The following are three stories of varying length and hilarity that all occurred just this past Friday. Enjoy.
The Driver
As one of my 8th grade orchestra classes was unpacking and getting tuned, one of my violinists, Susan, popped up, and said, "Oh! Mrs. Martin! I'm writing a story for English and you're in it!" Naturally I asked, "Am I the good guy or the bad guy?" Susan joyfully exclaimed, "You're the driver!" I'm not sure how to take that one... I just laughed and told her I wanted to read it when she was finished. I am embarrassingly curious about my role. What kind of vehicle do I drive? Is it a limo? A cab? A bus? Is there a heist? Am I assisting in a robbery? And if so, am I being tricked into it or something like that one Jesse Eisenberg movie, or am I more criminal like in The Dark Knight? Who am I driving around? Could it be the modern leader of the Aryan race who recently wrote an alarmingly hateful book against the Jews like that one Seinfeld episode? Or is it a bus load of people I have to keep alive by driving a bus above 60 mph and I'm a beautiful brunette? Am I like Ranjit from How I Met Your Mother where I know everything about everyone's lives and am a lovable Pakistani/Indian/(Iranian?) jokester? Or am I more like Mr. Big's driver from Sex in the City who you never see but who is always there when you need him? I am truly curious as to why Susan cast me as the driver and I want to know what that means she thinks of me... Also I watch too much T.V.
The Scrotum: (This wonderful story come secondhand, courtesy of one of my colleagues. I just had to share it because who doesn't love a good scrotum story?)
So one of my colleagues, Debbie, and I are sitting by each other at our monthly all-staff breakfast meeting and one of the Jaguar teachers approaches us and says to Debbie, "Can you come to our table and tell the scrotum story? No one can tell it like you!" Debbie laughs and says she'll be over in a sec. I of course turn immediately to her and demand to hear the scrotum story. Here is what she said:
Debbie teaches HOST, which stands for "Helping One Student at a Time", which is basically a mandatory elective for students who are behind in reading. She gets a wide variety of personalities in her class. The other day, two of her Jaguar students, Dontell and Javon, were horsing around, kind of wrestling with each other, before class. Debbie was helping a student at her desk and her back was to the boys. At some point, Dontell shoved Javon playfully in the back and Javon howled dramatically, "Ow! My scrotum!" and clutched his back. Debbie whipped around and said sharply, "Javon! That is not an appropriate thing to say!"
"But my back really hurts!" responded Javon. Debbie took a pause.
"Do you mean your spine?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah, I guess. Then what's a scrotum?" Debbie could guess where this was going.
"It's a body part," she answered. Now Dontell was now intrigued.
"Is it a bad body part?" Dontell asked seriously.
Debbie answered back seriously, "Yes."
"Does everyone have it?" said an impish yet obviously genuinely curious Javon.
Debbie had resigned at this point. "No."
Dontell could tell they were getting closer. "Do girls have it?"
Debbie sighed. "No."
Javon and Dontell, who had finally figured it out, both breathed, "Ohhhh..."
Debbie, her human anatomy work done for the day, turned away and gathered herself before she had to begin class, thinking this gem of a story could not get any better when she heard one of the boys say,
"Huh. I guess that's why in that one song he goes "I gotta scrotum like a saggy bag of skin"
I want to know what kind of music that kid is listening to...
The Fight:
As I've lamented before, I have the misfortune of serving lunch supervision duty. Yesterday I had the privilege of witnessing a fight up close. There were many slow motion moments that I've reflected on and have come up with a million things I should have done. It was all over in about 20 seconds though, so maybe next time...
So I'm making my rounds up and down the rows of lunch tables on the Panther side of the lunch room (they have blue lanyards, by the way) and from across the cafeteria I see a kid in a blue sweatshirt standing up. I wait for a few seconds for him to sit back down, and he doesn't. So I sigh and start making my way over to him to remind him to "stay in your seat..." when I see another boy in a grey sweatshirt actually get up from his table and start walking over to the blue sweatshirt. I still didn't know exactly what was about to go down though because the demeanor of each boy was not angry or aggressive. I figured I'd have to make them go sit on the wall and eat their lunch or something, a common punishment for getting up out of your seat and visiting other tables.
I say neither boy looked angry or aggressive, which is true. In retrospect, knowing what was about to happen in about 3 seconds time, I can say exactly what they looked like. Blue sweatshirt had a glint of excitement in his eyes; they were smiling but not in a friendly way. His whole body seemed to be asking, "Is this going to happen? Am I going to get in my first fight?" Grey sweatshirt had this slow plod of a walk, which spoke, "I really don't want to put this much effort into anything, but I know this is what I'm supposed to do when someone says something like that to me..."
So I'm still about 3 tables away when I start to sense that they're not just going to illegally share some hot cheetos and rag on each other's girls. Grey sweatshirt had stopped just a little too close to blue sweatshirt and blue sweatshirt, with that excited glint in his eye, had just said something to him. I was 2 tables away. This is when I shouted out, "Hey!"
Grey sweatshirt threw the first punch. It was the lamest punch I've ever seen in my life. The rest of his body was still stooped in his "Well, I wish I could just finish my lunch but I guess I'm gonna fight now..." posture, and only his sad little right arm came up to tap Blue Sweatshirt on the jaw. And it was so slow! That's why I know Blue Sweatshirt wanted to tango because anyone under the age of 90 and below the blood alcohol level of .05 could have dodged that wimpy punch.
