It’s been cold and snowy here, so I guess the groundhog was right! Fingers crossed for a snow day…sometime…

I have to say, I received some positive comments from my post the other day, and I welcome your thoughts. So often we musicians are expected to be thankful no matter what for our work and it’s considered bad form to be negative. And it may also seem that all other musicians you know are genuinely happy to play at any time, and it can feel quite lonely if you are questioning things!

Another thought I was rolling around in my head was a question one of my former classmates posted online: how do you definite success in your career? It may feel like if you aren’t making a living primarily playing music that you have failed your training, but I can tell you that isn’t true! Of course, you could also just say that I’m a failure so why can I give you advice

Other random thoughts: my brother said he noticed I mentioned that two of my sisters had gotten their first vaccine shots. Now, this is a weird way to word things as I only have two sisters. So I guess I should clarify that both of my sisters (that I know of) got their first vaccine shots. This is because they live in different states than me. Here in Missouri, we are expected to teach children in the schools without having any vaccinations or testing.

I have been enjoying every aspect of my new teaching position this year except one…getting up really early. My entire life has changed. Since I’m getting up between 5:30 and 6 am I like to go to bed by 10 pm. I don’t know how I can reconcile that with playing any concerts ever again, because I hate being too tired. I guess time will tell!

I should really be taking more cat pictures, but I guess I just feel like they keep doing the same things. Sit in the basket. Sit on the cat tree. Sit on the file cabinet. Sit on the bed. Run around the house at top speed as soon as I go to bed. I’ll try to do better this week!

It’s Festival application time, so if you are a long time reader of my blog, you know that means lots of paperwork and stress for me. I have a group of students that participate in the National Federation of Music Clubs Spring Festival each year. It’s a great incentive to practice for them, but it ends up being a lot of work on my end once a year, in order to get the paperwork going. There is a book and lots of guidelines, and it’s very involved. I think I’ve got a few students this year that should be up for a trophy though, so I hope they do well! The Festival is online this year (again) so that means they are just making videos of themselves, and no live pianists are required. (Or dead pianists.)

I’m also working on observing more Improvisation Classes and learning how to teach Improvisation and Creative Ability Development further. I’m fascinated by how this will play out longer term for the students in my studio, but the ones doing the improvisation have been having fun, and I have been amazed at their creativity and musical ideas. This month is pentatonic scales leading up to some blues improv, and it’s been so much fun to work on.

It’s a busy time, but the school year is like that. I go back and forth between feeling like I’m totally overwhelmed and too busy, and feeling like it’s all absolutely fine and I have plenty of time. I blame the pandemic for the mood swings and worries…I never quite know how I’m going to feel on any given day. For instance, this morning I got up and felt like this job was the worst idea ever, but after my shower I felt just fine and I enjoyed teaching my class, and even felt like I did a pretty good job of getting them to have good technique and maybe they even enjoyed it. The good thing about teaching is that you can have your own goals for your students, and while teaching in a school program means I have to follow their goals, I can still have my own goals. And right now, my goal is to get and keep them playing, and give them a positive musical experience, because that’s all we need for being in a pandemic!

Sorry for all the randomness and odd details, but that’s what’s on my mind on this Monday morning. How are you?