BLAIR RAMSEY
I am a high school math teacher at Durham School of the Arts. In my free time, I enjoy treasure hunting at thrift shops, propagating my penny plant, playing the piano, and trying to keep up with my students on the track team. I believe exposure to other cultures than your own creates a feeling of openness, connection, and compassion to the world around you. As a CIDRE participant, I will be exploring how everyday patterns of music and art join together to form a symphony of the city.
1. Reflecting on the Austrian Education System
From a young age, children are placed into groups based on ability level. You might remember being sorted into a blue, orange, or purple guided reading group. Maybe you were in the zebra, tiger, or lion group in a writing class. Or maybe it was the beginner, intermediate, or advanced group in a middle school math class. Regardless of the label, sorting students into groups based on ability is a universal educational experience. Multiple factors can influence how students are sorted. Assessment scores, teacher recommendation, and parental input all impact the direction of a child’s educational path. After preliminary research on the Austrian school system, I noticed that the same phenomena plays out across the Atlantic.
In North America, tracking usually happens within schools, whereas in Austria, tracking happens between school structures. In Austria, students attend a Volkschule primary school, similarly to how American children attend elementary school. Then, students attend a lower secondary school, theoretically driven by their academic ability and interests. These school are called "Academic", "General", or "New" Secondary Schools. However, a small 29% of differences in school choice can be explained by student achievement (p.44.) Socioeconomic status plays a large role in this transition. Sounds very familiar to the United States.
Students then enter upper secondary schools from ages 14-18. Academic Secondary Schools and Colleges for Higher Vocational Education prepare students for university. Pre-Vocational and Secondary Vocational School prepare students to enter a specialized field such as engineering, commerce, or arts and crafts (pp. 46.) These different tracks are quite different from American secondary schooling, where all students attend middle school followed by high school.
So what does me being a teacher in America have to do with any of this? It sounds meta, and existential and deep, and all of that, but a main takeaway for me is that none of our experiences exist in isolation. There is a constant give and take, exchange of ideas, and osmosis from the outside world into school walls. Both in Austria and in the United States. The lived experience of students outside of school undoubtedly seeps into their educational experience. Although I am deeply upset by the Supreme Court's recent decision to reverse affirmative action, I refuse to believe that the system is destiny. It is my job as a teacher to do my part to listen to perspectives other than my own and do my small part to enact change in my classroom on a daily basis.
2. "The Sound of Music" Film Review
"The Sound of Music" is a film I watched many times as a child, sang along to its songs in the car, and even played "dress up" as the vonTrapp children with my cousins. Watching the film again, as an adult brought back feelings of nostalgia and sentimentality as I remembered favorite scenes and songs. It also highlighted parts of the movie that I had not paid much attention to as a child, revealing the dark realities of the Third Reich in Eastern Europe. In this film review, I will speak to two themes: the power of music and loyalty.
The power of music was one theme that ran throughout the entire film. After his wife died, Captain vonTrapp wanted his life void of anything reminding him of her. This included music. The audience starts to see glimpses into his soft side when he sings Edelweiss while he plays the guitar, per Frauline Maria's request. We see this moment created again, at the end of the film, when Captain vonTrapp sings and we are able to see reactions of the soldiers and audience members.
Another theme was loyalty to system vs. loyalty to self. Maria, Captain vonTrapp, and Rolf are all examples of this motif. Maria is dedicated to the Abbey and her faith, yet struggles with the constraints of daily life in the Abbey when she feels that nature is calling her outdoors. Captain vonTrapp clearly is drawn to Maria, but her lifestyle could not be more different than his. Rolf struggles with his loyalty to Leisel (and by extension the vonTrapp family) as well as his loyalty to Hitler.
These themes were not evident to me as I watched the movie as a child, but were ever present watching again at age 25. I plan to visit Salzburg during my free weekend in Vienna and look forward to learning more about the movie and the production of the movie while I am there.
3. One Book Review
Granted, the movie, "The Sound of Music", is historical fiction, emphasis on the fiction, I was surprised to learn that certain parts of the movie were altered, romanticized, or completely off from 'real-life.' I will talk about a couple of these points as I learned from "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers."
First, Maria von Trapp was not very Julie Andrews-esque in real life. She was strict and cold. The Captain, Georg, was the 'fun' parent, who was gentle and warm-hearted. I have a feeling Hollywood made this decision so that their characters would be more aligned with traditional gender roles and characteristics, making the film more accessible and relatable to an American audience in the 1960s. This theme is also evident with respect to Maria's original reason for moving in with the vonTrapps. Maria did not go to the vonTrapps to be a governess to all children, but rather came to tutor and take care of Maria, who was sick. In fact, Frauline Maria was not exactly the picture of health herself, and it was thought that a few months in the countryside amidst the mountain air could be healing for her. Maria as a governess fit more into Hollywood's narrative.
The vonTrapps did not flee into Switzerland, but traveled to Italy under the guise of being on vacation before fleeing to America. The plight to Switzerland adds a layer of action and thrill, far more so than a 'vacation' to Italy. One thing that was novel to me was how high-stakes and at-risk the vonTrapps were from the Third Reich. If Captain vonTrapp was going to say no to Hitler and his requests to join his forces, then his only other option was to flee. There was no 'act of resistance' that was going to be safe for him or his family in Austria, despite their class, recognition, or family name.
The author chose to focus on certain details, name Easter and Advent. The entirety of "The Sound of Music" was the first 30 pages of the book. I did not mind this, but would recommend this book to someone more of a history buff than I, as my main motivation to read the book was to compare the book and movie.
