The Artist & the Artifact: The Things We Make Reflect Who We Are & Where We're From 4

Our current PYP unit, The Artist & the Artifact, follows three lines of inquiry, or three areas that we'll be exploring over the next five weeks. In the first week, the aim is to pique student interest, provide a context for deeper investigation, and provoke questions.

As a provocation for the first line of inquiry -- the things we make reflect who we are and where we're from -- students listened to the Dies Irae from the Mozart Requiem Mass (light listening on a Friday) and were asked to observe and share the imagery provoked by the piece. Here's a sampling of their ideas:

“It has a sort of an edge, like a sacrifice or something, like a person running toward something that will kill him, like a hero sacrifice, and he is saying, ‘I really need to’, I just think of it as a hero sacrifice.” Nora

“It seems like somebody’s running as fast as they can because, running from somebody who’s murdering someone, with a hatchet, or something that could kill.” Alyssa

“I think this was happening in a time when there was a war.” Mehad

“I first saw somebody running away from somebody else. And then once it got more into the music it felt like there was a war, there were several people running away from several people, and as they were running, some were falling and tripping, and getting hurt.” Jacob

“I see two rivals preparing for an epic battle with each other.” Shiva

“It reminds me of Asian movies, because in a way it’s so dramatic. It’s like ta-da!” Da-Lan

“I think of Tom & Jerry. It sounds kind of like a chase.” Oliver

“I also think a man is running, like someplace, and he’s thinking of something, and then in his mind he has to go to that place and do something.” Gabby

“It seems like he’s heading a pack of people. He’s running in a big green field from his worst nightmares, and worst enemies, and people are just falling off, like it’s a narrow cliff, like they’re just falling off, ‘no, don’t!’ Ellie

“It sounds like it’s coming from, he’s running away from what’s happening behind him, and he doesn’t really want to be there. And somebody’s chasing him, or trying to get to him, he doesn’t know why, it’s kind of like the persons chasing is scary.” Anna

“When I was playing this game, it has this exact kind of music, which was like, the game was about a haunted mansion, and a guy trying to get out with like a whole bunch of ghosts trying to get him. At one point he was running away from all of the ghosts that were all trying to get him, like a angry mob.” Abby

“I also saw Tom & Jerry. I saw Tom chasing Jerry with a stapler, and then all of a sudden he gets Jerry’s tail, and he picks him up and sticks an olive on his head.” Mae

“At the beginning of the song, it sounded sort of like this guy, he was a thief, but not a murderer or anything, he was being chased, because he was really fast, then at the end he was running away from somebody, then there was a cliff, and he fell off, and it was misty, too.” Margo