Teaching Jr. High!

Okay, I didn't actually teach anyone anything today, but I was at El Roble to support the substitute music teacher while Mr. Johnson is finishing up business in South Carolina. He'll be back on Friday. My job today was to assign instruments to students who qualify for district instruments. I loved the kids who said, "But I want an instrument here so I don't have to carry mine back and forth," and "I don't like the one I have at home!" Sorry, kid. Bring your instrument and deal with it. Besides the district instruments are not much better.

Tomorrow I actually get to run a rehearsal! Since I know most of the kids, that makes the transition to jr. high much easier for me.

Audition

Oh, yeah. The amazing secret to a good audition is to actually be prepared for it. Practicing every day, even for 30 minutes at a stretch, goes a long way to making you feel confident. Of course, I was still a little nervous, but once I got going, I was fine. I especially enjoyed playing in the room with the high ceilings because the acoustics were so good.

New Curriculum

This week I went into school to see what's happening since classes start next week. Music starts the week of Sept. 20. Low and behold, the curriculum that I had requested a year ago had arrived! Now I have a year of Recorder Classroom to peruse as well as GamePlan 5 by Randy and Jeff. New ideas always bring me excitement and rejuvenation for a new year.

Classical / Rock

The LA Times Arts & Books section ran a front-page article about David Garrett today. A violinist who crosses over from classical to rock and back, he has recently released an album called Rock Symphonies.

I was intrigued enough to look up more about him on the internet, mostly because I thought he might be a good musician to share with my students to help them get excited about 1) strings 2) classical music. No need to help them get excited about rock.

As I listened to his performances, they sounded eerily familiar, like from my teen years and techno remixes such as A Fifth of Beethoven by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band. Maybe there's more to this guy than that, but I would have to spend more effort in finding it.

Auditions - and the ramifications

I have been playing violin and viola with the Claremont Concert Orchestra at Scripps College for, oh, about 15 or so years. All this time Michael Lamkin has been our conductor. In May, Michael conducted his last performance before his well-deserved retirement. We will miss him terribly.

A new era dawns, a new conductor arrives. We are excited to meet and work with David Cubek starting in a few weeks. Because he does not know us yet, he would like to listen to each of us play. We have to prepare three excerpts from the upcoming concert music (Dvorak and Tchaikovsky) and a piece of our choice to play for him.

Today I got the music and started practicing the viola parts. It dawned on me that this could be a good thing. I will practice these sections a little bit every day for the next two weeks, be really nervous at the audition, but when it comes time to play at our first rehearsal, I will 1) be in playing shape since I'll have practiced every day 2) know the music, or at least parts of it. I will listen to the music beforehand and be well-prepared for that first rehearsal.

Summer String Camp

There's nothing like teaching a few hours after a trip as well as summer vacation to wear you out! Today I taught for three hours two summer string classes. The one-hour class is under-enrolled, so I am going to cancel it, but the two-hour class has enough students, so we'll see if some from the first class want to come to the second.

String kids are the best, though. They are extremely well-behaved, smart, funny and fun to be around. I tried to talk some theory at them today, and for some, it made sense, but most gave me a blank stare. Oh, well! The more they hear it, some of it will eventually sink in.

Redemption through Music

I am a fan of "redemption through food" movies such as Babette's Feast and Tortilla Soup. Today I am a fan of a "redemption through music" movie - As it is in Heaven. A gifted and famous Swedish conductor achieves his life goal of reaching people's hearts through music by returning to his hometown where he was bullied and helping the local choir achieve its goals. It sounds cliche, but the underlying message is real.

Music and the Brain

A link on facebook today led me to watch this 60 Minutes spot on the blind musical savant, Derek Paravicini. With severe mental capacities, he can play anything you request on the piano, in any key, in any style. Mentioned only in footnotes in Oliver Sachs' Musicophilia, a quick google search shows that you can read an entire book about him and his gift as well as his blog.

I am fascinated about the role of music in our lives and in our brains. Obviously it has great significance in the lives of people in many different ways.