Northwest Splendor

Yesterday, on the spur of the moment, I went to visit my friend Tina near Seattle. Even though we're best friends, we don't see each other terribly often due to distance and schedules. She graduated last spring with a nursing degree and is currently undergoing a vigorous internship at a hospital. She had to work yesterday morning and needed a break. So we and her parents and another couple took off for a little country town full of quaint charm and beautiful views of surrounding mountains. The weather was perfect. We stopped for some tasty ice cream in a little "hole-in-the-wall" place and then walked around quite a bit. Later on we we had dinner at an out-of-the-way grill. I love spontaneous blessings! The lovely scenery, the invigorating air, the exercise, and sweet fellowship were just what I needed. Tina and I have a wonderful friendship; we can be totally at ease with each other, totally ourselves. Sometimes that involves laughing hilariously, and sometimes it means connecting spiritually or sharing a need. A true "kindred spirit," as Anne would say.

Teaching Moments

I just returned from a walk with my two nieces and nephew. What a perfect autumn evening -- crisp, smoky, and clear. One house already had a pumpkin on its step! Jessie was on skates, and Zoe and Will were on scooters. I was quite impressed that two year-old Will was not only expertly riding a scooter as tall as he is, but he went around the whole block on it! Being an auntie is pretty cool. I just wish I could be near Jed, Chloe, and Tucker, too! :-(

The first week of school whizzed by quite smoothly, I thought. I haven't noticed any outright bad kids, though some require more attention than others. Today the third through sixth grade class had vocal assessments so I could assign parts for the Christmas musical. Unfortunately the girls outnumber the boys, and a very small percentage of those boys can actually sing in tune. This makes the selecting process very difficult, especially as there are some important boy rules, like Joseph, Zechariah, and Gabriel. Then there are a number of girls who are pretty good singers and who all want the main parts, of course. Somebody is bound to be disappointed. Choosing Mary will be a challenge, because I don't want her to be taller than Joseph! Most of the boys are on the shorter side. I need to really pray for wisdom that I'll make the right choices. Oh, to further complicate things, the one boy who can really sing well has major self-esteem issues and made it very clear to me that he doesn't want a solo or speaking part. I told him he doesn't get a choice in the matter. :-D Heh, heh, I'm such a heartless teacher sometimes.

Here are a few teaching moments from this week:

I got a book of Broadway solos for a twelve year-old voice student. When I gave it to her during school lunch (she's in my school), she went absolutely crazy, jumping up and down and screeching with joy! Warm fuzzies for the teacher. :-)

A thirteen year-old boy voice student shocked me with this: "I shot a bird and gave it to my cat, but he just bit off its head and left it! Can you believe that?" Me: "You shot a bird??" Him: "Yeah, I shoot lots of birds around here for target practice. I've gotten black-headed chickadees, robins, squirrels, woodpeckers. I want to shoot a blue jay, but my dad won't let me." I sat in stupefied amazement, my face full of pity for the poor creatures. I'm not opposed to guns or hunting, but shooting cute little creatures for sport just hits me totally wrong. I didn't feel like I could say anything about it, though, especially if his parents encourage his shooting rampages

A seventeen year-old harp student sat down for her lesson and told me she was tired and "a little shaky" after doing 100 push-ups during cheer practice. My eyes bugged out. I wimp out after ten, and that's with my knees on the floor! Evidently during some stunt during a game, one of the girls had gotten dropped, so the whole team (squad?) was penalized with pushups. She's got some hefty upper arms, and I sure wouldn't want to arm wrestle with her!

Such are just a few examples of the interesting incidents I encounter. Working with people of so many different ages, backgrounds, and personalities certainly adds variety to my job!

Groan

Asked his opinion on Roe v. Wade, the President replied, "I don't care how the residents of New Orleans evacuate. They just need to leave!"

I Survived!

I'm really tired, so this'll be short (I think). But I just wanted to report that the first day of school went very well! Amazing how different I felt today than I did on my first day two years ago. Now I sort of feel like I know what I'm doing and how to manage a classroom full of kids. It doesn't take long to see which ones are going to be challenging. The poor little kindergarteners looked so lost most of the time! Everything is so frightfully new for them. The first and second graders are a little better, but tend to get that lost, panicked look when presented with an assignment that they can't understand. Ah, how I remember that first-day-of-school feel -- a mixture of nervous excitement and complete vulnerability. Okay, I only went to school for three years, but those years did make an impression! I remember my first day of second grade when I escaped to the bathroom until recess because I freaked out over an English question.

