I actually watched
The Last Mimzy last Friday, but things kept happening - so here we are, a week later... This is another on loan from Sam, and I wasn't really geared up to watch it. I was told it was kind of a kids' movie, but not really, and science fiction. All of those things are true - the main characters are kids, but there is some slightly scary stuff that I wouldn't necessarily show to young people. That said, probably kids in late primary school and up would cope. Young people today seem to do better with scary things.
Sometimes, when I watch a movie, life just throws it all at me at once. The essence I gleaned from this movie was that the world is a wondrous place, but older people are far less adept at seeing this. Well, that was the main point. The second, equally important, point, was that younger people can only find the wonder in the world if they can experience the world.
When the kids are at home, the older boy is a typical older brother. He is in middle school, about 13, and is bursting the bubbles of his little sister (the burger you're eating used to be a cow, that sort of thing). He spends a lot of time playing with electronic devices and only a little time communicating with people, and is not doing very well at school. As soon as they are away at the beach, he turns into the sort of older brother that girls with no brothers imagine are the norm: he wades into freezing water to investigate things, he does all the scary stuff, he protects his little sister, and is a comrade instead of a competitor. And he starts looking more closely at things, as his sister does all the time because she is still very much a child. And these children, with the aid of these found objects (from the future), start to see and experience the world and all its wonder. Not only that, but when they return from the beach, that wonder and insight remains (which leads to the FBI thinking they're terrorists... I won't go into that here...). Moreover, because the boy has taken the time to investigate the minute workings of his surroundings, he does a fabulous science project.
So, 2 things. 1 - This term I've started teaching a few new kids, 2 of whom are in grade 2. Both of them are delightful. Bright sparks, enthusiastic, and interested in the world. One of them was fairly silent in the first lesson but since then has talked and asked questions almost non-stop. As we were going back to class on Thursday we were walking up steps with the sun behind us, so we could see our shadows in front of us. She was so excited! Not only could we see ourselves on the ground, but we could see ourselves moving and changing shape as we walked up the steps. I won't give you all the examples of the wonder with which these girls see the world, but it makes my heart smile.
2 - This is, again,
Idiocracy. Without children seeing the wonder in the world, how will they ever be captured by anything in the world? And if they're never captured by anything in the world, how will they ever learn about anything in the world? And if they never learn anything about the world, what will stop them thinking it's a good idea to water crops with Gatorade? When they are told that this is how things are... well. If they are told without finding out for themselves, then where's the interest? Remembering stuff is different from finding out stuff. You might be told that spiders respond to different frequencies, but if you actually watch a spider building its web (which is fascinating in itself), and then manipulate it by producing different frequencies, then that's something else entirely. (This is, incidentally, the basis of Kodaly music teaching - letting the students discover new elements themselves).
All this reminds me of brains. There is some talk of this in the movie, too - how our brains change and develop as we grow. (Again, this was touched upon at summer school). The very young have brains with no clear roads, but as we grow and learn, we wear roads into the wiring of our brains. Some of this is a good thing, like how to feed yourself without pushing a fork through your eye. Or, plants need water to grow. Some of this is limiting though, like thinking that when you draw, the sky must always be blue. Like the message proclaimed by
Beethoven (in
Copying Beethoven) when we follow the rules life stays the same. But to grow, and to create, and to experience, we do better to forget the rules, forget the wiring of our brains. Pretend we are astronauts, or that parallel 5ths are acceptable when writing 4-part harmony. This whole brain thing is yet another reason to keep learning things as we get older. So often I meet another adult, who asks what I do, then responds with "I always wanted to learn the violin". It's never too late. I've even taught an 84-yr-old arthritis sufferer. When I start something new my brain loves me. My most recent new learning thing is
Spanish, and not only can I feel my brain enjoying learning new pathways, the learning of new things is expanding the old knowledge (mostly because the romance languages are essentially different dialects of the same language, but still!).
One other thing about this movie. One of the lines near the end (when the future world has been saved by the young girl's tears - pure and innocent) - "our precious quality of humanity had been switched off" - really struck me. So often, this is all too apparent. Our society is turning far more introverted, looking to the self instead of to the community, and it's costing us. This is not our natural state of being. Communication and caring for others, and learning new things, and being open to the wonder of the world are all vital parts of being human. I will no longer apologise for behaving like a kid.
Today with the grade 3s we started holding the bow. Now I feel like I'm really useful! I didn't stop all morning, fixing, helping, adjusting, begging floppiness, and repeat. No matter how many times their teacher said, over the bow, we still had fingers coming up from all angles. The delight on their faces though when they had it right ("now, don't move!") was so rewarding. One child I worry about though. 2 weeks ago was their first lesson after 3 weeks, and this child put her violin on her right shoulder while the teacher was helping the cellos. She looked at me with a very concerned expression of "this doesn't feel quite right...". I mouthed and motioned, "other shoulder" and she slowly moved it across, looking doubtful. Once it was over there she looked so relieved. I had a little moment of "maybe she should be doing viola...". This week (they didn't have a lesson last week due to Anzac Day), when they were about to play after all the bow work, the same child did the same thing! I had to laugh on the inside. At least she's really enjoying violin and once her violin is in place properly, she's fine. A few of the girls commented on the owl earrings - as I was passing by to rescue another bow hold, I'd hear quietly "I like your earrings" or "oh they're owls..."
Today needed a bit of a fun outfit (yes, all black can be fun...) as I was helping with grade 3 strings for the first time. I won't wear a short skirt next time - I forgot how little grade 3 kids can be, and there was a bit more 'sitting on the floor' time than I had anticipated. For them. This was my first group string lesson experience. I've never taught a group of more than 2, and when they're in an ensemble they can already play. Trying to position 18 violins/violas on little shoulders not used to this whole shoulder rest/chin rest thing, with the addition of school badges, making it not incredibly uncomfortable - it's tough. And then all over again in the next class. I had one boy approach me after - "can you put on badges? Can you put mine back on for me?" Their teacher (their real teacher, doing all the work) does such a great job. All the kids said at the end that it was really fun. And mostly they could count to 4 and do a little dance in the middle (interesting, in some cases, very energetic in most cases).
