I think I'm glad I only had two kids in the group today. They were tired, couldn't focus, and struggled to figure out what times 8 equals 8. I finally gave in and granted them time for a 10 minute nap followed by 15 pushups to get the blood going again. We managed to make it through another few problems, but it just seemed like torture to be asking these kids about fractions when they were struggling so much to put two coherent thoughts together.
It didn't help that I had run out of cereal the day before so there was no food for them to nibble on while we worked. Neither child tends to eat breakfast and their abilty to think is seriously compromised when they haven't had food. We did have a discussion about "healthy" cereal when one of them volunteered to bring in cereal. Every cereal he wanted to bring in was a real-life equivilent to Frosted Sugar Bombs.
We also had a discussion about "no excuses" regarding homework. One of the two routinely doesn't do homework and so I had to give the "school is your job" lecture. I explained that when he didn't even have his name written on the paper, it was an indication he hadn't even attempted to do the homework. If you choose to do karate and other fun activities, you have to make choices that allow you to complete the homework, too. One choice I pointed out was the 10 minutes I had given them in class yesterday to start the homework when he opted to play with the unit shapes instead of doing the homework. He had forgotten to hand in his homework packet from a previous unit. In looking through it, he had done less than half of one page out of the 20 or so in the packet.
I'm sure I wasn't exactly helping the situation since I hadn't had nearly enough sleep but this being the day before their spring break, the entire school was squirrelly. It was one of those days where I was very happy not to be a full-time teacher and probably the first time this year that I've been happy to leave the kids behind. On the plus side, one of them said that this is the first time she's ever enjoyed math and that she felt like she was starting to understand it. That's always a good feeling and a huge part of what brings me back each day.
Quartet rehearsal last night was good. I'd forgotten to go over a potential new song with Nikki so I couldn't sing along very well but we ran through most of our other repertoire. I gave them a copy of the new bass solo song I'd like to add. We'll see if this one makes the cut. I'm trying very hard to find a bunch of easy but interesting songs to add to our repertoire. Nikki has something like a 3-rehearsal rule but I don't think we're ready for anything that strict. Perhaps we'll choose a "if it's not reasonably solid in 6 rehearsals, we should drop it" rule. We have both a Mother's Day and a Father's Day gig coming up so we need some non-love songs to broaden our range a bit. With so many soldiers still overseas, "Bring Him Home" seems like it might work for both. It never ceases to amaze me how many songs there are about a mother's love but ones about a father's love are virtually impossible outside of country songs. Hmmm, maybe I'll see if there's a barbershop arrangement of "A Love Without End, Amen".
I had a great lunch with Nikki the other day. Lots of great conversation about jury duty, singing, competition and the challenges of finding a mentor director. Sweet Adelines had a mentor director program where both parties filled out an extensive questionaire then SAI would match up-and-coming directors with established directors as mentors. They've cut the program due to budget cuts so the question has now become one of how does Nikki shop for a mentor director. Does the mentor need to be someone that will work with AJoy or could it just be someone that works well with Nikki? AJoy's grown and changed so much over the last few years that it's a little challenging to figure out what coaches might work for us and Nikki. Donny and Amy are a formidible team and have really helped both AJoy and Nikki but looking down the road, we'll need another coach to bring us a long. It's kind of like thinking about what to put on your internet dating profile. What kinds of things can you say that will attract the "right" person and how do you know that you are focusing on the "right" and "important" things. We don't want to spend half our coaching budget bringing in someone to have it be an unmitigated disaster but if we're going to try someone, this summer is a great time to do it.
Oh well, nothing going on this weekend so I can clear off the to-do list: taxes, bills for both home and AJoy, cleaning and repairing costume stuff for competition, buying timed cat feeders for next weekend and, most importantly, sleeping. I'm going to need a lot of energy next weekend!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Challenges of Teaching
Some of you may know that I am an all-but-thesis teacher. I've been volunteering in schools since '98 and have been privileged to work with a lot of teachers and students through the years. Today I want to talk about what I see as the challenges facing schools, teachers and parents as we all work together to educate the kids.
First off, I live in a predominantly upper-class area with a high tax rate going to the local school district so if there was a district poised for success, this should be one of them. There is not an excess of poverty, English as Second Language (ESL) kids, or kids who have serious behavior problems. If we can't figure out how to educate kids when the kids mostly don't have to worry about their safety, food or shelter, how do we expect to figure it out when a large percentage of the kids can't take those basic (Maslov) needs for granted?
Here's what I've seen in my 10+ years of volunteering. Note that as a volunteer, I haven't had to endure the bureaucracy that the teachers do but I have heard a lot about it.
Ok, enough of my thoughts. What do you think? What do you see in your schools aside from the too-little-money problems?
First off, I live in a predominantly upper-class area with a high tax rate going to the local school district so if there was a district poised for success, this should be one of them. There is not an excess of poverty, English as Second Language (ESL) kids, or kids who have serious behavior problems. If we can't figure out how to educate kids when the kids mostly don't have to worry about their safety, food or shelter, how do we expect to figure it out when a large percentage of the kids can't take those basic (Maslov) needs for granted?
Here's what I've seen in my 10+ years of volunteering. Note that as a volunteer, I haven't had to endure the bureaucracy that the teachers do but I have heard a lot about it.