The reaction was instantaneous. By this time, I had bounded the three-stride-lengths to the table at which they had been standing. None of the other kids were really into the build-up, because, like I said, it was pretty lame. But as soon as Grey Sweatshirt tapped Blue Sweatshirt on the chin and the two boys had kicked into turbo gear every kid in the joint was on their feet either sliding out of the way or pushing closer to see. Blue Sweatshirt launched himself at Grey Sweatshirt, punching him as hard as he could with both fists. Grey sweatshirt, who was bigger but slower, eventually got himself positioned above him and they danced their way to the ground, punching and punching as they circled. The kids had formed a sort of chair barricade, a chairicade if you will, in front of me as I screamed, "Stop! Stop it! Get off! Stop right now!" My training told me not to step in between them or try to pull one off the other. My common sense also told me not to step in between them or try to pull one off the other, because even though both 7th grade Panther boys still had that baby-boy-round-face look and their voices hadn't yet changed all the way, they both still probably had at least 5-7 inches and 20 pounds on me. And they were pounding away as fast as they could at whatever their fists would hit. What I did was drag the students sitting in the chairs directly next to the brawl back (so I guess I reinforced their chaircade in the end...) and screamed for Ooley, the 6'5" 250 lb music teacher who served lunch duty with me. Unfortunately I don't think Ooley could initially see what was happening nor would he guess because it escalated so quickly and the surrounding kids didn't start yelling until the Sweatshirts had been beating on each other for at least 5 seconds. But what he could see was a bunch of kids on their feet, which usually means someone spilled/threw chocolate milk or red fruit punch all over the floor, but could also sometimes mean someone is hurt, or, the worst option, that someone is fighting. So his first few steps were a little slow and questioning, then when he saw what was happening he ran up to the boys and shouted, "Get of of each other!" and gruffly grabbed Blue Sweatshirt around the torso, pulling him back. Duana, the other music teacher on duty, had made it to the scene by then, approaching from the non-chairicade side of the fight, and pulled the hood of Grey Sweatshirt backwards. The boys immediately let go of each other: not a tug or a lunge back at the other, which was another sign to me that they were both nubes and didn't really have any issues with each other but just had to initiate themselves into the world of man by banging their baby fists into each others baby flesh. There was also this air of pride in themselves and each other when the teachers pulled them apart; it was as if they were two stunt doubles in a T.V. show who had just finished a scene. I was half expecting them to shake hands and say, "Well done, bro."
I have a twinge of regret after witnessing my first fight as a teacher, as someone who has the authority to make them stop. I wish I would have stepped between them and tried to pull one off the other. They are my kids and they were hurting each other. (I think Blue Sweatshirt ended up with a minor split lip- I've had worse when mine are chapped- and Grey Sweatshirt had the makings of a pretty sweet black eye- I am slightly jealous, I've always wanted a good shiner.) It is my responsibility to take care of them and make sure they leave school in the same condition, hopefully better, than they entered. So by putting my own safety first, I feel like I showed my true "fight-or-flight" (or in my case, "fight-or-stand-and-scream") colors. Wasn't it selfish of me, or lazy of me, or something of me not to have stepped in? I can think of at least a dozen different things I could have done, what I should have done, what I would have said I would have done to anyone else with a similar story: "Well, I would have..." The chairicade was only one or two students deep in the beginning, I could have easily shoved my way through, Les Mis style. (Every song from that musical has been belting through my head since I came up with "chairicade".) And what was the worst that could have happened? I could have gotten punched? And shouldn't I have risked that for my students? So what does that say about my personality? What does that say about me as a teacher? What does that say about me as a future parent? Yeah, yeah, they weren't my real kids. They weren't even my orchestra students. I don't even know their names. Which is why I said I have a twinge of guilt. I'm not beating myself up over it. And hey, who knows? Maybe at the next fight I'll get to try out one of my other ideas from the dozen I came up with after this one. Or maybe I'll just stand and scream again while I wait for the big strong man to step in.
Ah, the life of a middle school teacher is never a dull one. I am so happy I have these stories to ponder, laugh about, and retell at parties. Seriously, how are teachers not the hit of every party with all this raw material?
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
January
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Goin' to the Movies
*WARNING* This post is not really string teacher related and contains spoilers. I've spaced out my reviews though so you can skip over the movies you haven't seen and still want to see and read what I wrote about the ones you have seen. If you want. If you don't, screw you, get off my blog.
There are many things I enjoy doing on my vacation, but I truly cherish the minimal time I have set aside to relax. I have plenty of vacation, but often it is spent traveling, spending time with friends or family, cooking/cleaning, and catching up on school stuff. I have very few days set aside to do nothing. I enjoy reading a lot. Last night I stayed up until 2:00 am reading my Kindle (I've been trudging through "Casual Vacancy", JK Rowling's latest novel, for about 2 months and it finally got good so I'm trying to read it in one fell swoop before I lose interest again...) and the other morning I worked my way through a stack of US Weekly's that had been piling up (did you know princess Kate is having a baby?! And she was hospitalized with a severe form of morning sickness?!) which I know isn't exactly reading, so let's categorize that under "I enjoy celebrity gossip and trashy pop culture." But what I really enjoy the most when I'm relaxing is watching movies and/or a good TV series (last summer was Mad Men and I really want to watch Breaking Bad and Homeland all the way through- must find someone who owns them so I can borrow...) I've seen several movies this season and spent all of today at the theater watching the movies I knew I wouldn't get a chance to see again until they came out on BluRay. Here are my humble opinions about the movies I've seen this season. Please feel free to share with me your opinions as well- I love a good debate! (Although I'm much better in person what with my bossy personality and loud voice...)
The Hobbit
Loved it. Would pay to see it again in theaters. I actually read The Hobbit, unlike Lord of the Rings, so I feel it had potential to score poorly with me much like all of the Harry Potter films. I did not feel it was too long because I was entertained the whole time. There were a few additions to the story including Gandalf's cousin/brother/wizard-bro, Radagast, who I hear is very briefly mentioned in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, that I didn't much care for, but again, I was entertained so I don't mind. I loved Martin Freeman as Bilbo- I think he might be Bilbo in real life all stammery and blunderingly endearing. I liked the little throw back to Frodo and the birthday party, I loved Flight of the Conchords, Brett, as "Elrod's Elf Bitch", as my sister calls him, Gollum was as brilliant as ever and the Riddles in the Dark scene was very well done. I could just sit and list every scene and my comments would basically be- I really liked it. The only thing that keeps it from being perfect is the fact that it was not very deep- I didn't feel any emotion when watching other than contentment, which is just fine with me sometimes. So I give this one a hearty A-.
