We had a Christmas party at my French school. Students from 13 different countries brought their countries’ special dishes and enjoyed them together. I tasted many kinds; however, food from my country is still the best for me. I believe that all of my classmates felt the same way as I did. We really enjoyed these meals. I can say the same thing for music. We’d like to respect each personality.
My neighbor class has been practicing
a song in French and Romanian for 2 weeks. Therefore, on the day before the
party, we decided to practice and sing a song in front of the neighbor class.
I am a kind of person who studies slowly
and quietly. But when it comes to music, I cannot keep being quiet. We tried to
sing “The First Noel “. At the beginning, everybody looked shy and sounded
with small voice. However, when we got the harmony through the practices, we
were happy and decided to sing another song.
“Being far from my family, I feel
loneliness and anxiety after immigrating to Canada where I have no friends. But
I came here, searching for a bright future. I met a lot of friends at my French
school, and now I have real friends. This is my way I chose.”
These are the lyrics for the song
I composed a while ago, called “Le Carrefour” (meaning Intersection and also
the name of my French school). Besides “The First Noel”, we decided to sing
this song.
I wanted to compose the song with
a modern melody. However, all the melodies came up with sounded like Enka, a
type of Japanese music having a pathetic melody. First of all, my Iranian
friend Mansour sang alone. Iranian music is similar to Enka, so when he sang,
it sounded more like Enka.
We practiced around 10 times on
the day before and on the day of the Christmas party. My classmates did not
feel shy anymore, and they sang with confidence. Actually they sand so loud
that it was more than I expected.
At the party, the neighbor class
sang “O Christmas tree” first. They sand so nice and felt as if they won a
contest. After them, it was our turn. We first sang “The First Noel”, and all
the people in the neighbor class were amazed to hear our beautiful harmony.
Then, our teacher Lorrain introduced the song that I composed.
When we started singing, there
were students who were moved to tears. When we finished, there was a standing
ovation. Our counselor, Tanya, came and kissed me on both cheeks in tears. Some
of my classmates hated to sing at the beginning, but when it finished they
looked so happy.
The teacher of the neighbor class, Francine, was so happy with the
song that I composed, as she was the one who taught me French at the very
beginning. And she gave me a big hug with few words. And she suggested to me to
sing this song after the Christmas vacation with all the students together.
Students who have been studying
French so hard might have realized that now they have friends and not alone.
All looked satisfied by singing the song together. Music is really like magic.
The slow student of the class
composed the music, wrote a song in French and even conducted the class. I felt
like as if I am dung of puppy which looks dirty and nothing but it can be a
good nutrition for flowers(from a Korean picture book=The dung of a puppy=) Our teacher Lorrain often says that each
student has his or her own personality. The smaller the train can run further.
Even by working slowly, it is better than nothing. Lorrain always encourages
her students. I am so lucky to study with her, because I can learn not only
French but also the way teaching. Her way is exactly same as Gillock.
After the party, my Chinese friend Sheila ,who always study hard, came to me and gave me a big hug while saying “Je t’aime beaucoup (meaning I love you)”. I was very happy about that. We, Japanese, don’t have a custom to use a phrase “I love you”, so when I use it, I feel very shy. If I can be happy with such a short phrase, I would like to use it to people who bring me happiness and use it from the bottom of my heart.
I really appreciated Gillock, who taught me that music is here to communicate.
Hiroko Yasuda 安田裕子