Re: Pretend You
Randolfo Rasberry
I assume that if you are reading this, you are a Harvard alum, but just in case you are not, I would like to offer you what I think is even better than an actual Harvard degree: the ability to pass what I call the Harvard Voight-Kampff. It is a series of seemingly random questions that are posed to you by Harvard affiliates when you encounter them in the wild. At first I thought that actually going to Harvard was necessary to answer these questions, but given how much of an impostor I feel like whenever they are posed to me, I think it might be fine to just crib them from the sheet that follows. You might do a better job than I do.
Anyway, on the off chance that you are not really a Harvard alum reading this, but only pretending to be one in some sort of Gatsby-esque scheme to win the approval of a society woman who once danced with you before you went to war, here is a guide for every conversation you will ever have with fellow alums. Godspeed.
But then sometimes they start to ask you about people. In this case, since I have about as much poker face as an emoji, I always find it best to base your answer in as much truth as possible until you can ascertain how the other person feels about the person in question.
Bravo, Ivan! The irony is that actually there are schools like yours and mine pretend music schools, in Eastern Europe, I was VERY fortunate to study at. Professional music school K-12. The ONLY model that works for professional musicians. Best to you, and thank you for writing the facts out:)!
Yes indeed! I think this starts in middle school with relevant and accessible music of modern world styles to balance and augment historical-based repertoires! But we need teachers to be open minded and want to grow a little and embrace new tactics. ? Ice Cream for everyone is a must.
The Liberty University School of Music, where I teach, is embracing many of the changes you suggest, including having every student learn improvisation, practical application of music theory to real world contexts, more emphasis on music business, and more chamber ensembles including woodwind quintets, string quartets, jazz combos, and pop bands.
Any good school nowadays should have (separate from music or any other major) admissions, counseling, and placement offices to advise and assist students with many of the issues you mention in regard to careers and finances. Encourage your students to use them.
Reblogged this on Anna Luther, Flute and commented:
This post has been around for many months now, but I ran across it again today and thought it was worth sharing. Ivan makes excellent points about music school curriculum being stuck but even better, talks about ways that we can work with new media to further our reach as performers and educators.
A conservatory or liberal arts university education, on the other hand, is designed to grow the mind and expose students to ways of thinking that they might not encounter in their day to day lives or social circles. A university education is designed to open the mind; to increase exposure to new or even uncomfortable concepts. This is where its value lies. A university degree is not, and not intended to be, a certificate of job-worthiness. Instead, a university degree is a signifier of a proven ability to think critically, to tackle new concepts.
For example, I think every student should be fully immersed in the language of music. Musicians should be able to do more than just read their language. They should be able to speak it and write it, just like any other language. Improvising and writing music would give music students a broader perspective on the traditional repertoire they study, while at the same time giving them an opportunity to gain new skills.
Commit to 100 percent reality. If you have a tendency to pretend, you are hampered from making good decisions for your teen. You are flying half-blind as a parent. Commit to being a mom or dad who, in order to be the best for your adolescent, will face the highs and the lows, the goods and the bads. Reality, even negative reality, is your friend.
Have that tough talk with your teen. Instead of avoiding the behavior or attitude issue in hopes that it will go away, sit down with your adolescent, and be the parent she needs. Require her to be in the room with you when you are open with her, and ask her to be open. She may fight and resist you, as that is the way of the teen. But deep inside her, there is a part that desperately needs a parent who will help her with a troubling and scary reality: that she is out of control and needs help.
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Humans are the only species that engages in sustained, complex pretend play. As pretend play is practically ubiquitous across cultures, it might support or afford a context for developmental advances during the juvenile period that have implications for functioning in adulthood. Early in development, learning to separate our thoughts from reality is practiced in pretend play and is associated with changes not just in cognition, but in emotional and social domains as well. Specifically, pretend play affords opportunities to engage in abstractions that could support abilities such as perspective-taking, emotion recognition and regulation, and cooperation and negotiation in childhood. In turn, the abstraction skills promoted by early pretend play might underlie creativity, innovation, and our capacity to feel empathy and moral obligation to others in later childhood and adulthood. In fact, because pretend play affords sharing our abstractions with others, it might be an early context for behaviors that ultimately promote the shared abstractions of human culture itself.
When used as a noun, pretend is almost exclusively preceded by some form of play, as in "playing pretend". Formally, the activity is more likely to be called pretend play, or roleplay when the participants are not children.
Understanding why pretend play is essential for child development can help you support kids as they learn and grow. Pretend or dramatic play activates the imagination and helps kids practice social skills, identify emotions, expand their vocabularies, develop new ideas and learn how to problem-solve. This type of play allows kids to practice creativity and develop skills while having fun.
Pretend play is an essential part of child development. Kids learn and develop important skills when they engage in dramatic play. Pretend play occurs when kids activate their imaginations and act out familiar scenarios. They may pretend to bake a cake, talk on a play phone, take care of a doll baby or take an imaginative shopping trip around the house.
Kids use language during pretend play activities to communicate with their peers. They can increase their vocabulary by talking and sharing their ideas with other kids while they play. They also increase their vocabulary when they act out different roles and scenarios they observe.
Kids may imitate a restaurant worker and use new words to take food orders from their friends or imitate a parent while they talk to a doll baby. Kids also practice their language skills when they explain what they are doing during pretend play.
Pretend play requires imaginative thinking, and it helps kids grow their creativity. They form original ideas while participating in different games and scenarios, and they learn how to think independently. Pretend play also allows kids to consider other perspectives, points of view and ideas as they play with others, expanding their experience and imagination.
Kids often play with others when engaging in pretend play. They may work together to serve food in a pretend restaurant, join each other in an imaginative car ride around a playground, or form a group of make-believe fairies and pretend to fly around.
Pretend play is a fantastic opportunity for kids to share ideas with each other, understand how they relate to others around them and learn how to resolve conflict with their peers. Kids can practice the following skills when they play with others:
Kids recreate previous experiences when they engage in pretend play, which requires them to form and recall memories. They create images in their minds and use these to create their own scenarios. When they do this, they practice managing their thoughts and reactions to different situations, mentally solving challenges they may encounter in the future.
Pretend play also encourages physical development and helps kids develop gross motor skills. Kids may march around a playground pretending to be dinosaurs, climb ladders they imagine to be tall mountains or crawl through tunnels they use as make-believe caves. These physical activities help children practice skills such as crawling and climbing.
Kids can also develop fine motor skills through pretend play. They practice hand-eye coordination when dressing dolls or preparing make-believe meals with small blades of grass, stones or sand grains.
While kids typically engage in pretend play alone or with their peers, adults can support and encourage it. Parents, teachers and caregivers can help kids engage in dramatic play with the following tips:
Participating in pretend play with kids is a fantastic way to support their creativity and imagination. Kids love when adults engage with them. If kids create an imaginary restaurant on the playground and offer to take your order, play along and make your food request.
You can also ask kids questions while they play to encourage creative thinking and problem-solving. Try asking them what kind of food their restaurant serves and how much it costs, and watch their creativity flourish as they respond.
You should also provide an environment that supports pretend play. An exciting playground is one of the greatest places for kids to play pretend. They can pretend to climb through the jungle, defend their castles, stomp like dinosaurs, drive an ice cream truck or explore a forest. A playground provides exciting areas for kids to activate their imaginations and bring their creative thrills to life.
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