Wow, November 2009 was our last post...bad us! (bad me, really!) Well, we're going to fix that right now.
Since we last heard about this ministry, things were still quite new. We were having trouble choosing rep and meeting with each other to talk about those things. Since last November, things have changed a bit. We have seen many of the same men each week but we are under new direction. Rev. Dawn is still a huge part of this ensemble but our student contributions have changed. Oh, and we have a member from "the outside world", Richard that comes with us. Ok, more about student contributions.
Michelle is the newest member of our team. She has added a great deal to this ensemble. With me every week, she leads the men in singing and has created an environment of reciprocal teaching. With her, we have explored the musical world of canon. We have yet to master this art as a group, but we are so close! They enjoy working with Michelle, as do I.
I still go each week. We have begun to sing a song by Eminem called Not Afraid. The guys love it! They get an opportunity to compose their own rap about God and brotherhood. This is me trying to honor their world by bringing in something other than the spirituals that I have been teaching. *More about this ministry to come in an upcoming issue of the Music Educator's Journal.*
In addition to the choir on Wednesday nights, we have incorporated music/theory classes on Thursday night. Lauren and Kaitlin handle this event. Since neither of them were available on Wednesday night, Rev. Dawn decided this was a great supplement to what we learn on Wednesday nights. I could not agree more! I look forward to observing the differences from Thursday to Wednesday in the fall!
Rev. Dawn and I have also decided to create a mission statement. This is what we came up with:
To move beyond barriers
in order to create communities of hope
that restore, enlighten, and
transform lives through music.
What do you think? Pretty accurate, I'd say.
Whew, that was a lot to say! I will be posting more regularly once the semester begins again. I have been keeping a journal from this school year's travels to prison, but I can share my thoughts here as well.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!
