Halloween - Part 1

Team Rabbit Mural.

Grade 2 Door.

I entered Inuujaq School in the early hours of October 31, much earlier than normal, because I wanted to take pictures of all the Halloween decorations.  I walked from the high school wing down to the elementary wing, photographing all the creative murals and door decorations.  I felt like I was walking through a museum exhibit.  The elementary and middle school classes spent a great deal of time decorating their doors with ghosts, bats, pumpkins, witches, skulls, and anything else that appeared scary.  It was difficult to choose which classroom had the best setup. 

            

My grade 12 students spent the last 15 minutes of their period decorating my door the day before.  They followed a more minimalist approach and the final result wasn't as detailed as the elementary classroom doors.

            

Grades 6 & 7 classroom doors.

The school day began like any other but the atmosphere was full of excitement.  The students had other things on their minds besides academics: Halloween activities after lunch, an evening of trick or treating, and the community costume contest in the evening.  In particular, my high school students were wondering what kind of costume I would be wearing for the spirit team assembly.  Back in September, I looked at all the male costumes on the Spirit of Halloween website and finally settled on an outfit after much thought.  Since this was my first Halloween in Arctic Bay, I decided to play it safe and not order something too scary.  When it comes to Halloween, I prefer to wear costumes with masks, but since this was a school event, I decided to leave my face exposed in case of an emergency.           

            

Since Halloween was the talk of the day, I didn't push too much academics during my two morning classes.  My social studies students did some work and watched a movie.  School was dismissed at noon as usual but lunch was extended by thirty minutes to give students extra time to get into their costumes.  My drummers and I would meet at the school at 1pm because we needed the extra time to set up the drums in the gym. 

            

For the first hour of lunch, I power walked home, had a quick snack, grabbed my costume, and walked back to school.  Upon arrival, I changed into my costume, a Bone Daddy Skeleton Tuxedo.  To complete the look, I also purchased skeleton gloves, a black top hat, a skeleton cross necklace, and a skull cane.  So, in essence, I changed out of my formal teacher clothing, only to change into formal Halloween clothing.  I . . . can't explain that one.

            

My drummers slowly trickled in after 1pm and were impressed by my costume.  They mostly liked the skull cane.  We ferried all the instruments and necessary equipment down to the gym and set up at the front.  Everything was ready to go before 1:30.  Teachers and students began arriving at the school at about ten minutes to 1:30.  The hallways were filled with people wearing an infinite variety of costumes.  Many were surprised to see me in costume and complimented how well I looked wearing it.  I did the same in return.    

            

My drummers practicing the day before.

My drummers and I had been reviewing our program intensively for the last two weeks of October, in the classroom and in the gym.  I wanted them to get used to the acoustics of the gym and to feel comfortable playing in front of a large audience.  We had practiced in the gym every two days, but, to be honest, on the day of the assembly, I was getting 'butterflies' in my stomach.  I always get that feeling before a public performance but the trick is to ignore the feeling and just go on with the show.  We stood outside the gym and waited for everyone to arrive.  Once the gym was full, I led my drummers to the front; the show had started.

            

I lent my digital camera to Bob the Hallway Monitor so he could film the entire performance.  Iga, the high school Inuktitut teacher, was the MC for the assembly.  She called me to the front to introduce the Inuujaq School Drumline.  I spoke in English and she translated.  I explained to the audience the three types of drums on display, (bass, snare, and quad), and how each of them sounded.  The drumline consisted of two bass drums, two snares, and one set of quads. 

            

The first piece we played was a warm up exercise I wrote several years ago when I was teaching at a summer cadet camp down south.  The drummers of 795 Iqaluit Air Squadron played it for their Annual Ceremonial Review in June 2012.  My current drummers played it quite well despite a moment in the middle where they lost count. 

            

The second and final piece we played was called "Zombie Squirrels", a level 1 drum piece by Cassidy Byars.  Despite being less than a minute long, the piece contains a challenging middle section where there are three separate rhythms playing at once.  Put together, this section sounds like one drummer playing a rock beat on a drum set.  For added guidance and safety, I conducted my drummers.  The resulting performance wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, but the audience loved it and that's all that mattered.  Once we were off to the side, I personally shook each of my drummers' hands and congratulated them for their first public performance.  I reassured them that even though mistakes were played, no one in the audience noticed them because we didn't draw attention to them.  As long as they started together, played together, and ended together, everything would be fine.

            

The assembly continued with the costume contest.  The ten spirit teams each paraded in the middle of gym, showing off their costumes, and being judged by a panel of elders.  There were a lot of great costumes on display, too many to list in this post.  The winning spirit team would be announced at the end of the day and members would received bags of candy.  While everyone filed out of gym, the drummers and I packed up all the instruments & equipment.  We waited until the gym was nearly empty before moving everything back to my classroom.  I say nearly because the kindergarten class stayed behind so that parents could photograph their children.

            

The remainder of the afternoon was devoted to a round robin of Halloween games.  The elementary and middle school teachers prepared a variety of games for students to enjoy.  High school students acted as guides between classes.  The haunted house down in the sports equipment room was the most popular attraction for the middle school students.

            

School was dismissed early at three so that parents and their children could get ready for trick or treating at five in the afternoon.  It would be night time by then.  With extra time to kill, I played badminton with two teachers in the gym.  Sean teaches grade 6 and runs the school's badminton program.  Dane teaches grade 4.  I got quite a workout playing one-on-one, running all over the place, trying to swat the shuttlecock.  I played until four.

To Be Continued . . .