I made it through the first week of school! I absolutely LOVE my Rock Bridge Chamber Orchestra. Those kids are the cream of the crop! They are all excellent musicians, they like to play whatever I put in front of them, they are incredibly well behaved, and they seem to like me (I even got a beautiful red silk stuffed fish to hang from one of my students who went to China over the summer). I have pulled a bunch of possible music selections and we are currently in the process of sight-reading through them. So far, everyone loved all four pieces we read through on Friday. And there is more great stuff to come (Copland, Dvorak, Mozart, Brahms!) Wow, it is going to be hard to choose out of the pile. I am going to really enjoy working with them this year.
The jury is still out on my Oakland Middle School crew......
They are 8th graders - just about the WORST age of teenagerhood - and I am NOT Mr. Strozier (their beloved teacher from last year). I am that teacher from Lange who, when OMS and LMS collaborated on concerts last year, was the one who took tempos too slow. They also hate the fact that every other day, we have to rehearse in the drama room. This is because the 6th grade orchestra meets during the same class period on alternating days and their size is so large that they need to have rooms 121 and 123 opened up to accommodate them. The large open room also benefits the choir and general music classes that meet in the afternoon. And, when the movable wall is closed - is doesn't close all the way (the school is over 40 years old and I guess no one felt the need to repair this problem) so there would be sound-bleed between my group and the 6th graders, should we meet in the side-by-side rooms. They were not happy with the music I put before them on Friday to sight read - the rhythms were too difficult (they really weren't - it was all stuff they supposedly learned in 7th grade). And, I have a class idiot - a smart boy who has decided that acting helpless and stupid is funny; a girl who should be my ally but is currently full of attitude; a girl who was a late starter to the violin so she can't read music as fast as the rest of the class and so she gives up; and, finally, the girl who wants to compete with me to be in charge of the class. She has a smart-aleck comment to make about everything, she has to have the last word every time, AND, she is really not a good musician - she just thinks she is. So, when I gave her the second violin part to read on Friday, she flatly refused to play - for the entire class period. I have already been in communication with the office about how to deal with her (needless to say, they are VERY familiar with this individual)
This equals a less-than-perfect first week for Oakland. Sigh..... But, tomorrow starts a brand new week and I will invite them to a fresh beginning.....
Other events of the week: Steve and I used a gift card from Beckie (from last Christmas!) and had dinner at Red Lobster Friday night. Mmmm. We also went to see "Hundred Step Journey" Saturday afternoon and absolutely loved it. Go see it. You won't regret it. We also had a stake single adult picnic Saturday at noon at Cosmo Park. Summer in Missouri was slow in arriving but it is here now with a vengeance so temperatures kept many people away, I believe. But, we had a few brave souls show up and we had a great time discussing single adult activities for our stake. The food was easy and yummy (sub sandwiches, chips, watermelon, cookies, water) and, of course, there were lots of leftovers so I spend some time Saturday evening dropping food to the various sets of missionaries on the east side of town.
In case you hadn't heard, Elise found an apartment. You will have to let her tell you the details but it sounds perfect for her situation right now.
This pretty much wraps up my week.
No comments:
Post a Comment