Wow, for being one of the most blah months I've ever experienced, I apparently did not have any time to write a post. Seriously though, January is the Eeyore of all the months. It just kind of blobbed it's way through it's allotted thirty-one days and now it's February, which, if I'm sticking with my Winnie the Pooh analogy, would be the Piglet of all months I think: short and cute and pink. Awwww... Piglet. Not a lot happened at school during January. Anything that is worth noting in the world of music education has happened during the first couple weeks of February. I do have a couple stories from January though:
At my school, the teachers have to walk their last period class out to the bus. The students are supposed to be completely silent until they breathe in outdoor air. This of course never actually happens, but I feel obligated to at least attempt to keep my squirmy little 7th graders quiet as they leave my classroom. I've tried everything short of duct-taping all their mouths shut but even if they're already lined up and I'm standing in front of them flickering the lights, it still usually takes a good minute or more to get every single one of them silent. I'm just too darned lazy to come up with consequences and/or rewards for talkers/non-talkers/good days/bad days. Frankly I don't really care about them being quiet as they leave for the bus; I have more important things to worry about. It's a school-wide procedure though, so I pulled out this golden nugget one day in January:
Tristan: (wiggling around and talking)
Me (flicker lights)
Several students: "Shhhhh! I want to go!" "Quiet." "Are you going to Kat's party?" "Did you ever find your music?" (other various unimportant ramblings)
Me (standing, tired and exasperated, with my hand still on the light switch, starting to sweat from being bundled up in my winter coat and scarf and hat, staring at the poorly-formed line)
Tristan: (puts Bacon in a head lock)
Bacon: (knocks over a basket of tuners as he tries to get out of the headlock)
Gustavo: (still slowly packing up his viola because when it was actually time to pack up, he was locking up his empty case while his viola sat in his chair. then it took him 5 minutes to unlock his locker because he kept messing up his combo)
Me (in a medium loud voice) "Tristan and Bacon knock it off. I want to leave. Do you need to come up here with me?"
Tristan and Bacon: "No!"
Gustavo: (eventually joins the side of the line, but has to leave again because he left his bow on his stand)
Tristan and Bacon (begin wrestling again)
Me: "If you can't keep your hands off of each other and your mouths shut you're going to come up here and hold my hand all the way to your bus."
Tristan and Bacon (freeze midway through a wrestling move)
Gustavo (lumbers to the line)
Rest of class (eventually stop wiggling and talking one by one)
Me (stand and wait for silence- finally gets quiet after about 10 more seconds)
Tristan (whispers something incoherent and bumps Bacon's backpack from behind then laughs)
Me "Ok, Tristan, get up here."
Rest of the class (laughs)
Tristan "Aw, man!" (clomps up to the front of the line)
Me: "Oh goodie, I forgot my gloves today. You can keep one of my hands warm"
Tristan "Awww, maaaan!" (begrudgingly takes my hand and bows his head in shame)
Rest of class (mocks and laughs and titters)
Me "I have another hand...!"
Rest of class (silent)
I marched that kid all the way down the row of buses which contained all of his friends and wouldn't you know it, his bus was the second to last one! The kids are still and wiggly noisy bunch, but now that they know I'm not fooling and that I will indeed hold their hand all the way to their bus, they get quiet a lot faster.
Most of January has been spent preparing for ISSMA solo and ensemble and recruitment concerts (post about this to come). My 7th grade doesn't perform again until May so it's been pretty laid back. I've found I really enjoy teaching when there isn't a bunch of pressure to prepare for a concert that is always one week too soon. The 8th grade has been a lot more frantic, but more on that later.
Monday night full orchestra rehearsals have started at the high school. So far I've only worked with the strings because the winds are working on their own. I had a really fun time last week when no other teachers showed up at rehearsal except me and the high school director and so she took the winds and I rehearsed the strings myself. It was refreshing to work on music as opposed to just rehearsing notes and rhythms. The high school kids were really awesome- they were all respectful and responsive and really wanted to do everything I suggested. I still don't wish I were the high school teacher though. I get just enough of a taste of the upper level kids, then I get to go back to my little goobers. I'm a middle school teacher at heart and I would get burnt out in a month if I taught high school. It has been nice working with the full symphony though.
I've played two Carmel Symphony concerts in the past couple weeks. My arms are sore and I'm lacking a few hours of sleep, but my brain and my heart are full of cello! I actually practiced more than I usually do for this last concert (Shostakovitch 5) and it was truly a revitalizing experience. I feel so honored and blessed to be a part of something so big. It made me a little sad that so many people will never get to experience the unique joy that I do when playing such a magical and romantic work as a member of a symphony orchestra. I don't always feel this way after a concert, most of the time I'm just tired and want to go to bed, but this one got to me. I'm so grateful to be given the ability to play music. And I'm even more grateful to be given the opportunity to introduce and teach music to the next generation.
Next post I'll recap ISSMA solo and ensemble (we hosted...!) and talk about how we do recruitment. But it's Sunday night and as you may or may not know, teachers don't sleep well on Sunday nights, and I should give myself plenty of time to roll around restlessly.
