2023 5-COD: Session 3 by STOSKIENE RITA

Vanessa

2023-03-30 21:14:30 UTC

What did I learn today?
To me it was rather hard to get the drum rhythm. So I have learned that the drum is not my favourite instrument. 🤓

However, Ritas words about the traditional Lithuanian instrument that she started playing here in Guadeloupe kept me busy. She said that, when you are exposed to another culture, you get back to your own culture values!
I made that experience as well, just in another context and so I have been reflecting about that statement since this morning 😊

Astrid

2023-03-31 00:08:58 UTC

What was my biggest learning experience today: after Rita told us the story about the families , namely that' they saw the Sea as a Gateway to slavery I realized how important the change of persective is. Because for me, the Sea is the gateway to the world and therefore the symbole of freedom. I also realized, that' I should not think while playing the Drums, otherwise I would bei out off the rhythm.

Inka

2023-03-31 00:11:30 UTC

To be honest I was a bit nervous about today. In the past I had been told several times that I cannot sing and that I am not very musically. Therefore I didn't expect to enjoy the drums today but it turned out I quite liked them. So maybe I had been trying with the wrong instruments so far. So the first thing I learned was something about myself. The second thing was seeing how the way people were drumming often matched what I had been seen from their character so far. The third thing were some creol words. I absolutely love learning new languages and that was a lot of fun.

My favorite picture is of the road trip we took today for two reasons (a bit obsessed by numbers today): first I love nature and especially when you can see its wildness and force and second because a journey is less about the destination but more about the people you meet along the way.

Sven

2023-03-31 00:24:33 UTC

It was very interesting, that a tree was planted for every child and after the death the tree was used to fabricate a musical instrument. So the music was combined with the soul of lovely relative.

Zdenka

2023-03-31 00:35:07 UTC

Today, it was interesting again, Mr. Edgard gave a strict impression at the beginning, but then he showed what's in him. He showed incredible temperament and feeling for music.

Mirka

2023-03-31 00:37:26 UTC

Today was a really interesting day! I love music and Edgar and his passion for music is incredible 🥰. I learned that is very important not only play a musical instrument, but really important is to listen and to feel.🌼🎼

Lucie

2023-03-31 00:43:13 UTC

Today was instructive, that I learned I can't sing. :D However, the teacher, who taught us to play the drums was amazing. Playing the drums may seem easy, but finding the right tone and rhythm could be a little difficult. Playing the drums together was a great experience, when strangers came together and created an energetic atmosphere.

Jana

2023-03-31 00:59:52 UTC

Every day I get to know sth. new about the life or more suitable to express „the starving of slaves“. A very mild sparkling of being alive for them was any opportunity to build up their new culture despite being lynched for that. Their struggle, fight for the building their own culture reminds me that the comfort, the age of non-respect of our ancestors ‘legacy we live in nowadays destroy our identity and what´s more we do not realize it that once we lose our culture, we are lost not only as an ethnicity, but as a all nation.

Tobias

2023-03-31 03:31:25 UTC

I never played drums before. My collegues at home who did this yet told me that playing drums is a very deep and interesting (common) experience... I didn't really know what they ment.

The instrument I play is the churchorgan and it is the most complex of all the instruments. The organ is called the queen of the instruments. And the one who rules the queen is the king. So: the organplayer must be a real brainiac...
A drum is such simple: no tonality, no technology, no voice(s), no nothing.

That's what I thought. So what did I learn today?

I learned that simplicity can be very difficult. I started - perfectionist that I am sometimes - to academize playing the drum. I tried to decode what our teacher wanted to teach us in the way that I wanted to understand it. I ignored that he has chosen the easiest way to teach: listening, mentalizing, feeling. Knowledge about things is great. But more you know more you're caged and less you feel.

When I accepted to be controlled by my feeling, my drumming worked. And I felt free. Free to do what I wanted to... And it matched. It matched with what the group was drumming. Because when I stopped thinking I stopped focusing myself.

I don't know if this principle works with mathematics by example. But I’m sure it works in the life. A community has its system of rules and values. Just when you know them and you accept them, you’ll be able to act freely in the community and what you’re doing will be accepted by the community.

Quite philosophic. But music is my only way to express emotions. In the other way music is able to touch me deeply.

I think you’ll find some matches between my today's learning progresses and the photo I attached to this post.

Sabrina

2023-03-31 09:29:56 UTC

I learnt a lot about music and traditional instruments. I liked a lot that we had the possibility not only to listen to the music of the island but also to experience and feel it trough practicing the drums. That way we also experienced that music can strenghten the group building process and that even without knowing the instrument, everyone could feel the music. Again we also learnt some more interesting and also chocking aspects about slavery in the Islands, about the relationship of the local people to the sea and in how far - still nowadays - they connect slavery to the sea.

Matthias

matthias_nissen1 — 2023-03-31 10:41:26 UTC

Today I learned a lot about the Gwo-Ka the big drums 🪘 Guadeloupes. These are closely linked to the history of slavery and at the same time an expression of community, revolt against oppression and preservation of an identity. For the people here, the drum brings together the plant world (body) animal world (skin) and man (the heart) - quite spiritual.
Even if the drum session was a bit too long for me personally, I find that the own experience has a stronger impact and you have dealt with it more intensively.

Tade

2023-03-31 11:11:30 UTC

Today I learned a lot about the music of Guadeloupe. It is individual, loud and comes from the heart.

Lalalalalalalala

Esther

2023-04-01 11:16:28 UTC

My favorite picture shows the chickens who come around every day waiting for food. They have learnt very quickly that when we’re home, there’s always something for them. So they usually arrive shortly after us.
What I have learned today is that I should feel very lucky about all the freedom we have teaching in Germany. I was shocked when I heard that teachers in Lithuania used to be forced to sign a decree to report anti-Communist behavior of students or teachers to the KGB. My colleagues even complain because we have to hand in classroom tests to the headmaster twice a year. That makes me feel ashamed.