Hey ho away we go! Riding on a donkey!
Last Thursday marked a serious milestone in the early career of a music teacher: I made my choral conducting debut in performance! And then I did it AGAIN in the evening!
That's right, May 5 was a HUGE day in my school choir's schedule. First, during the schoolday, it was the school's volunteer tea, which entailed one song performed by the whole student body, and a second song performed by just the choir. Then, in the evening, was the District's Night of Music, which involved a massed choir from four schools, and none of the (much more experienced) other music teachers wanted to take responsibility, so I had to conduct that too!
To be honest, of all the songs we had lined up for that day, the first one was the most nerve-wracking. For a song for the whole school, I chose the Thank You round that I learned when I was in Mixed Chorus. I simplified it down from four parts to only two, but even so it was a bit of a calculated risk, asking children (some as young as 5 years old!) to sing in parts, unaccompanied, and arrayed around the gym in a fairly sparse arrangement to create a surround sound effect for the parent volunteers in the middle. It was a risk that paid off; the kids did a great job, and all the other pieces, being accompanied, were far less challenging w.
Night of Music was HUGE, and our principal co-MCed the night with the Deputy Superintendent of the District. I take this to mean she had some quality time to talk with the Deputy Superintendent, because the next day at school she told me she had been informed that I was to be put on contract without the posting and interviewing process I was expecting. I think I impressed somebody....
That's right, May 5 was a HUGE day in my school choir's schedule. First, during the schoolday, it was the school's volunteer tea, which entailed one song performed by the whole student body, and a second song performed by just the choir. Then, in the evening, was the District's Night of Music, which involved a massed choir from four schools, and none of the (much more experienced) other music teachers wanted to take responsibility, so I had to conduct that too!
To be honest, of all the songs we had lined up for that day, the first one was the most nerve-wracking. For a song for the whole school, I chose the Thank You round that I learned when I was in Mixed Chorus. I simplified it down from four parts to only two, but even so it was a bit of a calculated risk, asking children (some as young as 5 years old!) to sing in parts, unaccompanied, and arrayed around the gym in a fairly sparse arrangement to create a surround sound effect for the parent volunteers in the middle. It was a risk that paid off; the kids did a great job, and all the other pieces, being accompanied, were far less challenging w.
Night of Music was HUGE, and our principal co-MCed the night with the Deputy Superintendent of the District. I take this to mean she had some quality time to talk with the Deputy Superintendent, because the next day at school she told me she had been informed that I was to be put on contract without the posting and interviewing process I was expecting. I think I impressed somebody....