Les Miserables
I am a Les Mis fan, so I had misgivings going into this one. I was not disappointed overall. The singing was not good as a whole but the fact that I, a singer, a generally critical person all around, and one who is not easily impressed by many performances by untrained musicians, could overlook poor singing technique due to such powerful acting and cinematography is pretty amazing. The baracade boys were most impressive vocally, especially Enroljas. I liked his voice the best out of the whole cast. Marius was my second favorite if only I didn't have to watch his wobbly old woman jaw vibrato, blech! Hugh Jackman performed beautifully as an actor and added so much emotion to his character that I can forgive his through-the-nose singing and vibrato so wide you could drive a truck through it. Anne Hathaway stunned. Her performances as Fantine and as Cat Woman have all but washed away my hatred of her born from Princess Diaries, Devil Wears Prada, and her and James Franco's horrible horrible horrible hosting job at the Oscars. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were a pleasant surprise and played very despicable Thenardiers, though a bit dark for my taste- could have used a bit more comical relief. And then there's poor Russell Crowe. I'm sorry Russ, I loved you as Maximus, but you just don't cut it as Javert. It was Crowe's horribly awkward performance, lack of any emotion in his singing or acting, and weird stiffly cupped hands that keeps Les Mis from receiving the highest marks from me. I give it a B+.
Life of Pi
Meh, it would have been better had I not read the book- it may have been more shocking or original. Kept pretty true to the book. Thought the white writer guy was dumb- like a low budget Ryan Reynolds. Should have had someone famous do a cameo, maybe Ryan Reynolds... Or they should have had a voice-over the whole time and cut out the whole author/interviewer aspect all-together. It adds nothing to the movie; if anything, it just makes the story feel unbalanced and interrupted. The animals were great: all very well-trained and well-used throughout. Graphics were very good. They definitely made a conscious effort to keep it kid friendly- I was kind of hoping to see a flashback when he tells the "different story" at the end. I thought the dreamy sequences while he stares into the water were dumb. Also thought they could have done a better job making him look more and more emaciated. The Pi actor did a good job, wasn't blown away. I give it a C+/B-.
This is 40
Well I'm not sure I've heard the F-word more times in 2 hours ever before in my life, that's for sure. My favorite variation was probably a cycling Paul Rudd's outraged cry at an SUV of pre-teens "...You Twilight-ass mother fuckers!" What can I say about this flick? There was no plot, just fight, make up, fight, make up, fight, make up, etc..., only a couple good laughs, and too much make-it-up-as-you-go dialogue. Improvising funny lines works (sometimes) on a sitcom, but there is no place for it in the movies. A redeeming aspect of the flick was how easily I think most married couples could relate to the couple's fights and the paths each fight took. In fact, I'm pretty sure I may have said some of those exact lines in real life. More than once... Also the actress who plays the younger daughter was mildly funny. No Dakota Fanning or even Olsen twin, but cute. Probably the best part about it for me was all the Lost references- very clever indeed. Jason Segal was a moderately funny addition with his personal training company "Bodies by Jason" and Melissa McCarthy's brief cameo as defensive mom, Catherine, was over the top as usual but also moderately funny. I give it a C-.
Silver Linings Playbook
This movie was absolutely brilliant. The only bad thing about it is the title. Refreshingly honest, great acting, clever dialogue, and some really hilarious moments- literal LOL stuff, puts this film at the top of my list this year. Bradly Cooper, who usually plays some kind of pompous douche bag in all his other movies, showed a side to his acting that I've never seen. It gives me a lot of respect for him and makes me wish he's take on more serious roles and do fewer chick flicks/action dude flicks. Jennifer Lawrence is no Katniss Everdeen in this one. She ignites both extremes of the acting spectrum with her flawless performance of her crass, blunt, yet oddly introspective crazy widow character. Robert De Niro is hilarious and is such a phenomenal actor. His character had the potential to be unrelateable and comical in a bad way, which would have spoiled the chemistry of this brilliant cast. However, he delivered the goods allowing this bizarre story to click in a way I never expected. I give SLP a solid A.
Lincoln
I can't say I'm feeling Best Picture with this one although Danial Day Lewis probably deserves Best Actor. His portrayal of Abe Lincoln was quite charming in every aspect: from the plodding way he walked to the long-winded slow patience of his exasperating story-telling. DDL was excellent all around, no doubt about it. Sally Fields as Mary Todd was only OK- I can't really put my finger on what I was disappointed in, other than maybe Lewis just outshone her. James Spader gave a fun, raw performance as Lincoln's most to-the-point hired vote-recruiter-guy. Freakin' Joseph Gordon Levitt improves every movie he's in, whether he's the star or a minor side character. He plays Lincoln's eldest son who yearns to enlist and I swear my favorite scenes were the ones that included him. And he was only in about 15 minutes of the movie! Boy, Tommy Lee Jones is old- all I could think about when he was in the shot was how much he resembled a toad. And I'm getting a little tired of Tommy Lee Jones playing Tommy Lee Jones in every single movie he is in. It's the 1860's for crying out loud, can we get K out of the House of Representatives? This movie was loaded with famous faces- including Moocher from Breaking Away- which irks me in an inexplicable way. Not that it's bad to have B-list/border-line A-list actors play one-liner roles, but I feel like it's like a false way to beef up the film or something. I dunno, maybe the actors all asked Spielberg if they could play a minor role in his movie and he was like, sure whatever, you can be General So-and-So and sit in this chair for 5 minutes of screen time. My opinion over all was that it was too long and too long-winded, but Lewis was excellent. I give it a B.
