THE GHANA CHRONICLES: A Different Kind of Fun—6/26/23

At breakfast, I was talking to a teacher who took Level III with me last year. Her partner did as well and will return this summer as a dance teacher intern. The teacher said she’ll be coming out with her daughter to visit and is really looking forward to having fun there this summer. “So,” I quipped, “You didn’t have fun in my Level III class?!” Without missing a beat, she retorted, “Yes, it was just a different kind of fun!”

I knew immediately that would eventually be a title for a blogpost, because both as a teacher and a student, the Orff approach to learning is fun beyond most people’s imagination of how fun teaching and learning can be. But year after year of filling my summers with Orff courses with a moment’s regret, I often arrive at the Lake Michigan beach and realize, “Oh, yeah, This is an actual summer vacation!” Because no matter how fun the other, it most definitely is work and is packed into schedules and deadlines and some level of responsibility for covering material and assessing the students. In short, a different kind of fun. And we—or at least I— need both.

Meanwhile, our packed-weekend was over and it was back to classes and again, happily so. People are really getting more comfortable with the xylophones and getting a good feel for the pieces and technique and style. And today I got to teach a body percussion elective with my choreographed version of “Humpty Dump,” which was yet a different kind of fun.

And finally, after all the rainy days and excuses about being busy, I had the supreme good sense to get to the swimming pool that had just been an empty pit in 2014/16/18 and now was filled with cool, inviting water. Another different kind of fun, a short burst of vacation feeling within the work schedule. Yeah!

 

 

The harmony of this group of some 45 people gathered together continues to impress me, the feeling that I could sit anywhere at the dinner tables and have a great conversation with whoever was there. And the different fun continued as we had a free night and brought out the playing cards— Pit, Rummy 500, Eucher, Trash— yet another way to be with people that weaves together the threads of friendship. Grateful for it all.