[stylist] Wild Turkish Music and Dancing

Fri Oct 24 15:44:27 UTC 2008

very nice Robert.  thanks.  so, they'd sing while doing cane work.  I 
would think that would interfere with using the ears to hear the 
environment when you're walking.  but singing has often been more 
than entertainment.  work songs can be found in every culture.

and the dancing sounds great.  makes me want to sign up for blind corps!
jc

Jim Canaday M.A.
Lawrence, KS

At 04:46 AM 10/24/2008, you wrote:
>Jim did request a report on the nights of wild music and dancing. And so
>have you guys listened to Turkish music? Boy, some good stuff. First, the
>Turkish people, I'm talking about all our students (from both years) they
>love to sing! And it appears that they all know the words to their cultures
>old most popular folk songs; I mean there are some standards that that they
>seem to sing as ... Like as often as they might eat bread (which is at every
>meal). For example, we'd be out on cane travel and a couple of the guys
>would start singing and soon others walking near by would join in. (And of
>course, the request would come, they would ask us to sing some of our
>countries favorites.)  Then both years, the training would have an opening
>ceremony with politicos, rehab and education dignitaries and all that (Turks
>also love to give speeches) and part of this ceremony also required the
>Turkish students to sing a song, and then we the Blind Corps had to sing an
>American song. Last year we sang Johnny Denver's Country Road (there were 6
>of us) and this year (9 of us) we sang This Land is Our Land And I must say,
>our performance for this year was certainly better (the 3 extra members, who
>could sing pretty darn well really beefed up our lung and tune power).
>
>But as for the wild music and dancing- two nights we had a musician from the
>camp provide music     which was a mix of old Turkish standards and some
>newer pop types of tunes. This guy had a keyboard and sang; the keyboard
>could produce drums, then two other instrument parts like a wild reed pipe
>and piano or organ. And it was loud! And yes, it didn't take but a few
>measures of notes and people were getting up to dance. So visualize this- it
>seems that most of the faster dances were of a type that you didn't touch
>your partner. You stood facing whomever or just like in a big circle and
>with hands over head, clicking your fingers, you wiggle your hips, while you
>shimmer your shoulders, feet stepping and all this is in different speeds,
>yet in time with the music; while you are singing at the top of your lungs.
>Then there might be a dance where all link little fingers and you snake
>around in a line or circle. And these songs are all like ten or twelve
>minutes long! Then if you are wondering, they will throw in a slow dance;
>these are always very sad love songs and my partners seemed to know all the
>words . Boy, these people know how to have fun.
>
>Robert Leslie Newman
>Email- newmanrl at cox.net
>THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
>Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of James Canaday M.A. N6YR
>Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 6:47 PM
>To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [stylist] Back from Turkey, (not sure my first message went
>through)
>
>congratulations Robert!
>good job to you and all!  many in Turkey will benefit from this!
>
>now, there's the matter of:
>And so yes, we all worked hard, though we had some time to play, like a
>couple of late nights of wild Turkish music and dancing.
>
>
>
>At 04:43 AM 10/21/2008, you wrote:
> >My oh my! Wasn't there a lot of traffic on the stylist list while I was
> >out of country! Much about the book and movie Blindness, health being
> >off topic, city of lawrence proclamation, poets wanted, and much more.
> >
> >And as for my trip to Turkey, I did go as a member of Blind Corps (BC).
> >I was one of 9 instructors. BC was started by Mike and Fatos Floyd (I
> >am on the board). This was our second trip to work with both the
> >professionals in blindness education and rehabilitation, as well as
> >blind individuals in need of training. BC has a mission to bring to
> >third world countries what we know here in the US about providing
> >training to the blind. The blind and the government in Turkey are
> >wanting to make changes in services to the blind of their country. They
> >are aware of the positive results of Structured Discovery Learning
> >(SDL) that more and more training centers in the US are going to. Here
> >in Nebraska we've been using it for over 30 years. And so has several
> >other states and our own NFB centers. (Nebraska modeled ours after what
> >doctor Jernigan established in Iowa back in the early 1970's). We
> >provided materials to study on SDL and basically setup and ran a two
> >week training center with the same basic classes found in most training
> >centers using SDL. We had all students using sleep shades and long
> >canes. We had classes in philosophical discussion, cane travel and
> >Braille. There was one in home management covering skills like cooking,
> >sowing, cleaning. A class in computers. A class in home maintenance
> >covering skills like measurement, general carpentry, etc.  A class in
> >techniques of daily living covering skills like hand writing, making
> >writing guides, labeling, organizing your clothing, grooming, etc. We
> >had daily seminars in which we had topics of discussion ranging from
> >employment, to what is reasonable help, attitudes, parenting as a blind
> >parent, the importance of expectations, why use sleep shades in
> >training, and more. For many of these discussions we used my THOUGHT
> >PROVOKERS; I and Fatos were the two staffers who handled these
> >discussion times. In the main, we all taught in all skill areas. We
> >went in knowing we'd have something like 48 to 54 students to deal with. We
>ended up at the end of the two weeks having served 64. People started
>arriving on Saturday the 4th, with the training officially starting on
>Monday the 7th.
> >We had a day and a half off from the 7th to Friday the 17th. Most
> >evenings we had classes up to 10:00 PM; classes started at 9:00 AM.
> >Students wanting a certification for credit for attending the training
> >had to complete 120 hours during the time of the two weeks. We all got
> >along very well; students were mostly very eager to learn. Many of our
>students knew basic English.
> >And so yes, we all worked hard, though we had some time to play, like a
> >couple of late nights of wild Turkish music and dancing.
> >
> >So as for a telephone meeting for interested parties? I'm planning to
> >hold a Division board meeting on Sunday the 26th during the timeframe
> >we've normally had the Stylist telephone conference. So what I am
> >thinking is, if you all wished to have a gathering with out me on the
> >26th, that would be fine; you know, not all of us can make each meeting
> >and they really shouldn't hinge around me. So on list, discuss if you
> >all wish to meet this coming Sunday (not saying we are locked into
> >Sunday nights.) And yes, I'm open after this coming Sunday.
> >
> >And as for my thoughts on the book and movie Blindness, I'm happy we
> >are making a public protest. The movie is not a super big block buster
> >that will change the lives and minds of our nation, (though it should
> >not be allowed to happen without our comment), but I'm not wanting to
> >make it a super big deal about knocking it down or around. (I don't
> >think it will get an academy
> >award.)
> >
> >President NFB Writers' Division
> >Robert Leslie Newman
> >Email- newmanrl at cox.net
> >Division Website-
> >Http://www.nfb-writers-division.org
> >
> >
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>
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