JALT THT in Hue 2019 workshop: Writing short scenarios to pieces of music

Hello!

How are you? This is a special post for all participants in my workshop for JALT THT in Hue 2019. 

I am happy to be with all of you in Hue and and proud that you have come to this workshop. It's one I hope you can enjoy because all of you will make the workshop into what it will be!

I normally use this blog for my undergraduate students of the British and American literature department at Daito Bunka University. Today, however, this blog is for all of you here in the workshop!

Let's do an activity with short creative writing to pieces of music. While I will play two short pieces of music for all of you through my computer, you have the option of listening to these pieces of music here through your smartphone or computer if you have one. That way, you could listen perhaps more closely on your headphones. 

Activity
Here are the two (2) pieces of music. They are both short, and have no words. 

As you listen to each one, write freely what comes to your mind as you listen. Do not worry about structure, grammar, or even spelling, and do not worry about any editing. Do not worry as well about the artists or titles of the pieces of music - they are not important! 

Imagine a little scenario or beginning of a story that comes to you as you hear each piece of music. Even though you do not need to worry about structure, you are free to shape your writing any way you wish. You can imagine characters, objects, places, animals, movement - anything is possible. 

Do not worry as well about what others write. What may come to one person's mind may be different from another's - that is okay. The goal is to free yourself up and allow your writing to flow with the moment and your imagination. 

So are you ready? Here we go! 

Here is the first piece of music:

Here is the second piece of music:

What do you imagine and let flow from each of these pieces of music? When you're finished, read aloud to each other what you have written - and have fun enjoying the writing. 

Thank you for attending this workshop! 

Credits: Music files uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the original compositions or files. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Files uploaded for educational purposes only. 

特別課題：日本に難民の必要/special homework: needs of refugees to Japan

Hello!

How are you? I would like to show you a new topic for special homework - refugees (難民) and what they need for immigration (移住) to Japan.

Homework
Refugees have many problems, and many things they need. Watch this video. It's mostly in Japanese, but with some English, with Japanese subtitles  (日本語の字幕).

Watch the video as many times as you need to. When you are finished, answer these questions in your notebook about the different parts of the video (you can make notes in English or Japanese):

日本のメッセージ
1. What did the first woman say about coming to Australia as a refugee?
2. What did the second woman say about communication between the government (政府) and refugees?

シンポジウムから待たヒント
What did Ishii-san say about the two women's refugee stories?

日本にできること
What did Moriya-sensei from Hokkaido Educational University (北海道教育大学) say about the needs of refugees?

長野県松本市の取り組み
What did Takizawa-sensei from Toyo Eiwa Women's University graduate school (東洋英和女学院大学大学院) say about help for refugees in Matsumoto city in Nagano (長野県松本市)?

求められる視点
What did Daniel Alkhal (ダニエル・  アルカル ) from the UNHCR (国連難民高等弁務官事務所) say about the three different steps of support refugees need?

Make these notes in your notebook. You can make these notes in Japanese or English.

We will talk more about refugees in Japan - for example, what they need in our towns and cities, and your opinions on how we can make them feel they can be a part of Japanese society.

Important note!
This will be the basis for our final writing assignment (期末作文), so please do this homework!

I hope this is interesting for you.

Take care!

Image: "Evstafiev Travnik refugees" http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evstafiev-travnik-refugees.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Evstafiev-travnik-refugees.jpg

Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the video. Uploaded for classroom use only. All rights reserved to the owner(s).

Words on Music (Part 2): your writing

Hello again!

How are you? Here is more of your great writing on music! Click on these links for the pieces of music here, here, here, and here. 

Here's the first piece of writing. What do you think of it? 

There was a man in somewhere. He was gentle and funny. One day, he went to one town. The town was fantastic and wonderful. And the man came across a woman. The woman is very beautiful. He fell in love, then he told to her. So they went to a café and they became friendly. But he loved her. When he came home, he thought “I have to say my mind to her.” And he said “I love you.” She was very surprised, but she said “Me too.” After nine months, they were married.

The woman lived 40 more years. He was very sad every day. The woman was very important person for him. He and she didn’t have a child. But they were very happy. So, he became alone.

