Spring Recital is OVER!

Honestly this was the smallest and least stressful recital I've had, but it's still nice to have it behind me! Last fall I started with 13 students, but all of my high school kids dropped because of time and stress, and I had a couple drop for financial reasons. I was supposed to have 7 kids play, but one had a last minute conflict and another broke her arm a few weeks ago, so it was just 5 kids and myself performing.

The theme was show tunes. The kids were able to choose any song from any movie, musical or TV show. If I couldn't find it in their level, I arranged it for them. I actually arranged all but 1 this time! It's pretty rewarding to hear something I had a part in creating, actually.

Payton (lvl 1): The Pink Panther
Natalie (lvl 1): Zip-a-de-doo-da (couldn't come)
Lexi (lvl 2B/3A): Popular (from Wicked)
Annelise (lvl 1): Beauty and the Beast
Lora (lvl 1): Masquerade (from Phantom)
Cami (lvl 2B/3A): Hedwig's Theme (the one I didn't arrange)
Zoe (lvl 2A): Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo (broke her arm)
Celia: Hungarian Dance No. 5 (featured in Lemony Snicket's)

It took less than 20 min. for everyone to play! The only disappointment for me was how few siblings were there to support their family member(s). My family was so good at that growing up. Unless we had a scheduling conflict, we pretty much went to all performances of our siblings. I think it's good for kids to support their family.

The Messiah and my Easter Miracle

I had a wonderful Easter today! I accompanied Dean to the first hour of nursery and left him the second hour so I could go to R.S., and Matt said he did pretty well. Progress! While I was there I tried to encourage him to go play with toys on his own rather than sit on my lap or have me play with him. He often came over to say hi to me, but I think that it helped.

Last year for Easter dinner I went all out and did a full fledged Mediterranean dinner. I really loved how that turned out, but I knew that it would not be practical this year since I was performing in the Messiah choir tonight. So, I split up my Passover (I know what I made is not a traditional Seder meal) and Easter meal wishes into three nights. Friday night we had Matzoh Ball Soup before heading to the Temple (thanks again Erin!). Saturday night we had Indonesian Chicken Satays, Israeli Couscous with grilled veggies, and a cucumber salad. And tonight we had a glazed ham, party potatoes, deviled eggs, and green beans. It all turned out successfully, even though I can always say, "It needed a little more..." (I will ALWAYS think now of President Uchtdorf's amazing talk from the last General R.S. conference when I start a sentence like that!)

As we were warming up our director told us a little about his music background. He grew up a Baptist and felt he had been issued a calling from the Lord to become a minister of music. He ended up ministering for the Methodist church for something like 10-15 years and then switched to the Presbyterian church for about the same amount of time. He was approached by a woman in our stake (my Bishop's wife) 10 years ago to conduct Handel's Messiah and has done so every year since except 1. That one year his pastor over him "read him his rights" and pretty much said he should not conduct the choir for the Mormons and that it was displeasing to God and a disgrace to his calling. He felt compelled to not conduct that year (though he couldn't refrain from singing in the choir!), but he later decided there was no way the Lord could be displeased in such an open and loving act of praise for Jesus Christ. He found a new church to attend after that and has since resumed conducting the Easter Messiah choir!

Every year the choir members pitched in for a small gift for him as a token of gratitude. Because this year was his 10th anniversary of conducting, the woman in charge asked the Stake President if we could fly Jim and his wife to SLC to watch a performance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, either the pioneer day celebration performance or a Christmas Performance. (He is a huge fan of MoTab even though he's not LDS.) What ever the choir members didn't cover the Stake was going to. She emailed all past and present participants with this suggestion and together we contributed over $1000 to help with the expense! They presented that gift to him tonight after the performance and he was estatic and very touched. When she sent out the suggestion in the email, I was so touched I actually became teary eyed!

I was so grateful to Matt who took care of Dean while I practiced the past 6 Saturday mornings. He also brought Dean to the performance tonight even though it started when he should have been put in bed! Dean did so well. He sat on Matt's lap and listened for probably 20 min. and happily ran around in the back the rest of the time. I could see him pointing up at me and waving. It was very cute.

The performance turned out so well! My absolute favorites to sing were the Hallelujiah Chorus (the audience stood and sang what they knew with us), and the Amen Chorus. I just couldn't keep from smiling and I felt such a strong sense of gratitude for my Savior and for the opportunity I had to sing praises to Him! And that was my Easter miracle! I have had HORRIBLE allergies the past week. My nose has been stuffed constantly and today I felt hoarse most of the day. I was quite worried about my ability to actually sing tonight, but for that one hour I didn't even notice my allergies, my nose was not stuffed, and I was able to sing to the best of my ability!! I sang strong and well and felt very blessed for that. (When I was pregnant with Dean I couldn't sing the entire pregnancy! I don't know what caused it, but my voice continually cracked and broke. I was worried it would last forever. I was just thinking tonight how grateful that I am that recovered from that and that it has not been a problem for me this pregnancy!) The full orchestra really added so much to the performance. It was rich. I felt rich for having had the opportunity to do this. What a beautiful way to celebrate Christ the Lord on Easter!