- Parents proudly stating that they "can't do math" when they are the parents of 1st and 2nd graders. Imagine the outrage if these parents stated that they couldn't read! Talk about challenging a teacher to get kids excited about math when their parents are giving up without even trying to understand the assignment. I do understand that many parents are not comfortable helping their kids with algebra or calculus, but please. for all our sakes, set a positive example and show your kids how to get help rather than throwing up your hands and giving up. If you as a parent are really struggling to do the math of your elementary school child, please talk to the teacher and let them help you. Education isn't just for kids :-)
- Students who do homework during recess because they have so much to do after school that they can't get it all done. I am not one to believe that school work should be the only thing any child does, but a little balance is necessary. Sometimes, a little sacrifice is necessary. In the case of some kids, they sacrifice their recess time when they really need to stretch their bodies and refresh their brains. In the case of other kids, they sacrifice the practice that comes from doing the homework because they have "no time". I'm not sure I believe that there is "no time" to do homework, but I do believe that sometimes we don't think about the choices we force our kids to make. Certainly my kids got adept at doing homework in the car as we drove to drama or karate or out to dinner. I did set a reasonable limit on how much time each night I would let my kids do homework but it was predicated on honest effort on their part. I never counted time they whined or fidgeted but I did count time they were actively trying to do the homework. Sometimes they had too much to do and we wrote a note to the teacher to that effect. When I worked with the high level kids, they almost always had all or some of the homework done. When I worked with the lower level kids, they often didn't even have their names on their papers nor had they even looked over the homework to see if they understood it or not.
- Practice makes permanent, not perfect. Kids do need to do homework to practice skills. If a 1st grade child reads 100 words a day outside of school, they'll have read 36,500 extra words by the end of the year. For a struggling reader, this adds up quickly to help them be successful but they fall farther and farther behind the average reader who is reading 300 words a day. As the years go by, the divide gets bigger and bigger so the kids who are behind grade level readers in 2nd grade end up being a whole grade level below by mid-4th grade. Believe me, I'm happy to have them read at all but imagine how many more words they'd read in a day if they helped grocery shop to find items or if they worked their way through finding out what the toy in a box of cereal is or learning how to read a map. The more words they read at a younger age, the less catching up they have to do later. Whether it's math or reading or spelling or whatever, spend a small amount of extra time thinking about the skill areas that aren't as strong and figure out ways to make them feel successful rather than failures.
- Anyone who thinks class size is irrelevant has never had to chaperone a birthday party alone. People work better where they feel valued regardless of how old they are. It's hard to feel valued when there are so many students that they can't stretch at their desks without accidently hitting someone. It's hard to have a great relationship with a teacher when you have to wait 10 minutes to get every question answered. It's hard to feel valued when you work 7 hours in the classroom, then another 6 hours planning and grading before the next day only to go home and find out the school district has to cut funds again. Would you assign a really creative assignment that encourages the kids to think if you knew you were going to have to grade all 30 (or 60 in junior high or 90 in HS) of them over the weekend? Teachers want to be good teachers but many teachers have to go into survival mode in order to make it through the day. For your sanity, you give the kids boring, cookie-cutter assignments because they can be graded more efficiently. Bringing class sizes down small enough for teachers to form relationships with the kids that are close enough that the teacher can augment assignments to take advantage of the class she has this year rather than the classes he's had for the last 10 years.
- People learn more through play than through rote. Which uses higher thinking skills: memorizing 6x8=48 or working out the problem because you know that 6x8 is really 6 groups of 8 so if 5x8 is 40 you need one more group of 8 to make 48. Memorizing is faster but it demonstrates much less mathematical understanding than figuring out the answer. It can be a real challenge to get kids to memorize flash cards of multiplication or words or whatever but if you turn it into a game, kids tend to play longer and remember better because it is connected to them. Want to teach your kids the multiplication facts? Play multiplication war. Want to help your kid learn to spell? Have them write the words on one side of a flash card with consonants in one color and vowels in another. On the other side, draw blank lines using the right colors for the letters and draw a weird picture. Have them try spelling the words backwards or just the vowels or just the consonants. It's challenging even for the adults which makes it even more fun for the kids. There are lots of ways to make the homework fun or enjoyable but it does take effort.
- I've never met a kid who didn't want to learn but I have met kids who didn't want to work. When I can show a child why they are being asked to do this work and when I treat them like respectful and responsible individuals, they always respond, even the kid who is constantly in the Principal's office. When I can get a child to relax about whether they got a problem right or wrong but instead focused on whether they understand why they are doing what they are doing, I get a child who starts to pull his/her learning from me rather than me trying to push it into the child. I have had to teach kids how to handle frustration (which helps the problem child tremendously elsewhere) and I have had to teach kids confidence which I find much harder to do.
- Math is a foreign language. We forget that when we teach kids but if you think about math that way, particularly in the junior high school setting, it explains an awful lot. In elementary school, kids are learning English but that's not too bad because most of them have spoken it their whole life. Those students in bilingual education are often learning the second language. This is great long-term, but it tends to slow down the acquisition in the short term. When we teach them arithmetic (+,-,* and division), we teach them a huge vocabulary of words they don't tend to use outside of math class. When kids go to junior high, many of them get into their first real math class, usually some variant of algebra which uses a completely new set of vocabulary terms and way of using and manipulating numbers. In essence, we're teaching them a foreign language at a time when their adolescent brains are scrambled from hormones and reorg and often they are learning another language like French or Spanish. Is it any wonder why so many kids get to algebra and throw on the breaks? When kids hit calculus, they learn a third and (mostly) final language. There is some similarity to the languages of arithmetic and algebra but many terms are used in completely different ways and the ways of manipulating equations is very different. Learning these languages is a fantastic thing but it needs to be realized how challenging we are making their lives.
- Arithmetic and math are not the same thing. Many kids believe they are lousy in math because their arithmetic skills are subpar. In many cases, these kids have excellent math skills and intuition, but they can't do the addition correctly to show their knowledge. I just don't understand why we punish these kids so strongly for not being fantastic at arithmetic when there are calculators that can check their work. Yes, they should do the problem for the practice, but rather than force them to use the "traditional" methods of solving arithmetic problems, can't we brainstorm different methods that help the child be more successful? There is an awful lot more math in the world than arithmetic. Using a calculator should be no more shameful than using spellcheck. We should all be good at arithmetic and spelling but at least give us credit for knowing we should check our work.
