I failed to mention this in the previous post, but last week I did another programmatic observation! It was for our only 2-week long camp this summer.  Students enrolled spend their time creating their own songs: beats, lyrics, and everything else! I would say I was a “fly on the wall” but I wasn’t really.  At first, I kept to my table, observing.  But the students were quiet with headphones on the entire time.  I was itching to know what rhythms they had come up with so far.  So, I began walking around and asking each student what they were doing! Many of them let me listen to their songs which were awesome! They’re so creative and they all sounded different.  I think walking around helped me get a better perspective on what they were doing.  Also, asking questions helped me know why they had chosen some sounds over others.  For instance, one student was adding a piano rhythm in her song because she had been playing piano for 7 years! This observation experience was my favorite so far this summer and it wasn’t even over!

As stated, this is a 2 week camp.  I went back into the program this week.  And again I walked around the room and asked each student about their songs.  It was more subdued as the students had their songs mostly completed.  There wasn’t as much creation as there was minor modifications.  They were also recording the lyrics to their songs and were less keen about sharing that part.  The next day (today), the gave presentations! I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to each of the students’ final creations.  It was awesome to see (and hear) the difference between what I heard the first day up to now.  And it was nice to see how supportive each students’ parents were.  When their child was presenting, the parents would whip out their phones and record, super sweet. 

I think out of this experience, it was cool to see a longitudinal-ish observation come to fruition.  It’s one thing to go in for 2 hours one day and another to visit multiple days.  What we see isn’t the full context of what actually occurs.  So it was good perspective to keep in mind when crafting my report! On the first day, there was little collaboration between the students, but the second observation session, two girls were working together on their combined song.  Which is a very different story than the week prior.  Without that, the story is a bit limited in a way. 

Next week is the 2nd to last week of the summer! It’s moving fast and I’ve got lots of reports to churn out soon. I’ll keep you updated. 

See you next week!

Danyelle Bumpus