365 Facts: #266 (Teachers--Pete)
I've always loved to sing. It comes more naturally to me than even flute playing, and I had wanted to do that for as long as I'd known about the flute. However, it wasn't until I got to college that I joined a formal choir. Even then, I had to wait a year; my summer orientation adviser wouldn't let me sign up for that, and I didn't realize I could just *go* and hope to be let in.
I actually got to know Pete the choir director through band. He was one of the faculty members that played with us my freshman year; he played trombone. I think I talked to him about joining, so one afternoon in the spring he auditioned me. Even then, I was a decent sightreader (vocal sightreading is more difficult than instrumental, as you're the one that has to produce the pitch; not everyone can do that without some sort of aural guidance). However, I had yet to learn vocal ranges. I was actually singing the piece I was given an octave lower than it was written. I tell you, I was a tenor when I joined choir.
As it turned out, Pete went on pro term (one-term sabbatical) at the start of my sophomore year; he was not my first choir director. I recall all of the upper classmen were very upset with Dr. Paulin; when Pete came back the next term, I discovered why. Dr. Paulin made us work. Pete really didn't. In fact, he'd get mad when I'd take my folder home to practice! I'd never heard of such a thing. He'd sometimes add songs or take songs out of our folders outside of classtime, so if the folder wasn't there, he couldn't remove the songs. Oh, geez. And here I was hoping to get better at singing; I mean, come on, most of these people sang their way through high school. I had a lot of catching up to do. By the time I was a junior, though, I tapped into my reserves and got pretty good. It wouldn't take me long to memorize the songs. For whatever reason, though, Pete never picked me to sing in some of our smaller ensembles; he had his pets and I wasn't one of them when it came to choir. Okay, one time I got to do it in rehearsal when one girl was sick, but that was it. That kind of made me mad, though, because I was better than about half the altos (and most of the sopranos, even though I don't have the range...but I won't go there). We did have a number of good, strong altos, so I can't discredit them. However, it would have been nice had he, I don't know, given more than a handful of people a chance at the smaller groups, particularly those of us who, I don't know, could actually sing the parts. Not that I'm bitter or anything.
Pete, like Larry, wore several hats. Academically, he taught Music Lit and Music History. Oh, my God, did Music History kick my butt. I got a D on one of my tests and Pete wrote a note saying, Jen! What happened? Um, I sucked on this test; what do you mean, what happened? Even though I love music, history has never been my strong point. It's funny, because I'm a numbers person, but when it comes to remembering special dates that happened to other people, gah. It doesn't happen. Add to it that we had to memorize pieces of music, and...ugh. Not pretty. Music History was the music class I came back for after I graduated (split into I and II). It was the sort of thing that made me go, did I *really* want to come back for this? I mean, come on, I *did* graduate already. But it was important to me. And I did get at least Bs in the class...maybe an A or two. I don't remember anymore. But I know I did work really hard, even meeting with my classmates to study the Sunday night before finals at one point. I even went to the midnight pancake breakfast that night, which, as a commuter student, I'd never really been privy to in the past. Crazy. But all that studying paid off.
A third hat Pete wore was musical director for, what else, the musicals. I think he helped the cast and chorus learn the music and lyrics, and on Sundays we'd have pit orchestra rehearsal. Now that's where he really got to know me, as we were a small group and, especially during the in-the-pit rehearsals, we had a lot of downtime and he'd joke around and tease me. I don't know, between him and a certain clarinet player I took a lot of crap. A LOT. But overall it was fun and I got to see a different side of Pete than normal.
He was surprisingly giving in some ways. He may not have been the most stringent conductor ever--Larry was way more serious--but he liked to have fun and he liked for us to have fun as well. On choir trips, that meant he'd give some of us gifts. When we were on our trip to Texas, he bought all of us these silly little kid sunglasses; I have a picture of us in Texarkana straddling the Texas/Arkansas border with us wearing them. On one of the trips, he got me this little charm with my name and a nickname on it, made at a five-minute engraver at a Kmart. And he'd host cast parties and choir parties at his house, within walking distance of campus. He did do a lot for us, and if he liked you he'd do more for you. So, overall, I have fond memories of him.