Ok, enough of my thoughts. What do you think? What do you see in your schools aside from the too-little-money problems?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
More Than Ready for Competition
Yesterday was AJoy's Friends and Family concert. We scaled it back this year because last year we had people standing in the entryway of the church and it was a wee bit of a fire hazard. I remember being so proud of how well we sounded last year, truly amazed at our progress since the year before. Contest was in mid-April in Alaska and by June, the chorus had improved so much that watching the contest videos was painful. By September, the June videos were too painful to watch. We haven't stopped that pace, and last night was the culmination of all our hard work.
We kept F&F small this year and required tickets for entry. The tickets were free but it meant that we didn't advertise the show to anyone outside our families and the church. Our audience ended up being about 200+ people excluding the 40ish members of the chorus. It meant that everyone had room to sit and nobody was squished. It also meant the chorus could sit down during the quartets.
AJoy started off the evening by singing our two competition songs. They felt strong and fabulous on the risers and from the reaction of the audience, they liked it. I liked that the building rang with our chords. The architect of the church's sanctuary did an amazing job creating a room that rings with energy naturally, and when we sing well and create the overtone, the building rewards us by humming along. Think of it as positive feedback every time we sing it right.
AJoy filed off to the left, and I filed off to the right to join my quartet-mates since we were next in line. This was definitely our best F&F concert of this season. We'd sung last Monday at Jet Cities' F&F, then again on Saturday at PSC's F&F, so this was our third performance in a week and everything just felt like it came together. I was nervous before AJoy unlike at Jet Cities or PSC - I guess I care how well I sing in front of my peeps moreso than when I sing in front of other people's peeps - but since we started with our uptune, I could direct that energy into our performance. I'm really liking starting with our uptune but we'll talk about our song order during tomorrow's rehearsal. Next up was our ballad. We started the chorus a wee bit too soft so there was no where softer to go for the next phrase, but other than that, I think we sang it as best as we are able. Since we had the option of singing a third song, we brought out "Codfish Ball". It's a funny song and we're still getting the choreo down while keeping the sound up, but the audience really seemed to like it. It's competable so maybe we'll perform it at competition next year but we're going to perform it this year at the Thursday night competition kick-off meeting.
Next up was Frenzy. Can I just say that I want dibs on their first CD? They don't sound at all like they did two weeks ago when I thought they were amazing. They've transformed in these two weeks from a region-winning quartet to a quartet worthy of being on the international stage. It's a monumental change and I could have just melted last night while listening to them. Larry's comment was that the bass' voice was like buttah - it just enveloped the sound and provided that perfect feeling that the other voices could layer their flavors on top of. The tenor's voice is so quiet and unassuming until you realize that she's singing those high notes so perfectly that you weren't even aware of them as separate notes but rather as just part of the notes the lead is singing. When she brings out her voice on the gospel song (whose name I should know but don't), you are suddenly laser-focused on how amazing she is - and how amazing she's been without you realizing it before. Nikki, the lead, has a voice that I thought I knew very well but when she sings with Frenzy, her voice is transformed into a sound that weaves seamlessly into the other voices so it becomes difficult to pick hers out of the mix. She is still undeniably the leader of the group but its more her presence than her sound. Having learned how challenging bari parts are - challenging note progressions and constantly rebalancing each chord to make it work - I have nothing but admiration for how seemlessly it was done. I think this Frenzy gestalt is the real difference from Frenzy two weeks ago. They were 4 fabulously talented singers singing really well together but now they are far surpassing what they can do individually. It's been an amazing transformation and I am privleged to see it happening.
Next up was Sunbreak, a brand new quartet. Not only is the quartet new, but two of the people have been singing barbershop less than a year and a third member has been singing for barely over a year. The fourth member (the bass) is experienced but that's quite a load to take on. The good news is they are all fantastically talented. I learned last night that the lead wrote their humorous tag song! The bad news is they had a coaching session three weeks ago where the coach basically told them to change most of the way they are singing. While they are all talented enough to make the changes requested, they are under significant time pressure with competition barely two weeks away. They sang really well but they are clearly still thinking about the mechanics. Overall, I think they are a better quartet than Champagne but we have more experience. They have a good chance to win the Novice Quartet Award if Frenzy doesn't qualify. I'm sure they'll be in the top 25% next year but this year is harder to tell because they don't yet have a lot of consistency in their performances yet.
Finally, AJoy took the stage again and sang our competition songs followed by "No More Sorrow", "Come Fly With Me" and "Happy Together". The last song is a really hard arrangement that Nikki thought would take us five or six weeks to pull together. Two weeks later and 15 minutes of sectionals, we were ready to add choreo :-) AJoy has worked so hard this year and we are really building on the firm foundation of basics we've been studiously getting down for the last few years. I don't know that we'd win the region but we are at least contenders and that's a good feeling. It's also a great feeling that nobody is getting anxious about scores. We don't have to score X in order to be happy. We're fairly consistently singing at 95% of our best and that is a great mindset to enter contest with!
We kept F&F small this year and required tickets for entry. The tickets were free but it meant that we didn't advertise the show to anyone outside our families and the church. Our audience ended up being about 200+ people excluding the 40ish members of the chorus. It meant that everyone had room to sit and nobody was squished. It also meant the chorus could sit down during the quartets.
AJoy started off the evening by singing our two competition songs. They felt strong and fabulous on the risers and from the reaction of the audience, they liked it. I liked that the building rang with our chords. The architect of the church's sanctuary did an amazing job creating a room that rings with energy naturally, and when we sing well and create the overtone, the building rewards us by humming along. Think of it as positive feedback every time we sing it right.
AJoy filed off to the left, and I filed off to the right to join my quartet-mates since we were next in line. This was definitely our best F&F concert of this season. We'd sung last Monday at Jet Cities' F&F, then again on Saturday at PSC's F&F, so this was our third performance in a week and everything just felt like it came together. I was nervous before AJoy unlike at Jet Cities or PSC - I guess I care how well I sing in front of my peeps moreso than when I sing in front of other people's peeps - but since we started with our uptune, I could direct that energy into our performance. I'm really liking starting with our uptune but we'll talk about our song order during tomorrow's rehearsal. Next up was our ballad. We started the chorus a wee bit too soft so there was no where softer to go for the next phrase, but other than that, I think we sang it as best as we are able. Since we had the option of singing a third song, we brought out "Codfish Ball". It's a funny song and we're still getting the choreo down while keeping the sound up, but the audience really seemed to like it. It's competable so maybe we'll perform it at competition next year but we're going to perform it this year at the Thursday night competition kick-off meeting.
