All for One and One for All

An excerpt from Lighting Their Fires by Rafe Esquith:

"In some classes, particularly those involved with an art-related project like a play or a concert, standard procedure is to split up the students according to the roles they will play in the production. Drama teachers often rehearse only with the students they will "need" that day to go through a certain set of scenes. This happens in the wolds of sports and music as well. Teachers understandably employ this strategy to give more individual attention to the kids with whom they are working. However, this is a missed opportunity to teach something far more important than the content of whatever show or concert is in rehearsal.

When our class spends a year producing a Shakespeare play, the entire cast comes to all rehearsals. It is true that there are times when certain kids sit around for more than an hour watching others rehearse. There may be a dance practice or the blocking of a scene that involves only ten to twelve students while forty others watch. But the reason that everyone attends is to help the kids overcome their selfish tendencies. The key is something we discussed earlier: focus. Those who aren't part of the scene at hand are not allowed to drift or goof around; they need to pay attention. It is imperative that the kids spend time watching others work and fail and sweat before reaching excellence. After a while something wonderful happens--students begin to smile and take great joy in the achievement of others. It may be more "effective" to work only with specific children, but that is based on the assumption that the show is the most important thing. It's not. The kids are. Teaching them to root for their peers and embrace the progress of others is a far more important goal than a standing ovation that lasts for a few minutes. Seeing beyond oneself can last a lifetime."

I love the arts, but as I'm sure you have witnessed, it is so easy to get caught up in our own success, our own accomplishments, our own greatness. We lose something when we only focus on our own artistic abilities. And what we lose is something that comes from the basis of what art is... we lose our community. Is art not primarily a method of communication either to ourselves or to others or both? And when we are not communicating with ourselves nor others, what are we doing? And at that point, who cares what we are doing? I can appreciate great talent and great art, but if I become aware that the artist is only in it for the applause, I lose respect for the artist and love for the art. I can still appreciate how good it is, but I don't care any more. Do you agree?

This is not to say that I think all rehearsals should be done as Rafe explains. There are certainly situations, with adults especially, when it is unpractical or unreasonable to take time that could be devoted to helping put food on the table to sit watching others rehearsals for hours. However, I can see how it could be beneficial, and I can see how it could be considered vital for young children to learn this particular lesson. If everyone learned this lesson young, I wouldn't have to deal with disrespectful dancers at auditions.

Musings

Isn't art vital to human development? When I say development I do not mean the physical development that we all go through prior to adulthood. Rather I am speaking of our intellectual and emotional development, of our molding and exploration of that with distinguishes human beings from other animals. From what I've seen and read, every art form develops different aspects of our existence. Visual art develops focus and attention to detail. It inspires the mind with color and perception. Music is like learning a new language. It develops our sense of timing and devotion to time management. Theater develops an appreciation of vocabulary, rhythm, and the journey that gets us to our goals. It also increases an understanding and appreciation of history. Dance connects us to our bodies, fires up our kinesthetic awareness, improves our sense of time and space, increases memory for patterns and series, improves our awareness of our environment and those around us, not to mention the countless physical benefits. Don't we need to experience and develop all these things. These benefits have been shown to cross over into other areas of life: math, science, reading,history. Life skills!

I'm reading a book called: Lighting Their Fires by Rafe Esquith. It's about teaching/raising children. He quoted Mark Twain saying "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." It seems to me this can be applied to the arts as well. The benefits are there for the taking. If we were to allow ourselves an hour a week for each of these activities what possibilities could we open up for ourselves. Instead of checking out in front of the TV, we could invigorate those previously dormant areas of our brains and our potentials.

Please feel free to add benefits I've left out.