So there you have it- my unimportant opinions on some movies I saw recently. Ranking from favorite to least favorite here they are:
1. Silver Linings Playbook
2. The Hobbit
3. Les Miserables
4. Lincoln
5. Life of Pi
6. This is 40
Honorable mentions (saw these too but a while back):
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Avengers
- Looper
- Argo*
- The Amazing Spider Man
- Hunger Games
- Moonrise Kingdom*
*Also rank among my favs
There are many things I enjoy doing on my vacation, but I truly cherish the minimal time I have set aside to relax. I have plenty of vacation, but often it is spent traveling, spending time with friends or family, cooking/cleaning, and catching up on school stuff. I have very few days set aside to do nothing. I enjoy reading a lot. Last night I stayed up until 2:00 am reading my Kindle (I've been trudging through "Casual Vacancy", JK Rowling's latest novel, for about 2 months and it finally got good so I'm trying to read it in one fell swoop before I lose interest again...) and the other morning I worked my way through a stack of US Weekly's that had been piling up (did you know princess Kate is having a baby?! And she was hospitalized with a severe form of morning sickness?!) which I know isn't exactly reading, so let's categorize that under "I enjoy celebrity gossip and trashy pop culture." But what I really enjoy the most when I'm relaxing is watching movies and/or a good TV series (last summer was Mad Men and I really want to watch Breaking Bad and Homeland all the way through- must find someone who owns them so I can borrow...) I've seen several movies this season and spent all of today at the theater watching the movies I knew I wouldn't get a chance to see again until they came out on BluRay. Here are my humble opinions about the movies I've seen this season. Please feel free to share with me your opinions as well- I love a good debate! (Although I'm much better in person what with my bossy personality and loud voice...)
The Hobbit
Loved it. Would pay to see it again in theaters. I actually read The Hobbit, unlike Lord of the Rings, so I feel it had potential to score poorly with me much like all of the Harry Potter films. I did not feel it was too long because I was entertained the whole time. There were a few additions to the story including Gandalf's cousin/brother/wizard-bro, Radagast, who I hear is very briefly mentioned in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, that I didn't much care for, but again, I was entertained so I don't mind. I loved Martin Freeman as Bilbo- I think he might be Bilbo in real life all stammery and blunderingly endearing. I liked the little throw back to Frodo and the birthday party, I loved Flight of the Conchords, Brett, as "Elrod's Elf Bitch", as my sister calls him, Gollum was as brilliant as ever and the Riddles in the Dark scene was very well done. I could just sit and list every scene and my comments would basically be- I really liked it. The only thing that keeps it from being perfect is the fact that it was not very deep- I didn't feel any emotion when watching other than contentment, which is just fine with me sometimes. So I give this one a hearty A-.
Les Miserables
I am a Les Mis fan, so I had misgivings going into this one. I was not disappointed overall. The singing was not good as a whole but the fact that I, a singer, a generally critical person all around, and one who is not easily impressed by many performances by untrained musicians, could overlook poor singing technique due to such powerful acting and cinematography is pretty amazing. The baracade boys were most impressive vocally, especially Enroljas. I liked his voice the best out of the whole cast. Marius was my second favorite if only I didn't have to watch his wobbly old woman jaw vibrato, blech! Hugh Jackman performed beautifully as an actor and added so much emotion to his character that I can forgive his through-the-nose singing and vibrato so wide you could drive a truck through it. Anne Hathaway stunned. Her performances as Fantine and as Cat Woman have all but washed away my hatred of her born from Princess Diaries, Devil Wears Prada, and her and James Franco's horrible horrible horrible hosting job at the Oscars. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were a pleasant surprise and played very despicable Thenardiers, though a bit dark for my taste- could have used a bit more comical relief. And then there's poor Russell Crowe. I'm sorry Russ, I loved you as Maximus, but you just don't cut it as Javert. It was Crowe's horribly awkward performance, lack of any emotion in his singing or acting, and weird stiffly cupped hands that keeps Les Mis from receiving the highest marks from me. I give it a B+.
Life of Pi
Meh, it would have been better had I not read the book- it may have been more shocking or original. Kept pretty true to the book. Thought the white writer guy was dumb- like a low budget Ryan Reynolds. Should have had someone famous do a cameo, maybe Ryan Reynolds... Or they should have had a voice-over the whole time and cut out the whole author/interviewer aspect all-together. It adds nothing to the movie; if anything, it just makes the story feel unbalanced and interrupted. The animals were great: all very well-trained and well-used throughout. Graphics were very good. They definitely made a conscious effort to keep it kid friendly- I was kind of hoping to see a flashback when he tells the "different story" at the end. I thought the dreamy sequences while he stares into the water were dumb. Also thought they could have done a better job making him look more and more emaciated. The Pi actor did a good job, wasn't blown away. I give it a C+/B-.
This is 40
Well I'm not sure I've heard the F-word more times in 2 hours ever before in my life, that's for sure. My favorite variation was probably a cycling Paul Rudd's outraged cry at an SUV of pre-teens "...You Twilight-ass mother fuckers!" What can I say about this flick? There was no plot, just fight, make up, fight, make up, fight, make up, etc..., only a couple good laughs, and too much make-it-up-as-you-go dialogue. Improvising funny lines works (sometimes) on a sitcom, but there is no place for it in the movies. A redeeming aspect of the flick was how easily I think most married couples could relate to the couple's fights and the paths each fight took. In fact, I'm pretty sure I may have said some of those exact lines in real life. More than once... Also the actress who plays the younger daughter was mildly funny. No Dakota Fanning or even Olsen twin, but cute. Probably the best part about it for me was all the Lost references- very clever indeed. Jason Segal was a moderately funny addition with his personal training company "Bodies by Jason" and Melissa McCarthy's brief cameo as defensive mom, Catherine, was over the top as usual but also moderately funny. I give it a C-.