Next up was Frenzy. Can I just say that I want dibs on their first CD? They don't sound at all like they did two weeks ago when I thought they were amazing. They've transformed in these two weeks from a region-winning quartet to a quartet worthy of being on the international stage. It's a monumental change and I could have just melted last night while listening to them. Larry's comment was that the bass' voice was like buttah - it just enveloped the sound and provided that perfect feeling that the other voices could layer their flavors on top of. The tenor's voice is so quiet and unassuming until you realize that she's singing those high notes so perfectly that you weren't even aware of them as separate notes but rather as just part of the notes the lead is singing. When she brings out her voice on the gospel song (whose name I should know but don't), you are suddenly laser-focused on how amazing she is - and how amazing she's been without you realizing it before. Nikki, the lead, has a voice that I thought I knew very well but when she sings with Frenzy, her voice is transformed into a sound that weaves seamlessly into the other voices so it becomes difficult to pick hers out of the mix. She is still undeniably the leader of the group but its more her presence than her sound. Having learned how challenging bari parts are - challenging note progressions and constantly rebalancing each chord to make it work - I have nothing but admiration for how seemlessly it was done. I think this Frenzy gestalt is the real difference from Frenzy two weeks ago. They were 4 fabulously talented singers singing really well together but now they are far surpassing what they can do individually. It's been an amazing transformation and I am privleged to see it happening.
Next up was Sunbreak, a brand new quartet. Not only is the quartet new, but two of the people have been singing barbershop less than a year and a third member has been singing for barely over a year. The fourth member (the bass) is experienced but that's quite a load to take on. The good news is they are all fantastically talented. I learned last night that the lead wrote their humorous tag song! The bad news is they had a coaching session three weeks ago where the coach basically told them to change most of the way they are singing. While they are all talented enough to make the changes requested, they are under significant time pressure with competition barely two weeks away. They sang really well but they are clearly still thinking about the mechanics. Overall, I think they are a better quartet than Champagne but we have more experience. They have a good chance to win the Novice Quartet Award if Frenzy doesn't qualify. I'm sure they'll be in the top 25% next year but this year is harder to tell because they don't yet have a lot of consistency in their performances yet.
Finally, AJoy took the stage again and sang our competition songs followed by "No More Sorrow", "Come Fly With Me" and "Happy Together". The last song is a really hard arrangement that Nikki thought would take us five or six weeks to pull together. Two weeks later and 15 minutes of sectionals, we were ready to add choreo :-) AJoy has worked so hard this year and we are really building on the firm foundation of basics we've been studiously getting down for the last few years. I don't know that we'd win the region but we are at least contenders and that's a good feeling. It's also a great feeling that nobody is getting anxious about scores. We don't have to score X in order to be happy. We're fairly consistently singing at 95% of our best and that is a great mindset to enter contest with!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Let's Twist Again, Like We Did Last Summer
Actually, I'd rather not. The performance went OK but during the choreo for "Codfish", I twisted my ankle slightly then almost fell when I had to support myself on that foot later. I'm jumping the gun though so let's get back to basics.
Champagne, my quartet, had a fabulous time coaching with Lea yesterday. The two hours just flew by! Lea managed to help us tweak our two contest songs just a bit without overwhelming us with details. She's such a supportive person to start with but she has an innate sense of how much to push without being overwhelming. She did suggest that the lead and bari exchange notes on the last note of our ballad. The note is the one crack note our bari has and the chord wasn't balancing. The lead and bari are great musicians and were able to make that change easily and perform it later flawlessly.
The Pacific Sound Chorus' Friends and Family concert was packed well past overflowing. People had to stand in the hallway to hear quartets. It's a good problem to have but I kinda hope that AJoy, PSC and Jet Cities can coordinate into one Friends and Family night next year. Yes, it would mean fewer opportunities for the quartet to practice, but we could perhaps get a real stage so that it would be more like contest. PSC was sounding the best I've heard them. They had a relaxed energy about them which made being a guest a pleasant experience. In the past, they've often had a frantic or fearful feeling about them and it was nice to see what they could do when they were relaxed. They also had more character and engaged faces that made them so nice to watch.
I am majorly bummed that I didn't get to hear much of Sunbreak. They're a new quartet filled with superb singers and but they are mostly all new to barbershop. They've come a long way since they started and I like listening to their progress. Airwave was one of the other quartets that is largely a reconfiguration of two previous quartets. I think I like the sound of Airwave better than either of the two previous quartets so here's hoping they score better at competition. I think that would put them in the top 5 of the region (out of 22).
Frenzy was down having a rehearsal weekend and they came to see the PSC show. I'm sure they were ready for a break after all their hard work, and it was really nice of them to come watch. I'm glad I'll get a chance to hear them on Monday night at AJoy's F&F night. It's interesting to me that there are some quartets I could listen to hour after hour and others that I find challenging to listen through an entire song. Their level has nothing to do with it; I'm talking about the top fifty quartets here. I find it fascinating that quartets can have such a wildly different sound from song to song, too. I don't hear that inconsistency at the world-class quartets so I'm thinking that is one of the hallmarks of an international-ready quartet. In any event, Frenzy is one of those quartets whose sound I find very cozy and warm.
Kay, their tenor, sent me a really sweet note after the PSC show telling me I have a voice similar to Shannon Harris. Nope, I didn't have a clue who Shannon Harris was but I discovered she was the bass of Brava!, Sandy Marron's quartet that won international. It was an inspiring comment that I have to live up to but not yet :-) I have a lot still to learn and another child to fledge, but I think I'd like the experience of winning regional and having the opportunity to attend international as a participant. I have a long way to go and so much to learn but I'm a sponge.