I actually got to know Pete the choir director through band. He was one of the faculty members that played with us my freshman year; he played trombone. I think I talked to him about joining, so one afternoon in the spring he auditioned me. Even then, I was a decent sightreader (vocal sightreading is more difficult than instrumental, as you're the one that has to produce the pitch; not everyone can do that without some sort of aural guidance). However, I had yet to learn vocal ranges. I was actually singing the piece I was given an octave lower than it was written. I tell you, I was a tenor when I joined choir.
As it turned out, Pete went on pro term (one-term sabbatical) at the start of my sophomore year; he was not my first choir director. I recall all of the upper classmen were very upset with Dr. Paulin; when Pete came back the next term, I discovered why. Dr. Paulin made us work. Pete really didn't. In fact, he'd get mad when I'd take my folder home to practice! I'd never heard of such a thing. He'd sometimes add songs or take songs out of our folders outside of classtime, so if the folder wasn't there, he couldn't remove the songs. Oh, geez. And here I was hoping to get better at singing; I mean, come on, most of these people sang their way through high school. I had a lot of catching up to do. By the time I was a junior, though, I tapped into my reserves and got pretty good. It wouldn't take me long to memorize the songs. For whatever reason, though, Pete never picked me to sing in some of our smaller ensembles; he had his pets and I wasn't one of them when it came to choir. Okay, one time I got to do it in rehearsal when one girl was sick, but that was it. That kind of made me mad, though, because I was better than about half the altos (and most of the sopranos, even though I don't have the range...but I won't go there). We did have a number of good, strong altos, so I can't discredit them. However, it would have been nice had he, I don't know, given more than a handful of people a chance at the smaller groups, particularly those of us who, I don't know, could actually sing the parts. Not that I'm bitter or anything.
Pete, like Larry, wore several hats. Academically, he taught Music Lit and Music History. Oh, my God, did Music History kick my butt. I got a D on one of my tests and Pete wrote a note saying, Jen! What happened? Um, I sucked on this test; what do you mean, what happened? Even though I love music, history has never been my strong point. It's funny, because I'm a numbers person, but when it comes to remembering special dates that happened to other people, gah. It doesn't happen. Add to it that we had to memorize pieces of music, and...ugh. Not pretty. Music History was the music class I came back for after I graduated (split into I and II). It was the sort of thing that made me go, did I *really* want to come back for this? I mean, come on, I *did* graduate already. But it was important to me. And I did get at least Bs in the class...maybe an A or two. I don't remember anymore. But I know I did work really hard, even meeting with my classmates to study the Sunday night before finals at one point. I even went to the midnight pancake breakfast that night, which, as a commuter student, I'd never really been privy to in the past. Crazy. But all that studying paid off.
A third hat Pete wore was musical director for, what else, the musicals. I think he helped the cast and chorus learn the music and lyrics, and on Sundays we'd have pit orchestra rehearsal. Now that's where he really got to know me, as we were a small group and, especially during the in-the-pit rehearsals, we had a lot of downtime and he'd joke around and tease me. I don't know, between him and a certain clarinet player I took a lot of crap. A LOT. But overall it was fun and I got to see a different side of Pete than normal.
He was surprisingly giving in some ways. He may not have been the most stringent conductor ever--Larry was way more serious--but he liked to have fun and he liked for us to have fun as well. On choir trips, that meant he'd give some of us gifts. When we were on our trip to Texas, he bought all of us these silly little kid sunglasses; I have a picture of us in Texarkana straddling the Texas/Arkansas border with us wearing them. On one of the trips, he got me this little charm with my name and a nickname on it, made at a five-minute engraver at a Kmart. And he'd host cast parties and choir parties at his house, within walking distance of campus. He did do a lot for us, and if he liked you he'd do more for you. So, overall, I have fond memories of him.