It's August
A quote from Mr. Obvious? No, I just didn't have anything else more impressive to use for my title.
I haven't kept up with LJ for the last few weeks, and I'm not gonna try to catch all the way up from my last post. I'd been a little frustrated with the LJ scene, so I took a break. I'll certainly be making more posts once the school year starts up again, and hopefully a few more will come forth this month.
Chatham Day Camp has finished. It was a good, if really busy, camp. We had legitimate band and orchestra performances, a first since I've been with the day camp. Also amusing was working with the retired band director of Wilkinsburg High School, who's retirement and subsequent lateral moves opened up the job that I now have. Oh, does he have stories. I got quite an education myself. The "knights and castles" class I taught to the little ones (5-6 yr old) was one of the biggest challenges, but I also heard some kids say it was their favorite class. That made me feel good. :-)
Day Camp also clarified a couple of viewpoints of mine: 1) I really enjoy teaching the older kids (10 and up) more than the younger kids. Not that I didn't have a good time teaching them, but it's just a preference of mine. 2) I like conducting. Even though it's no longer an ambition of mine to be a HS band director, I still got a thrill out of directing an arrangement of mine that came together pretty well. I think it was the "my arrangement" part that really gave me the thrill. But it was neat to be in front of a band/orchestra and lead them in music. I felt in my element.
Now, I thought that I might be working this week too, their "Focus Week", but I was only able to secure three of the four kids needed to start a new instrumental track. So, it's a little bit of a bummer that I won't be working and pumping up my paycheck, but looking at what I'd have to do, I think it's not so bad. I would've had a French horn (upper intermediate), trumpet (beginner), alto sax (lower intermediate), and drummer (intermediate). And I would've been their only instructor for the whole day. I'd be scrambling for "classes" to teach them from now til Friday. Not that I couldn't've figured something out, but I won't mind having the whole month to myself.
Speaking of which, even though we're not going to Pennsic, I'm trying to get more info on Taiko drumming, and I found this site that shows more of the oral notation used in Japanese drumming. I sent email to the author, hoping that he can answer more of my questions or point me in a right direction.
As far as school starting again in September, well, I don't need to think about that right now, so I won't. :-) I'll save that one for a couple weeks down the line.
I haven't kept up with LJ for the last few weeks, and I'm not gonna try to catch all the way up from my last post. I'd been a little frustrated with the LJ scene, so I took a break. I'll certainly be making more posts once the school year starts up again, and hopefully a few more will come forth this month.
Chatham Day Camp has finished. It was a good, if really busy, camp. We had legitimate band and orchestra performances, a first since I've been with the day camp. Also amusing was working with the retired band director of Wilkinsburg High School, who's retirement and subsequent lateral moves opened up the job that I now have. Oh, does he have stories. I got quite an education myself. The "knights and castles" class I taught to the little ones (5-6 yr old) was one of the biggest challenges, but I also heard some kids say it was their favorite class. That made me feel good. :-)
Day Camp also clarified a couple of viewpoints of mine: 1) I really enjoy teaching the older kids (10 and up) more than the younger kids. Not that I didn't have a good time teaching them, but it's just a preference of mine. 2) I like conducting. Even though it's no longer an ambition of mine to be a HS band director, I still got a thrill out of directing an arrangement of mine that came together pretty well. I think it was the "my arrangement" part that really gave me the thrill. But it was neat to be in front of a band/orchestra and lead them in music. I felt in my element.
Now, I thought that I might be working this week too, their "Focus Week", but I was only able to secure three of the four kids needed to start a new instrumental track. So, it's a little bit of a bummer that I won't be working and pumping up my paycheck, but looking at what I'd have to do, I think it's not so bad. I would've had a French horn (upper intermediate), trumpet (beginner), alto sax (lower intermediate), and drummer (intermediate). And I would've been their only instructor for the whole day. I'd be scrambling for "classes" to teach them from now til Friday. Not that I couldn't've figured something out, but I won't mind having the whole month to myself.
Speaking of which, even though we're not going to Pennsic, I'm trying to get more info on Taiko drumming, and I found this site that shows more of the oral notation used in Japanese drumming. I sent email to the author, hoping that he can answer more of my questions or point me in a right direction.
As far as school starting again in September, well, I don't need to think about that right now, so I won't. :-) I'll save that one for a couple weeks down the line.