Coming back to the Art field, we spent our Tuesday morning at the National Museum. As I wasn’t feeling so well, I couldn’t follow them to all the exhibitions they went through. I only waited for them to discover all the art works from different periods by themselves. From those who went through all the floors with an audioguide, they told me that they were all very interested in the stories behind each work. Some of them were particularly interested in modern art. They felt like it gave them more space to imagine and to participate in the making of the meaning of the work more than classical pieces.
I was only observing them and listened to their tale of their journey through the National Museum, but it sure sounded like they learnt so much just by seeing, observing, thinking, and imagining through these wonderful artworks.
Our afternoon today was a bit different than other days since we arrived in Krakow. Our main purpose today was to practice. The children were to practice some time in the late afternoon. Since we took so much time for lunch, we decided to have a quick walk to the Holy Cross church.
Of course, we couldn’t miss this place as this is the tour to Chopin’s home country! This is the place where Chopin’s heart is. In this church, an urn containing Chopin’s heart was immured in a pillar of the church. But this was not its only attraction. The church itself was so beautiful the children didn’t want to leave. They couldn’t take their eyes off all the sculptures, paintings, and other decorations there.
Our last stop of the day was at the Steinway shop in Warsaw to practice for our last concert of the tour. We were warmly welcome by all the staff there. They even provided a space for all of our crew to sit and wait for their turn to use the practice rooms. The children were well occupied with the new Steinway Spirio while waiting for their turn to practice. This new model of piano from Steinway can record how a person plays any piece on a Steinway quality piano and play back to you any time.
With an ipad borrowed to them by the staff, they all enjoyed listening to a free concert by artists from around the world playing a wide variety of music to them through this beautiful sound of Steinway Spirio.
What I found fascinating for me to observe is that the children didn’t only took turn choosing their favorite pieces but I can see them doing completely different things together in the same place. One group had so much fun choosing the pieces on the ipad. Another group was interested in the mechanics of the piano and was trying so hard to figure out how it all works with Steinway Spirio. The last group seemed to be focusing on writing their travel journals. I was really impressed that most of the children kept their travel journal and was writing it daily whenever they had time.
After so many days without pianos, the children were beginning to worry about their last concert. It took them some time but now their mind seemed to have gotten back on a ‘concert mode’.
Let’s see how it goes tomorrow!
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