Electric, eccentric an epileptic episode
Moving, melodically
In icy intellectual
Leaving a lifting, loyal
Yearly in your inner soul
Beauty is. . .
The quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit. A particularly graceful, ornamental, or excellent quality. A model on TV or on a cover of a magazine,celebrities? A miracle, a gift, a starving child in Africa? Is it wonderful, mysterious, powerful, unknown, questionable, feared, recognized, hated, misunderstood? What is beauty?After I had gone through one year of class with my teacher who had raised this question, at the end of the school year I still did not have a solid, valid or valuable explanation for what beauty meant in this world. I suppose for me I describe beauty as a mystical power that will never be understood by myself or by others. It is of a different dimension, a word that has been abused, demolished by society. All in all, everyone has their opinions and my opinion on beauty is that it is the most broad and intriguing subject one can bring up to a group of high school teenagers simply because not a lot of teens take time to question what they actually know to be true. They sometimes just believe what they have been told or what they have seen in society and with that, where are their own true opinions lie, their own creativity, are they even thinking about anything at all. Really thinking and not just believing something that may or may not be true? This is just me rambling on and I could be wrong but this topic just provokes and screams in circles of endless thought.
The most influential teacher I've had
In high school I had the opportunity to learn from an outstanding music teacher whose name was David Bowman. I had him for chamber choir and was also involved in a vocal jazz group called the naturals. Mr.Bowman was energetic, highly positive and encouraging . He pushed me to become the best person I could be. He challenged me and for awhile we had a love/hate relationship but in the end, every road block and struggle I faced was worth my time. I learned humility,to humble myself, he put me in my place when I deserved it and today I look back and appreciate how strict he was with me at times and how strict he was with others as well. He wanted us all as students to use or minds, to form questions, to answer the questions, to pass judgment, to go beyond the surface of what we thought we "knew" to be true. To feel the music, to draw a passion and understanding from our studies.
I enjoyed regularly having intense class discussions on a topic that related to our upcoming choral concerts or to pieces of music we were learning about. He taught us not only how to use are minds, but our bodies and our hearts and all that we bare within us to create music, to create an art out of music, to move someone to tears through our music or to move someone to joy through our performances as well.
I remember the title of our concert which was named "beauty is in the ear of the beholder," and studying a piece of music entitled "For the beauty of the earth" by John Rutter. Mr. Bowman raised a debated question from these titles and had us all discuss "What is beauty?" This question raised some very intense conversations and discussions during the class period and through out the semester. Through everything I believe that his point was that beauty is more than just what we think it is based on our own assumptions or what society or others have set it up to be perceived as in this world. Beauty is or isn't, can be or can't be, may or may not be, everything, anything, intangible, something deeper than our understanding,goes beyond our knowledge. This question and the answer to his questions are basically endless. All in all, Mr. Bowman was the most influential person and teacher I have ever had in my life. I left high school with my eyes opened, myself changed and my passion for music was stronger than ever. Today I strive for my best, especially in the musical area because not only do I want to represent where I have come from but what I have learned and by who I have learned that something from. Thank you Mr.Bowman!!
