At the beginning of each new school year, I feel like I need to justify my existence to my students, or perhaps it’s their existence in my classes. I teach the final three semesters of a four semester music theory and ear training sequence. Most musicians, unless you are super nerdy like me, probably would not take music theory if it weren’t required to get any kind of degree in music. I explain to my Theory II class that…
Last Monday marked my fifty-first first day of school. Some of those years were as a student, some have been as a professor, and the years in graduate school were both as a student and a teaching fellow. That is a lot of years of school! Most days I still love it.But, having not taught summer school for the first time in many years and thus having a peek at what retirement might look and feel like, I have to…
So what have I learned lately? My desire to do is greater than my ability to do. My intention, once school was out was to write more. I have done that…just not here, which was not the plan. I thought that I could keep up here, with my regular Pixels, Plates, and LOLs posts, and writing every day for Blueper B…oh, and a photo a day for him and for me. Then there was stuff like preparing meals, and laundry,…
Today was the final class day of this semester. By this time next week, final exams will be over and another academic year will have come to an end. I will have completed year twenty-five in the same teaching position. The music theory sequence is a minimum of four semesters of paired courses; it can be five if a student comes in needing to make up a deficiency. Of those five courses, I teach four of them, all but the…
The past week seems to have flown by! Last weekend we were in Baltimore because I had a NOAH board meeting. Though it was a quick trip and I had little free time, I enjoyed the getaway and change of scenery. Weber and I did have a bit of time to wander around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on Friday afternoon before my meeting began at 6. It was interesting to see another lightship. My dad was instrumental in restoring a similar…
Yesterday marked the year anniversary of my dad’s death. In many ways it feels like just last week rather than last year, making me painfully aware of just how quickly time flies. When I look back at my posts here as well as my own journaling, I realize that time really is the overarching theme in my life right now, with the majority of my thoughts being about how I spend what time I have. I am definitely one of…
Today’s Capture Your 365 photo prompt is “Where I Work.” I was excited by this prompt because it encouraged me to take photos in a place where I normally am not thinking about my camera. The sad part here is that it is the place that I have come nearly every work day for the past 23 years and of which I have very few photos. As I walked in to school this morning, I was thinking about the possibilities…
What the saying? “Life is what happens while we are busy making plans.” I made the big pronouncement that my plan was to post here regularly. I guess the truth is that I don’t yet have enough of a trend to define “regularly” but in my head that meant almost every day if not every day. And here it is five days since my last post. So what’s been going on? Lots, actually. The biggest obstacle to posting has been…
My Thursday’s are incredibly long days, beginning with my first class at 7:30 am and ending at 4 pm after a final composition lesson. In between, I teach five different classes and two lessons. The good news? Unlike Wednesday’s, I actually have 30 minutes for lunch! The thing that makes this tiring day tolerable is knowing that it is the end of my work week. And, I have some awesome students. No one really wants to take (or teach) a…
“Where I Sit” Admittedly, this photo is more about where I sit. All of my standing today was in from of my classes and thus no photos during school. By the time my teaching day was over all I wanted to do was sit down and kick my shoes off. I am notoriously bad about twisting my feet around my desk chair while I’m working. And yes, I have been known to stand up too quickly (or try) and fall…