Words on Music (Part 1): Jacques Loussier - Siciliano in G Minor (J.S. Bach)

Hello to all my students,

Image "A Lot Of Pink Brown And Orange Dry Leaves Lying On The Ground" courtesy of sritangphoto/FreeDigitalImages.com

How are you in this new year? I hope you had a relaxing holiday. Here I will introduce a new collection of your writing called Words on Music. It's your writing on the pieces of music that you did before. 

I hope you can enjoy this writing again, and I hope it can help you in your final writing projects. I was very impressed with what many of you did in writing about music. 

To save time, I will only publish a selection of your writing, and not all of it, but will try to show some good examples of your writing. So here are some samples of what you wrote on the first piece of music - Jacques Loussier's version of Bach's Siciliano in G Minor. Here is the music from YouTube once again: 

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 them as little as possible, to keep your thoughts and feelings as true to yourselves as possible. Here they are:

This piece of music is such a sad image. I can image a story from this song. The girl agonizes about something. She wants an answer something. But it doesn’t seem to find. So she decided to go for a walk. After a while, she saw a forest and a lake. There are many little birds and creatures. And she thought it is great for living things all over the world.

I associate this with a young clergyman walking in the morning. He is in a big church and he is exposed to alight from glasses. However, his face looks not happy as if he has an anxiety. He cannot afford notice calling his name by bishop. The road in church is too short for him to walk and think so he will go out soon. 

This is a strong image is a bar. In bar, I am drinking wine with my boyfriend. We enjoy spending time along together, and we drank a lot of wine. Time passed very slowly. In that place, so we have a very relaxing time. That day is our anniversary, so I was given the present by him. I was very glad to get this present from him, and I give a present for him. He was glad too. I felt like our relationship got deeper.

I felt both sadness and pleasure from this music and I imagined the story about two children, one is boy, other is girl. They are playing together happily in somewhere, but it is imagination of boy grew up, so it is past of this boy. He remembers, but his memory never came back. What happened to boy and girl, he only knows. It is sadness I felt from this music. 

This music is romantic. I imagine two people, a man and a woman. They are eating at quality restaurant. They drink wine. In their circumference, there is the person dancing to music. A man stare her in the face. They are in love each other. He cannot convey love to her. She feels irritated because she wants to tell her feeling to him early, too. They continue silence for a while. When the music stop, he says “I love you.”

This is quiet and elegant. The main sound is a piano. This is repetition but I thought that music is to listen to again and again. When I studied to listen in this music, I will be able to learning to relax. I often listen to this music in coffee shop or otolaryngology. I think the story of this music is that one man is listening to this music quietly while sitting in a chair in a café in a small port town. The man was dumped by women. He was shocked enough to drop. 

Final writing project: the Small Book of Big People 2nd review

Hello to all my students,

Image "Old African Man" courtesy of africa/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Hello! I thought I should repost more of your Small Book of Big People paragraphs from the spring as more refreshers for you on writing about people. Please enjoy again! 

I respect my teacher when I was junior high. His name is Akihiko Kurushima. He is my tennis club teacher. He is very strict about manners and practice, so my club is very strict. But it was his affection for us, and we can learn about manners. When I graduated junior high, I knew about that. He has not only strict but also love, and he told us why people should keep manner. So I respect him. 

That was great! Here's another:

I esteem Haruki Murakami for his writing ability. For example, he wrote the books which composed of a unique statement and metaphor. They attract readers. When I read his books for the first time, I was also attracted to them. Norwegian Wood was especially attracted me in the book written by him. This book made me little sad and it was in a strange feeling. I want to be a novelist. I want to imitate his writing ability and I also want to be a novelist like him.

That's a really good one, too! How about this one?

My exceptional person is Ogura Shinsaku. He is a high school teacher and my wind orchestra conductor. Before he became a teacher, he was a chorus conductor. He is loved by many students because he is very interesting and fearful for everybody. He helped me when I was difficult to play the oboe. He was my emotional mainstay. So he is my exceptional person. 

What do you think? Here's another one:

I respect for the singer Yuki. She is so cute in spite of 40 years old. And her songs give me many powers. Especially, there are many songs about love in her songs. For example, “Sunset of Stardust” makes me happy. But I feel heartbreaking when I am in love with someone. “Prism” gives me many powers too. So I could have ever done my best. And the way of her life sets a good example for women. I want to be a sparkling woman like her.

Finally, here's this one: 

I respect Tadataka Ino. He is surveyor of the Edo period. He was born in 1745 and died in 1818. He made a map of Japan for the first time in the history of Japan. He completed the map of Japan over 17 years to 1800-1816. His surveying skills was high equal to modern technology. His map was recognized as an official map for the first time in Japan. He also began to survey the map in 55 years old. At that time, to go around the Japan it is difficult, but he was also to survey. He is a great person.

I hope these refresh you on writing about people. Remember that you can write about characters on movies, TV dramas, and even in songs in the same way.

Have a great holiday and a happy new year!

Final writing project: file attachment notes/期末プロジェクトの添付ファイルノート

Hello to all my students,

Image "Teenager Guy Working on Laptop" courtesy of imagerymajestic/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? First, I'm very sorry I have not answered your emails since last week. I had to finish writing a conference paper (研究会レポート) and I was very busy with it. 

Thank you for your understanding. Now, this is a quick note about the style you will use when writing your final project.

