Wilderness Survival; Wednesday, Second Period [02/07].

[sword_chocobro]

The class would be back on the mountainside in the danger shop this week, although it was a little bit different, as the area they started in was going to be your nice, average temperate wilderness, but to one side, the mountain sloped up into a more snowy setting, and, on the other side, it sloped down into something more dry and arid. As much as he liked being actually in the wilderness for this class, he had to admit, it was nice to be able to just go from one extreme climate to the next in the matter of a good short hike for demonstrative purposes.

"So far," he said, "we've covered some of the basics of wilderness survival to get down, but we've still got a few more to go. We've got fire, shelter....and now today, we're going to talk about water. I don't know if you know this, but water's pretty important, you guys. In fact, you're probably not drinking enough of it right now, so you're definitely not going to be drinking enough of it if you're out stranded in the woods or desert somewhere. Sometimes, there's not a good easy source of water like a river or lake nearby, and, even if there is, that stuff needs to be properly filtered or it could lead to some major trouble down the road.

"So that's our thrilling topic for today. We're going to go over various ways to find water in the wild and learn and practice some water purification techniques, so that, hopefully, next time you're stuck in the wilderness somewhere for a while, you're not going to have to be reduced to drinking your own piss. That is an option, but a far, far cry from the best one. Okay, so let's start with the the obvious..."

Music, Wednesday

[suitably_heroic]

Anyone who came into class today would find themselves greeting by low chanting.

“Music is a part of many religious traditions,” Atton began, “And I’m not going to pretend I know all of them on this planet, let alone in the multiverse. But as far as the history of music by the ruling demographic of this country goes, Gregorian chant is a pretty good place to start. It was one of a number of types of chants performed by sects of the Christian religion during the eighth century, but as per usual politics got involved and declared it The Only Hot New Thing We’re Allowing On Our Block. Specifically, a guy named Charlemagne, who took over most of the European continent around the same time.”

He shrugged. “Music and politics: they go together like one really terrible, disgusting thing and one really nice, good thing,” he said. “Either way, after that, the tradition spread and it became the foundation of modern western music.”

"And you haven't even heard Sith opera yet," Lana said cheerfully. "The politics of that are terrible."

Atton glanced towards Lana. ”Now, it’s a really particular kind of sound,” he said. “We call it ‘monophonic’ - that means nobody tries to harmonize, it’s just people singing the same note in unison.”

"There are no instruments, either," Lana added. "Only voices. And often, especially in later chants, one syllable can contain a lot of different notes in sequence. Then there are some forms that are called 'responsorial'. That is, one singer sings a verse, and the rest of them respond with a refrain. Not that it's likely to make much sense to most of us, since the traditional ones here are in Latin, which is a language that's almost entirely scholarly these days. As is the musical form, honestly; it's mostly confined to religious orders and choirs. Not that modern musicians haven't had a bit of fun with it."

She smiled. "So why don't we? We've got any number of songs for you to listen to, and you can work with those or create your own, and let's try to add something to it, make it our own."

Teamwork, Wednesday, February 7, 2024

[sith_happened]

The desks were gone today, replaced by pairs of chairs facing back to back. Their teachers were sitting in a pair of them looking very uncomfortable, so situation normal for this class.

"Today, we'll be continuing on the idea of meaningful communication, " Ahsoka said. "Because it's an ongoing process."

Subtle like a Skywalker there, Ahsoka. "Today we're playing a game called Blind Drawing," Anakin said, ignoring the clear cue to communicate better. "We will hand half of you an object and the other half get a pencil and a notepad. The person holding the object will describe it to their partner and we'll see how well you communicate. No telepathy, please. Ahsoka and I will demonstrate."

He picked up his pencil and notepad.

Ahsoka waved her hand, using the force to pull a black sheet off a small abstract sculpture. "...it's yellow." And 'amazing' Ahsoka, you forgot amazing.

"Yellow," Anakin repeated dryly. "Okay. I need more than that. Is it a fruit, animal, piece of clothing?"

"None of the above." Ahsoka's voice was equally dry. "It's some kind of art."

"Wonderful," Anakin sighed. "This assignment may take a while."

So. Much. Talking.