Hearts with Haiti Collaboration 2012, Part I: Possibility and the "us" vs. "them"

Something life-affirming in diversity must be discovered and rediscovered, as what is held in common becomes always more many-faceted-open and inclusive, drawn to untapped possibility.  – Maxine Greene, “The Passions of Pluralism”

I’ve been presented with a wonderful opportunity to deeply understand the meaning of the phrase “music is the universal language”, and to explore this concept with 6^th and 7^th grade students. The idea: to teach the same lessons, same material, and present the same questions to a group of suburban Georgia students and a group of early high school Haitian orphans and to each compose and present a musical work to one another. An unlikely pair, you think?  As the first day of collaborative work reveals, perhaps not. 

Before going into our amazing discoveries though, I want to introduce the key players of this collaborative effort. I am teaming up with two dear friends. Hearts with Haiti, a non-profit organization based in North Carolina is sponsoring the trip.  Geoffrey Hamlyn, Executive Director of Hearts with Haiti and amazing violist is teaching music there along with Clara Lyon, a passionate and accomplished violinist. Both of these Juilliard alums will be living in a Haitian orphanage for the next week, working with students on various music projects. These students have been through a lot, especially the horrific 2010 earthquake that left many injured, sick, and without home and family.

In the coming week, my 6^th and 7^th grade students and their students in Haiti will take part in lessons designed and taught by Clara, Geoffrey, and myself. We aim to ask more questions than we answer, but a few of the discussions we will have include: What is music and how is it used in my community? What messages can music communicate, and how?  How can music be understood as universal?  How can we use music to learn more about ourselves and others?   

Our first lesson really touched upon this last question. Both sets of students listened to George Crumb’s “Black Angel Quartet” Night of the Electric Insects. While listening, they were asked to describe what message or story the composer told. Both students in GA and in Haiti came up with images of fear, death, zombies, etc. What was most interesting though was the response when we posed the question, “What do you think the other students will come up with? Will their responses be similar to yours or different?”.  Overwhelmingly on both ends, students felt the “others” would have a different answer than theirs.  This is a classic assumption and misconception that happens to people of all ages and experience levels every day. We constantly separate “us” from “them”.  As one of my students put it, , “it’s different over here and we have different experiences”.  While that may be true, there is something about the interpretation of art that simply transcends cultural difference, as the interpretation of the Crumb showed so clearly.

So what can be gained from this experience? While I won’t let my own predictions be limited, it’s worth venturing that the debunking of the “us” vs. “them” mentality is a lesson in being a good citizen. Indeed, many in Washington today could use a lesson like this. After all, we may look different, act different, believe different things, and live in vastly different environments but doesn’t it say something that we can hear music and all think as one?  Perhaps music is not the only thing on which we can see eye to eye. . .oh the possibilities!

Stay tuned for the next tale of our collaborative adventure!