A Little Rambling

A new school year has begun.  Funny that that should be the time I finally sit down to blog again, when I feel like I have no time to breathe amidst the rush of things that have to be done now .  Especially considering I spent my entire summer reading Harry Potter in German, watching Dr. Who, and staying up too late with John every night. It's been a victorious day for me.  In my two freshmen classes, my boys are tripled by the number of girls in their sections.  They also can't sing (yet).  The first day of school, one boy asked, "Wait...we have to sing in this class?  Everyone?  Even the boys?!"  They were aghast. Freshman year is a rough time for boys.  Their instruments are so wonky, poor things.  All those changes...or worse, none of the changes just yet.  I do have one boy alto still.  He bears it well.  Individually, they can all match pitch pretty well.  Stick four of them together, and something goes terr...

Final exams are over and graded!  Fortunately for me, my students never leave me without some very amusing attempts at answering their questions to keep the grading from being dull. "Clarity played a huge role in the Classical Ara [sic].  Now in musical piece, you see that there is less of something, and doesn't feel or sound as gody [ gaudy , sic].  What I mean by gody, is that there is a lot of the same thing going on, like when you wear too many bows in your hair, for example.  So in the classical ara, there is no more godiness, but now clarity.  Clarity is pretty much no more gody, so like only wearing one bow in your hair, it's clear!" Why does the Count want Cherubino sent away?  "B/c he is a playa'." "Marcellina wants to marry Figaro because he pledged to marry her if he didn't pay some money back.  It's good that she doesn't however because she's his mother!  eeeeeeewww!" Also, every possible mutilation of the Ge...

Death by grading: 50 quizzes, 30 musical compositions, 60 two-to-four page essays, and 25 worksheets all in one day.  I have the best mom and sister in the universe who helped me through it.  I feel a bit like superwoman.  Before I go curl up in my bed and pass out, I thought I'd share my favorite gems from the concert review essays.  There were the usual spelling errors and odd uses of terms, but these stood out in their oddity. "It was a memorable experience, full of unusual music and unique hair styles." "It then bacon to go all over the place and became loud." (In the middle of a detailed description of Liszt's Dante Symphony ) "PIZZICATO FROM THHE VIOLAS!  I don't know why that made me so excited but it was important in my notes." "It was also al dente and I can't read some of my notes because it was dark and I can't write in the dark because I cannot see." "The piece was a bit high-pitched, and, as its tit...

Having classes full of freshmen is a wonderful thing when you need to get a lot of something done.  I was facing the prospect of folding three hundred some-odd programs this weekend in my apartment when inspiration struck.  What was a daunting couple hours of tedious folding and likely paper cuts became a five minute diversion that my students enjoyed a disproportionate amount.  At the end of the day, my room was a disaster - this has been that kind of week - and for some reason my floor never gets vacuumed over the weekend.  Dismayed at all the little tiny chads and bits of paper and hair ties and pencil stubs and goodness knows what else littering my floor, I again though, ooh, I have freshmen.   In less than a minute my floor was spotless.  Well, almost spotless, they are just freshmen.  But still.  Free labor is fun! I also noticed something interesting in my classes today.  We had our first combined rehearsals with both sections yester...

As a music teacher, I don't have much opportunity to read my students' writing.  This week, though, they had to turn in their big quarter project, and I have been ever so amused (and a little aghast) at some of the things I've heard.  I thought I would share some of my favorites with you.  (If you don't speak music, they might not all make sense.)  There were many others that left me scratching my head, but these were the most comprehensible. "The overall dynamic was mexxo forte." (ole!) "This piece was sung by an Acapulco choir." (goes well with mexxo forte) It crescendoed to a nice mezzo-forte, adding a silent beauty to the sound."  (louder music has silent beauty how?) "The most interesting fact I found about this song is that there are not many pages on the internet about this song." "The dynamics in this piece were evident variations in volume without change." "This song has no dynamics."  (it is sil...

1.  hearing students excitedly telling their parents what they learned today 2.  my boss telling me I'm a saint 3.  getting new students who are already pretty good 4.  getting new baby students excited to learn 5.  students wanting to hear me play 6.  making silly faces and yet still having 'classroom management' abilities 7.  brownies, cake pops, cupcakes, cookies, and raspberry lemonade 8.  a photocopier! 9.  listening to my students make up their own music 10.  when I can tell my students actually like me :) I am so blessed in my job!

Most people don't really know their neighbors, at least not in a city like Phoenix.  It's too hot to play in the streets together, too much traffic, too many questionable neighborhoods.  We keep to ourselves in our air conditioning and our own backyard pools. I, fortunately, am an exception to this rule.  I know most of my neighbors, and their families have known my family for a generation or two.  Several go to the same church, we have neighborhood parties on big holidays, and you always know someone with a spare key when you lock yourself out.  I've tutored, taught, or babysat most of the kids on this block, and there's always someone to feed your pets when you're out of town, or someone willing to lend you an egg or some sugar.  However, sometimes the best perks are the little things.  The doorbell rang tonight as I was sitting around talking with my dad, and I opened the door to see my neighbor and her daughter standing there holding out a plate...