The third to sixth graders did great! They all have choir together and really surprised me with how quickly they learned a song and how well they sang it. They were also able to laugh and have fun during the class, which is always one of my top goals. It's pretty hard NOT to have fun with that age group!

My heart goes out to a sixth-grade girl who's nearly as tall as I am. She slouches to try to hide her height, but she's still a head taller than her classmates. I never saw her smile and she looks painfully self-conscious. I'm hoping to have the opportunity to draw her out and encourage her. I remember being tall at that age and feeling so different from my peers.

Okay, so much for my short blog! I was gone all day and the whole week promises to be very busy, so I'm going to scoot off this here contraption.

Pet Peeve

I can keep silent no longer!! You know what really bugs me on any internet correspondence (blogs, e-mails, forums, etc.)? Very well, I'll tell you. It's the neglect of normal, proper punctuation and grammar! Why do these things so often take the back seat on computers? I mean, I think it takes more work to NOT write with capitals and punctuation! Why is it suddenly okay to write 'i' instead of 'I'? How are run-on sentences with no commas supposed to be easier to read? It's just pure laziness, I say. The very purpose of punctuation and grammar is to aid clarity of communication, regardless of the medium. Not that every little note should look like a thesis, but you know...basic stuff. I hereby send out a call for a return to good writing on the computer!! Do I hear any amens?

[Disclaimer: Very few of my readers (that I know of) have demonstrated this problem, so I'm not trying to pick on anybody in particular. It's just something that pops up now and then and catches my attention.]

End of rant.

Soon...

...my vacation will be over and I might have more interesting blog content! School starts on Monday. We start later than everyone else, it seems, but it's kind of nice. But now I'm READY TO ROLL!! Last night I went to a back-to-school meeting with all the parents. It's neat to see their excitement and vision for their children's education. I can certainly understand, as I think this is an incredible school, even if it's still small. If I didn't plan to homeschool (hubby willing), I'd want to send my kids to a classical-Christian school. Anyway, the meeting went well. I had to get up and give a short little speech about the value of music education. I realized as I was speaking that I kept taking short breaths but never let out any breath. Have you ever done that? My lungs just kept expanding and expanding and I felt like I was drowning or something. I didn't feel that nervous, but I guess I was still affected somehow. When I was done I had to very consciously let out all the air. Now I know what a balloon feels like.

So life will definitely be busier come next week. I have about 17 students in harp, voice, piano, and even clarinet. School is three days a week. Spare time will be consumed with college studies, my own practicing (which isn't very much these days), coordinating music at church, various social occasions, and occasional performances. One thing I don't like about teaching at a school (i.e., being employed by someone besides myself) is not having the freedom to take time off when I'd like. There's a retreat in Michigan the end of this month that I really wanted to go to, but I'd have to take off two days of school and my boss sort of frowned on that. So except for three weeks at Christmas and one week in the spring, plus occasional three-day weekends, I'm kind of trapped. But I've gotta trust that I'm right where God wants me right now. Even though I have almost no social life. Sigh.

Something doesn't fit...

Today at the post office I was behind a woman who first caught my attention because she was wearing a T-shirt that said Operation Iraqi Freedom (or something like that) on the back. I considered complimenting her on it, but the more I studied her, the more reticent I felt. From the little I could see of her personality, I'd guess she had a big heart -- the kind that would help you out in a pinch. However, I mostly noticed her uh, interesting external appearance. She was wearing a man sized gray T-shirt and gray sweats. She might have cut her hair herself 'cause it was a very short messy version of a buzz. Her skin was kind of leathery and wrinkled and her voice was deep, so I'm guessing that maybe she's a smoker. She had no makeup on and only a ring for jewelry. When you picture a woman who glories in her feminine design, well, this female wouldn't come to mind. So I'm noticing this woman's masculine and unfrilly appearance, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but long, well-kept acrylic nails on her fingers! It was so incongruous with the rest of her appearance! Almost like seeing long nails on a guy. (That is seriously disgusting, by the way.) Oh, well, I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.

Evidence Not Seen

I overheard my mom say something a few days ago that has gotten me thinking about tunnels. No, I don't plan to change vocations and become an engineer. Rather, I've been thinking about how tunnels relate to faith. And how faith relates to hope. My faith has been hugely stretched this year and sometimes it's been no fun at all. But of course we're supposed to "count it all joy." Why is that so hard to remember when your patience is actually being tested??

