Where did Jen go?

It is been so long since I posted. Sorry for the delay. I think if you have a blog, you should try and give a quick post at least once a week (I am not trying to guilt you Tony…well maybe a little.) In my defense I truly have been in over my head lately, so I am here and a lot has happened. Let’s start on a positive note shall we:

1) Nathan bought me flowers for no reason! He is so sweet, I love him.

2) In the last six weekends we have been to St. Louis four times. (high school reunion, two family weddings and this past weekend a funeral)

3) I just finished up a course for grad school which involved a semi-in-depth project and a five page paper about nothing.

4) My student teacher is taking more time and energy than I thought he would before the school year started.

5) Lastly, I am busy with IMEA stuff.

All the above things have just added up to the feeling I am overwhelmed. However, I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We came home late Saturday night and Sunday I was a giant bum and I think that is just what I needed. I am really looking forward to this semester coming to an end. Then I will be done with IMEA stuff and my student teacher will have moved on. Then at the end of this school year I will be done with grad school!!! So for now I am telling myself, “just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” That is a cute movie.

Work Stuff Mostly

I have been so busy with work lately. This past Thursday I took my 75 member band down to the University of Illinois. The choir and orchestra from my school also went so we had quite the caravan going down I-57. Anyway, I had two parents on each of my busses. I was going to be on one and then my student teacher on the other. However, when we pulled away from the school at 7:30 AM, my student teacher was nowhere to be found (That is a story in itself). I was afraid this was going to be an omen for how the day was going to go, but luckily it was not. My kids were fantastic. Their behavior was awesome and was only exceeded by their playing. I really feel like we got so much out of our visit, from the Sousa Museum, to working with Ken, to the kids listening to Symph. I rehearse. I do not think we could have asked for anything more.

This past Saturday was IMEA auditions. I am the band chair for my IMEA district this year. That means that I make tons of copies and the day of auditions I run around like a chicken with my head cut off for 13 hours entering scores and putting the IMEA band together along with a handful of other nuts like myself. I have to say I am so glad that day is over and that I only have a handful of responsibilities left as band chair for IMEA.

Today was my niece Ariana’s Birthday party. She is such a cutie. I have a picture of her below.

U of I and Gilmore Girls

I am taking my band to U of I tomorrow. I did this a few years ago and it was a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to this, my kids play well this year and I think Ken will be able to do a lot with them.

Other than that I have been pondering how I feel about the TV show Gilmore Girls. I have been a faithful follower of the show from its start, however I currently have issues. I am tired of them ripping Luke and Loralie (sp?) apart. They need to pick a course of action and stick with it. I know this is a tried and true TV formula. In my opinion you only get to go back and forth so many times before you lose your audience. I think the show has hit the limit. They are currently reintroducing Christopher as her love interest and I would be fine with that, but let’s stick with this plan Gilmore Girls.

Showcase Concert

This year is the first year that every child in my band program has only known me as the head band director. I have been looking forward to this for a while for two reasons. First, all my students know the way I teach, my quick pacing, how to read when I am angry, and the kind of quiz grader I am. Since the students are so familiar with me, it just makes everything run that much more efficiently. The second reason is that my current 8^th grade class has always been very strong. We were very excited about them as 5^th graders because the group was just so natural and large.

However, this year did not begin with the focused musical achievement I was expecting. I was worried about our concert last Thursday night. The kids, however, morphed into the outstanding young musicians I knew them to be. Last Thursday was really one of the strongest concerts we have ever given. A few of the kids said, “I have never seen you smile so much while conducting.” We played a wonderful arrangement of Children’s March, Country Wildflowers, and Fanfare and Flourishes 2. I hate it when a band just barely gets through a piece and then they are too ignorant to know they didn’t make any music. I was so afraid we were just going to get through the music. That could not have been further from the truth. My kids were so sensitive to the style of Children’s March, the phrasing of Country Wildflowers, and the dynamic changes in all three of the tunes that I was blown away. Now how do I get my kids to be as focused as they were at our concert all the time? This truly is my mission, although I do understand I am a little crazy for thinking I can achieve this.