Silver Linings Playbook
This movie was absolutely brilliant. The only bad thing about it is the title. Refreshingly honest, great acting, clever dialogue, and some really hilarious moments- literal LOL stuff, puts this film at the top of my list this year. Bradly Cooper, who usually plays some kind of pompous douche bag in all his other movies, showed a side to his acting that I've never seen. It gives me a lot of respect for him and makes me wish he's take on more serious roles and do fewer chick flicks/action dude flicks. Jennifer Lawrence is no Katniss Everdeen in this one. She ignites both extremes of the acting spectrum with her flawless performance of her crass, blunt, yet oddly introspective crazy widow character. Robert De Niro is hilarious and is such a phenomenal actor. His character had the potential to be unrelateable and comical in a bad way, which would have spoiled the chemistry of this brilliant cast. However, he delivered the goods allowing this bizarre story to click in a way I never expected. I give SLP a solid A.
Lincoln
I can't say I'm feeling Best Picture with this one although Danial Day Lewis probably deserves Best Actor. His portrayal of Abe Lincoln was quite charming in every aspect: from the plodding way he walked to the long-winded slow patience of his exasperating story-telling. DDL was excellent all around, no doubt about it. Sally Fields as Mary Todd was only OK- I can't really put my finger on what I was disappointed in, other than maybe Lewis just outshone her. James Spader gave a fun, raw performance as Lincoln's most to-the-point hired vote-recruiter-guy. Freakin' Joseph Gordon Levitt improves every movie he's in, whether he's the star or a minor side character. He plays Lincoln's eldest son who yearns to enlist and I swear my favorite scenes were the ones that included him. And he was only in about 15 minutes of the movie! Boy, Tommy Lee Jones is old- all I could think about when he was in the shot was how much he resembled a toad. And I'm getting a little tired of Tommy Lee Jones playing Tommy Lee Jones in every single movie he is in. It's the 1860's for crying out loud, can we get K out of the House of Representatives? This movie was loaded with famous faces- including Moocher from Breaking Away- which irks me in an inexplicable way. Not that it's bad to have B-list/border-line A-list actors play one-liner roles, but I feel like it's like a false way to beef up the film or something. I dunno, maybe the actors all asked Spielberg if they could play a minor role in his movie and he was like, sure whatever, you can be General So-and-So and sit in this chair for 5 minutes of screen time. My opinion over all was that it was too long and too long-winded, but Lewis was excellent. I give it a B.
So there you have it- my unimportant opinions on some movies I saw recently. Ranking from favorite to least favorite here they are:
1. Silver Linings Playbook
2. The Hobbit
3. Les Miserables
4. Lincoln
5. Life of Pi
6. This is 40
Honorable mentions (saw these too but a while back):
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Avengers
- Looper
- Argo*
- The Amazing Spider Man
- Hunger Games
- Moonrise Kingdom*
*Also rank among my favs
Monday, December 31, 2012
Old Lane's Eye
I can't speak for all teachers, but as a teacher I don't think of a year as January through December, I think of it as August through May/June. So when I look back at 2012, it's weird that I was in such a different place in January. I wasn't even thinking about leaving my current school to teach elsewhere, in fact I was planning out my schedule for "next year" and making sure I archived every homework assignment, test, or quiz that I created so I'd have it to use again: no fuss, no muss. In January I was prepping a hundred ill-prepared voice students to sing solos and ensembles at ISSMA, I was still teaching about 15 private students after school, and I was still playing in Carmel Symphony full time. Then everything changed in May and a new chapter of my life began. I have had a wonderful year- I can't really think of any low-lights except having to say goodbye to all of my friends and colleagues at my last school, and that was all for the best. Here are some highlights from this year, in no particular order:
- I take orchestra to organizational ISSMA for the first time and got a Gold with distinction
- The Super Bowl is held in Indianapolis
- I am hired at a school at which I truly wanted to work
- I get my first significant pay raise
- I celebrate my 2-year wedding anniversary with my best friend
- I make fudge for the first time and it turns out great
- I plant a garden on the side of the house
- I get a smart phone
- I take a group of students to All Region Orchestra for the first time
- I start blogging
- I teach my own class of beginning strings for the first time
- I am hired as a wedding manager for the first time
- Glenda Ritz is elected Superintendent of Schools in Indiana, thus giving Tony Bennett the boot
- IU basketball finishes the best season they've had in years and starts the next season ranked #1
- The Colts get Andrew Luck as their new quarter back
- I turn 25 and my dad turns 50 (yikes!)
- Aaron builds a stone patio with a fire pit off the back of the house
- Aaron puts in hardwood floors
- I lose 40 lbs
- We get closer to our small group and study the New Testament every Monday night
- Our puppy, Shelby, turns 1 year old- 7 in dog years
Every Christmas I watch It's A Wonderful Life. This year our whole family watched it on Christmas Eve. I find it fascinating that I can have watched this movie over 50 times yet I'm captivated each viewing. I can quote pretty much the whole movie line by line, except some of the lines are in my head as I learned them when I was ten. For an embarrassingly long time I thought "Auld Lang Syne" was "Old Lane's Eye" and I didn't understand that the strings around Uncle Billy's fingers were supposed to serve as reminders for things- I thought it was just something cooky that old Uncle Billy did. I understood the moral of the story; Clarence did an excellent job at illustrating how much George effected everyone's lives in Bedford Falls. But I thought when Harry referred to George as "the richest man in town" it was because everyone had just given him all their money. I've always had a secret fantasy of Clarence coming to show me what life would be like if I weren't born, but then I have a fear that nothing would be different and he would be like, "What was the point of this again? I got some Tom Sawyer to read..." I've never been a New Year's Resolution kind of person, but this year I am definitely going to continue working on putting others needs first. Maybe then everyone will give me all their money and I'll be the richest woman in town...
For Old Lane's eye, my dear
for Old Lane's eye
We'll take of cup of time uh yep
for Old Lane's eye
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Feedback
Holiday concert update:
Pros:
1. It's over
2. Every single member of my music department was there and played a significant role
3. My principal was there and raved about it's success on the next morning's announcements
4. I had only 4 kids out of 115 not participate. 2 actually showed up- 1 was out of uniform so he wasn't allowed on stage, 1 was without a cello so he wasn't allowed on stage. 1 girl told me ahead of time, albeit earlier that day, that she wouldn't be there because her family didn't celebrate Christmas and her dad wouldn't let her perform (couldn't tell me that ahead of time???) So only 1 no-show without notice.
