No time ...

Remember the things I listed in last week's post? well, I'm in the midst of everything and no time for anything else. Will get back to this next week or soon as I can - I've been doing better than I expected, although my Facebook is still a joke ... Take care and see you all on the flipside.

Too Tired

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

I've said that playing the blues

is like having to be black twice.

Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts,

but I never noticed.

~B.B. King~

I thought this story was appropriate, especially as I don't have time for an original post this week. Midterm exams, report cards, another tae kwondo test day, my band exchange and upcoming special company for two weeks wins out on my time right now. Hey, at least I'm posting ...

There was a story about a man named Charlie who was quite a selfish and inconsiderate husband. Even though both he and his wife worked, he never helped at home with the cleaning, cooking or with the children. He expected supper on the table promptly every evening and watched television all evening long while his wife keep the entire home in order.
One day while Charlie was in the doctor’s waiting room, he read an article in a magazine that said - If women were not so tired in the evening, they would be more romantic with their husbands. Well the next day when Charlie’s wife got home, she had quite a surprise. She found supper cooked and warming on the stove. She found the dinning table set with the good china, napkins and candles. Charlie had also done 2 sets of laundry and a third load was in the dryer. The house was also swept and the carpets vacuumed.
The following morning Charlie’s wife was telling her friends at work about the article and everything that Charlie did. She continued “After dinner Charlie did all the dishes, helped the children with their homework and even gave them a bath and put them to bed. I had a wonderful evening!”
Her friends were impressed but wanted to know about the romantic part of the evening after the kids were in bed. “Oh" she said,"That part didn’t work out very well…. Charlie was too tired!”

*grinzzzzz*

Blank Page ...

That's my mind today. No energy and no ideas.

B-man is home with grandparents today, even though it's anti-bullying day in schools across Canada and we had to go buy him a pink shirt for the occasion. He's also supposed to be performing in the music festival today. And there's the spelling test ...

What are you going to do when the kid has a temp and can't keep down his breakfast?

Me, I'm just tired. The band exchange is in a week and my keyboard player dropped out on me a week ago. I found a fill-in but it's touch-and-go because the pieces aren't easy. Rehearsals are rough - the kids are troopers though. I'm just tired.

I'm dating again. Steve is a darling but I'm still waiting for that "zing" to happen. Am I expecting too much? At my age, shouldn't a comfortable relationship be enough? Maybe it's just my state of mind this week. I feel dull.

Biggest joke of the century to date was me joining Facebook. I have no idea why I did that. Only thing I've done with it so far is play a game with the B-man. We've done that lots. For anybody I connected with there, I apologize for not posting on your wall yet. I haven't figured out how to do it but that's not the entire reason. I'm just not very energetic this week. Maybe someday ...

Anyway, I hope everybody else is feeling good and smiling at someone special right now. Well maybe not right now, but soon ...

I'm feeling pretty random right now.

Here's a blast from the past for my American Idol friends.

Some days are like diamonds, while others seem more like dinosaur poo

Quote of the Day:

Even Bach comes down to the basic suck, blow, suck, blow.

~Larry Adler~

The quote of the day sums up how I'm feeling right now. Sometimes I just need to remind myself of everything positive in my life. It's been a rough couple of days. I've been using the computer to escape from my responsibilities all weekend and now it's time to pay the piper. Let me see if there's anyway to put a positive spin on things. I don't know who wrote this, but they must've felt like this at some point. They get the creative credit, not me. I'm just not that bright today.


"I AM THANKFUL:

FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT.

FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE

FOR THE WIFE WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT,
BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME, AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE.

FOR THE HUSBAND WHO IS ON THE SOFA BEING A COUCH POTATO,
BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS.

FOR THE TEENAGER WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES
BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT HOME , NOT ON THE STREETS.

FOR THE TAXES I PAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM EMPLOYED

FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS.

WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING, AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME .

FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT
BECAUSE IT MEANS WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

FOR THE PARKING SPOT I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING
AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION .

FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM WARM.

FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH WHO SINGS OFF KEY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I CAN HEAR.

FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR.

FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES AT THE END OF THE DAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD.

FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE. "

For the Love of Music

Quote of the Day:

Get up from that piano. You hurtin' its feelings.

~Jelly Roll Morton~

I am a music teacher. It's more than what I do. It's my identity, my heart and soul. I am celebrating my 20th year doing what I love and it STILL gives me a rush to come to work most days.

