I always have an inclination to perceive rhapsodies as songs which are happy and exciting. Brahms' opus 79 is definitely none of adjectives mentioned. Agitated and stormy describe it better. My first piano lesson, after a six-month hiatus, was an interesting one. I've got an Indonesian teacher this time, he's a new teacher who recently joined our faculty. My previous teacher had returned to New York and have since relocated to Arizona to be a full time mom.
I've had three piano teachers before this and I must say that this is the most expressive one, which really did push me over the edge to do better. At one point, while teaching me about weights and touch, he suddenly dropped his arm on the piano. I try to be reserved when I'm at work or in class, so I did the same but ten times less energy... more like a shy and controlled drop of my arms, which the teacher disapproved. He promptly lifted my arm, told me to play dead, and dropped it hand-down (i guess face-down wouldn't work here) on the keyboard. (I was apologizing to the piano in my heart).
That was what happened this afternoon. The morning was a different story. My favorite class for this semester is the 4-student Development of Language Teaching Methods class. We've only had four classes but I know this will be my favorite due to the small number of students :P (all my other classes consist of 30 or more students). One remark that one of my student made, in response to my discussion of linguistic awareness, was that Americans are smarter. I did ask him to repeat what he said to confirm the statement he had made. He did. I tried not to be angry and asked him to explain why. He then went on to mention that some of the missionaries that he knew and some of the university faculty on campus knew how to speak more than one language.
I don't think 'smart' is the correct word to use. Many Asians can speak more than one language. The student who made that statement speaks three. It seems the notion that the farangs know better is still very widespread not only in Thailand, but in Burma as well (this student comes from Burma). I, of course, am not making a generalization. I do believe that there are those who view everyone as equally capable beings. This reminds me of a statement made at a conference I recently attended, where the speaker mentioned that the Thais need to be educated to not simply hire a farang backpacker off the roads of Khao San.
I've had three piano teachers before this and I must say that this is the most expressive one, which really did push me over the edge to do better. At one point, while teaching me about weights and touch, he suddenly dropped his arm on the piano. I try to be reserved when I'm at work or in class, so I did the same but ten times less energy... more like a shy and controlled drop of my arms, which the teacher disapproved. He promptly lifted my arm, told me to play dead, and dropped it hand-down (i guess face-down wouldn't work here) on the keyboard. (I was apologizing to the piano in my heart).
That was what happened this afternoon. The morning was a different story. My favorite class for this semester is the 4-student Development of Language Teaching Methods class. We've only had four classes but I know this will be my favorite due to the small number of students :P (all my other classes consist of 30 or more students). One remark that one of my student made, in response to my discussion of linguistic awareness, was that Americans are smarter. I did ask him to repeat what he said to confirm the statement he had made. He did. I tried not to be angry and asked him to explain why. He then went on to mention that some of the missionaries that he knew and some of the university faculty on campus knew how to speak more than one language.
I don't think 'smart' is the correct word to use. Many Asians can speak more than one language. The student who made that statement speaks three. It seems the notion that the farangs know better is still very widespread not only in Thailand, but in Burma as well (this student comes from Burma). I, of course, am not making a generalization. I do believe that there are those who view everyone as equally capable beings. This reminds me of a statement made at a conference I recently attended, where the speaker mentioned that the Thais need to be educated to not simply hire a farang backpacker off the roads of Khao San.
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