One day, he had a dream. The dream was very happy. This was that they meet first. They were young and brilliant. He was crying and smiling during dreaming. When he waked up, he felt happiness. And he looked theirs album. All of pictures were full with happiness. He couldn’t stop tears. But he heard her voice “Sorry. But I want you to live a long time. Please, please.” Then he decided to live as much as possible. So after 10 years, he died silently and his face was very gentle and happy.

Wow! An incredible and moving ending. Here's another:

One day, there was a man of one. He is office worker in near big enterprise. He has worry and anxiety. He walking round the office, and he found the bar. There is the bar in near office. He went into the bar. The bar had a lot of people. For example, smoking man, woman drinking liquor, man to make a drink, and man playing the piano.

He sat in closer from the door, and he asked liquor. He heard the sound of the piano while drinking. He was moved by sound of the piano. His sound healed his heart. He was quiet listening to the worries and troubles. He went to this bar every day, and he heard the sound of the piano. He was overworked. So, he lost sight of own. But, he wanted to enjoy the life by his sound of the piano.

He has changed. He left the job, and he traveled. He went to a lot of country, and he met many people. He heard their experience. He lived for me until now. But, he is going to live for other people. He founded the company of volunteers, and he was success. He began to a new life by his sound of the piano.

Another incredible story! Let's read another:

A beautiful girl was in a beautiful place. There were a beautiful river, beautiful flowers, beautiful fruits, and a beautiful lake. It was the most wonderful and beautiful place in the world. However, there was nobody but her, and she had thought she had been all alone until she would be dead.

One day, a boy came into the place. He was an adventurer, so he had wanted to walk around the world. When he looked around the place, he was surprised. “What a beautiful view!” he said. As soon as the girl heard the voice, she ran to him, and they met each other for the first time. “What a beautiful girl.” he said. They looked at each other, and they fell in love. After that, they spent each loving day.

When they had their first kiss, an accident happened. Actually, she had a secret. If she would kiss someone, the one would be dead. They had never known the secret, so they kissed each other. Soon, he fell down right there, and she was into a panic. “What’s happened!” she screamed, but his eyes kept closing. She became all alone again.  

Now that was great! Let's see one more! 

When I came to I was in the silent forest. I don't know what brought me here. The big and tall trees surround me and they don't allow me to see the sky. I started walking to find the other creatures, but nothing was found by me. 

I wandered in the forest, but I don’t know how long I wandered. I felt I may get tired, so I decided to take a break. When I sat down on the ground, I heard any sound. I tried to find where the sound come from. It was a bird. It flied around me as if he invite me to somewhere. Therefore, I followed him. I think I walked so long distance, but I didn’t get tired. He brought me to the small space where is not surrounded by the trees.

When I came to I was in noisy station where I used to use to go to the university. I was surrounded by a lot of people. They were interested in nothing except themselves and they continued their walking. Then, I understood there are no change between the silent forest and the noisy station.

Another interesting story! Click on the page link to read more:

Words on Music (Part 1): your writing

Hello to all of you!

How are you? I know the university is finished until April, but I wanted to upload some more of your great writing on the music I played for you in class. 

First, here are the selections of music I played for you. Here is The Bad Plus, with "Big Eater":

Next, is Weather Report with "Teen Town":

After that, we have Jeff Beck's "The Final Peace": 

Finally, here is Jason Moran and "Gentle Shifts South":

After the page break, let's read your great writing about these different pieces of music! Can you guess which writing is about which music? Take your guess!

Writing about music/音楽を書いて (Part 2)

Hello!

How are you? Here is the third video to this piece of music I played for you in class - Jeff Beck's "The Final Peace." 

Here is the music again:

To learn more about Jeff Beck, click on this link here to a Wikipedia article in Japanese about him. 

Now here is the fourth video to this piece of music I played for you - Jason Moran's "Gentle Shifts South."

Here is the music again. There is a voice that comes over the music sometimes - sorry, I can't edit that out!:

To learn more about Jason Moran, click on this link here to a Wikipedia article about him. There is no article in Japanese about him, so the article is in English, and it's long - so you don't have to read the whole article! Only the beginning part about him, if you like. 

