Nat Hentoff has a nice one over at The Wall Street Journal about a group of second graders that have been dubbed “kids for Coltrane”.
Christine Passarella teaches at the Holliswood School, P.S. 178 in Jamaica Estates, Queens and has some progressive methods.
“I have worked on wonderful projects on artful thinking with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Children studied paintings not just about the artist and his style but to look at the relationships between the characters in the painting, and the setting. It’s a way of developing thoughtful dispositions.”
Passarella has her students for two years instead of one; a “looped” classroom. Along with her introspective study of paintings she has introduced the kids to some hip music, including Trane. And, guess what? The kids like Coltrane.
“the children were drawn to the range of feelings in the songs as I gave them the backgrounds of the compositions.
“‘Alabama,’ for example, was about Martin Luther King and racial discrimination; and while ‘My Own True Love’ concerned a man and a woman, John Coltrane’s ‘Love Supreme’ expressed a love for humanity.”
The kids have gone on to be active fund raisers for the John Coltrane Home project. The state purchased Coltrane’s Long Island house and is in the process of renovation.
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Tags: Christine Passarella, John Coltrane, Music, nat hentoff
Pat Darnell and Friends wrote,
from a LOVE SUPREME…
“God breathes through us so completely… so gently we
hardly feel it… yet, it is our everything.
Thank you God
ELATION — ELEGANCE — EXALTATION –
All from God.
Thank you God. Amen.”
by:
JColtrane/ Liner notes..
– and –
HERE WHERE COLTRANE IS, by Michael Harper
[final stanza]
“Dreaming on a train from New York
to Philly, you hand out six
notes which become an anthem
to our memories of you:
Oak, birch, maple,
apple, cocoa, rubber.
For this reason Martin is dead;
for this reason Malcolm is dead;
for this reason Coltrane is dead.
in the eyes of my first son are the browns
of these men and their music.”
(Goldson, Elizabeth, editor; 1997. Seeing Jazz, artists and writers on Jazz; Chronicle Books, Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service; America’s Jazz Heritage. also Lila Wallace Readers Digest Foundation)
I am very much in traveling exhibition concepts. Many teachers have explained to me the age of reason starts in Children 7 .. 8 years old. “Children of the past at eight ‘wanted’ responsibilities, such as watch younger siblings, make dinner, get water and firewood.” It is a time from 8 years to 12 that a Jewish dad takes his son and daughter to teach them responsibilities of their religion. This ends in the public bar Mitzvahs..
Many rites of passage take place at the age of twelve, for which the previous four years are an apprenticeship to warrior, priest, shaman, or spouse… this is a great topic today. I also think Mr Coltrane would be tickled to hear he is a part of the passage of these children… Thanks Pribesscence.
Link | August 23rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Pribek wrote,
You might find this one interesting, PD.
http://pribek.net/2007/07/24/coltrane-church/
Link | August 23rd, 2008 at 4:58 pm