We're off to see "Iron Curtain" at Village Theatre today. It's billed as a communist comedy and since Village has a history of doing fantastic shows, I'm excited for an opportunity to turn off my brain and enjoy a good show. I won't be able to see much of it. I tried a new mascara last night and my eyes are not happy with me today. Good thing I'm a touch typist else my daily blog would have died in under a week :-)
Champagne, my quartet, had a fabulous time coaching with Lea yesterday. The two hours just flew by! Lea managed to help us tweak our two contest songs just a bit without overwhelming us with details. She's such a supportive person to start with but she has an innate sense of how much to push without being overwhelming. She did suggest that the lead and bari exchange notes on the last note of our ballad. The note is the one crack note our bari has and the chord wasn't balancing. The lead and bari are great musicians and were able to make that change easily and perform it later flawlessly.
The Pacific Sound Chorus' Friends and Family concert was packed well past overflowing. People had to stand in the hallway to hear quartets. It's a good problem to have but I kinda hope that AJoy, PSC and Jet Cities can coordinate into one Friends and Family night next year. Yes, it would mean fewer opportunities for the quartet to practice, but we could perhaps get a real stage so that it would be more like contest. PSC was sounding the best I've heard them. They had a relaxed energy about them which made being a guest a pleasant experience. In the past, they've often had a frantic or fearful feeling about them and it was nice to see what they could do when they were relaxed. They also had more character and engaged faces that made them so nice to watch.
I am majorly bummed that I didn't get to hear much of Sunbreak. They're a new quartet filled with superb singers and but they are mostly all new to barbershop. They've come a long way since they started and I like listening to their progress. Airwave was one of the other quartets that is largely a reconfiguration of two previous quartets. I think I like the sound of Airwave better than either of the two previous quartets so here's hoping they score better at competition. I think that would put them in the top 5 of the region (out of 22).
Frenzy was down having a rehearsal weekend and they came to see the PSC show. I'm sure they were ready for a break after all their hard work, and it was really nice of them to come watch. I'm glad I'll get a chance to hear them on Monday night at AJoy's F&F night. It's interesting to me that there are some quartets I could listen to hour after hour and others that I find challenging to listen through an entire song. Their level has nothing to do with it; I'm talking about the top fifty quartets here. I find it fascinating that quartets can have such a wildly different sound from song to song, too. I don't hear that inconsistency at the world-class quartets so I'm thinking that is one of the hallmarks of an international-ready quartet. In any event, Frenzy is one of those quartets whose sound I find very cozy and warm.
Kay, their tenor, sent me a really sweet note after the PSC show telling me I have a voice similar to Shannon Harris. Nope, I didn't have a clue who Shannon Harris was but I discovered she was the bass of Brava!, Sandy Marron's quartet that won international. It was an inspiring comment that I have to live up to but not yet :-) I have a lot still to learn and another child to fledge, but I think I'd like the experience of winning regional and having the opportunity to attend international as a participant. I have a long way to go and so much to learn but I'm a sponge.
We're off to see "Iron Curtain" at Village Theatre today. It's billed as a communist comedy and since Village has a history of doing fantastic shows, I'm excited for an opportunity to turn off my brain and enjoy a good show. I won't be able to see much of it. I tried a new mascara last night and my eyes are not happy with me today. Good thing I'm a touch typist else my daily blog would have died in under a week :-)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A Day's Work is Better with a little sleep
Too bad I didn't get much of it. Personally, I think I'm just trying to channel the Heir :-)
I got home very late last night after the drive from Green River CC and for some reason woke up at 4am. Yes, I can handle a day of coaching and a performance on too little sleep. Call it my version of a beta-blocker. I think I might be afraid to see the video later (if anyone videotapes it). Part of learning how to perform is learning how to put life and thinking aside so I can just perform.
I'm still looking forward to the day. It's hard to believe that in two, very short weeks, the quartet competition will be OVER. We are sounding good and we've worked very hard for our improvements. I'm not sure that all of us are over our obsession with the numbers from the judges but I sure am. It's only 6 minutes of my life and if I try to live every six minutes of my life as if they'll be judged, I'd become too afraid to try anything; I'd only do what I knew I could succeed in doing. That's not a bad thing when you are competing. Show the judges what you do well and don't show what you are still learning to do. Of course, they care about the sound first so even if you can tap dance while singing, they don't care if you can't ring a chord. Remembering those sorts of things helps keep my singing priorities in order.
Oh well, off to turn myself into a streetwalker so the audience can see my eyes.
I got home very late last night after the drive from Green River CC and for some reason woke up at 4am. Yes, I can handle a day of coaching and a performance on too little sleep. Call it my version of a beta-blocker. I think I might be afraid to see the video later (if anyone videotapes it). Part of learning how to perform is learning how to put life and thinking aside so I can just perform.
I'm still looking forward to the day. It's hard to believe that in two, very short weeks, the quartet competition will be OVER. We are sounding good and we've worked very hard for our improvements. I'm not sure that all of us are over our obsession with the numbers from the judges but I sure am. It's only 6 minutes of my life and if I try to live every six minutes of my life as if they'll be judged, I'd become too afraid to try anything; I'd only do what I knew I could succeed in doing. That's not a bad thing when you are competing. Show the judges what you do well and don't show what you are still learning to do. Of course, they care about the sound first so even if you can tap dance while singing, they don't care if you can't ring a chord. Remembering those sorts of things helps keep my singing priorities in order.
Oh well, off to turn myself into a streetwalker so the audience can see my eyes.
SingSpiration
Yes, I know it's the name of a quartet but after listening to all the Div2 quartets tonight, I feel inspired. It was a way-too-long drive complicated by a lot of "you can't get there from here" at the Green River College Campus, but it was worthwhile.