Does listening to this music again and knowing more about these musicians change what you wrote about the music? It might - but please do not change your stories!

Post a comment about what you learned, or what you think about these artists, in the comments section!

See you next time!

Image: "Water Drops In Rainy Day" courtesy of Toa55/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Videos uploaded from YouTube. Uploaded for educational purposes. No copyright infringement intended. All rights reserved to the copyright owner(s).

Writing about music/音楽を書いて (Part 1)

Hello!

How are you? Today here is the first video to this piece of music I played for you in class - The Bad Plus' "Big Eater." 

Here is the music again:

Now here is the second piece of music I played for you in class - Weather Report's "Teen Town." Here is a video showing them performing it (the video is old, so the picture quality is not so good. Sorry!):

To learn more about The Bad Plus, click on this link here to the Wikipedia article in Japanese about them. The Japanese article doesn't say so much, however, so click over here to the Wikipedia article in English about them for more (it's long, so you don't have to read all of it!). 

To learn more about Weather Report, click on this link here to a Wikipedia article in Japanese about them.

Does listening to the music again and knowing more about these artists change what you wrote about their music? It might - but please do not change your stories!

Post a comment about what you learned, or what you think about these artists, in the comments section!

See you next time!

Image: "New York Skyline" courtesy of Antoine Henrich/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Videos uploaded from YouTube. Uploaded for educational purposes. No copyright infringement intended. All rights reserved to the copyright owner(s).

Words on Music (Part 4): Frank Zappa - "Little Umbrellas"

Hello to my students,

Image "Colorful Puppets On A Market Stall In Kathmandu, Nepal" courtesy of think4photop/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here is the last post - Part 4 - of our collection Words on Music. This is what you wrote to the Frank Zappa piece you heard in class - "Little Umbrellas." 

Here is the video for the song:

Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. No copyright infringement intended. 

It is uploaded strictly for classroom use.

Here are your thoughts and feelings on this music:

I imagine many a place with many adrenaline and laughs in the air. Many lights, many people, many feelings, many dramas on the stage and many hopes and dreams delivered for children and teenagers! But also for adults, it breaks the common sense that adults do not have dreams because they lived long time to give up their dreams for "real life." In this place, those type of people can learn that dreams are also real! This place is a circus.

This is strange music and a fun mood. I image cats are dancing at open space. Cats stand with two legs. Cats are talking, eating and something drink, and they look human. Today is the cat's dance party!

The mood of the music is weird and the music makes me lazy. It expresses depression, for example, when I go to the university in the morning, I don’t want to go to there because of sleepiness.

At first this goes slowly but one the way was bitter sound. I am good to listen to sound of this type. It is in a restaurant or tearoom. Especially, tearoom is a good place to listen. I think the story is that some people are a dancing at a party. This party is the anniversary party of something. Everyone burst with fun. But this party is coming to an end.

This is such a mature kind of dance. It is fun for pleasure. I think that anyone begins to dance to it. Because many people likes to fun or dance to music.  Of course I will dance. Anyone can feel fun that your body adjusts to this music, and begins to move to it naturally.

This piece of music is most bright, but at the same time, it may be mysterious. This gap may create a unique atmosphere. I think this atmosphere cannot be imitated. How mysterious this makes it! 

I see a snake charmer appearing. Here, it is India. He handles his snake on the street as he sits cross-legged.

Another great collection of some great reactions to this music!

To see more, click on here for Part 1. Click here for Part 2. Click here for Part 3. 

Good luck on your final writing projects! I hope Words on Music can help you in writing your final projects. 

Words on Music (Part 3): Miles Davis - "Portia"

Hello to all my students,

Image "Statue The Face" courtesy of sritangphoto/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here is Part 3 of our collection, Words on Music. This is what you wrote to the third piece of music you heard in class - Miles Davis' "Portia." Here is the music:

Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. No copyright infringement intended. 

It is uploaded strictly for classroom use.

I have edited a few of these a little, but not much. Read and enjoy!

