So yeah....

I miss Orff and playing recorder. As intense and stressful as it was at certain points, I did thoroughly enjoy it (and learned a lot). Probably one of the most satisfying parts was simply making music with other music geeks. After five years of teaching and not being part of an ensemble where I have something to practice, I am itching to play music of a much harder level than beginning strings. I think that is partially why I am the recorder geek that I am. And yes, in the end, I did get to play harder recorder music (Telemann Canonic Sonata #3--basically a canon on steroids), so that was a blessing as well. My next step is to see how well I can play that on bass (instead of alto).

Let's see...having Lydee here for two weeks was awesome...without a doubt the biggest blessing was getting to know the people in the class. Having lunch and sharing many conversations M.H. was a highlight. It worked out well, because she was usually grading papers and I was looking for a spot where I wasn't going to have to interact with many people. Yes, I am an introvert at heart and need time to regroup after spending hours with a large group of people. Perhaps this is why I come home many times absolutely exhausted after teaching. Anyways, it is exciting to get to know people and start to build new relationships as you never know where the Lord will take you with them. I am hoping that He will give me the grace to keep in touch with the people I have gotten to know over the past two weeks, because this is usually not one of my strong points. Seeing that it is 11:00 and I have to get up early, it is time for me to sign off. Have a goodnight!

Interesting Music History Tidbits

Now that Orff is over and Lydee is on her way back to West Virginia, I am trying to get caught up on my music history reading. Our final and last day of my music history class is this coming Friday and I am two chapters behind (insert deep breath). I will update later on Orff as there is much to share.

We are now in the 20th century in our music history endeavor. In the art field, success "was measured not by wide popular appeal but by the esteem of intellectuals and fellow artists." I found this quite interesting as I can see that is an attitude that is still prevalent today. Professionally we look for the encouragement, endorsement, and approval of our colleagues and those in higher circles than we are. We look up to those who have gone further than us academically. I'm sure this statement can be applied to many areas, but it just struck me of this is still true in the professional & education realm.

Something else that I probably should've known but never thought about was when the capability to record musicians came about and people started buying recordings, "listening to recordings often replaced amateur music making at home." That is huge! And to think of how incredibly affected we are by that today. In my experience, I have found that there is a general attitude of people not wanting to make music because they aren't professionals and they won't be able to sound like the recordings. But there is also the flip side, that people do make music in hopes of emulating a favorite band or recording. Well, those are the thoughts for the moment. I need to stop blogging and get back to my reading.

The Ending

After going back to Eastman tonight and spending quality time with my alto recorder, things are starting to look up. Can't tell you how nice it is just to play outside of the context of 20 people trying to play high G and A on a soprano recorder. I was ready to light the fire under my soprano recorder after class today. The good Lord created alto recorders for a reason, and now I know why! Have a goodnight!

Ugh!

Today is a "just wish I could cry" day. I am so tired that my emotions are easily getting out of control. Lord have mercy on me! Last night we had a folk dance which was extremely fun, but going to bed after midnight did not help matters this morning. Oh well...thankfully this pace won't last forever. It is hard to not complain and to have a bad attitude when I am this tired, but I think the Lord is just teaching me to lean on Him. So, that is a praise.

Want an Update?

For a daily update of our Eastman activities this week, check out lydee's blog. She is much better at wording things than I am! Today went much better. I was so blessed to sit and have lunch with one of our instructors and talk through a few things. It seems like we hardly get to spend quality time with them this year. When we took Level II it seems like we talked with them more. But then we only had 10 people, this time we have 20, and last time both Janet and Mary Helen had lunch with us each day. This time that hasn't happened. Oh well, it is 11:00pm and 5:30/6:00 is going to come way too soon, so I better sign off for the night.

PS-Jake, I haven't had a chance to read your e-mail and probably won't until after next week. Hope things are well! Goodnight!

Orff III

My friend lydee has come up from W.V. and we are in the midst of taking our last Orff level at Eastman. The class goes from 8:30-4:00 everyday and will finish next Friday. This is our 3rd Orff level that we have taken together and so far it is going ok. There are some things that I am really enjoying and one thing that I am thoroughly disappointed over. We are spending more time talking about pedagogy (which I enjoy) and I love the movement portion of the class. The one thing that I am struggling with is the recorder class. I absolutely love playing recorder and am a recorder geek to the nth degree....but I am bored stiff in the class. I was looking forward to being challenged this year and right now I find myself trying to think of some way to challenge myself during class so I don't get antsy. I am that child who will get rebellious in class because he or she is bored.

