I have liked playing around with some photos lately to make them look more like prints or posters - limited colour range, flattened, lots of saturation. relatively simple pictures with a bit of detail, that gets lost in the flattening. I don't know if they are good or not for your eyes, but I like them.
There is nothing overly difficult about doing this in Lightroom (mobile), but I think that it makes what would otherwise be a useless image, usable. And lately I have been looking for interesting images to work with and even if they are low-quality, they can come up pretty well.
The original of the image above:
As said, not a great image, or quality of image, as it was taken on 10x zoom on my mobile from a long way away from the lighting. With a little bit of work though, and it is good enough (in my books) for an article image to support the topic, which is going to watch my daughter sing with her class at a Mother's Day concert.
She is at one of the schools that has more music support, and the association that covers them and raises money for various activities collects them all together occasionally for a concert, with the Mother's Day one being the main event. And before you ask, there is not even a minor Father's Day concert - there is nothing - as usual.
But Smallsteps was super excited about taking part in her first proper concert like this and has been practicing at home and with the class, and then with a rehearsal onsite today during class hours. After the concert, her aunty and grandparents also came to see her, she was asking about our favourite bits and what she liked and what it was like backstage.
I would put a photo but there are far too many other children in the pictures, so it would all just be blur.
The concert was good, with each school singing a couple songs in a theme. Smallsteps' school sang songs from The Sound of Music, which is why we watched it the other weekend so she could have more connection to what she was singing about. It helped a lot and I also think that she enjoyed the movie more, because she could "take part" while watching.
Anyway, I have been to several school concerts and dance events over the last few years, and what was evident at this one was how strong the selection bias is with these kids. At other events there is always a wide range of children who are on a spectrum of both skill and interest, including those who don't care at all and run around like the Tasmanian Devil on speed. Here though, there was only really one boy who seemed disinterested and wandered a little, while everyone else was pretty on point, doing what they should be doing. Of course, when you have a large number of young kids singing together, it is pretty pitchy and the instrument playing is not polished, but it was great to see that these kids take it seriously, and some are really talented for their age.
Very few of these kids will likely go on to actually be musical performers in the future, but I believe that they will probably have a pretty decent education in the classroom because they aren't continually distracted by other students, and their teacher can teach, rather than wrangle. In the later years it will start to diversify more, but I am glad that Smallsteps made the shift to the new school now, so that she gets a strong foundation and any help she might need, rather than ignored because she isn't a problem child.
I am not sure what the focus is on in schools these days, but I feel that the spotlight should be on developing the skills necessary to successfully navigate the world and have the abilities to be a valuable part of the community. I think a lot of time and effort however is spent on trying to manage poor behaviours of some kids (not blaming the kids) rather than developing and growing the skillsets of all kids. I think there is too much required of school educators, because other parts of society are failing to teach the skills a child needs to manage.
And I think that is another point of selection bias tonight, because looking around the auditorium at the parents, there also seems to be a weighting more toward parents who at least look like they take a more active role in parenting. I know for Smallsteps' close friends at this school, they don't spend time on phones and in front of screens nearly as much as those at her last school.
Does parenting make a difference?
I suspect so. But at least, I think some kids go to school more prepared to perform than others, and when all are relatively prepared, the school environment is pretty healthy. When few are though, it becomes a process of behavioural mitigation, rather than supportive growth.
Regardless, I enjoyed seeing her up on stage singing, and being so happy afterward.
That's the highlight for me.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Be part of the Hive discussion.
And you may be rewarded.