So, what about tunnels? Simply this: some tunnels are short and you can easily see the light at the end even when you're going through the dark. But some tunnels are long and may even have a curve in them. You can't see the end and it's pretty dark while you're driving. All you can do is believe that there is an end to the tunnel and it will be light! If faith is "evidence not seen," then it's kind of like going through that tunnel believing that it won't last forever, but will get you where you need to go. Sometimes we climb over mountains and sometimes we go through curvy tunnels, but the goal is a particular destination (generally). Hope is believing there's light at the end of the tunnel and that the One who directs our paths has the right directions.

I hope that made coherent sense, but it was an encouraging concept to me anyway!

Ladder Bug

Have you ever seen a ladder bug? I did in a dream last night. It reminded me of something that I might find in Australia or New Zealand, something related to the centipede. This creature was crawling up my bedroom wall and really looked like a little ladder. It was about 20 x 2 inches and a reddish brown color. I was kind of frightened of it, but I wasn't sure how to kill it because it didn't have any visible head and the body was so long! I'm not even sure its legs were visible. I think I decided to consult somebody else regarding its disposal.

And that was only ONE of the weird dreams I had last night. I even dreamed about being one of the soldiers sneaking through Hezekiah's Tunnel to seize Jerusalem. Only it appeared to be a little wider and was actually more like a sewer flowing out of the city. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten dinner so late last night.

Lessons for the Teacher

Thursdays promise to be one of my most grueling days this year, as my studio schedule requires me to leave home at 8:45 and not get home till 7:00. I drive 123 round trip miles and teach 10 students. I have an hour in the middle of the afternoon when I don't teach anyone, but otherwise I'm teaching or driving. But I actually survived the day pretty well. I find it absolutely essential to start off teaching with extra prayer for grace and wisdom, and amazingly, it's there when I need it!

I have one harp student who usually requires an extra measure of patience. But I was so pleased with her progress today that I decided to share her story. M.F. came to me two or three years ago as a shy, awkward 13 or 14 year-old with ADHD. She'd had a few years of lessons from someone else, but due to schedule conflicts they came to me. She needed to learn an orchestral part for her junior high orchestra concert. She plopped the music down on the stand and I waited for her to play the first chord. And waited. "Okay, what do I play?" or words to that effect. Oh boy. I quickly discovered that she could barely read music at all. Even after several years of lessons, she was still a beginner. She seemed kind of depressed, which may have had something to do with her age and the changes of life. She lacked much ambition for harp, but her dad was trying to pep her up and build up her self-confidence.

Because of her learning disability, she can only concentrate on one thing for a very short amount of time. She'll try hard, but her brain just doesn't cooperate (okay, I have that problem too sometimes, but it's a little different!). I've found myself saying the same things week after week, month after month, year after year. We've worked on note reading and rhythm big time. Her practice has often been very sketchy, and I think what she did do wasn't quality practice. Her lessons have been more like practice times. She has required every ounce of patience I possess and more. It often takes a very conscious effort for me to keep my voice calm and quiet, my countenance serene, and my head from aching during her lessons! Good thing I have so much phlegmatic in me, I guess.

To make a long story short, she's still at the beginner level in many ways and still struggles with note reading and theory, BUT she has improved! One thing I've learned about those with learning disabilities is that everything just takes longer. You have to view time differently than normal. Bit by bit her self-confidence and ambition has grown. She knows she's not that great yet, but she's even talked about going to college and majoring in harp! She went to a harp camp this summer and is totally psyched about playing the harp. Today at her lesson she jabbered on and on, and said she'd been practicing two hours every day! I just kept nodding and smiling and murming words of affirmation at the right moments, while feeling a trifle dazed. At a student recital last spring her father said how much he appreciated what I'd done for her, that she's come so far (pscyhologically more than musically, I suppose).

But I don't think a whole lot has to do with me. Her parents have believed in her and often amazed me with their level of dedication and sacrifice on her behalf. I have learned that M.F. has an older brother who's a total jerk and failure, so I think her parents are doing their best to see that she's everything she can be, while she's trying to make her parents proud. Honestly, I've wanted to give up on her many times, yet I never felt free to. Maybe while I've been trying to teach her music, God has been tring to teach me some vital lessons in love and patience. I know that my life has been profoundly influenced by mentors who believed in me and brought out the best in me. Now it's my turn to do that for others, and it's an awesome and humbling task. But I also want to say to M.F.'s credit that she's the one who hasn't given up despite the challenges. She's persevered and kept the spark of optimism burning. What a beautiful thing to see.

