Facebook Is Haram

Facebook. Bleh. I delete it every couple of months and then find some silly reason to bring it back. But there are some lines I won't cross. No twitter, no inappropriate comments, no posting photos. I've got Palestinian friends; I have to make sure my profile is not haram.  (I know, I know. I thought of the pants or the Turkish sultan's pack of women at first too. But haram in Arabic means "legally forbidden by Islamic law." This means if the Koran says no, no. But here in Nablus, there are things also outside the Koran that are still haram. So walking around in shorts = haram. Tattoos = haram. Alcohol = really haram. Painted nails = haram. You get the point.)

Anyways, I've had some requests for more photos. Mainly from my mom and dad, who are also probably the only ones who read this blog. (I don't even think my sister does, but we'll see if she catches me on this). Tonight, I have enough time to write a little and post some photos, but not enough time to write a real post. I drank a little too much Turkish coffee a little too late. So read on for some more photos of my kids' music and art class.

This was taken during the second week of classes while we were working on
pitch. On the First day, students learned one octave (C4-C5) on the music staff
and piano and then had to write their own song. On the second day, we split
up into four stations. There were two games of memory, one station making
music note cootie-catchers, and the final one with me, playing their song
on the piano. Here, Saja is working on reading the staff and playing the notes.

This was on the day we learned dynamics. We played a game of 'hot and cold."
But instead of yelling hot when the 'it' student was class and hot when far away,
we used dynamics. So if the student was close, everyone clapped loudly (fortissimo).
If the student was far away, we clapped quietly (pianissimo). If the student was kind
of close, we clapped somewhere in the middle of loud and quiet (mezzo piano/forte).
Here,  Mohammad is searching desperately for where his group hid their object. 

Also on our dynamics day. One of my volunteers, Sumar, is leading a
activity where the students mimic a rain storm. My translator, Mohammad,
is helping out.

On our melody day, I explained that notes and rhythm come
together to create a melody. Using notes and rhythms from

"On Top of Old Smokey," the students had to weave a certain

color based on a rhythm I clapped or a set of notes I played.
In the end, they had created a song and a weaving. Islam is
working away hard on his weaving.

On the our weaving/melody day, I stopped clapping/playing
and started having the students do the work for me. Here Eman,
one of my most clever students, picked the color she wanted
and played the corresponding notes on the piano. The
rest of the students then had to decide what color she played.

Hassan, also a favorite of mine, shows me his completed weaving.

Finally, this last video is of the day we worked on tempo.

I used a song called 'Froggie.' We began by singing it really 

slow and the second time around, we sang very quickly. 

See if you can figure out if this was the first time or second