Category Archives: Teaching

Random thoughts, Running, Teaching

Morning off

Ah, a well-deserved morning off!  I got to sleep in a bit and have a leisurely breakfast.  I had hot oatmeal and decided to try a container of the Chobani Yogurt people have been raving about.  I had peach flavor…um…it was nothing special.  Sorry!

Tuesdays right now I teach one student.  In January I’ll be teaching at the St Louis School of Music on Tuesdays (or when they need me…).  Unfortunately I don’t know where I’ll move my Tuesday home student to…right now I am only able to teach at home on Monday and Thursday (which two months ago seemed like MORE than enough!).  I can’t believe my home studio is actually officially full.  (I will have a waiting list, for anyone interested.  There is always turnover).  I have picked up about five new students in the past couple of weeks and I am really excited about them.  I also have a new student at the Ballet School, starting tomorrow.  So many people to teach!  It’s wonderful how (from my point of view) private music education is alive, well, and thriving!

What else is going on this week?  Well, I am probably doing another race (5k) on Saturday.  I say probably because I registered, but it might rain, and we’ll have to see how am I feeling about that.  Honestly, I’m sure I’ll run it.  I seem to have the race bug right now, and I think I can beat my last time.  Plus this will be my first alone race, and I want to see how well I can pace myself on my own.  (I am looking at this as a positive thing, as my running is something I do alone, and I want to feel confident enough to do a race alone as well!)

I feel a bit stressed lately…I don’t actually have that much to do, but with the impending holidays, time is running out on concert prep and that sort of thing.  I’ve got about four different performances at my two schools to deal with in addition to my own gigs.  I also get stressed about house cleaning–ideally I’d like to live in a clean house, but have trouble picking up after myself, and I hate dusting…so I just stress about it rather than say, spending a morning off cleaning.  Then I take it out on Chris later 😉  I just need to keep up on my to-do list so I don’t forget things.

Off to the gym!

 

Teaching

St. Louis Ballet School, Part 2

I’ve taught a few weeks now in my new room at the St. Louis Ballet School.  It’s really nice, especially the big windows and the fact that it is a dedicated music room.  The expansion of the school is really great overall as well–much nicer waiting area with couches (originally had been just a couple chairs and benches along a hallway).  I’m very pleased.

My work station

 

View looking into the waiting area

 

View to the outside (will have blinds soon)

There you have it!

Performing, Teaching

Busy week ahead!

Okay, after a fairly relaxing week, this upcoming week will be nuts!  It’s all due to my upcoming performance with Chamber Project St Louis.  Well, not all–but the extra busy is.  I also have another new student this week (that makes one each week for about four weeks), and that fills up my home teaching schedule until something changes.  I can’t believe how many students I’ve added at home in the past month!  Usually I add more in August, but this year has been different.

I had a great lunch today with my friend Melissa.  We went to Bar Italia and sat outside (it was a bit cool, but nothing we couldn’t handle).  I hadn’t been before, but will definitely go again!  I was starving after my “long run” in the morning (ran 1 hour 10 minutes doing a 8 minutes run/2 minutes walk ratio, nice, slow and easy) and really enjoyed my lunch–food and company.

After that we had rehearsal for the Chamber Project concert.  We’ve been working hard and are down to our last few rehearsals.  It should be a great concert, but I am getting pretty stressed–it’s a big program!  I haven’t played at the venue “The Chapel” before, but people say it’s really great.  If you are local and free Friday night, come to our concert!

What else this week?  Two weddings, lots of running/working out, TONS of teaching as usual (no days off this week) and of course Election Day.  Yes, I’ll be voting.  Will you?

 

 

Running, Teaching

Fall Run

I took a few pictures on my run through the park today.  Ran up to the Piper Palm House and back, I think it’s about 2.5 miles–just an easy run.

 

Entrance (though I took pics towards the end of my run)

 

 

 

Little firehouse near my home

I was happy to get a run in before lunch.  My last violin class this morning was canceled due to a field trip, so I got home earlier than usual.  The kids LOVED the cookies, and begged for more (I didn’t have unlimited amounts, plus I didn’t want to spoil their lunch.)  We played some games today and generally just had a nice time in class, for a pleasant finish to October.

Tomorrow I have a bit of a holiday–parent teacher conferences at one of my schools so no school for me 🙂

 

Practicing, Teaching

Practicing…again

Another Thursday done…perhaps you are tired of hearing me talk about my busy Thursdays?

Today, as usual, my students ran the gamut from “didn’t practice at all…again” to “Wow, I can’t believe how well they are doing.”  Some of them are just doing GREAT, and making me feel like I really know what I’m doing, others…well…we just do the best we can with what we have.  I am annoyed by the non-practicing though…not practicing equals not trying.  And I do try to educate the parents about it.  Some times the parents are first in line for excuses.   I get tired of excuses.   Not to be negative, but if a child doesn’t have time to practice violin, then they aren’t getting much out of the lessons, and might as well not be taking…or need to prioritize which extracurriculars are most important.  I find there is always time in the day for things that are most important, just not for everything.

But I will continue to teach each child the best I can, of course, because that is my job 🙂  I teach the child who shows up that day, wherever they are.

Teaching

Negative Nellies

October is flying by…my busy schedule certainly helps.  Lots of teaching, workouts, and some lovely chamber music rehearsals (finally some real music!).  No orchestra on the horizon…it’s weird how longs it’s been since I’ve played in orchestra.  (It’s also amazing how much the people who actually get to play in orchestra around here complain about it, but that’s another story!)  I “just” teach children now 🙂  Naturally many people assume that means I am not a performer…otherwise surely I would be doing that.  But one of my good friends here said it best the other day…we do what we can to be as happy as possible.  I’d rather be here with Chris than somewhere else, so I do what I can 😉

A few weeks ago someone said to me “oh, you wouldn’t know good playing, you just teach beginners!” (paraphrased, as some time has gone by…).  It still bugs me that some people think those of us who teach beginners wouldn’t know good advanced playing, OR that we don’t know how to teach a beginner so that SOMEDAY that beginner could end up being a wonderful well-rounded musician (perhaps even a nice person, able to maintain relationships!).  The thing is…I prefer teaching older kids/more advanced kids.  I’m hoping in the near future that will be the case more often 🙂  But when I teach beginners, well, I sure make the most of it, because I know (not to sound totally cliched) that they are our future, and they should love violin/music because if NOTHING else, we need to pass on our love of classical music to the younger generations.  So I try to remind myself of how important a teacher is, and try NOT to let the naysayers and negative Nellies (even the ones in my head!) bring me down.  After all, none of us would be where we are today without good teachers in the past.  What I do impacts many people every day.