Please look at this picture below: 

This picture is an example of writing style I used with my students at the Shibaura Institute of Technology (芝浦工業大学). I would like you to use the same style in your writing here.  

So please remember the following points, in this style:

Your name in romaji
Student number

Remember - double space below the student number and above the title!

Title of your paper

Remember to center the title. Then double space again!

Start writing here. Keep writing even when you get to the end of the line, then keep writing on to the next line...

Click on this link here (ここにくりっくしてください) about rules for writing names and places, and song and album titles. 

Have a great holiday. You do not have to work on this project over the holiday, but you can email me if you have questions about your project. 

See you in January! Have a Happy New Year!

Final writing project: further notes/期末プロジェクトのノートをつづいて

Hello to all my students,

Image "Hand Holding Pen" courtesy of iprostocks/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Here I will post some board notes from today. I will not post all of them, because there were many, but some. 

The first notes are for writing about a CD album and the songs on it:

This next one is for writing about movies or TV dramas:

Finally, here are some notes for writing about a place: 

I hope these can help you. Take care! 

Email me anytime!

Final writing project: The Small Book of Big People review

Hello to all my students,

Image "Asian Model Woman" courtesy of posterize/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you doing? As I said in class last week, I would re-post part of our book from the spring semester, The Small Book of Big People. This may help those of you who are writing about characters and actors in movies or TV shows for your final writing project. 

Take a look at these! They might help to refresh you on how to describe people (人物をびょうしゃしてりる).

I respect my cram school teacher. He was kindly and reliable. Now, I still often go to meet him and talk about various things. When I was a junior high school student, he taught me English, history and Japanese. His teaching was plain and interesting, so I was easy to understand him. He advised me how to study English. I practiced it and took high score in English tests. Thanks to meeting him, I came to like English. That is why I respect him!

Great! How about this one? 

My most respected person is Mizuki Noguchi. She is a marathon runner. She is very small, but her early characteristic was a stride form of running. She took the gold medal at the Athens Olympics. When I read her book, she impressed me greatly, because she said, “the distance does not let me down.” I was touched by her words. She is an unusually hard worker.  I want to become a player like her.

That's great too! Check this one:

Kim Jeajung is the most famous Korean singer. I think he is cool, mysterious, cute, a gentleman, elegant, smart and he sings very well! When I was 13 years old, I saw him for the first time on a TV music program when he appeared with the group he is famous for, Touhoushinki. When they sung, I was very surprised by their songs, and his beautiful voice especially shocked me. This group became famous in Japan, and he rose in popularity. I often listened to their songs then. Their beautiful harmonies relaxed me and cheered me up, especially his voice. He is now the face of Korean cosmetics store called Tony Mory. It profited thanks to him. I think his popularity shows no sign of abating. Recently, he has become an actor playing the leading roles in two films. I think he will have become a huge star! I want to continue to cheer for him, and I will love him forever.

Now how about this one:

My exceptional people are my parents. My mother is doing housework and she is working part time job too. It is very hard, but she never says complaint in the presence of a child. I always talk her when have a matter causing. My father is a self-employed person. His work is very hard and tired. But, he is working for us every day. My parents always come in on my side in the end and to help. They think about children in the very first. So I thank them and respect. I want to become parent like them in the future.

This person has great parents!

See you next class! 

Final writing project: writing about places review/場所・位置を書いてレビュー

Hello to all my students,

This is a review post on writing about places. If your final writing project is writing about places, then I hope seeing these pictures again will help you. 

Look at the picture above. What feelings do you get about the place in the picture? What adjectives (形容詞) do you think of when you see this place? 

Review activity (for groups writing about places)
You wrote about places in the spring semester. I know you can look at the paragraphs you wrote about, but you can also practice this activity again as a refresher with your group to help you write about places. 

Look at these pictures. Choose one, write a short paragraph of 4-5 sentences about it, and share it with your group members. Here is an example about the picture below - the ancient ruins of Delphi in Greece.

例えば：

The ancient ruins of Delphi have inspired many throughout history, and this is how it inspires me. When I see a site such as this, the past and the present come together, and I feel we are not only seeing history, but living it too. I have never been to Greece, but some day I want to go. When I do, this place will be on my list of things to see. 

You do not have to do any of these, but they might help you to refresh your writing about places. Try one with your group members! 

  

Have fun!

Photo credits (in order): "Gate in Silhouette" (personal image)/"Ancient Ruins In Delphi" (courtesy of thephotoholic)/"Great Wall Of China" (courtesy of cescassawin)/ "Shop" (courtesy of Dino De Luca)/"Sydney Opera House At Night" (courtesy of Susie B)/"New York Times" (courtesy of Antoine Henrich)/"Japanese Street Festival" (personal image)/All pictures except "Gate in Silhouette" and "Japanese Street Festival" from FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

Final project notes/期末プロジェクトのノート

Hello to all my students,

Image "Notes" courtesy of healingdream/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Here are the board notes I made today for all of you. Take a look at them to refresh yourselves. (4限 students - they are a little different from the notes I made for you, but basically they show the same points, rules and guidelines to follow). 

First, look at these notes above. 

Check out these notes here too - they're really important. 

I will doublecheck with kyoumuka about the dates.  

Please remember that you if any of you do not want to work in a group, that's okay. Please tell me and you can email me. 

Email me at washizoraATgmailDOTcom anytime - and don't forget to cc me when you email each other in your groups!

Good luck! Let me know what you are doing. 

See you in class next week!