It may seem like a silly thing to get upset over, but I am finding it hard to keep my emotions under control as I am extremely exhausted from this class, and my MWF 6-8pm music history class. Taking the two classes together is a slow, painful death, and I find myself getting more bitter as it goes on. But thankfully the Lord does provide times of relief and brain breaks. We get an hour lunch, so, if I eat during the first half, lock myself in a practice room and play for the second half, it seems to give me back some level of sanity.

the end. Have a good night.

Encouragement!

This was the verse that was in my inbox right after getting home from a physical and learning that I really need to lose 40lbs:

[Jesse was showing off to Samuel the first of his
fine sons. Samuel was very impressed but the
Lord spoke to him:]

“Do not look at his appearance or at his
physical stature, because I have refused him.

For the LORD does not see as man sees; for
man looks at the outward appearance, but the
LORD looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

Sense of Humor

I think the Lord has a sense of humor because 15 minutes after I posted my last blog, the "friendly teaching assistant" gave me a call and asked me if I was still irritable.

Morning Woes

Boy have I been having a hard time getting started each morning! I wake up tired and irritable, and then I have a hard time concentrating on what I am supposed to be accomplishing. Most of the time I just end up wasting an hour or two before I actually start getting to work. Right now would be one of those instances. I sat down and started to work at 10 o'clock and it is now 11 o'clock and I've hardly gotten anything done. Anyways, I could use some prayer in this area. Thanks!

Dude!

Sub Contrabass Recorder by Adriana Breuknik

Featured on Cover of Spring 2001 Recorder Magazine

**I think I am too short to try this recorder, but boy would it be fun!

Mozart

It amazes me how in a time and age when travel was slow and often times dangerous, so many 18th century composers (and especially Mozart) traveled all over Europe. During his 11 years of touring as a child prodigy, Mozart traveled literally all over Europe (1762-1763).

In the age of travel and technology that we currently live in, (with the exception of going to Canada) I have not left the United States.

Granted Europe is smaller than the US, but there still seems to be something strange about this comparison!

Niagara Falls

Yesterday I took a trip to Niagara Falls with my "other family" and had a wonderful time. We stayed on the American side, went on the Maid of the Mist, got soaked as we went up the stairs that go right by falls, rode the trolley, and did fun things related to being at Niagara Falls.

As I was searching for a photo to post, I was reminded of a Niagara Falls trip with my sister and a few friends. It all started with the four hours it took to get there.....(this was only supposed to be a two hour trip). We were driving my parent's van decided to start acting up. We stopped at a place near Buffalo to have it looked at. I don't remember what the problem was, but when we left, I was driving the van with both feet, keeping one feet on the break the whole time.

When we finally got to the Canadian side we had a great time.

But when we got back to the car, we discovered a slight problem, a.k.a the keys were locked in the car. (I think it might've been my fault.) So...AAA here we come! Only we were in Canada, so we had to call the CAA.

(Yes, that is my lovely sister on the phone with CAA.)

45 minutes later they finally came and we were on the road again!

All in all it was a memorable experience, besides, can I really complain when I got to drive across the Canadian/U.S. border wearing a fish hat?

4th of July Festivities

1) Rain: Many people may not be too excited about this one, but I am glad it is raining, as we haven't had rain in quite a while and it is much needed.

2)Eastman: Yes, I've taken up my post in the Eastman library, getting ready to study music history. Why? Because we have class tonight--yes, we have class on the 4th of July. There are only 5 of us in the class, so I can't exactly skip out either. I could've been in Vermont at this time....but, once again, Eastman has claimed me. Must remember: "this too shall pass." In fact, in 5 weeks it will be over. But in the mean time, I should enjoy the fact that I got to sleep in, study at the library where it is quite, and that I am getting a break from teaching. So....a lesson in being content with the Lord has given you.

A Couple of Interesting Links

1) The Dash Movie

2) The Rope

Enjoy!