The Effects Of Bear On Crispin

This speech is Karl Paulnack’s welcoming address for incoming freshman students. He addresses that music isn’t apart of arts and entertainment rather music is an invisible force that helps us piece ourselves together. Paulnack believes that music is an essential part of life and goes to prove it by telling his experiences with it. He describes the first moment he truly understood music and the impact it has on people. Paulnack portrays the day after 9/11 after he struggles to find any meaning in being a pianist. After a long time of questioning himself he observes the city and notices something. He sees that in this time of grief and sadness people are singing. From this he learned that music is a form of expression, it allows people to express their feelings when they have no other words to describe them. Paulnack goes on to describe what he says was the most important concert of his life. He and a friend were playing a concert at a nursing home. During their performance, one man began to cry, it was at that time Paulnack knew the man was a veteran. After Paulnack and his friend finished the piece, they announced that the piece they were playing was Aaron Copland's Sonata, which was a work

The novel is able to share how music is of great importance and is able to affect people’s moods and thoughts.

(Teaching Arts) One of Baldwin’s beliefs was that art and music has the power to minimize suffering. Sonny uses bebop to express his emotions on his up-bringing and where he came from. The narrator, Sonny’s brother, and Sonny grew up in the projects of Harlem and were exposed to drugs and alcohol. They both feel darkness in their lives. Sonny became addicted to heroin and went to jail. Once out of jail, Sonny uses bebop music to make sense of his emotions instead of the heroin. Sonny’s brother does not understand his passion for music but does not know how to express his feelings of being “trapped in the darkness which roared outside.”(Baldwin 84) When Sonny was a teenager, he tells his brother he wants to be a jazz musician. The narrator does not think it is good enough for him because jazz was new and was not yet understood.

‘He told me I have the wrong kind of fingers’” (7). When the father fell for it, the boy’s sisters also told the father similar stories so they could get out of their lessons. Even when all three children had stopped playing their instruments, their father still tried to get them to play, but with different instruments, “‘the trumpet or the saxophone or, hey, how about the vibes?’” (7). No matter what the children said, the father tried to get the children integrated into music somehow. When the children refused to play different instruments, the father tried to get the children to listen to recordings so they could be inspired, “‘I want you to sit down and give this a good listen. Just get a load of this cat and tell me he’s not an inspiration’” (7). No matter how hard the children pleaded into getting away from music, the father still tried to connect his kids into music

“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

Flora also spoke of the life lessons and skills that being involved in a strong music program has taught her, many of which have been studied and proven (Flora). Flora reported an increase in her self-esteem and a sense of belonging after becoming a part of her school’s music program (Flora). Studies have indeed shown that the arts give children something in which to take pride, which in turn boosts self-esteem and self-confidence (Lock).

so Crispin would not dwell on the past. Crispin is in dire need of the protection that Bear could provide from John Aycliffe’s desire to kill him.

Imagine a third grader, small and blonde, standing on a stage that practically swallows her. She gazes in awe at the bright lights that seem to tower miles above her head; likewise, she follows with a stare, fixating on the hundreds of darkened faces that remain directly in front of her. Unlike her classmates who fidget with nerves beside her, she feels a rush of adrenaline. What may have seemed to some an ordinary choir concert in a dull auditorium, was, to me, a life changing moment. Ever since this day, for 9 years now, I have had an unwavering passion for music and performing. As I aged, I found myself excitedly learning how to play 7 new instruments, but even considering the vast number of bands, orchestras, choirs, and instrumental lessons that I joined, I noticed myself

Avi states, “I beg you to find your way to some town or city with its own liberties. If you can stay there for a year and a day you'll gain your freedom" (37). This shows how Crispin initially thought his quest was for freedom which he almost immediately fails at getting when he met Bear. During the beginning of the quest, Bear found Crispin and claimed him as his servant and took away his short-lived freedom. However, Crispin’s quest was never really about freedom, but rather self-discovery. Before he begins his quest, Crispin is not worthy of a real name and is known only as “Asta’s Son” . He also refers to himself as “nothing” (Avi 117) and that he thinks he has no soul(Avi 121). But, as his quest continues he discovers who he is and finds out he is the son of royalty. Avi states, “I was no longer nothing. I had become two people- Lord Furnival’s son… and Crispin. How odd I thought: it had taken my mother’s death, Father Quinel’s murder, and the desire of others the kill me for me to claim a life of my own.” (252). This shows how Crispin finally found out who he is, and no longer thinks he is nothing as the result of his quest. Clearly, Crispin’s journey portrayed all the elements of a quest.

adopts a new attitude in place of the sorrow and despair he encountered earlier. Now filled with

In the first grade, I picked up a clarinet. It was my sister’s, collecting dust while waiting for me to play it. From the moment I produced my first sound, an ear-piercing squeal that frightened my dog, the path of my life took a turn for the better. I began teaching myself for the following three years, along with learning from my sister how to properly play the beautiful instrument. The music pushed me out of my comfort zone: concerts that forced me onstage, tests that made me play difficult songs, and teachers that pushed me to be an exceptional player. From the shy elementary school student I used to be to the outgoing band member I take joy in being today, music has shaped my everyday life.

This change is a positive and uplifting change of self for the protagonist in this novel.

The most obvious thing that is important to the character is his adopted daughter, Anna. Throughout the narrative he shows that he cares for her happiness and her health. She is unable to speak clearly and tell her own story, so the character (father) tells it for her. The character is trying to show the reader how effective music can be as a therapy, and is using his own experience to prove the worth of musical therapy. He gives example after example of how music improved the life of his daughter, and how she looks forward to her day with music so eagerly. One line he says, “Ask her a direct question and you will get a stammered word or two at most. Play a song and she will begin to shout out the words, even if she has never heard them before. ”It is a testament to how much music can change her attitude and behaviours. It seems to fill her with confidence and strength where usually she is frail, a picture painted by the quote above.

His frustration becomes evident when he tells a student to give it up (referring to her horrible clarinet playing). Feeling guilt and shame over this statement he then begins a new

He hopes that music education would bring self confidence to students. Chad Smith knows kids need