Wow-that was fast-eh?! I just finished writing on the blog about awe inspiring stories, then looked at my email, and there was one from my high school piano teacher-an inspiring woman in her own right, who told me about a story in the Des Moines Register on Al Bell.
Al Bell travel around the world with his wife, they produced their own travelogues, then they would show up at school with all of their stuff, which included tons of musical instruments, their film and give us a show.
Every year I looked forward to seeing Al Bell-I couldn't wait! In my mind, I was traveling there with him and his wife to every country they went to. I was fascinated and thrilled by the sounds of the musical instruments that he brought back. I wanted to be Al Bell!
Those experiences influenced me and inspired me-and still do to this day. Those shows broadened my horizons, taught me about the world outside of Iowa, inspired me to search out other cultures, their foods, their religions, their arts-it inspired me to create the program I ran at the Brooklyn Children's Museum called "Found Sounds"-where I would take instruments from around the world into the pediatric wards of NYC hospitals-and work with very sick and terminally ill children-we played music together and learned about how sound is made.
Even today, when I'm teaching piano, I will pull out my world instrument book, my art history book and I always keep an atlas handy and talk to my students about how cultures influenced the making of music and design of instruments.
You can bet that all week I'll be showing my students the Des Moines Register article.....hope it inspires them too.
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