WALDORF MUSIC

The dream of a vibrant, diverse Music Department at the school is at last in sight! Once the new classrooms are completed, the current Class 6 classroom is to be reshaped into practice rooms and an office, with funds from Acoustic Earth. We expect this to open at the beginning 2009.

In the meantime, a music co-ordinator has been appointed, and we are delighted to welcome Reza Khota to this position. Reza, who holds a MA in Music (with distinction) from Wits, is an accomplished, prize-winning guitarist with considerable and varied experience in performance and teaching. He has played in jazz bands, African jazz bands, and as a solo classical guitarist, and is currently a member of Babu, a collaboration of virtuoso instrumentalists who play original compositions based on Indian Classical Ragas and Talas. He has taught the guitar both at schools and at the Wits Department of Music.
As all this suggests, he is passionate about music, and knows many musicians. As Music Co-ordinator, he will help to materialise the vision which many of us have for promoting and celebrating music at our school. Imagine an environment in which children receive lessons in many different instruments.

Imagine a school orchestra, ensembles, bands, a choir, many concerts.... Certainly there is enough skill and enthusiasm in the school community to make this happen, and we are happy that Reza is now here to facilitate the process.
Julia Martin, Music Mandate Group

LIFE LONG LEARNING

Found on the programme for the
Class Twelve Individual Project Presentations
July 18th & 19th 2008

Whoever enters the field of education with an open heart will very soon find him or herself faced with a mighty contradiction, and will eventually be forced to acknowledge that it can only be endured, but never resolved. What is the nature of this dilemma? It is this: on the one hand, it is obvious to anyone with even a modest insight into the workings of the human heart and mind that people, and especially young people, only learn out of interest. On the other hand, a school is a place charged with the task of acquainting young people with things that are deemed 'good' for them, but that they are likely to find anything but interesting.

A Waldorf school addresses this insoluble problem by matching the 'good' things needing to be taught to the stage of development at which the soul is most susceptible to them. While this ship of learning is fairly seaworthy - the nearly 2000 Waldorf Schools world-wide bear witness to this - even it is likely to run aground at times. With frantic bailing, jettisoning of cargo and altering of course, it can be kept afloat, but even then the waters remain treacherous. If the ship does not sink, it is because there are those on board who have learnt how to take interest even in the 'good' of things.

They have learnt how to learn. For those who haven't, school remains a constant tussle between what they are supposed to be interested in and what they are really interested in, which might be very little. And teachers are caught between these two groups, between the 'wow' of those who know how to engage their interest, and the 'whatever' of the others.

Thank goodness then for CLASS TWELVE PROJECTS .
Here 'whatever' has a chance to be finally replaced by 'wow', since it is an opportunity for each student to engage their own personal interest, and hopefully to learn how to learn (if they haven't done so before).
Learning how to learn may be only marginally less important than learning how to walk or to speak, and if Class 12 Project is done with full commitment, it can hardly fail to have this effect. To have chosen a subject and suddenly to find oneself personally responsible for everything that happens in pursuit of it - from technicalities to skills to background knowledge - is an experience set to banish 'whatever' for the rest of your life. According where they lie on the 'wow - whatever' spectrum, our current class twelve's will have been having this experience in a more or less drastic way over the last few months.

The class we have before us this year has a certain cryptic quality. They don't project themselves forcefully into the community, but have a general reticence. Interacting with them very often seems to be a strictly one-way affair, in which the play the partner who gives nothing away. But this is a false impression, much is happening beneath the surface. And their projects prove it. This year we have a batch of projects as vibrant, varied and interesting as any we have ever had. Each of this projects has had sufficient power, in their various ways, to instruct each student in what he or she had to learn, and how. Now we have the privilege of hearing and seeing the fruits of this special kind of learning.

On behalf of the class, therefore, we commit this year's projects to your edification and enjoyment.

NEW CLASSROOMS – PROGRESS REPORT

After many years of meetings, designs, consulting and hard work, the building of the new classrooms is taking shape, and rising out of the ground. We anticipate that within three to four weeks both buildings will be at roof height and ready for roof timbers. We would like to have the classrooms finished in the next three months. We are making a major effort in the next week to clear up the site and make it more ‘visitor friendly’. We are excited at the shape and design and believe these classrooms will be a wonderful contribution to the spirit of our school.
May we wish our Architect Dennis Shaw all the best wishes for his new venture and bon voyage and our thanks for a beautiful, adventurous building. Thanks must go to William Anderton and Barry Van’t Slot, our tireless trustees, and to Saul Chanarin for the many hours they have given bringing this project to fruition.
Any parents who have skills relating to building finishes, including landscaping and ‘greening’ please contact Vincent.