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.
There you have it!
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?
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.
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 🙂
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.
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.
I teach one day a week at the St. Louis Ballet School. (I teach violin, not ballet!). It’s a nice place to teach–the people are very friendly and welcoming. They are expanding soon and I’ll have a new room!
It usually takes me about 45 minutes to 1 hour to get there (in traffic) as it is in West County, out Highway 40. It only takes about 30 minutes to get home after rush hour.
The school is located in a HUGE strip mall. Every store you can imagine is in this strip mall. Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, Best Buy, OfficeMax, etc.
I have been teaching in the Artistic Director’s office for the past year or so. Starting in a week or two I’ll have a new room. Here is where I am right now:
That’s my room now. I spend only a few hours each week there. I am excited to see how the new room compares–I think I might lose my piano, as the piano teacher will have a different room (though can probably borrow when I need to, as we teach on different days for now.) But I know there will be more windows, and it won’t double as an office, so that’s great. I’ll post again with pictures of the new room when I get there.