Nothing new

Not tons new here to report, just real busy like everyone else. So, I though I would plug a new product I am now enjoying: Downey wrinkle releaser. It works pretty well. I always overstuff my drawers and then my shirts get wrinkled. I never have time to iron in the morning, nor do I think ahead the night before. So many of my shirts just sat in a wrinkled ball in my drawer but since using the wrinkle releaser I have access to a much larger wardrobe.

General Music

So, I have spent the better part of my afternoon grading general music papers. This paper is by far my least favorite part of teaching general music. (We are actually revamping our general music curriculum this year and it looks like this paper is getting the boot. Thank goodness.) The reason I hate grading these papers is all the plagiarism. After grading ten papers two kids totally copied their papers and another two copied enough that they are losing serious points.

I go over what plagiarism is and the punishment for doing it. I teach them how to make note cards about their topic; I collect 15 note cards before the paper is due. I make them write it in first person. Still every specials rotation I have at least one kid think they will get away with it. Most are smart enough to change the He to I, to try and make it look like they wrote it. But when I read stuff like “In the mid 1920’s I began to formulate a concept I called Elementare Muzik, or elementary music, which was based on the ancient Greek Muses and involve tone, dance, poetry, image….” lets just say I smell a rat. If any students read this blog, do not plagiarize! You will get caught and then you have to do the paper again for next to no credit and your parents have to get involved.

Reminder

Let these pooches serve as a reminder to start thinking about your Halloween Costume! I personally have a great idea but, I am still working out the logistics.

Pet Peeve

As I was driving to work someone felt the need to turn out in front of me forcing me to slam on my breaks even though there was no one behind me on the road. This pisses me off, but then what really gets me going is they proceed to go 5 miles an hour under the speed limit!!!!! Ahhh, so you were in a big enough rush to cut me off and force me to slam on the breaks, but not enough to do the speed limit? I knew I should have stayed in bed today. It did not get a lot better at school either. We had a bad rehearsal and let’s just leave it at that.

Instant oatmeal

I have never been a fan of instant oatmeal. The texture has always been a bit too slimy for my taste. Texture is a big thing to me when it comes to food. Anyway, in the pursuit of healthier living I bought a new kind of instant oatmeal that Quaker came out with. To my surprise it was awesome and it didn’t have a slimy texture. I took some to work today, because I was too lazy to make a sandwich this morning. However to my utter dismay my oatmeal was slimy. How could this be? Well I microwaved it rather than boiling the water in my tea kettle. Apparently that is the key to good instant oatmeal; boil the water, do not microwave it.

In other news, student council elections were announced at my school and the band has taken over. One of my trumpet players is president and one of my percussionists is treasurer…the school might be in some real trouble! We also got our school pictures today. If anyone would like a wallet size of your favorite junior high band director, just let me know. The picture is not half bad for a school picture.

Weekend Update

After a week of battling illness and a grad school project, Nathan and I headed to St. Louis for his cousin Mellissa’s wedding. She looked wonderful and the wedding went off without a hitch.

I have been to more than my fair share of wedding these past few years. I guess it is just that time in our lives. After going to so many I have a little advice for the maid of honor and best man. Keep your toast funny and short, with an emphasis on short. Mellissa’s sister Kristin’s toast was a great example. She brought up a few funny memories that everyone could laugh at even if you were not there, expressed her heart felt love and congratulations to the couple, and then wrapped it all up. I have been to a few weddings were the toast goes on and on, they bring up inside jokes that no one else gets, and they make the toast about themselves not the couple. I get really aggravated when these things occur. Am I alone in this?

It was a fun evening and a great chance to get caught up with a lot of the extended family. I had a good chat with Nathan’s cousin Mike. We have always gotten along well in the big group gatherings, but it was nice to get to talk with him one on one. He is a good guy and single ladies if anyone is looking. I am sure he would be mortified if he new I just wrote that on my blog. I also got to get in a lot of hugs with my little niece Anna. She is a cutie with a very sweet disposition. So that is my weekend update.

