Tag Archives: postaday2011

Teaching

18 students

Wow, that’s a lot for one day!  To be fair, I only taught 16.  Two were sick.

I had a great time teaching today though.  I took it one student at a time.  It was fine, only I needed more water. 

I finished “War and Peace.”  I can’t believe I spent almost three weeks reading one book.  I don’t even know what happened.  Well, I DO.  *SPOILER ALERT* It was the war of 1812…I kept thinking about Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture!  Lots of Napoleon, Alexander, and a few Russian families falling in love or dying.  Seriously, Tolstoy.  Could the book have been edited a bit shorter?  (And I usually love long books!)

After such a long day, I wasn’t in the mood for cooking, so Chris and I decided to go to Dressel’s for dinner.  I had a glass of wine and the beef stew with salad, which was very good.  I always enjoy Dressel’s. 

Tomorrow is fun Friday (most Fridays are fun Fridays!).  Gym with Mike, lunch with Melissa, cook dinner (planning on a new recipe from Cooking Light magazine), attend the SLSO concert, and drinks with friends afterwards (hopefully).  I’m not quite sure how my “days off” become so busy, as I seriously need to do some housecleaning.  The weekend should allow for that though…

May I apologize for this slightly boring post…but it beats yesterday’s whiny ones, right?  RIGHT? (foot feeling better, wrist…we’ll see).

Teaching

Patience is a virtue

I am not doing well today with patience.  I lost my temper (well, in a child friendly way) two to three times during my morning classes.  I was TRYING to do something nice and play games—we played “Violin hangman” and I even added a true element of randomness to it by having the students draw for a song and then roll the dice to determine which line of the song to play.  It makes a nice challenge, having to start in the middle of the song rather than the beginning.  (What happens is, they do this, then get to choose a letter for the hangman game.)  But I asked them to follow one rule:  when somebody is playing, everybody must listen.  Evidently this was too difficult.  GAH!  Group classes are starting to drive me insane.  I see so much I could address with each child on a one-to-one basis…but that’s just not possible in this setting.  And as I’ve mentioned before, my discipline skills are sorely lacking.

I did manage to run 5 miles at the gym—I am working on my speed, so I was doing intervals of running/walking, but running much faster than I ordinarily would.  I believe I ran out my frustrations and I am now ready to face my later students.  At least there are no more group classes this week.

And I feel that having patience is one of my strong suits and helps me to be a good violin teacher.  I guess everybody gets a bad day?  I’m feeling like I really failed my morning classes…but maybe I just need to be clearer about the rules OR be more relaxed about them to myself.  I am not being consistent enough with the students and I probably confuse them.

Some of the students did play really well!  So that’s good.  Maybe I’m not a total failure in the class setting Smile.

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Music stand (Tower Grove Park) in the snow

Food, Teaching

Not a snow day!

Somehow today schools were not canceled.  Though a few students told me they fell on the ice on their way to school.  I was a bit disappointed I actually had to work today, but seriously, there was just a touch of ice. 

I know, I just dove right in there, didn’t I?  Hello, and welcome to tonight’s blog entry.  I taught tons of students today.  I taught two violin classes, one orchestra class, and 7 private students.  I’m very brain dead right now. 

I decided today was a good day to really work with my orchestra on following the conductor.  Up until this point in the year, I’ve been doing quite a bit of piano playing with them rather than conducting.  I do think it’s important to use ears AND eyes in orchestra, so we did scales trying to follow me.  They did pretty well!

I’ve been a bit concerned recently over my right wrist.  I’ve been having pain in it, particularly in the morning, but really whenever I’m bending it.  I think I should probably sleep with my brace on for a few nights, and probably cut out all non-essential wrist activities.  I am actually not blaming the violin at this point, though my wrist is prone to injury due to the violin.  I’ll blame push-ups and other gym activities. 

So, I failed at bread-making last night.

I put the ingredients in and then just let the machine do its thing.  Oops.  I failed to notice I hadn’t properly put the pan in, thusly the little paddle that is supposed to mix the dough didn’t QUITE mix it properly.  So it baked like this.

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Not QUITE what I wanted.  However, I did try a few bites and it seemed like a promising recipe.  I just need to make sure it mixes properly before letting it rise/bake.  Does this still count as a  new recipe for the month?

Food, Teaching

Snowy Sunday

Today we are getting a bit more snow.  After my spinning class I decided to skip the “Yoga for Runners” workshops I had signed up for…it would have meant driving out to Chesterfield and I had already driven past too many cars off the highway (in the ditch!).  Spinning class was all hills today and was seriously tough.  I’m hoping by next week I can figure out how to adjust the darned bike myself instead of needing help each time…it’s harder than it seems, for someone (such as myself) with very little spatial awareness.

