American music professor in week-long residency at SIS shares insights with Bayside students.
During the week of November 11-14, Dr. Karen Fannin, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Hendrix College in the United States, was in residence at Bayside working with students on a variety of skills and topics.
Dr. Fannin led rehearsals with each of the band classes sharing her insights on some of the basics of good musicianship including improving tone production and maintaining consistent pulse. As a brass instrument specialist, she gave extra attention to middle school trumpet and trombone players helping them develop their sound. The students in IB Music learned about popular music in the early 1900s and had a discussion about college life and majoring in music. Each class heard duets performed by Dr. Fannin on euphonium and Dr. Gifford on saxophone. Dr. Fannin also spoke to high school students in an assembly and was available during lunch to answer individuals’ questions about higher education.
The middle school theater tech class learned about setting the stage for a large music ensemble and practiced techniques for making the process quick and efficient. Of the classes, eighth grade student, Nara Lee, said, “before doing set up, planning on who is going to do what specifically, makes it more fast. I learned how to sketch a set up and learned how many chairs and stands should be there by the number of people and different instruments.”
On Thursday, while Bayside students were busy with student involved conferences, Dr. Fannin paid a visit to the Nansha College Preparatory Academy and rehearsed the tenth grade band. At the end of the week, Dr. Fannin toured Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and attended a concert by the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
Before departing, Dr. Fannin shared, “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Shekou International School this week. It was exciting and rewarding to work with enthusiastic students who clearly take ownership in their learning. It was a great pleasure to observe Dr. and Mrs. Giffords’ fine teaching and to collaborate with them in the classroom this week.”