None of the quartets were clinkers, some were very good, and most had people I have seen/heard before. It was lovely seeing how much some of the quartets and individuals have improved since I saw them last in Portland. The whining of the air system was incredibly annoying but wasn't nearly as bad as the smell from the oil the maintenance guy used to "fix" the problem. It didn't alter the sound or the frequency but did give the room a slightly nauseous feeling. The quartets muscled through and did their best to ignore the distractions. I wish I could go to the chorus competition tomorrow and then to the quartet finals and show of champions but my quartet is singing on the Pacific Sound Chorus Friends and Family show so I get to miss it.
Another highlight of the evening was having a (way too late!) dinner with Jen. We tried to find a Mexican restaurant that my GPS said was only 1.8 miles away. More than six miles later, we had driven round the hill and through CasinoLand but the restaurant was closed up tight. We found our way back to highways and a Denny's where good conversation was punctuated with OK food. I so rarely take the time to talk to people in the chorus. I'm moderately anti-social but usually there is just too much going on or it is getting much too late. Jen's a neat lady and I've always enjoyed by heretofore brief conversations with her. It was nice having some uninterrupted time to just chat.
Speaking of which, more later. I have a coaching later today and a show in full competition makeup and costume. Well, almost. I don't have to use the formal stage base so that'll save me 3 hours: 2 hours getting it on me down to the clothing line and another hour trying futilely to remove it at the end of the evening.
None of the quartets were clinkers, some were very good, and most had people I have seen/heard before. It was lovely seeing how much some of the quartets and individuals have improved since I saw them last in Portland. The whining of the air system was incredibly annoying but wasn't nearly as bad as the smell from the oil the maintenance guy used to "fix" the problem. It didn't alter the sound or the frequency but did give the room a slightly nauseous feeling. The quartets muscled through and did their best to ignore the distractions. I wish I could go to the chorus competition tomorrow and then to the quartet finals and show of champions but my quartet is singing on the Pacific Sound Chorus Friends and Family show so I get to miss it.
Another highlight of the evening was having a (way too late!) dinner with Jen. We tried to find a Mexican restaurant that my GPS said was only 1.8 miles away. More than six miles later, we had driven round the hill and through CasinoLand but the restaurant was closed up tight. We found our way back to highways and a Denny's where good conversation was punctuated with OK food. I so rarely take the time to talk to people in the chorus. I'm moderately anti-social but usually there is just too much going on or it is getting much too late. Jen's a neat lady and I've always enjoyed by heretofore brief conversations with her. It was nice having some uninterrupted time to just chat.
Speaking of which, more later. I have a coaching later today and a show in full competition makeup and costume. Well, almost. I don't have to use the formal stage base so that'll save me 3 hours: 2 hours getting it on me down to the clothing line and another hour trying futilely to remove it at the end of the evening.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Puffing Your Peeps
I’m a geek and sometimes I don’t quite get analogies. At a recent chorus coaching, the coach, Beth, kept talking about "puffing your peeps" as a way to think about growing our sound and sharing it with others. I could envision what Beth was talking about with her “puff your peep” analogy, but I decided I really needed to try it for myself to really understand it. After enduring the scorn for bring home Peeps because no one will touch the things in my house, I told the rest of the family that Evil Nikki, the chorus director, and her partner in crime, Bodacious Beth, had given me homework. No surprise, the whole family had to watch this.
Beth and Debbie, another chorus member, were quite adamant that peeps could be puffed no more than 5 seconds else the wrath of the world would descend upon us. Being the cautious type, I carefully placed 1 peep onto a plate, put it into the microwave, and watched my peep as the timer counted down: 5,4,3,2,1, OBNOXIOUS. Well, to be honest, I didn’t see much puffing going on but sure in my faith in Nikki and Beth, I dutifully popped the peep and grimaced. It was still that icky, sticky peep, now just vaguely warm and gooey.
Well, at least I’ve provided a few minutes of laughter for the family as I struggle to eat it. After all, a mom who says to her children “once the food goes in your mouth, you have to swallow it” can’t exactly break her own rule…
But there are four more Peeps looking forlornly at me. They are cute, and well, part of being a geek is understanding just why a rule exists. So, I dared to try again for 6 seconds. As I watched, I detected a small slight crackling in the pink exterior and a slight bulging around the belly. Ok, I guess I’ll eat a pregnant Peep with stretch marks. It was better than the first one, but honestly, there were only hints of goodness. At least there was somewhat less laughter at my weird faces this time around.
Ok, now I’ve broken the magic 5 second rule with no evil consequences, endured eating two of these vile things, and understand even less than I did before I started. Once more into the microwave went a Peep to be sacrificed to science. We went a daring 7 seconds this time and I watched as the Peep’s belly swelled to quints at 9 month proportions. There were stretch marks up to the little duck’s beak but the stretch marks promptly turned into wrinkles as her pregnant body collapsed in the cool kitchen air, and she hadn’t heard a scream from them yet, much less tried to get them into their snow gear. Putting her out of her misery, I popped her into my mouth as my family watched eagerly to see what faces I’d make this time.
Wait a minute, this thing is good. Like boyfriend good. Like burning bridesmaid’s dresses good. Like perfect shoes good. Like I’ve been watching too many of those silly yogurt ads. Realization dawns: I have puffed my peeps and they are good! Even better, I have two more to puff!
Being a real daredevil, we go for 8 seconds. I watch that Peep puff, and puff, and puff before the OBNOXIOUS bell forces me to open the door to shut it up. Cold air hits the peep and all the puffing becomes Lake Peep on the bottom of the plate. Ok, we have officially achieved uggggggggllleeeeeee. Even my faith in Nikki can’t make me touch Lake Peep so I leave that in the sink for Sharron to clean up since it’s her week to do dishes.
I only have one more peep left, but now I know not only where ugly is, but I know how good one step back from ugly is. I also have crossed over the line set for myself and pushed beyond what I thought was right, proper and merely good to the place where it is great.
Unfortunately, Sharron’s puppy eyes over my delight in the goodness of peeps and the torment of being saddled with the cleanup overwhelms my sense of righteousness and I puff the last peep for her. My adventures were just a memory on my lips and another inch on my hips.
