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Climb Every Mountain By MICHELLE GOTT
After a long week of rehearsals, classes, work, and any number of activities, waking up on a Saturday morning to spend two hours with a group of children seems rather daunting. However, my classmate Patrick Cook and I have faced that task most every week since last fall, and have found it to be one of the most rewarding of experiences.
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It has become abundantly clear that, as teachers,
we are indeed students.
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Patrick and I teach for the CLIMB (Combining Literacy Instruction and Musical Beginnings) program, which Juilliard started in the fall of 1999. Created for the siblings of the MAP (Music Advancement Program) students, CLIMB is intended to advance reading comprehension and to give an engaging introduction to the world of music. The mission, which involves communicating a basic essence of the arts in an educational and captivating manner to a small group of elementary-school age students, is both laudable and highly challenging.We began the year with great enthusiasm, along with a sense of anxiety that naturally pervades those entering dark and unfamiliar territory. Our first day of class was no Carnegie or Met debut, yet the significance of that Saturday was felt with every pang of nervousness, every "butterfly" inside. We began with lively "name games," which led to the creation of acrostic poems based on the children's names. In the ensuing weeks, we studied vocabulary, read books about music and instruments, and began to sing. When we learned the classic solfège tune, "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music, Patrick and I realized that we had been blessed with a group of truly talented kids.It was not until the day we introduced the string quartet—with demonstrations from our fellow peers Matthew Peebles, Eleanor Kaye, Rachel Desoer, and Benjamin Cunningham—that we had a very brave epiphany! The children's fascination with The Sound of Music and Disney's The Lion King, combined with their incredible enthusiasm and talents, gave rise to what has become our class project: a musical production complete with sets, costumes, educational narration, and choreography inspired by yet another Juilliard peer, Caroline Fermin.Immediately following the winter recess, we began work on this demanding project, which will be performed during the first part of this month. As a class, we read books about African animals, and played improvisational games to embody the amazing creatures. Each student picked a specific animal to research in great detail in order to educate the audience both in speech and accurate portrayal of the subject during the "Circle of Life" dance. A portion of every Saturday class was devoted to the study and practice of choreography, which was both exhausting and exhilarating.Throughout the school year, and especially during this pre-production process, it has become abundantly clear that, as teachers, we are indeed students. It is easy at Juilliard to be caught in the sticky web of personal frustrations during rehearsals, practice, and work. However, there is a special magic in the presence of bright, young people who may or may not be eager to learn early on a Saturday morning. It compels one to reaccess a certain innocent sense of spontaneity that is within us all. It requires one to rediscover the pure joy of the arts—the innate quality that delights and impels a child to dance freely. It reminds one of the truth that children are always listening, with their ears and with their hearts. Our class production is a testament to the wondrous potential of these young students. It is within their power to "CLIMB Every Mountain," and we thank them for inspiring us to do the same.Michelle Gott is a first-year harp student.
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