5. We performed a full orchestra piece in the 8th grade and it sounded good
6. The Honor's Orchestra learned their carols well and played in the lobby
7. Nothing fell apart, musically speaking (a cello did fall apart, see Cons)
8. I had 3 wonderful high school students come help tune and direct kids- I brought them baked goods the next day.
9. No one died
10. Everyone got picked up on time
Cons:
1. I'm exhausted but can't sleep
2. My principal had to pull some students out of the audience for talking during the 8th grade performances
3. The big combined 7th/8th grade number that we rehearsed really well and that sounded great earlier in the day was really bad- almost the entire back of the orchestra was off by a measure or maybe 2, who knows?
4. Unenthusiastic crowd- makes it seem like nothing sounded good or maybe just not as good as they were expecting?
5. My 7th grade was not good
6. My Honor's Orchestra did really well given they could barely hold their piece together a week before the concert, but they didn't sound great which isn't great advertising for Honor's Orchestra
7. My kids don't practice and they're lazy
8. My kids don't respect their instruments- I returned to my cello rack to find over half the bows still tight, the instruments put back all crooked an every which way, and one cello missing a bridge with a big fat gouge under the tailpiece.
9. There was music left all over the stage that we, the staff, had to clean up
10. There were two basses and 3 bows left on stage
11. No parents approached me and said "Great concert" or anything
12. My kids said I talked too much and their parents said I talked too much. I didn't talk too much! I hardly talked at all!
I need some honest feedback! (Do I?) I do! It is making me crazy- I know what my kids and I went through to get to the concert and what we learned and what we will do better next time. I heard the recording. But I just haven't heard a musician-outsider's thorough opinion! It's frustrating because when no one goes into detail about my performances, it makes me paranoid that they just don't want to say anything negative. Like, so far all anyone has said is, "It was good! You know, there were some rough spots, but over all it was pretty good." That is not feedback, people! I need details! What was good? What was rough? What about it was good, what about it was rough? The most annoying part about all of this is that I know the answer to these questions and can go into great detail and explanation about them. I just want someone to talk to me about it, but no one will. And frankly I don't have many people whose opinions I trust enough to truly discuss with my concert in depth. And since I already know how the concert went and since everyone I've asked has already told me how things sounded, why do I still need feedback? Is it feedback or validation that I need? I don't even know. I'm so tired...
I just know my friends and family are going to roll their eyes at me and tell me to calm down, I'm being high maintenance and caring about the wrong things. I know I know I know- didn't you all hear me say I know? I'm a crazy person. But you know out of all the space in my brain that is being taken by thinking about this concert, 90% of the space is occupied by items in the Cons list and the tiny 10% of Pros are smushed to the back of my brain, rendered unimportant because no one has told them to me over and over and over... Seriously, what is up with my need for validation? I'm so tired...
Pros:
1. It's over
2. Every single member of my music department was there and played a significant role
3. My principal was there and raved about it's success on the next morning's announcements
4. I had only 4 kids out of 115 not participate. 2 actually showed up- 1 was out of uniform so he wasn't allowed on stage, 1 was without a cello so he wasn't allowed on stage. 1 girl told me ahead of time, albeit earlier that day, that she wouldn't be there because her family didn't celebrate Christmas and her dad wouldn't let her perform (couldn't tell me that ahead of time???) So only 1 no-show without notice.
5. We performed a full orchestra piece in the 8th grade and it sounded good
6. The Honor's Orchestra learned their carols well and played in the lobby
7. Nothing fell apart, musically speaking (a cello did fall apart, see Cons)
8. I had 3 wonderful high school students come help tune and direct kids- I brought them baked goods the next day.
9. No one died
10. Everyone got picked up on time
Cons:
1. I'm exhausted but can't sleep
2. My principal had to pull some students out of the audience for talking during the 8th grade performances
3. The big combined 7th/8th grade number that we rehearsed really well and that sounded great earlier in the day was really bad- almost the entire back of the orchestra was off by a measure or maybe 2, who knows?
4. Unenthusiastic crowd- makes it seem like nothing sounded good or maybe just not as good as they were expecting?
5. My 7th grade was not good
6. My Honor's Orchestra did really well given they could barely hold their piece together a week before the concert, but they didn't sound great which isn't great advertising for Honor's Orchestra
7. My kids don't practice and they're lazy
8. My kids don't respect their instruments- I returned to my cello rack to find over half the bows still tight, the instruments put back all crooked an every which way, and one cello missing a bridge with a big fat gouge under the tailpiece.
9. There was music left all over the stage that we, the staff, had to clean up
10. There were two basses and 3 bows left on stage
11. No parents approached me and said "Great concert" or anything
12. My kids said I talked too much and their parents said I talked too much. I didn't talk too much! I hardly talked at all!
I need some honest feedback! (Do I?) I do! It is making me crazy- I know what my kids and I went through to get to the concert and what we learned and what we will do better next time. I heard the recording. But I just haven't heard a musician-outsider's thorough opinion! It's frustrating because when no one goes into detail about my performances, it makes me paranoid that they just don't want to say anything negative. Like, so far all anyone has said is, "It was good! You know, there were some rough spots, but over all it was pretty good." That is not feedback, people! I need details! What was good? What was rough? What about it was good, what about it was rough? The most annoying part about all of this is that I know the answer to these questions and can go into great detail and explanation about them. I just want someone to talk to me about it, but no one will. And frankly I don't have many people whose opinions I trust enough to truly discuss with my concert in depth. And since I already know how the concert went and since everyone I've asked has already told me how things sounded, why do I still need feedback? Is it feedback or validation that I need? I don't even know. I'm so tired...