Hmmm, I wonder if the store might have another box of Peeps?
Yet another chorus fail
Last night was the Pathways concert at my daughter's high school. This is the concert where they start with the elementary school choirs which feeds into the junior high choirs which feeds into the high school choir. It's designed to show parents and the community how the choir programs integrate and to generate interest in choir. It's really not bad since every choir just sings 3 or so songs. We were done listening to 5 choirs in just over an hour's time. By the end of it, my daughter was in tears of anger and frustration but more on that later.
My kid's elementary school started a new choir program in January of this year. They've never had a choir of any type before but now they have two choirs. The Junior Choir is for 1st-3rd graders and the Senior Choir is for 3rd-6th graders. They did a bang-up job and even did a semi-complicated round. When the teacher said at the end that they'd only been rehearsing one day a week since their creation in January, I was even more impressed. They even managed to do "It's a Small World" alternating in English and Spanish.
Next up was another local elementary school where they have a long history of having choir. The kids rehearse twice a week during lunch recess and last year, they blew me away with how good they were. They were still good this year but their music was too complicated for them to execute very well. I could get glimmers of their good sound but this was a clear case where the music did not fit the choir very well.
There are several other elementary schools in the feeding pattern, but these are the only two of the eight elementary schools who have choir programs. For the most part, both of these choirs feed into one of the two junior highs. The junior high where my daughter attended gets very few students from either school with choirs. Their junior high school performance was pretty good. It was nice to see so many returning faces and having 5 guys in the choir of 25ish this year is a big improvement over last year's single male. Their choir program is also not helped by having a part-time instructor but more on him later.
The other junior high benefits from having all of the experienced kids from the established elementary choir program attend it's school, and it shows. Their director is a fantastic man who is clearly loved by his 35+ students but who also has discipline with them. They sang some very hard pieces and had a good time with the whole experience. There are enough students to merit a full-time choir director but budgets being what they are, their director also teaches other classes albeit at the same school. This allows for the good bond between the choir members and their director that we see demonstrated on stage.
The last performance was by the high school choir. They sang some hard pieces and actually did a decent job. The reason I hedge this is that I'd heard so much from my daughter about how unprepared they were, how so few members choose to rehearse, and generally about the lousy work ethic that exists. I should have learned with my son, but apparently I didn't: my kids are perfectionists who eagerly notice the icky stuff but tend to ignore the good stuff.
The high school choir was about the same size as the better of the two junior high choirs but may have been a little smaller. They didn't have quite the sound and togetherness of the junior high choir either. I suspect that a large part of this is that the director of the high school choir is also the director of the smaller junior high choir. The director is very talented but he is struggling to save the chorus program at the high school. Choir interest has been waning over the last few years so this year, this director is teaching the high school choir, two english classes at the HS and is the choir director of the smaller junior high school choir.
It's no wonder my daughter complains about the lousy work ethic of the choir: the director is being pulled in too many directions and he can't afford to alienate any of the students in the class else the choir program will cease to be. It's not a good situation for him or the students, and thus was born the Pathways concert. It's no surprise that the high school is having a challenging time getting students involved in chorus since there has been only one elementary school (of 8) who has had a choir program before this year. Since the high school has a musical theatre program that routinely gets awards, the choir program should be filled with good voices and hard workers but most of them don't join the choir. I suspect they have more important things to do than to spend time in a group where many choose not to work and where there are few consequences for making that choice.
Needless to say, my daughter has opted not to do choir next year. This saddens me because she is not one of those kids who thrives on academics and homework, and she needs daily music in her life to help balance her. She wants to join my chorus after competitition and that's wonderful but a once-a-week rehearsal is not the same thing as a daily class. It also saddens me because someone who does have decent work-ethic will not be in the chorus supporting it. I'm hoping against hope that the choir director can find enough students to join choir next year so it won't be cut, and he won't be teaching still more academic classes. While I'm sure he is a competent teacher, teaching English is not where his heart lies.
So why was my daughter in tears last night? In the junior high choir, she was praised for emoting and enjoying the songs they sang. She was a joy to watch but as you can imagine, one of the very few who was animated at all and definitely one of the two who seemed to enjoy the music. That said, since the rest of the choir was fairly static and petrified, my daughter's movements caught the attention of virtually everyone watching the choir and that's not always a good thing. She's tried to mellow her movements a bit this year in the high school choir, but she's still one of the 3 kids who looks anything but petrified and is really the only one to move.
In the middle of the first song last night, the director asked my daughter to tone it down to nothing: no movement. Having been rebuked in public, she did the only thing she could think of and became totally disengaged. No one except the other chorus members could hear the rebuke but that anyone heard it at all was enough to have her completely withdraw. When the song was finished, she turned to her neighbor during the performance and tried to get clarification on the movement allowed. When the next song started, she had a smile on her face and a bit of sway in her body but because she was the only one moving, she was once again asked to tone it down. She spent the rest of the performance completely disengaged and robotic but completely still.
Let me be very clear: because no one in the choir was moving or emoting, my daughter's movements and expression stood out very clearly. I do understand why he asked her to stop. That said, he's had her in choir for almost two years. If he'd asked her to be still just before she went on stage or any other semi-private place, she'd have been annoyed but complied. By doing it in public, she felt publicly humiliated and is now certain that she won't do chorus next year.
And yes, I'm not even going to press the point that when singers aren't smiling, their sound is flat and dead which makes it virtually impossible to match notes or make a chord. I did kind of hint at it when I described the really good junior high chorus though...
My kid's elementary school started a new choir program in January of this year. They've never had a choir of any type before but now they have two choirs. The Junior Choir is for 1st-3rd graders and the Senior Choir is for 3rd-6th graders. They did a bang-up job and even did a semi-complicated round. When the teacher said at the end that they'd only been rehearsing one day a week since their creation in January, I was even more impressed. They even managed to do "It's a Small World" alternating in English and Spanish.
