. In the final stage, is the process of rehabilitation where Beah connects with music once again. Ishmael Beah exposure to music at a young age stayed with him throughout his life. (Beah, 2007, p. 5-218)

“It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.”(page 50) Lastly, music has already helped me grow and find myself as an individual and I can’t wait to see what the rest of my life has in store for

From the creation of harmonies to singing to instruments, music has been an abstract form of human expression. Although an auditory collection of pitches and volumes, musicians can manipulate the same notes and bring them alive for their audiences. The true emotion and energy that’s felt in music really comes from the player as feelings are transferred to and through the listener. This interaction between performer and the house is catharsis, the complete release of strong repressed emotions. Thanks to the musician, music has the ability to grasp people and cause them to sense emotions and feelings without lyrics or images even being necessary. Although it’s believed we can only hear with our ears, something about music makes it emotionally if not physically tangible. In James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues,” a narrator certainly unaware of the impact of music invites himself to experience jazz for the first time. Baldwin uses the final scene of his story to argue that music has an effect on those who are able to experience it. Baldwin does this in one single moment by letting the fixed, practical minded, “well-intentioned” narrator experience catharsis from jazz as his growing, free-spirited brother communicates with him through jazz.

The narrator, a teacher in Harlem, has escaped the ghetto, creating a stable and secure life for himself despite the destructive pressures that he sees destroying so many young blacks. He sees African American adolescents discovering the limits placed on them by a racist society at the very moment when they are discovering their abilities. He tells the story of his relationship with his younger brother, Sonny. That relationship has moved through phases of separation and return. After their parents’ deaths, he tried and failed to be a father to Sonny. For a while, he believed that Sonny had succumbed to the destructive influences of Harlem life. Finally, however, they achieved a reconciliation in which the narrator came to understand the value and the importance of Sonny’s need to be a jazz pianist.

In the book Bodega Dreams, the author Ernesto Quiñonez talks about a scenario in East Harlem that is filled with controversy and dilemma. Narrator and main character Chino, is forced to perform endless tasks for William Bodega, a character who hopes for the better of the community while also trying to chase love. At the same time though, he is trying to make the best out of his relationship, preparing to be a father, and attempting to do well in school. In the end, Chino realizes that he is being manipulated by a different person trying to gain the love Bodega wanted, costing Bodega’s life and accomplishments, while also costing Chino his time and marriage. Bodega Dreams is ultimately a story of tragedy, as demonstrated with the betrayal and murder of Willie Bodega, by his trusted colleague and best friend, Edwin Nazario.

Music is everywhere and has been a part of human existence for eons (Dinham, 2014, p. 265). Music has been a part of Australian schools for the last hundred of years, over the last fifteen years the application of music has seen a drastic change with the appearance of the internet and increase of accessibility. In spit of this the elements of music has not changed and forms the basis of music. When teachers or children sing they use those elements automatically (Dinham, 2014, p. 270). The curriculum has an expectation that children will learn to listen to music, compose and make music (ACARA, July, 2013, p. 93). There is a range of music that can be used to teach children; explore music concepts, by singing, playing instruments, by listening, composing songs or music, dancing or moving on music. Children, through participation and appreciation will discover about themselves form bonds with other children and become more aware of different cultures (Dinham, 2014, p. 266). Teacher’s participation, regardless of status, need to ensure that children are getting an education in music. The opportunities and experiences, to create, perform and record given to us as pre services teachers will be of a great help when facing the task of teaching children music in schools. Art education depends on how to motivated and support children, scaffolding their learning, and build on their enthusiasm to join the praxis of

The character openly feels empathy for his daughter, and near the middle of the piece the character seems to feel helpless as he describes the way his daughter “seemed to crave a companion, or an activity that would lift her spirits.” He soon discovers musical therapy as that exact activity and it gives him a feeling of hope. He has a way now to open a channel where she can express herself through music “in a way that she cannot express-has never been able to express-in

The role of music is important in the short story “Sonny’s Blue”, by James Baldwin. Sonny is the narrator younger brother and he has a dream of become Musician. When their parents passed away, the narrator felt like he is responsible for his younger brother and taking care of him. The narrator was a teacher and living a stable life. When the narrator was going home, he noticed that one of Sonny’s old friend, who is always dirty and high, was waiting for him in the school. But the narrator pretended like he hates Sonny’s friend who despite his problem. Also, he told the narrator how Sonny’s life was drug addicted and will be continuing like this. Sonny was arrested for selling and using heroin and the narrator was really angry about it. As

pursuing his dream of becoming a musician, explained in a short story. The topics that we’ll be

The book Songs in Their Heads: Music and It’s Meaning in Children’s Lives by Patricia Shehan Campbell is an anthropological study of samples of children in the US and their relation to music and music making. The book is broken into three parts: children at musical play, conversations with children about music, and children’s musical education. Campbell’s study focuses on what children musically are and what they musically become through parents and teachers.

“Music Games to Bring Out Children’s Inner Mozart” published by Denise Blostein sets the tones of admiring and benevolent. The article talks about a game called Compose Yourself that can help children ages 6 and up compose music without any type of musical instrument or music knowledge.