Conrad Gair

Teaching, Learning and Exploration

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Drum Sessions – Conrad

October 19, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I have not been practicing my drum everyday. But I have finally been able to make progress thanks to the looming deadline of the midterm submission. I have learned the patterns introduced in this book and have also learned the breaks. Then on to sequencing – which, often, are a compilation of the cue, the break, the pattern, and then the break again to finish. changing from a pattern to a break and vice versa has challenged me. Especially, the universal break is challenging on its own for me. Particularly, changing from the Merengue pattern to the Universal break in the Universal-Merengue Sequence forced me to slow down and practice that transition.

I am beginning to enjoy the djembe now. I’m grateful to have time and space to learn this intriguing instrument.

 

Cheerio!

 

Djembe Update

October 7, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I have been able to engage with the Djembe over the past couple weeks in a good way. I had learned some basics on my own, then I listened to the music lesson done in class on the drums (I was not able to attend) and I liked the concept of developing a groups’ own saying to go along with the beat they create.

I participated at one of the drum circles; it was very engaging and I felt encouraged to explore the volumes and rhythms. I tried to hit the drum and focus on pulling back off the skin so that the resonance is much better. Yesterday at a dance event, I felt motivated to add to digital music with a Djembe drum. What I took away is that keeping a consistent beat isn’t as easy as it may seem, and that it takes focus to uphold that space.

I challenge myself to learn to progress and diversify rhythms without compromising the baseline “heartbeat” at the base of the drumming.

Tech Wisdom

October 7, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Today Jesse Miller came in and spoke passionately about the possibilities available to us in terms of tech. FIPPA is a good resource to access, but I feel relatively aware of the risks and how to mitigate them. One important factor is to understand the network you are on, and that what you do on private networks can be seen by the operators of that network. Another thing to be vigilant about is your general impression in public and that people may be capturing your image and sharing it broadly. I think it is interesting to think about our relationship with technology, and I really appreciated Jesse’s very human approach; the issues that are uncovered and brought up thanks the the use of these networks.

Network citizenship means we have a proactive and meaningful engagement with the world through a media platform. It is important that we recognize that responsibility because the internet sometimes seems to make its own rules and we have to understand our moral approach to how we use it.

 

First Men’s Circle – Reflection

September 24, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I had been anticipating this circle for a couple weeks and was feeling underprepared yesterday until I spoke with a good friend. After the session, I realized that I had been preparing for a long time – developing skills of facilitation through my camp called FACES. I had facilitated a couple “Small group” sessions with my “Camera crew” in order to allow student to process therefore strengthening their overall camp experience. I found it extremely rewarding and it empowered me to further explore this type of work.

I believe I have uncovered several key skills that are necessary to effectively lead a group. One of which is the objectification of experiences. Noticing things that are happening emotionally,  for example, and giving them a name can become a tool to communicate one’s experience without ambiguity, thus opening a door for introspection. Identifying  details and asking questions about them is an incredibly important part of the work. These details are revealing things about what the person is going through and when we ask specific questions about those details, we invite them to reveal themselves.

Another skill that I feel I did well in was empowering the group to engage in each-other’s share. For example, when it was one person’s time to share and they wrapped up a though and left a pause, I would ask the rest of the group if they had anything to say to the person. This would allow an opportunity for the group to validate the person sharing. It is important that as a facilitator, I steer the type of talk but I don’t need to control the whole talk; I want the group to run itself.

In summary, this first experience running my own circle has been very satisfying and I hope it can continue to be a staple of meaning in my weeks to come.

 

Over and Out!

 

Things I learned

September 23, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Today in EdTech we learned how to use TweetDeck as a layout tool for twitter. We can add different entities and be able to see their activity seperately from all the other twitter happenings. We also learned about using Trello. It seems like a phenomenal tool for group collaboration.

Human Circle Work

September 23, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I have decided to do my free inquiry project on circles. Circles are a way to come together as a community and interact with each other in a meaningful and honest way. I am interested in this concept because it opens an individual up to experiencing or processing things like emotions, relationships hardship, addiction and many other things. It is an inclusive setting which encourages group support and sharing. The idea comes from indigenous cultures; who create these circles to strengthen the community.

In specific, I will be facilitating a Men’s Circle throughout this term. On Monday evenings, I have 8 or 10 individuals who have agreed to meet and do this type of work. Our purpose in the dive into our personal stories- to learn more about who we are so we can be better, more embodied versions of ourselves.

Tonight (september 23rd) is the first group. I am slightly anxious about what to do in regards to the starting time – it was supposed to be at 7:00 but may have to be at 7:30. We will see how it goes!

 

 

Introduction to Djembe

September 23, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I have decided to take on the Djembe drum as my musical inquiry project. I have always enjoyed to beat along on this drum, but I hadn’t the faintest idea of what the foundation of drumming was like. I happened to acquire a drum in the spring this year, with a hope to develop my own ability. I have a book and CD to help me learn the basics, and I’m very much enjoying the process already. Yesterday, I did my first official practice with my book and CD mentors. It was great to learn what Lead hand and Other hand works, and how the bass and tone hits are different. Also, The sight-reading we learned in music class was helpful to my understanding of how to follow notes on the staff. I learned the first 8 or 9 beats in the program and look forward to learning more.

Privacy Learning

September 16, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Today, whilst setting up our wordpress accounts, we  learned how to attribute images in terms. We learned that we can’t just use images copy-pasted into our sites without sourcing a credit. Not having the rights to media you are using is not only unproffesional, it is illegal. It is best if we use open-sourced stock images and then try to find the original source of the images. Websites like creative commons https://creativecommons.org/, or pexels http://pexels.com. 

I intend to use some of my own photographs on my website, that way I have a personal connection to the photos, and I don’t have to worry about ownership!

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