Next up was another local elementary school where they have a long history of having choir. The kids rehearse twice a week during lunch recess and last year, they blew me away with how good they were. They were still good this year but their music was too complicated for them to execute very well. I could get glimmers of their good sound but this was a clear case where the music did not fit the choir very well.
There are several other elementary schools in the feeding pattern, but these are the only two of the eight elementary schools who have choir programs. For the most part, both of these choirs feed into one of the two junior highs. The junior high where my daughter attended gets very few students from either school with choirs. Their junior high school performance was pretty good. It was nice to see so many returning faces and having 5 guys in the choir of 25ish this year is a big improvement over last year's single male. Their choir program is also not helped by having a part-time instructor but more on him later.
The other junior high benefits from having all of the experienced kids from the established elementary choir program attend it's school, and it shows. Their director is a fantastic man who is clearly loved by his 35+ students but who also has discipline with them. They sang some very hard pieces and had a good time with the whole experience. There are enough students to merit a full-time choir director but budgets being what they are, their director also teaches other classes albeit at the same school. This allows for the good bond between the choir members and their director that we see demonstrated on stage.
The last performance was by the high school choir. They sang some hard pieces and actually did a decent job. The reason I hedge this is that I'd heard so much from my daughter about how unprepared they were, how so few members choose to rehearse, and generally about the lousy work ethic that exists. I should have learned with my son, but apparently I didn't: my kids are perfectionists who eagerly notice the icky stuff but tend to ignore the good stuff.
The high school choir was about the same size as the better of the two junior high choirs but may have been a little smaller. They didn't have quite the sound and togetherness of the junior high choir either. I suspect that a large part of this is that the director of the high school choir is also the director of the smaller junior high choir. The director is very talented but he is struggling to save the chorus program at the high school. Choir interest has been waning over the last few years so this year, this director is teaching the high school choir, two english classes at the HS and is the choir director of the smaller junior high school choir.
It's no wonder my daughter complains about the lousy work ethic of the choir: the director is being pulled in too many directions and he can't afford to alienate any of the students in the class else the choir program will cease to be. It's not a good situation for him or the students, and thus was born the Pathways concert. It's no surprise that the high school is having a challenging time getting students involved in chorus since there has been only one elementary school (of 8) who has had a choir program before this year. Since the high school has a musical theatre program that routinely gets awards, the choir program should be filled with good voices and hard workers but most of them don't join the choir. I suspect they have more important things to do than to spend time in a group where many choose not to work and where there are few consequences for making that choice.
Needless to say, my daughter has opted not to do choir next year. This saddens me because she is not one of those kids who thrives on academics and homework, and she needs daily music in her life to help balance her. She wants to join my chorus after competitition and that's wonderful but a once-a-week rehearsal is not the same thing as a daily class. It also saddens me because someone who does have decent work-ethic will not be in the chorus supporting it. I'm hoping against hope that the choir director can find enough students to join choir next year so it won't be cut, and he won't be teaching still more academic classes. While I'm sure he is a competent teacher, teaching English is not where his heart lies.
So why was my daughter in tears last night? In the junior high choir, she was praised for emoting and enjoying the songs they sang. She was a joy to watch but as you can imagine, one of the very few who was animated at all and definitely one of the two who seemed to enjoy the music. That said, since the rest of the choir was fairly static and petrified, my daughter's movements caught the attention of virtually everyone watching the choir and that's not always a good thing. She's tried to mellow her movements a bit this year in the high school choir, but she's still one of the 3 kids who looks anything but petrified and is really the only one to move.
In the middle of the first song last night, the director asked my daughter to tone it down to nothing: no movement. Having been rebuked in public, she did the only thing she could think of and became totally disengaged. No one except the other chorus members could hear the rebuke but that anyone heard it at all was enough to have her completely withdraw. When the song was finished, she turned to her neighbor during the performance and tried to get clarification on the movement allowed. When the next song started, she had a smile on her face and a bit of sway in her body but because she was the only one moving, she was once again asked to tone it down. She spent the rest of the performance completely disengaged and robotic but completely still.
Let me be very clear: because no one in the choir was moving or emoting, my daughter's movements and expression stood out very clearly. I do understand why he asked her to stop. That said, he's had her in choir for almost two years. If he'd asked her to be still just before she went on stage or any other semi-private place, she'd have been annoyed but complied. By doing it in public, she felt publicly humiliated and is now certain that she won't do chorus next year.
And yes, I'm not even going to press the point that when singers aren't smiling, their sound is flat and dead which makes it virtually impossible to match notes or make a chord. I did kind of hint at it when I described the really good junior high chorus though...
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Nothing to it but to do it
No, this is not an inspirational blog but rather a place to put my general musings down in a place to encourage discussion. I have opinions but I realize they aren't always right. I encourage civil discourse in an effort to enlighten me about your point of view. You may, or may not, convert me but you will educate me and I appreciate those efforts.
I'm a person who believes that when you stop learning you start to die. I'm far from ready to put a foot into the grave so help keep me young.
As with many things, this blog has been started by the desperation exhibited by one of my kids. The eldest fledged off to college last September. We gave him the choice of a weekly phone call or a (mostly) daily blog post. He chose the blog post without realizing that this meant communication would mostly be one-way. For a while, I think he was ok with this. College was daunting and somewhat overwhelming, and I believe he longed for the simplicity of home. Now he's got a girlfriend and is ready to hear more from home.
Here you go, kid. :-)
I'm a person who believes that when you stop learning you start to die. I'm far from ready to put a foot into the grave so help keep me young.
As with many things, this blog has been started by the desperation exhibited by one of my kids. The eldest fledged off to college last September. We gave him the choice of a weekly phone call or a (mostly) daily blog post. He chose the blog post without realizing that this meant communication would mostly be one-way. For a while, I think he was ok with this. College was daunting and somewhat overwhelming, and I believe he longed for the simplicity of home. Now he's got a girlfriend and is ready to hear more from home.
Here you go, kid. :-)
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