When I compare the book and movie side by side, there remains a juxtaposition of Maria's true character vs. the character portrayed in the movie as well as the Captain's true character vs. the character portrayed in the movie. The reversal of personalities between the Captain and Maria makes sense to me in the context of traditional gender roles and Hollywood, particularly in the mid-twentieth century. However, I am glad I read about the true account of the vonTrapp family to have swirling around in my mind along with the fictionalized account when I visit Vienna and Salzburg this summer.
4. One Documented Waypoint for Group-Created Clio Tour
A concert hall in Vienna, also known as the Vienna Music Society, is Vienna's most influential music organization. The building opened in 1870, is home to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and is known for its superb acoustics. Click HERE to access the link.
5. Two Visual Thinking Analyses
The Tower of Babel, by artist Peter Bruegel, is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in the Museum Quarter of Vienna. In the painting, I see a large cylindrical-like tower that is shifting and possibly shaking on ground between water and land. There are small boats and people in the foreground, amidst the rubble of a building. In the background, I see colorful houses still intact.
When I look closer, there appears to be a tower within a tower that is much darker and full of warmer colors than the rest of the tower. In fact, the line is blurred of where the tower ends and the sea begins and land begins. I majored in Religion in college, so I also bring a historical lens of the Tower of Babel to my interpretation. The Babylonioans wanted to build a tower that reached heaven, and God destroyed the tower as a way to punish them for their arrogance. Some people believe the story is a lesson on the limits and consequences of human pride.
The cool colors stand out to me. They make the painting seem more serene and calm than the actual story of the tower of Babel. Maybe the background was the recreated houses after the Tower was destroyed and the foreground is the looming destruction.
This fresoco is painted on the ceiling of the Great Gallery in the Schonbrunn Palace. I see angels and etheral beings dancing and floating among clouds. The painting is on the ceiling of an ornately decorated room with golden and white walls and golden chandeliers. The royal family used to have balls here! The walls and fixtures in the room feel regal while the painting itself evokes a feeling of creating/becoming. The various groups of beings are connected through the story of how the Hapsburgs came to rule Austria. I learned about the Hapsburg Rule from my AP European History class (shoutout Freebird McKinney!) but do not know in detail how the various pieces of the painting come together in story-form. This is one of the fascinating things about artwork, to me, is that it is a Rorsharch of sorts. It is a starting place for you to make sense of a visual presentation. The aspects of the painting that are salient to me might be different from someone else who is viewing the painting right next to me. It reminds me of other ceiling frescos in Europe such as the Sistine Chapel.
6. Four Cultural Insights Posted as WhatsApp Texts
Fresco in Peterskirche
Poem in Mariazell
Exempt due to hospitalization
Exempt due to hospitalization
7. One Travel Writing Piece
A little off the beaten path, if you will, lies a city (town?) called Mariazell. Imagine your version of a gingerbread-village, shrink it in half, light a gingerbread candle, and place the Austrian Alps in the background and you are there! In preparation for this trip, I anticipated Mariazell to be my favorite day of the trip and it did not disappoint.
For a few hours, we rode a smooth train through village after village of terracotta roof-ed houses, dropping hikers off in each village, where the train station appeared to be the biggest structure and landmark. When we arrived in Mariazell, and for that afternoon, there was a panoramic view of every shade of green, sprinkled with wildflowers. The city's main street was lined with hanging baskets of petunias.
After a hike around Burgeralpe, two others and I decided to hike down the mountain instead of taking the ski lift. There were these fun, old, wooden yellow signs that told you in hours, how long to get to the next place. For example, "Mariazell, 1.5 hours." I had not seen something like this before in the US and it made me consider Austria's relationship with time.
At the bottom of the mountain was a small chapel with a poem called "Der Kirche de Natur." This poem was about how going into nature and walking a path gives strength and clarity to a worried, weary, or tired soul. This really spoke to me, as I think backpacking to a new place, for me, is another vessel of strength and clarity. By not knowing what the next hour, or day, or week holds, you are forced to be grounded in the present moment- making the glitter settle in my mental snow globe and what is most true and beautiful to me become all the more clear.
In a way that life imitates art, I did not expect to see the yellow wooden signs or chapel on my hike in Burgeralpe, but through the walk in the woods, what is most important to me, the little things that make you feel alive, such as the tucked-away chapel, became crystal clear.
9. Three Technical Projects on Selected Cultural Theme
Pythagoras is (unsurprisingly) the guy behind the pythagorean theorem. This might give you flashbacks to your Algebra 1 course or fill your mind with right triangles. However, you might not know that he posited a theory called "Music of the Spheres." This is the concept that tones, numbers, shapes, and angles of the earth are all connected within a pattern of proportion. In this way, I will be thinking about how everyday and ordinary music and arts in Vienna come together to form a symphony of the city. My project will focus on three art forms: visual art, music, and dance/movement.
I have interests in music, philosophy, and math, so I selected this cultural theme that blends all three topics.
Ironically, Coldplay is touring their album "Music of the Spheres" in Vienna later this month! The poster in the background is on street poles all over the city.
The form of visual art that was most common in the everyday and the ordinary was the architecture style. White marble buildings donned with green copper roofs was the wallpaper of the city. Baroque and Roman influences are seen in the city. Below is a Canva that is a multimodal representation of visual art in Austria.
IMG_2770.mp4Waltzing through Vienna
What can we learn about a place from how people move through space? I have represented Movement arts in Vienna through videography.
A Street Symphony
Click on the blue pins to listen to everyday sounds from various locations on the map. While in Austria, these were sounds, or "music" if you will, that I heard throughout ordinary everyday time. This is a mapped representation of sounds that make Vienna, Vienna!