New School Year, New Teacher

It's now about a month into the school year and I think I'm starting to get the hang of everything.  I no longer feel like I have a thousand new questions each day to ask someone about and my classes have finally gotten into a good groove and routine which makes class planning so much easier.  The best part of it all is that my principal, apparently, thinks I'm doing a great job and is being super helpful and supportive.

Not everything has been smooth sailing.  I've already had something stolen by a student.  Luckily he went around bragging about it and they found him.  He wasn't one of my students which was great to find out, but still not the best experience a new teacher could have.  On second thought, maybe it was - call it a reality check.

By the way, it is extremely true that teachers hear some of the most amazing things from their students every day.  Here's just a sample:

ME: Okay, everyone at measure 69.  Ready, go . . . (silence)
STUDENT: Wait, were we supposed to be singing?

Monday
ME: What are we going to have on Wednesday?
STUDENTS: A quiz.
Tuesday
ME: What are we having tomorrow?
STUDENTS: A quiz.
Wednesday
ME: Get out a sheet of paper and get ready.
STUDENT: Wait, we're having a quiz?

Day of Parent-Teacher Conferences
STUDENT: (to a friend) I can't talk.  I have to be good so Mr. Davis says good things about me to my parents tonight.
ME: Yes, because one day is going to make such a big difference on your record.

STUDENT: (said as fast as humanly possible) I really love music and being in orchestra and choir it's so much fun and I don't know if you knew or figured it out or if someone told you or anything but I have ADHD so that's why I have so much energy all the time and have a hard time staying still but luckily I have you first period and so I don't have as much energy then but just in case you didn't already know.
ME: Trust me, I knew.

That's just a tidbit.  Anyways, I find that I already have had to plan out the Christmas concerts and so not only have I been busy listening to all the music I can to figure out a programme but I've also had to write a couple of arrangements myself.  When you get to a point that you just desperately want to perform this particular piece but can't find a decent arrangement anywhere you decide it would be easier just to write it yourself.  It's fortuitous, really, because then if anybody else is trying to plan a Christmas concert or programme then this post is pretty timely.  Let me know what you think.  It's a pretty simple arrangement but I didn't want to do too much to it.  It's meant for a beginning choir so that's why the harmonies repeat quite a bit.  Hopefully everyone else's year is starting out just as eventful as mine!

One Sizzling Summer

This has been quite the summer so far.  First off, I have the best job in the world!  I get paid to dress like a pioneer every day and make music with some amazing people and sometimes even get paid to go to things like Fantasy Con and promote the park (hence the picture).  That was particularly interesting since I even got to add the make-up factor to my costuming.  And the people watching.  The people-watching at Fantasy Con was quite good and I was impressed with how open and comfortable everyone was.  Unfortunately some of the girls got particularly comfortable at the store located next to our booth that sold bustiers and corsets.  No comment.

Then, just to underscore how cool the people I work with are, we had a big murder mystery party, with costumes and all, and had a little too much fun figuring out why our co-worker was dead.  I love murder mystery parties!

Well, I suppose there is one thing, but it's just that sometimes I get so fatigued from being out in the sun all day that I have very little energy when I make it home.  That reflects itself in the fact that I haven't posted in a very long time, especially with music.  I try, but it just doesn't happen sometimes.  Because of that I sometimes feel like I've completely neglected this blog which is sad when the whole reason I started it was to force myself to step out of my comfort zone and compose things frequently.  Sigh.

But I've finally finished another piece!  Originally it was supposed to be a choral piece but I recorded it as a string piece and it's going to be for my musical I'm writing.  It's only about half of the song, but something is better than nothing right now and at least this time I fiddled and actually wrote my fiddlings down which means I'll be more likely to come back and finish it later.

Again, please let me know what you think and I hope everyone is having an absolutely awesome summer!  (Despite the heat.  Horrible, horrible heat lately in Utah.  Ugh.) :)

Life Goes On

It's been a busy few months and I feel like I haven't accomplished a lot, even though I know that's not necessarily the case.  I guess I'll just start at the beginning and work up till now.

I finished school!  I am so excited to officially have my bachelor's!  There was an intense amount of drama associated with my graduation but it all worked out in the end.  It always puts such a downer on such a big accomplishment when a couple bad seeds in a department decide they simply don't want you to graduate but I've learned a lot through the process and it hasn't hindered my overwhelming love of Utah State one bit!

After that was all finalised I also landed my first "big-boy" job teaching choir at Sand Ridge Junior High.  Yep, junior high schoolers.  The final frontier that many only deign to survive in the education world.  I'm actually really excited.  Just this week I saw my new classroom for the first time and, though definitely a product of the 70's, it's a good space.  I have a long way to go until the room is ready and no longer feels like my predecessor's room but for right now I'm considering it a work in progress.

Although my new school is near Ogden I've actually just moved to a new house in Midvale, which to many seems crazy but I promise I know what I'm doing.  It's going to work out great.  Besides, I love this house so much that I really don't care about the commute sometimes!  Plus I have my own music room delineated from the rest of the house where I can work on school stuff, continue writing and arranging (which I promise I'll get back to soon), and start teaching private lessons.  It makes me happy. ;)

Speaking of lessons, if anyone knows of anyone looking for a private voice teacher in the south Salt Lake area send them my way.  There aren't a lot of music stores around for me to submit my name as a voice teacher and I don't know many locals so word of mouth will be important to me.

This is long post about a lot of boring things, but I'm feeling lucky and on-the-ball that I've even thought to post at all lately.  I'm also totally willing to work on any arrangements for church or other things that people would like me to do so please hit me up.  Thanks for reading!

I'm Not Dead . . . Yet

For some reason I had this idea in my head that I would get more time to work on music and such during my student teaching and yet such has not been the case.  Shocker, I know, but I figured I may as well post something so that I don't accidentally forget and neglect my blog altogether.

I have to admit, though, that student teaching has been awesome so far.  I'm almost done and by the end of April it will all be behind me.  I was a little nervous for a little while since I had talked to some friends who said that, following their student teaching, they weren't sure they wanted to go into education after all.  I don't know what else I would be doing if it weren't teaching and, thankfully, I look forward to going to the junior high every single day.  That's a good sign.

Now I'm not saying that every moment is pure gold.  Surely it is not.  There are some days where I feel like the end of the school day can't come soon enough.  But there are those moments when a student says or does something that leaves you feeling you're a huge success and then suddenly you can keep going for another two or three weeks without wanting to kill the children!

Needless to say I don't have much to talk about today, but I'm hoping that come May I'll have some more time to do some writing and get to blogging more frequently again.  Thanks to all those who keep reading!  It helps when you know others are seeing what you're putting out there into cyberspace.  If you have your own blog, you know!