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Stats & Spotlights

by Julia :: Sunday November 6, 2005

Stats in Action
“Is grass dead or alive?”
“Who is the boss of the family?”
“Do you have a sister?”
“Does your sister have a sister?”
For these seemingly innocent, simple questions, kids come up with amazingly creative answers. When I went down to Monica Ros School (a private elementary school down the road from Thacher) for my recent statistics project, I got to interview a little girl named Vanessa. When I asked her whether her shoes were dead or alive, she gazed at me as if I asked her a too-easy, too-obvious question, as if she were insulted by it.
“Of course they are alive,” she replied. “They walk with me!”
There was no way to criticize her perfectly wrong answer. So I smiled and replied, “Right, Vanessa. You’re right.”

I soon discovered that kids of age 6 or younger generally do not grasp the idea of relationships. For example, when I asked Vanessa if she had any siblings, she said she has two brothers; later, I asked her if her brothers have a sister, she said, “NO.” Even though I have not learned yet about the psychological aspects of this phenomenon, interacting with kids and learning a little about them firsthand was really fun. I cannot wait to analyze the data our class gathered and compared the difference of development of kids on gender.

Trio in the Spotlight
For the Friday night of Parents’ Weekend, Yeda, Kaja, and I performed in a trio at the gallery opening. We’re all taking Chamber Ensemble and had been practicing long hours for this performance. The main pieces were Strauss’ “Blue Danube Waltz” and a Corelli sonata. Even though Mr. Haggard teaches and directs us in practice, we perform without a director, for chamber music was originally intended for small gatherings in which players direct themselves.

A week before the performance, we worked on our communication methods. Usually the player who starts the piece breathes in deeply for the cue. As the pianist, for example, I would nod my head exaggeratedly before touching the keyboard.

I enjoyed how we contributed to the joyous atmosphere of the gallery opening: visual arts and music together give a real sense of different kinds of artistic feeling and appreciation.

I hope that some of the other students who were at the exhibition will join us to form an even larger instrumental chamber group!

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