Why Commit to the Full School Year?
There is a short answer, a medium answer, and a long answer.
The Short Answer
This program for September through June guides students through events and challenges. Each month builds from the previous in a path designed to strengthen musical skills and emotional resilience, leading to the victorious finish line of the Spring Recital.
The Medium Answer
This is Miss Tess' variation on a story from “Art & Fear” by David Bayles and Ted Orland. This allegory describes the many benefits of the studio’s annual program, particularly for students who return year after year.
Big Pots and Little Pots
A pottery teacher splits her class into two halves.
She tells the first half, “You will spend the next two months studying pottery, planning, designing, and creating your beautiful pot. You will make one Big Pot.”
She tells the second half, “You will spend the next two months making lots of little pots, as many as you can in this timeframe.”
The first half of the class starts their project with research, design, and scheduling, mapping out how each step of the way will progress over the next two months. They then set about creating their one Big Pot.
The second half of the class begins with fistfuls of clay, quickly focused on churning out little pots. They encounter many chances to break their pots: the clay is too wet or dry, it goes wonky on the wheel, the glaze peels, some pots explode in the kiln.
Which half of the class learns the most?
In the studio’s philosophy, both halves of this class learn different, equally-valuable lessons. The first half with Big Pots develops an ability to focus on one project over many weeks. Their creative efforts contain depth, meaning, and personal investment. The completion of a Big Pot marks a powerful victory, a milestone that stands in the students’ memories years later. The second half with little pots has many chances to fail, and each mistake teaches a new skill. The experience of little pots is immediate and hands-on. Actively breaking little pots can be a frustrating and humbling experience. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, celebrating the cracks as part of the history of the object. Students write reflections throughout the year to acknowledge both the pedestal and the dustbin.
The Witching Hour, The Winter Forest, presentation group events, and the Spring Recital are Big Pots.
Ordinary Time and less intensive group events are little pots.
Studio families commit to the full school year when signing up for lessons so that this collection of pottery from September to June can best empower students to become complete musicians through a full range of experiences.
The Long Answer
“A Creative Path: Celebrating the U” tells a collective story about the process of actualizing dreams. It begins with inspiration, drops into difficulty, and rises to success. If a student stops in the middle of this path, their U might become an L, preventing growth, experience, and realization. Knowing that peers also experience nadirs and zeniths brings our musical community closer in what could otherwise seem to be a lonely practice. The U is only one possible representation of a creative path; at the end of the video, students share the shapes of their own journeys preparing for this performance. This is a significant, personal group narrative that asks for deep listening from its audience. As the sign above the studio door says: “Enter at your own risk.”
Miss Tess made four movie posters for the release week of this video!
A note from Miss Tess: Video editing is a similar art to practicing piano — you can put in 3 hours’ work towards a 15-second moment. I have put in at least 200+ hours into editing this project. When you consider the amount of effort from everyone involved, the time spent in lessons, the weeks of practicing, multiple drafts while writing intros, hanging decorations, and recording footage, it is truly amazing how much *life* went into this 29:18 video. I sincerely hope you enjoy this performance!
