Holocaust Composition Awes Board of Ed
by Allan Appel | June 24, 2008 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Fourteen-year-old New Haven Academy musician Taylor Goodwin brought the Board of Ed to its feet with a mournful and moving composition evoking the silent horror of Jews marching slowly to the gas chambers in the holocaust of World War Two.
Goodwin, who was accompanied by his father Steve on the guitar, is not Jewish himself. He was moved to write and perform his work by the teaching he received of Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night and the “Facing History and Ourselves” curriculum at his school.
“I just wanted to express what it might have been like,” said Goodwin, who received a special commendation from the BOE, “for those people walking slowly to what they thought would be bath houses.”
“Facing History and Ourselves” is a citizenship and tolerance curriculum that is a centerpiece of the New Haven Academy.
Greg Baldwin, co-principal at New Haven Academy, said of his ninth-grader, “Taylor was using his love of art to inspire people.” What began as a school assignment, said Baldwin, grew into this moving work, which is accompanied by a PowerPoint with graphic images of the camps. It has astonished his colleagues at school where he has performed it several times.
“It wasn’t just that Taylor took the huge and difficult subject and made it his own,” said Baldwin, “but also that the performance on the violin was so passionate, that he inspired other kid to his level of accomplishment.”
According to Taylor’s dad, Steve, also a musician, his son’s been playing the violin only three years, having taken it up while at the Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School. “He just was home,” said his dad, “and playing this melody. I told him I thought it was beautiful, sad, but gorgeous. And he said to me, ‘It’s jut so painful, it makes me think of the Jewish people, and what they went through.’”
Board of Ed President Brian Perkins, in presenting the award to Goodwin, made a point of the young musician’s creativity: “What Taylor did reflects the wonderful opportunities that kids have in the New Haven Public Schools. It shows what kids can do that can never be measured on an hour and a half test. He’s shown us that he’s internalized values that he learned in work that he’s created.”
Principal Baldwin concurred: “A single 70-minute test in March is hardly the measure of a kid. No question that Taylor’s deep understanding of the weighty issues in the Holocaust is reflected through his music.”
Baldwin himself was praised by schools Superintendent Reginald Mayo for leading a school that for the second consecutive year is sending 100 percent of its seniors to college.
In nine separate ceremonies this week, New Haven will graduate 1,050 seniors — the most ever and the first time it has broken the 1,000 mark.
Share this story
Comments
Posted by: mary | June 25, 2008 12:48 AM
What a great talent this young man has I was at the meeting and his piece really moved me great job.
Sorry, Comments are closed for this entry
Sections
Neighborhood News
Special Sections
Legal Notices
Some Favorite Sites
- 5 Snacks After 10
- Abram Katz
- African independent
- At Risk for HD
- Back To Basics
- Branford Eagle
- Business NH
- CT Business Litig
- CT Energy Blog
- CT Enviro Headlines
- CT Green Scene
- CT Law Tribune
- CT Local Politics
- CT News Junkie
- CTV
- ChiTown Daily News
- Conn Art Scene
- Cornwall-On-Hudson
- Crosscut
- Design New Haven
- Gotham Gazette
- Josiah Brown
- Karman Turn
- La Voz Hispana
- Laurel Club
- Len's Lens
- Magrisso Forte
- Media Attache
- Media Nation
- Medical Intelligence
- Middletown Eye
- MinnPost
- My Left Nutmeg
- NBC 30
- NH Advocate
- NH Register
- NH Review of Books
- Northampton Media
- OneWorld
- Only In Bridgeport
- Oral History Project
- Pittsburgh Dish
- Reddit NH
- See Click Fix
- Smartpill Design
- SoWhay Sonata
- St. Louis Beacon
- Tom Ficklin
- VT Digger
- Valley Independent Sentinel
- Voice of SD
- WFSB-TV
- WPKN Today
- WTNH
- Yale Daily News
- barista
Government/ Community Links
- ALSO-Cornerstone
- Advocate Calendar
- Ald. Meetings
- All Our Kin
- Alliance Theatre
- Arts & Ideas
- Arts Council
- Artspace
- Bar Assn.
- Beth El Keser Israel
- Bikur Cholim
- Bioregional Group
- Birthright
- BlackinCT
- Boys & Girls Club
- CCA
- CCNE
- CTRIBAT
- Chamber of Commerce
- Children's Museum
- City Point
- City of New Haven
- CitySeed
- Citywide Youth
- Columbus House
- Community Loan Fund
- Community Mediation
- ConnCAN
- DESK
- Dariba Referrals
- Data Haven
- Domestic Violence Srvcs.
- Election Volunteers
- Elm City Cycling
- Elm Shakespeare
- Empower NH
- Ezra Academy
- Fellowship Place
- Food Bank
- Friends of East Rock Park
- GAVA
- Habitat For Humanity
- Halsey Associates
- Hill Health
- Hilltop Brigade
- IRIS
- Info New Haven
- Jewish Federation
- Job Finder
- Junta
- LEAP
- Leeway
- Mary Wade
- Music Haven
- NH Land Trust
- NH Museum
- NH Safe Streets
- NH Scholarship Fund
- NH Youth Soccer
- NH/ Leon Sister City
- NHCAN
- Neighborhood Music School
- New Haven 828
- New Haven Reads
- New Life Corp.
- PAR Newsletter
- Parents Available to Help
- Planned Parenthood
- Police
- Preservation Trust
- Public Allies CT
- Public Library
- Public Schools
- Public Works
- ROOF
- Rail Trains Ecology
- Register Calendar
- Rotary
- SAMA
- STRIVE-New Haven
- Sister Cities
- Social Media Club
- Solar Youth
- Soul-O-Ettes
- South Central Behavioral Health Network
- Squash Haven
- Temple Emanuel
- United Way
- Upper State Street Association
- Urban Design League
- Urban Resources Initiative
- Visiting Nurse Association of South Central Connecticut
- W'ville Synagogue
- W. Square Blockwatch
- WalkBIkeCT
- Westville Chabad
- Westville Renaissance
- Wooster Sq MT
- Workforce Alliance
- Yale Events
- Yeshiva NH Shul
- Yeshiva of NH
- Youth Continuum
Flyerboard
Sponsors
N.H.I. Site Design & Development
NHI Store
Buy New Haven Independent Stuff
News Feed
Movable Type 3.35