Birthday

So, how did I spend my birthday? Well my birthday is always a mixed bag for starters it is September 11^th. Apparently Channel 9 did a story about 9/11 babies, but I missed it. Also I am usually sick on my birthday. It is a few weeks after school starts and just enough time to be surrounded by sick kids bombarding my immune system. My birthday also falls just after band recruitment which requires me to help tons of fifth graders play instrument… and germs are unavoidable. I thought I was going to be in the clear this year though, the day before my birthday came and I was felling pretty good. I even celebrated with friends. But by that evening I could feel my body getting sick.

The morning of my birthday brought a myriad of systems. Putting aside my failing immune system the day had some highlights. I received lots of cards, e mails and calls from family and friends. When I arrived at school a group of my girls were decorating my door. I have wonderful kids and I am sometimes surprised at how much they me to me and I guess I to them. One of my kids bought me the most thoughtful gift a book call “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” She included such a heart felt letter that I began to cry and had to pull myself together before first hour. I ended the day by going out to dinner with Nathan. I bought the hottest thing on the menu in an effort to clean out my sinuses. It did not work as well as I hoped. I went to bed early in an attempt to kick this bug, but alas the bug has kicked me and I am home sick today.

School stuff

Recruitment is finally over! It looks like we have just over 40% of the 5^th grade class in band, so we are pretty happy with our numbers. Our instrumentation looks fairly decent too. We do have a few too many trumpets and we could use a couple more percussionists. Normally band programs are trying to drive them away from the drums ,but we have a two year piano requirement in order to play percussion. This guarantees we get kids that will be able to play the mallet instruments and helps keep our numbers on percussion from sky rocketing.

I unfortunately have nothing to report from the home front because this week was all about recruitment and my Symphonic Band Auditions. Auditions went well and there were not too many surprises. I do have three kids who are mad at me. One of whom asked “Do you hate me? Why is so and so a higher chair than me, I sat in front of them last year. Well I did not practice for the audition anyway.” I am sure the kid earned the chair placement they did because I hate them rather than the fact they did not practice

Swing dancing with friends

We had a great time last night at the Willowbrook Ballroom. However their was not so much swing dancing as chit chatting going on in our group of friends. None the less, I had a great time. I wish we were all able to get together more often…I think we should all plan to move to the same town! Who is with me? Anyways last night was great fun and Rach got me a Kermit the Frog card for my birthday!

Grad school projects

Grrrrrr!

This ones for you kid

I was just wondering if anyone checked my blog and I convinced myself that no one does since I rarely get comments. Then I don’t post for a few days and I get blog guilt from Cindy…so here it goes

I am back in the classroom again. I have 73 kids in my top group this year and instrumentation is looking pretty good. I did have a tuba player move away over the summer which hurt. I would almost rather lose a toe than a tuba player. I was going to have three girl tuba players this year. We were going to have t-shirts made to commemorate such a historic event. I still have two tuba girls, but it just does not seem the same. I do have five horns this year which makes me want to do cart wheels! As always, my saxophone section is looking to be the most colorful of the group.

Why does it always seem like the saxophone kids are the colorful ones? My fellow band director at school Kim swears she is going to do her masters thesis on developing a personality test to determine what you should play. No more trying instruments out. Instead we will ask a series of preference questions to determine what you should play. I wonder what some of those questions should be? Anyway I should go and rest up. We start beginning band recruitment tomorrow and since we do not have the personality test yet, we will just have to do it the old fashioned way.

R.I.P.

I ran over a raccoon the other day. Let’s please have a moment of silence for the fallen woodland creature. (Silence) It was an accident. He or she was crossing the road and well into the next lane when the little bugger dashed backwards in front of my car. He or she might have been suicidal, I am not sure. Regardless the sound was not pleasant for me, so I can not imagine what it was like for him. So farewell raccoon, I hope you are in a better place. (I bet when you read the title of this post you thought it was going to be about school starting.)

BB King is just that...King!

