Back to My Roots

This weekend, UW Oshkosh will be hosting State Solo and Ensemble. They have hosted this event for a long time and I remember participating as a high school student for two years. Musicians come together as soloists and ensemble to perform for a judge that gives them a rating on their performance.

While at UW Oshkosh as a college student, I had the opportunity to volunteer for quite a few years. In my last year as an RHD, I have come back to volunteer one last time :). I was a room monitor when I was in college, and I now have the opportunity to be a runner. Sweet!

I am volunteering on Saturday and I am helping a few hours on Friday with set-up. It still leaves some time to relax from what has been a crazy weekend. We also start gaming again.

Daddy'll Sing Bass, Mamma'll Sing Tenor

I received a phone call from a member of our church saying that the church choir was being called back together to sing each Sunday until the end of May. When out music director left, I assumed the choir would be done for the remainder of the year. It was wonderful that he stepped in and brought the choir back.

I was curious to see who would show up given the hard feelings that some had over the leaving of our music director. Some of the regulars were not there...but, there were some folks who have not been to choir that are now back. I can not say for sure why.

When I arrived, there was only one tenor. Although trained as a baritone in college and a bass in high school, I bit the bullet and sang tenor as well. Yikes! Singing tenor when you sing bass can definitely be a strain on the vocal chords. However, it was interesting to see music from another perspective. The tenors often fill in harmonies in chords and have a smoother line than bass parts.

When you get used to something, it can be hard to change. I think this tenor experience will be good for me.

Student Teaching

Loyal readers (all 10 of you ;) ) know that my undergraduate degree was in choral and general music education. To complete the certification process, you needed to complete student teaching. My student teaching experience divided out to be one quarter in high school choir and one quarter in elementary general music.

By the time I began student teaching, I was very sure that I was no longer interested in being a music teacher. It's not that I regretted my musical education; in fact, I would glad that I now have that background. But, the thought of being a classroom music teacher deal not have the appeal that it did four years before.

On my morning walk today, I walked by Oshkosh North high school. I did my student teaching my Oshkosh West, but regardless, it got me thinking about my student teaching experience. Sadly, when I recount this experience with folks I can honestly tell them it was one of the worst experiences I have had in my life. I got nervous every morning and dreaded almost every experience of being in front of the class.

As someone who doesn't mind performance and public speaking, this might seem wierd. As I reflect, much of it has do to with the fact that I did trust my own musicianship; I always had a fear that I was not teaching them correctly or that I was not a good enough singer. It always haunted me. There were many moments when I wanted to quit outright. Thankfully, Jacque and my dad were very caring and supportive, but were also helpful in letting me know that I should continue through the experience.

My supervising professor knew that I did not want to go into music education as a career. I actually made an appointment with her early on to drop out of student teaching. She told me that if I did so, I could kiss goodbye any chance of getting a recommendation of any kind. In hindsight, I realize that wouldn't have made much difference because I never really needed a music reference in my career anyway.

Alas, I stuck to it and made it through. And, although stressful and not all that fulfilling overall, I came away with some good experiences. You can chalk it up to being one of those experiences that "builds character".

Why would I even talk about this on the blog?

Ultimately, we are all going to have experiences that may not be enjoyable. But, we find that when we complete them, we grow as people. I have become fond of this verse from Proverbs 19:21, "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

I realize that we go through peaks and valleys in life. My experience in student teaching has been very helpful to me since that time. It helps me to know what I don't want to do with my life, but it also helps me to find postiveness and meaning in something that could easily be completely lumped into being bad. God has a way of leading us to things we never thought we'd do. This is one of those experiences. I know we have all had them. Know that no matter how bad something might feel at the time, there is a meaning behind and lesson to be learned.

Concerts

As I was out for my morning walk this morning, I was weaving my way through the Wellness Center Construction area and I had a revelation...

...I have not been to a concert in over a year.

My first year as an RHD, I had season tickets to the Fox Valley Performing Arts Center and saw a bunch of shows. In graduate school, I had a job that worked directly with the arts and I saw a bunch of shows. In undergrad, I was a music major so I was required to go to a bunch of music shows each year.

I was trying to figure out why I haven't gone to a concert in awhile. A few thoughts:

1. Cost - It costs $75 or so to get good costs for a musical. As a staff member, I have to play for UWO concerts...not a lot, but it's money. I can always think of other ways to spend the funds.
2. History - I've never been a fan of concerts. I've always been a sucker for recorded music. You know what you're getting.
3. Busy - I have a lot of stuff going on and it would be difficult to find the time to put in a concert. When there is a good concert that I might consider going to, there is something else I need to do.

So, we'll see...maybe I'll get to one soon.

The Desire to Conduct

So, yesterday afternoon the choir director of my church called to let me know that she would be unable to rehearse with our vocal and bell choirs that evening. She asked if I would be willing to do the rehearsals. This would seem like a no brainer; after all, my undergraduate degree was in music education (with an emphasis in choral directing!).

However, there is a reasons I am not a choir director. I don't enjoy it. I discovered this with about one year left in my program while I was doing my clinical. I thought to myself, "I can't do this as a job...I would go crazy!" I was so far into my program that I did not want to change majors. So, I gutted it out and managed to get through student teaching, although I would easily consider it the worst 18 weeks of my life. It solidified the fact that I wanted nothing to do with music education.

If you didn't already know, I was the choir director of FUMC Oshkosh for one year. I did this when I graduated so that I had a source of income while I was doing my graduate school search for student affairs. I enjoyed that to some degree, mostly because of the people. The members of the congregation were wonderful and supportive. In fact, it was mostly because of them that I chose to come back as a member when I made my way back to Oshkosh.

To get back to the current story, I told Cara I would direct the choirs but I was not really happy about it. She understood, but was also very grateful. In the end, I can do it. It helped that Roger Lalk was willing to help with bell choir so that I could play bells. That made things a little more tolerable.

By the way, will this week ever end? It has been crazy busy...and this directing gig last night didn't help.

Homecoming 2006

Tomorrow I will be going to my first UW Oshkosh Titan football game. I have been a student at UWO for five year and I have been working at UWO as an RHD for four years. In that time, I have never gone to a game. It's hard to say why. Part of it is because I can't get into Division III sports. Part of it is because our team has a history of doing poorly. However, as a result of being on the Homecoming planning committee, I have taking an increased care in Titan activities. I am willing to give it a shot. The team is pretty good and it's about time I go to a game. It's gonna be really cold, but it should be fun.

Other News:

• I bought two Mendelsohn symphonies on I-Tunes. It feels good to purchase and listen to some classical music. Along with the fake feeling of sophistication, it just feels good to keep my musical tastes broad and not lose track of a wonderful body of literature.
• There will definitely be some mass Guitar Hero playing this weekend. Task #1: get 5 stars in all songs on the Medium Career mode (2 songs left); Task #2: complete career mode on Hard Career Mode: (7 songs left)