I just know my friends and family are going to roll their eyes at me and tell me to calm down, I'm being high maintenance and caring about the wrong things. I know I know I know- didn't you all hear me say I know? I'm a crazy person. But you know out of all the space in my brain that is being taken by thinking about this concert, 90% of the space is occupied by items in the Cons list and the tiny 10% of Pros are smushed to the back of my brain, rendered unimportant because no one has told them to me over and over and over... Seriously, what is up with my need for validation? I'm so tired...
Social Symphony
Last weekend I returned to play in the local symphony for the Holiday (CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS) concert. I hadn't performed with the group since the summer because since I started my new job, I've had conflicts with every concert and/or dress rehearsal until now. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I showed up at the first rehearsal and all my colleagues greeted me with surprised, genuine smiles and comments like, "You're back!" and "Well look what the cat dragged in..." and "We missed you!" and "I almost didn't recognize you with your hair down!" I call my fellow musicians "colleagues" not "friends" because, well, they're not my friends, but they greeted me like the Prodigal's Son. They made me feel like family and I interacted with them as if we had recently met for lunch and had long, meaningful conversations. We caught each other up on our lives during each 15 minute rehearsal break with quick sentences centered around jobs, family, and, well, that's it. Each conversation took approximately 30 seconds. It was weird though because each interaction with my musician colleagues wasn't forced or uncomfortable; I didn't feel the need to invent an exit strategy from the conversation ("OMG, is that Josh Bell?") and I didn't have to talk about the rehearsal ("So he is taking that blahblah piece is so fast! I'm pretty much faking, like, half the notes, you know?") or how tired I was ("Wow, I need some caffeine-these are late nights...") although all of these quotes were actually spoken at some point in time, minus the Josh Bell one. The atmosphere was just so familiar and comfortable. It was cozy, warm and friendly, like being wrapped up in a blanket of slightly awkward complements mixed with the one-armed hugs and jaw kisses of non-friends who are truly happy to see you.
I think the relationship between my description of these symphony rehearsals and my description of my feelings toward said rehearsals is, if you think about it, an accurate depiction of my personality and outlook in life. I am social, I care about people more than experiences, I enjoy being surrounded by people regardless of their level of love for me or I for them, I like to laugh and joke and smile even if the topic of conversation is not particularly funny, I liked to be noticed, I enjoy hugging and kissing strangers, I rate how good or bad my day was on how many people I made laugh, I take pleasure in external validation, whether it be about my musicianship, appearance or intelligence, I would rather have a 30 second conversation about nothing than quietly stand in like for the toilet, and I would rather have a job where I am bombarded with kids and other teachers every second of the day than have a job practicing and performing on the most beautiful musical instrument in the world (don't even fight me on this one, you know it's true.) It's never been a secret: I am a teacher first, cellist second. I've always hated practicing- bleh! Boring! I'm all alone? For more than an hour? And I have to do the same thing over and over? Gross. You mean there is a career in which I can boss other people around and they have to do what I say? Sign me up!
That said, there could not be another group of people with which I have this awkward yet comfortable, unconditionally friendly yet non-friend relationship. Is it the music that brings us together and forms that special bond or is the people that make the music so special in the first place? I don't really know and I don't really care. What I do know is this: in my opinion, the bonds formed while performing with an orchestra far outweigh the notes and rhythms- this I must remember when I teach.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Holiday Hoedown
It is nearing that time again when I become a crazed lunatic whose patience is little and temper is hot. I've had a count down on my board of how many rehearsals left until our holiday concert since there were 15 rehearsals. We have reached the 4 rehearsals mark. I will announce the "Don't piss me off" disclaimer on Monday.
I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew for this one- at least that's what the panicked part of me thinks. The logical side of me is all like, "Dude, chill out, it's middle school orchestra..." Just last rehearsal I did something stupid. Like, really stupid. Ugh, why did I do it? So my 7th grade is playing "Angels we have heard on High" (spelled 'Angles we have heard on High' on many of their parts because I had a student make copies and she cut off the title and wrote it in that way...) and also "Holiday Waltz," which is a combined piece with the 8th grade. Then they are playing "Jingle Bells" flash mob style during one of our many stage transitions. They're going to be out in the audience and pop up to play the song by memory- it'll either be really awesome or really sloppy, but cute either way so who cares? But they were only going to be on stage by themselves for one piece and I felt bad for all the parents who came to see their kid perform and they only play for 1 minute and 30 seconds? Plus another 2 minutes with the 8th grade? So the very, very, stupid thing I did at the 5 rehearsal mark was add five pieces- one piece per section (easy 2-part stuff for soli violins, violas, cellos, and basses) and another large group piece called "Christmas Sampler." I decided if they weren't able to play everything I handed them semi-decently by the end of the block, we'd scrap the idea. It was risky because either way we're losing a rehearsal close to show time. But those little nuggets pulled it off with style. God love 'em, why couldn't they have just bombed and made it clear to me that I should just have stuck with Plan A?
The 8th grade is playing "Holiday Hoedown", a hilarious piece that cracks me up every time we rehearse it. It mixes like 50 Christmas carols with a bunch of fiddle tunes 2 bars at a time. Freakin' hilarious! They don't get it. "See?" I'll say, "It's funny!"
"I think only composers think it's funny."
"No, musicians think it's funny." Awwww burn! Anyway, they're playing that and then "Holiday Waltz" with the 7th grade. Then the other stupid thing I took on for this concert was a full orchestra piece. It's called "All is Calm," an arrangement of "Silent Night," and it is really gorgeous when it's played together and in tune and with all the right parts... I've had 2 really quick rehearsals with some of the strings and some of the winds that went relatively well, but I sincerely don't think we'll have everyone play at the same time until the night of the concert, which is scary. It's just so hard to get kids to attend extra rehearsals all at once, especially when they're band kids who are playing for free, so to speak. Though, I have been pleasantly surprised with how well the wind players are doing. They are all really sweet kids and they play with great tone quality and respond well to my conducting and direction. But like I said, we've yet to rehearse with all the parts, so if we pull this off it will be a miracle.