I imagine the night. In noon, the song will not hear. This may create an adult atmosphere. I felt melancholy music. I imagined that a man walks in the dark town and drinks liquor in a bar.

I sense imminent danger.  I am fearful. The image it is may show some fierce animals attacking in the jungle.

This is like dangerous music. There is a man who is an adventurer. He takes a ship and goes to an uninhabited island. He crosses the Atlantic Ocean alone. He feels lonely but likes adventure. So he is exciting this. Whenever he is in trouble, he believes in god. Later he reaches the island.

One person goes shopping in town. The shop was opened. It was in a quiet corner of town. He came into the shop. It is general shop. There are many miscellaneous goods. All of things are so good. I like them. He thought that this shop is so wonderful.

There is a girl who goes on an adventure. She is going to be in a very good mood, but she heard a strange noise. She was lonely. Just then, the figure of grandfather emerged in front of a girl, and he introduced his house near here. This house were five dwarfs, they welcome to her. For example, they played the music, and cooking. But, after a short time, she missed his mother, and she was cried. It can’t be helped, they gave her a night, and she was escaped by them next day.

An explorer searches for a treasure. A treasure sleeps in the grave. He devotes his life to it. He fined a clue of treasure. He went to Egypt. Then he solves cipher of treasure. He fined treasure at last. It is beautiful nature. There are many animal and fruit. And many animals are an endangered species. Though the treasure was not treasures, he feels very much.

Words on Music (Part 2)：Ronny Jordan - "After Hours"

Hello to all my students,

How are you? As promised, here's Part 2 of our collection Words on Music. Here you will see some selections of what you wrote about the second piece of music you heard in class - Ronny Jordan's "After Hours." Here is the video for it:

Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. No copyright infringement intended. 

It is uploaded strictly for classroom use.

Like before, I have edited these as little as possible. Check these out!

This piece of music is a dumped-man story. Someone is drinking wine in the dark room of the top floor of the high-quality apartment. He has been unlucky in love that day. He is idly looking out of the window. He sinks down.

This music's strong image is a holiday morning. I woke up in bright natural light, and I thinking I hope today is a good day too! I will cook a breakfast, and I will be getting ready. When I am ready, I will eat breakfast. After, I go out with my friends! I will go shopping, lunch, and play the karaoke! I am looking for this time.

I feel nostalgia. When I close my eyes, I imagine urban, mystic night, moon, modern and so on. I cannot explain well, this is good anyway. For example, you listen it as you walk in a urban night. If the moon is in a night sky, it is better.


I imagine a dog running. In holiday, the dog runs away and finds the town where he has not visited yet. The town makes him happy and surprised because he had no idea about human except his master. There are lots of living, love, dream, hope and freedom. 

This has a negative image. The boy was very fat. When he was walking, he stuck in a hole. He was fat so he didn’t get out of a hole. He was writhing in pain.  Many people assisted him but he did not get out. He reflected on what he had done for the day. He decided that go on a diet.

A season is summer. The sky in the west was aglow with the setting sun. I go to beach and see the setting sun. It’s so beautiful. But it will cease to this place, after soon, Moon will exist this place. People will return home by that time. So this beach will become lonely place.

In cafeteria, a lot of people are talking each people. One of the group look like interest talking. Their talked about new movie. But, this cafeteria does not play music. Talk sound heard like this music, because everyone looks like fun. This cafeteria is very big. The roof is very high. Desks and chairs are colorful. For example, yellow, green, pink, orange, purple, blue, white, red etc. Has a lot of light. Lights form is separate.

I imagine a man who is traveling without an object. He traveled some countries and walking a desert a few days. After he got away from a desert, he arrived at the town and found a bar. This bar is so old and there are few people. This music was played in this bar. I felt mysterious from this music, but it maybe agreeable for him.

There is the one bar. Many kinds of guests go that bar every night. This bar has many stories. For example two guests named, five people who play the instruments start the band. That bar gives many guests the opportunities of their life. Tonight, many guests will gather in that bar.

Some very interesting feelings on these! All different, and all unique. 

To check out Part 1 of Words on Music, click on this link here.

More to come in the next post - Part 3!