Nathan and I went and saw BB King this past weekend at Ravina. He is amazing! I truly hope to be like him when I am 80 years old. This man played for two hours straight that is longer than most guys half his age. He was also very engaging with the audience and had a wonderful sense of humor. He joked about all the not so funny things that happen as you get old and his inability to hit on women. I hope I have such a wonderful sense of humor about ageing when I get older.

If you do not know that much about the blues BB King is a wonderful place to start. He really has made some of the quintessential blues songs his own. This past weekend he made us wait for it but he played “The Thrill is Gone.” This is probably his best known song but he put a different spin on his live version it was much more up tempo than the classic recording of his.

As a musician and a resident of Chicago I feel obligated to tell you the blues is for everyone. The blues is not depressing or pity party music. The blues acknowledges the hard times but takes more of a life gave you lemons make lemonade type attitude. I am always in a good mood after listening to my blues play list on my ipod. Go ahead and down load some BB King!

sneezing

I have a small medical mystery. For as long as I can remember I have had this tail… just kidding. Actually my mystery is not quite that interesting. I never sneeze just once. Lately I have started keeping track and I usually sneeze four times but not always. I do remember only sneezing once in high school, I think my friends Tony was a witness. But after my single sneeze it felt like I had to sneeze again and my nose and throat felt funny for a while afterwards. Does this happen to anyone else? Anyone have a theory on why I always sneeze multiple times? It really is a bit ridiculous anyone who knows me never says “bless you” after the first one because they know more is on the ways.

A book review plus some

I just finished a wonderful book called “The Secret Life of Bees.” I thought the story was thoughtful and very insightful into the issues of race relations, mother-daughter relationships, and survival of the human spirit.

The story is set during the beginning of the civil rights movement and it is told from the point of view of a 14 year old girl. I love the way the author addressed the issue of racism, both the kind that is blatant and also the kind people have without even realizing it, in a very honest manner without being preachy. I believe this idea is secondary to the story line of the main character Lily struggling with the loss of her mother at a young age and feeling like she had no love relationship with an adult, or anyone for that matter. I will not give any of the story away, but I do recommend that you read this book.

I have never been a trashy romance novel kind of girl, although I do enjoy a thriller from time to time. I am mainly drawn to stories told from the female perspective that incorporate real issues. For example, my favorite book to date is “The Poisonwood Bible.” This book tackles issues such as the sometimes unwanted spread of Christianity to certain parts of the world, racism, and survival. The story is told through the point of view of all four of a missionary preacher’s daughters.

Please do not take my thoughts on literature as me saying men are incapable of thoughtful commentary on tough issues or they are not aware of the world around them. I think I love female driven stories written by women because I am one and I find it easier to relate too. Although I will admit I have more than once found myself angry at female characters in stories written by men. For example, almost every female penned by Shakespeare is weak in some way whether it is Ophelia losing her mind or Hamlet’s mother marrying her husband’s brother after his untimely death. Yes, you can argue that it was the time that those plays were written and females are not portrayed like that anymore, but I still see it as a problem. Just look at Memoirs of a Geisha by Golden. Although this book is very well written and the main character does display moments of great strength, in the end her whole life has been about being with one man.

I guess I have just done so much reading about women who need to be saved or shown the way by the men in their life that I need a break. Wow, I really meant this just to be a book review not a rant. I am always open to reading suggestions, no matter who the author.

Ode to bread

I am a total carbohydrate addict, and sandwiches are one of my favorite things to eat. However in the interest of healthy living recently I have started making wraps instead of sandwiches. Wraps are ok but I do miss the bread. Until now however I could not find a bread that was low cal, high in fiber, and tasted good. Drum roll please………..Healthy Life Rye Bread meets all three criteria! It is only 80 calories for two slices, yes that it is right two slices not one, 7 grams of fiber (hmmmm fiber) and it really does taste like rye bread not cardboard.

In the interest of full discloser this bread does have a lighter texture than normal rye bread and no it is not as good as my favorite full loaded sourdough. But Healthy Life Rye is a tasty everyday bread. They also have a wheat bread version, but I have not sampled it as of yet and can’t comment.

Now I must go eat a sandwich and maybe take a nap!