In addition to a combined 7th/8th grade piece and a full orchestra piece, I also have the new Honor's Orchestra performing. They are playing "Dona Nobis Pacem," which is the first piece they've played that is in the key of A major (G#'s are a bitch...) and it's slow and requires a lot of bow control. It's going well, but we haven't consistently played it through without someone dropping a beat and getting off. Plus this orchestra meets from 7:30 to 8:30 Monday and Wednesday mornings and inevitably at least 2 or 3 members will be missing from the 13 member group. These guys are also playing "Kwanzaa Celebration" (yay for diversity!), a piece with some African drums- it'll be a crowd-pleaser I think. In addition to the two pieces on stage, I've also planned for them to play carols in the lobby while people enter. I bought some books that should be easy to sight read and provide plenty of variety, however the books did not get delivered until after class on Friday, which means none of my Honor's Orchestra kids have seen the music yet. And we still have the other pieces to perfect and those 18 Christmas carols need to be learned and able to be played without me all in four 7:30-8:30 AM rehearsals. Yikes.
So in conclusion, here is what our Orchestra Holiday Concert looks like:
6:40-7:00 Honor's Orchestra Carols in the Lobby
7:00 7th grade Orchestra, Angles we have heard on High; 4 section pieces; Christmas Sampler
7:15 7th/8th grade Orchestras Holiday Waltz
7:20 Honor's Orchestra: Dona Nobis Pacem; Kwanzaa Celebration
7:25 Flash mob 7th grade Jingle Bells
7:30 8th grade Holiday Hoedown
7:35 Junior Symphonic Orchestra All is Calm
7:45 Pack up and go home
We work like slaves for 9 weeks to perform for 45 minutes. It makes me feel depressed. And panicked. Did I mention panicked?
I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew for this one- at least that's what the panicked part of me thinks. The logical side of me is all like, "Dude, chill out, it's middle school orchestra..." Just last rehearsal I did something stupid. Like, really stupid. Ugh, why did I do it? So my 7th grade is playing "Angels we have heard on High" (spelled 'Angles we have heard on High' on many of their parts because I had a student make copies and she cut off the title and wrote it in that way...) and also "Holiday Waltz," which is a combined piece with the 8th grade. Then they are playing "Jingle Bells" flash mob style during one of our many stage transitions. They're going to be out in the audience and pop up to play the song by memory- it'll either be really awesome or really sloppy, but cute either way so who cares? But they were only going to be on stage by themselves for one piece and I felt bad for all the parents who came to see their kid perform and they only play for 1 minute and 30 seconds? Plus another 2 minutes with the 8th grade? So the very, very, stupid thing I did at the 5 rehearsal mark was add five pieces- one piece per section (easy 2-part stuff for soli violins, violas, cellos, and basses) and another large group piece called "Christmas Sampler." I decided if they weren't able to play everything I handed them semi-decently by the end of the block, we'd scrap the idea. It was risky because either way we're losing a rehearsal close to show time. But those little nuggets pulled it off with style. God love 'em, why couldn't they have just bombed and made it clear to me that I should just have stuck with Plan A?
The 8th grade is playing "Holiday Hoedown", a hilarious piece that cracks me up every time we rehearse it. It mixes like 50 Christmas carols with a bunch of fiddle tunes 2 bars at a time. Freakin' hilarious! They don't get it. "See?" I'll say, "It's funny!"
"I think only composers think it's funny."
"No, musicians think it's funny." Awwww burn! Anyway, they're playing that and then "Holiday Waltz" with the 7th grade. Then the other stupid thing I took on for this concert was a full orchestra piece. It's called "All is Calm," an arrangement of "Silent Night," and it is really gorgeous when it's played together and in tune and with all the right parts... I've had 2 really quick rehearsals with some of the strings and some of the winds that went relatively well, but I sincerely don't think we'll have everyone play at the same time until the night of the concert, which is scary. It's just so hard to get kids to attend extra rehearsals all at once, especially when they're band kids who are playing for free, so to speak. Though, I have been pleasantly surprised with how well the wind players are doing. They are all really sweet kids and they play with great tone quality and respond well to my conducting and direction. But like I said, we've yet to rehearse with all the parts, so if we pull this off it will be a miracle.
In addition to a combined 7th/8th grade piece and a full orchestra piece, I also have the new Honor's Orchestra performing. They are playing "Dona Nobis Pacem," which is the first piece they've played that is in the key of A major (G#'s are a bitch...) and it's slow and requires a lot of bow control. It's going well, but we haven't consistently played it through without someone dropping a beat and getting off. Plus this orchestra meets from 7:30 to 8:30 Monday and Wednesday mornings and inevitably at least 2 or 3 members will be missing from the 13 member group. These guys are also playing "Kwanzaa Celebration" (yay for diversity!), a piece with some African drums- it'll be a crowd-pleaser I think. In addition to the two pieces on stage, I've also planned for them to play carols in the lobby while people enter. I bought some books that should be easy to sight read and provide plenty of variety, however the books did not get delivered until after class on Friday, which means none of my Honor's Orchestra kids have seen the music yet. And we still have the other pieces to perfect and those 18 Christmas carols need to be learned and able to be played without me all in four 7:30-8:30 AM rehearsals. Yikes.
So in conclusion, here is what our Orchestra Holiday Concert looks like:
6:40-7:00 Honor's Orchestra Carols in the Lobby
7:00 7th grade Orchestra, Angles we have heard on High; 4 section pieces; Christmas Sampler
7:15 7th/8th grade Orchestras Holiday Waltz
7:20 Honor's Orchestra: Dona Nobis Pacem; Kwanzaa Celebration
7:25 Flash mob 7th grade Jingle Bells
7:30 8th grade Holiday Hoedown
7:35 Junior Symphonic Orchestra All is Calm
7:45 Pack up and go home
We work like slaves for 9 weeks to perform for 45 minutes. It makes me feel depressed. And panicked. Did I mention panicked?
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