Since I was home today instead of yoga-ing, I thought I’d see what baking I could do.  I settled on using my bread machine to make “True 100% Whole Wheat Bread” (page 20 of the manual).  The only ingredients are water, salt, honey, whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten (whatever that is?), and yeast.  The bread machine is working hard right now, and I’m eager to taste the bread later (three hours or so from now).

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A few pictures of my bread machine.  I am pretty happy with it, though I don’t use it nearly often enough (as evidenced by the fact that I had to clean dust and cat hair off of it before using it today.)

I also am basically all caught up on my phone calls and busy work from my trip.  I would say I spent about 2 1/2 hours since getting home on paperwork, which isn’t bad.  I told myself I just had to sit down and DO it.  I am such a procrastinator with some things, and build them up bigger in my mind (or more time-consuming) than they actually are.  Don’t get me wrong, the business aspect of all of this does take time, but I mustn’t let it overwhelm me.

I am entertaining my summer institute plans…(if any) and am considering returning to Ottawa, KS for a Suzuki Teacher workshop.  Susan Kempter (my excellent teacher from last summer) is teaching Book Five—which I’ve already had BUT would gain new perspective.  Or there’s a Kreisler class with Alice Joy Lewis, who is supposed to be a brilliant teacher as well.  Not that I currently have any students doing Kreisler, but hopefully someday.  My other thought has been to attend the Mimi Zweig Indiana University Retreat, for a different perspective.  I know any choices I make will be good ones, as I believe all the options are great.

Okay, time to make dinner, watch a tv show and check out more of the Parents as Partners videos online.  Watching a few videos yesterday is what made me think of the summer institutes.  One big thing to remember:  Listen to the recordings!  Listen to the recordings!  Listen to the recordings!

Tomorrow I’m back to work for real—a busy week ahead! 

Random thoughts

Happiness Project Part 1

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From Gretchen Rubin’s site:

A “happiness project” is an approach to changing your life. First is the preparation stage, when you identify what brings you joy, satisfaction, and engagement, and also what brings you guilt, anger, boredom, and remorse. Second is the making of resolutions, when you identify the concrete actions that will boost your happiness. Then comes the interesting part: keeping your resolutions.

I already have my “2011 goals” post to refer to—but part of that post is to create my own happiness project.  Let’s get started!

Okay, so, what brings me joy, satisfaction, and engagement?

(in no particular order, brainstorming!)

clean clothes, a clean house

a fresh pile of books to read, reading those books

my cat

planning a vacation, going on a vacation

calendars, making lists, checking things off lists

relaxed time with friends

rehearsals that make me feel like my education was worthwhile, being asked for new gigs

teaching students who practice, who enjoy and love music

moving money from checking to savings

trying new restaurants

working out with my trainer, my spinning class, new workout clothes, following my workout schedule

a fresh pot of coffee

cooking new foods, baking new goodies

 

Next, what brings me guilt, anger, boredom, and remorse?

staying up too late, wasting time

too full trashcans

forgetting to bring something to read

procrastinating

buying stuff I don’t really need

spending more money than I should

eating junk food, eating too much fatty foods

not preparing for classes enough

forgetting to return phone calls in a timely manner

snapping at Chris

not being “friendly enough” at parties or other events

not practicing enough

using too much paper

having to cancel or reschedule appointments

being afraid to drive in the snow

getting sick

biting my fingernails, picking at my cuticles

 

So, do most of the things on my 2011 goals/resolutions post follow these guidelines?

I think they do!  I guess I know myself pretty well.

Phoenix, Travel

Taliesin West Recap

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Who hasn’t heard of Frank Lloyd Wright?  I know I have…but I really didn’t know anything about him until my recent tour of Taliesin West.

Located in North Scottsdale, Arizona, Taliesin West was Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and school.  The wikipedia article is very informative.  Leslie and I took a guided tour—the 90 minute “Insights” tour.  I could recap what our guide told us, but I’d probably give some misinformation.  Suffice it to say that Wright and his students built the house and grounds together and his architecture is unique and WAY ahead of its time, in my opinion.  I really enjoyed this tour, though it is a bit pricey for the amount of time.

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It was an absolutely gorgeous day!  The weather was just perfect…gotta love Arizona in January.

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How gorgeous is the landscaping?  We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside many of the rooms, so I primarily took photos of the outside.

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That is a four sided music stand with a light in the middle.  Evidently Wright was an accomplished pianist, and invented that stand for a quartet.  It even has room for a plant in the middle.  Brilliant…except once the musicians sit down they can’t see each other over it, which, contrary to popular belief, is very important for chamber music!

After visiting the house I am definitely interested to visit more of Wright’s buildings.  I know there are many in the Chicago area.  There is also a house in Kirkwood, Missouri that I am definitely interested in visiting.  Has anyone been?  Would anyone like to go?