Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Ever have one of those songs stuck in your head, and you don't want it to go away? That is the relationship that I have with ESMZ's "Home". I love it, and I love those hippies. Here is a clip of their performance on Letterman. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Antique Find

This weekend I had the rare opportunity to visit with friends from back home in PA. This is one of the things I miss most having moved away: hanging out with people my own age!

One of our weekend activities was going to an antique warehouse. Hubs told me I could spend $50, and I picked up this Fenton Pitcher/Bowl set. Isn't it precious!

Please excuse the picture size/quality, I was using my cell phone :-)

The power of positive thinking

Me conducting my Orchestra in the June 3rd, 2010 Concert

When I moved to Virginia to teach High school orchestra I felt extremely lucky. The Music Education field had many teachers, but not many job openings, and it is even harder to find an Orchestra job over Band, Chorus, and Elementary Music. What I didn't know was how extremely busy I would be and how difficult my job was.

This year was my second year of teaching, and as with many jobs there are positives and negatives. The negatives can consume my consiousness, it is easy to focus on that student who has a bad attitude or the coworker who continuously complains about their students, or the parents who are not supportive, or how I don't have time to collect my thoughts. It is easy to get discouraged when the state is cutting funding, and you have to scramble to figure out how to get money to continue to grow your program. So as an end of the year synopsis I am going to talk about some postitives to my job.

I have some of the best students in the entire county. They are hard working, talented, creative, and dedicated. I am very hard on them, because I expect the best out of them, and they always succeed. It is true what statistics say about students involved in music- they are the smartest - and in my opinion Orchestra students are smarter and more sophisticated than Band and Chorus students.

I get to travel. This year I have travelled all around Virginia to various festivals and events. I also got to visit NYC for the first time on our spring trip. The better performers my students are, the more events they qualify for, the more places I go.

I get to hear great music all the time. I had students audition for regional and state orchestras who made the group, and I got to hear Aaron Copland's Hoedown - Tchikovsky's Symphony No. 5 - Elgar's Enigma Variations played by the best musicians in North-West Virginia, Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique played by all the best musicians in the state of Virginia, I got to see Wicked live on Broadway (omg it was amazing!!!).

I also hear not so great music become music that is concert worthy and something for the students to be proud of; and I allowed that to happen. I get to see students work hard and achieve greatness. I get to watch that freshman violinist learn how to shift. I get to watch my senior learn how to conduct and lead the orchestra. I get to watch my senior cello player become an outstanding performer ready to enter a conservatory for cello performance. I get to watch that determined 8th grade violinist rise to the top of the orchestra. I get to see the group as a whole meld together as one team working for a common goal.

From the month of February to June do I have many free weekends? No. Do I get extremely exhausted? Heck Yes! Do the chores pile up and become rediculous mounds that I have to traverse? Yes. Do I get to enjoy the outdoors during the best weather? No :-(


Is it worth it? ...I guess so :-)