Yikes, sorry this is so long! But I hope this might inspire you to not give up on others or yourself. Everybody can benefit from lots of love, grace, and patience. Do you have a limitation? (Like my patience!) Then there's an opportunity to try just a little harder find a little more grace when it's most needed.

Interesting Audience Members

Several times this summer I've had the opportunity to play the harp at a wedding castle. It's not really a castle, but a huge, stately house out in the country with a sprawling lawn in front. They offer complete wedding packages to meet every detail of a wedding. Pretty amazing and probably pretty pricey. They have these guys with little ear-piece radios running the show as smoothly as clockwork. Valets buzz around parking cars and doing whatever needs to be done. The castle staff tries to meet all the fairytale wishes of the brides, including rides in a flower bedecked, horsedrawn carriage! Sometimes I wonder if grooms feel a little out of place in all the schmaltz!

Anyway, they often have a harpist play for the weddings. I've become a substitute for the usual harpist. The last three or four weddings have been outside. Remember the story of the staring teenager? Well, that's where it happened. I haven't had any more staring adolescents, but I've had a few other interesting incidents. At Friday afternoon's wedding a sweet little Asian lady came up and watched me while I played prelude. She was actually watching the music more, noticing how much it resembled piano music. When she recognized Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1, she started singing along with the melody! Fortunately, I don't think the guests could hear her. I think it was that same wedding when a large dog who lived on the property came and paid me a visit. I don't think he was supposed to be out, but I greeted him with appropriate doggy language and a pat on the back. He walked away and then gravitated back to me (animals do that for some reason). As he sniffed my harp I had a sudden, horrifying vision of him lifting his leg on this strange, decorative tree! I hastily lured him away from the harp and he contentedly flopped beside me, rolling over in expectancy of a tummy rub. I was supposed to be playing, so I returned to my duties while he sat by me on guard. A few guests kind of looked at us strangely as they walked by and I hastily explained that we weren't together. He was called away soon, but I didn't mind his company too much (as long as his leg stayed down).

Then at Saturday evening's wedding, a young girl came up and watched me, talking to me a few times about how beautiful the harp looked and sounded. She reminded me a lot of myself at a young age. I would gravitate toward musical instruments and sit enthralled by the wonders of music. I'd also spend hours listening to classical music, imagining stories in my mind or dancing to it. I couldn't wait to start learning piano, and then later when I caught the "harp bug," I lighted up at the mere mention of the harp. So now I consider it a privilege to foster musical interest in children, even if it's during a wedding prelude! Who knows -- maybe one of them will end up being the next Yo-Yo Ma or Kathleen Battle!

My Favorite Things

At the risk of sounding like Maria von Trapp or Pollyanna, I'm going to list some of "my favorite things." I amused myself on the way from teaching by thinking of various things that float my boat, hit my button, brighten my day, and add a spring to my step. Incidentally, I've always wanted to play Maria in the Sound of Music, but alas, kissing some guy I'm not married to is just out of the question! So now I settle for teaching my students all the songs from the Sound of Music, and often singing them myself.

Here's my little list. I'm sure it could be much longer if I kept going. Now I'm curious as to how many of you share these favorite things. So if you want to, just post a comment listing the numbers that have your same favorite PLUS one other favorite of yours.

[In no particular order of importance.]

1. Chocolate
2. Cheesecake
3. Piano concertos
4. Red roses
5. Making music
6. Starbucks chai latte
7. City lights at night
8. Laughter
9. The ocean
10. A fall or winter's evening in front of the fire with a book
11. E-mails from friends or sisters
12. History, especially ancient and American
13. Sunset over the Sea of Galilee
14. Hot showers or baths
15. My mom's hugs
16. Hugs from children
17. Falling snow (as long as I'm not driving!)
18. Finding a fabulous outfit for a great price
19. Family dinners
20. Volleyball with good friends who are good players, too!
21. Watching a great movie or reading a great book for the first time
22. Kittens
23. Fall foliage (especially in New England!)
24. Sabbath mornings
25. Apple pie (actually, most pies will do fine)

His Fuzzyship

I'm having fun learning how to use my new camera and Cheeky has been a frequent subject. Isn't he cute? It really looks like he's smiling!