I have always felt that music teachers are a breed apart. Whereas most teachers require a quiet and orderly classroom in which to teach their respective subjects, music teachers must thrive in an atmosphere of controlled chaos. They need to dig deep at times to compliment a child who has produced their first tortured note on a musical instrument. They need to turn a deaf ear to sonar emanations that would bring a lesser being to their knees. They need to develop appreciation for the musical experience, rather than for the music itself. And they need to display tolerance regarding the disparaging comments of their colleagues, who don't hear with the same set of aural skills or understanding as the music teacher.

In return, students enter the classroom with a sense of anticipation and a wide smile on their faces. Classroom management takes care of itself in an active music class. The kids want to be there and, for some, it's the highlight of their academic week. Students spend extra time at noon and after school in the places where they feel most connected and accepted. It is no surprise to me that the music room is one of the most popular hangouts at so many schools.

At my school, I've developped a middle school music program which allows students to explore more than one musical instrument. I have divided the school calendar into four units and the students may choose to switch to a new instrument at the beginning of each new unit. They may also choose to remain with an instrument for more than one unit, if they enjoy what they are doing and, by grade 8, they are expected to have chosen their principal instrument of study for the intensive music program offered in grades 9 - 10. It's a bit of a juggling act for me, but the appreciation and elevated interest in music here makes it worth every effort. A full 10% of this year's graduating class, whose interest was founded in their middle school experiences, have made concrete plans to continue their music studies at post-secondary institutions.

This week, my middle school classes did their turn-around. Many chose to remain with the same instrument but this year, there has been a surge in popularity of brass and woodwind instruments. Two girls in my class yesterday decided to take a session with the alto sax. For those of you who don't know, the sultry tones of the saxophone are the result of a great deal of time (maturity) and practice (experience), and in the hands of a beginner sounds more like a garbage truck at 4 am than a musical instrument. Much to my delight, the two girls picked up on the basic skills right away and soon were wending their shaky, squawking way through "Hot Cross Buns" and "Au Clair de la Lune". Oh my, they were loud. (heh) No one else in the music room could hear themselves and, accustomed to the situation, the rest of the students just sat back to ride out the storm. There was a lot of good-humoured joking about sound quality but an equal amount of positive feedback. Their songs were actually recognizable! But loud. Quite painfully so, in fact. And most people can only listen to "Hot Cross Buns" a dozen times or so before reaching their mental limits. It helps to have a sense of humour at moments like that.

Eventually, my budding sax players felt secure enough to be closeted in a "sound-proof" practice room while the rest of the class went about their business. The saxes were still clearly audible, though muffled. There were 5 trumpet players in the larger session room and 2 trombone players in the cubicle, none of which could be heard. In the main room, I had guitarists and keyboardists and in the adjoining room, there were 4 vocalists working on warm-ups and the pronunciation for an Italian folksong "Santa Lucia". It was lovely, productive and a happy time for everyone.

At the end of the class, after the students had left, the art teacher dropped by and, with a good-natured chuckle, she jokingly asked me what we had hacked to death during the early part of class. As she stepped out into the hall, she glanced over her shoulder and beckoned me over. As I approached the door, I could hear the shrill voice of a colleague complaining to another about the noise coming from my classroom and wondering loudly why, given how easy it is to teach music, I wasn't better at keeping my class under control, with all my years of teaching experience.

No matter what other people may say about me or my methods, I am confident of the results coming out of my classroom and of the contentment level of my students. Innocently, I strolled down the hall and joined the pair. Smile firmly in place, I invited that teacher to visit my classroom the following day during her preparation period to observe my discipline methods and to enjoy an "easy" afternoon of teaching. She hemmed and hawed but, as she had an audience, she grudgingly accepted.

This afternoon, she entered my lively classroom and was surrounded by the controlled chaos of the musical world in which I live. In class, I never stop circulating, pausing here and there to correct posture, hand position, comment, praise, listen or assist. There was peer-teaching, collaboration, earnest discussion and debate, theoretic exercises, technical discovery, fine and gross motor particip-action, reading, movement, listening and music of varying levels happening all at once. Every single student was positively engaged in a music-related task. At the end of class, there was a sharing session. There was no "quiet learning environment" but there were smiles, laughter, concentration, feedback and positive criticism flowing between the kids. Special needs students flourish in my classroom under the tutelage of their peers without the need of a teaching assistant. In any class of 25 students, there are 25 different levels of ability but in music, the course is tailor-made to each one and geared completely toward the success of the individual.

We teachers sometimes speak of the "sound of learning". For many, that may be the library-like hush of a quiet classroom but for me, the call of "Ms. M, listen to this!" followed by the jarring honk of an overblown horn defines active, positive learning unlike anything else. We want our students to be "lifelong learners" but whatever the subject, they need to connect to it in order to pursue it beyond our sphere of influence. We can teach, but students only learn what they are convinced will matter in their own personal lives. Everything else is trivial.

Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul. ~Anonymous~