He is Risen!

Arnold Friberg’s painting The Light of Christ.

Arranging once again

I'll be having a summer recital in June, but I decided it best to start arranging pieces sooner this time around so all the kids have ample time to learn their pieces. (There was kind of a mad scramble at Christmas...) This recital will be my smallest yet (with only 8 students) since I've had a few kids drop for economic reasons and I have decided not to fill their spaces. So far I've arranged the song Popular (from Wicked) to a 2B/3A level and the song Masquerade (from Phantom of the Opera) to a level 1. My other kids are having a hard time deciding what to play since I leave it up to them. The theme this time is "Shows". That could include Broadway plays, TV shows, or movies.

I haven't decided if I'll play again this time. It's really hard to practice because Dean still protests my piano practicing while he's awake (insisting that he play instead...or that I do something else with him), and the house is just too small to practice when he's asleep. Definitely something I am taking into consideration the next time we buy a home!!!

There is Music in my Soul Today

Last week in church a sister mentioned that a Handel's Messiah Choir was meeting again to get ready for an Easter performance. The practices are from 8:30-10:30 Saturday mornings and the performance will be Easter Sunday, April 12th at 7pm.

While I have sung in a few Stake and ward choirs in the past 10 years, I have not really sung under a professional conductor with really challenging music (don't get me wrong, some of my BYU choristers were really great music majors) since I graduated High School in '99. I have felt much regret over this. My soul has missed being part of a full choir, missed singing, missed warm-ups, missed harmonizing, missed performing. I decided that I was going to sing this year and that Matt was going to support me and watch Dean while I was at practice. Sure he'd have to get up early on Saturday for a month, but I NEEDED it. That night I came home and told Matt. He was really good and just said, "Ok."

I know how much he despises getting up early on Saturday, so I suggested that I take the Neon (though it's not gone further than a mile from our home in over a year) so he could take Dean in the Rav to get donuts. He was hesitant (slightly afraid that I'd be killed in the Neon since it's not so safe and kind of a junky car), but he took me up on the offer.

The music is challenging. I've only ever sung one selection from Handel's Messiah, and that was 11 years ago. I was happy that I have mad sight reading skills and that block and contrapuntal was one of my strengths! There were only a few times the conductor actually broke down the parts and played them individually. It was so much fun! I believe the conductor is a Presbyterian Minister of Music, and he was literally (and I really do mean literally) sweating from his 2 hours of vigorous conducting. The majority of the choir is LDS, but there were a few Methodists there today. I hope more people of more faiths come. What a great opportunity to come together and sing praises of the Messiah. I feel very blessed. (Local friends, there is still a great need for more men, so if your hubby sings, get him there! We only had 4 tenors and 6 basses.)

When I got home I found a very happy Dean with a face covered in chocolate glaze. He happily helped me eat a donut. He also wanted one with his lunch, though I told him no.

Christmas Recital a Success!

I was a little worried last week about my Christmas recital. It seemed like no one had practiced enough and Thanksgiving threw things off. But we had it tonight and it turned out great. I didn't require the pieces to be memorized this time (only in the spring), and that helped out a lot. I was pleased with everyone, but like always there were one or two kids who stole the show. Tonight it was a 9 year old student who's only been taking for 1 year. She played Silent Night out of the regular hymn book with the pedal!! And she played it flawlessly. Hers was the hardest song of the night and she's one of my newest students. It's hard to explain to other parents why some children do not progress that quickly. (Especially when the parents think their kids are moving too slowly and that I'm not challenging them enough! I really do try and work with their aptitude. I'm just not sure how to deal with parents who second guess what I'm doing with their kids and are bugged that they're not moving through books faster.)

I ended up playing Good King Wenceslas from Sally deFord's website. I downloaded it and played it last night for the first time! I had it on a Christmas CD from church and liked the arrangement. I was glad I could do it in such a short amount of time. Dean HATES it when I practice the piano, so I wanted something short but impressive sounding. He always wants to play or move the pedals instead of me. Plus it means I'm ignoring him, and he doesn't like that one bit.

It's nice to perform sometimes. That's really what I miss most about my youth. I miss being involved in piano, choirs, and performances. It's sad that I don't have that. I don't even do church choir right now because of the distance from the church and Dean's sleep schedule.

I let the kids pick their songs and this was what we came up with: (I only had to arrange two of the songs, so I was happy about that. Someday I need to figure out how to upload my arrangements so others can use them...)

Recital Program:

Drue H.
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

Lora S.
Jingle Bells

Zoe S.
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Lia S.
Jingle Bell Rock

Payton B.
Away in a Manger

Lexie C.
I Saw Three Ships

Madison S.
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Jake H.
Silver Bells

Rachel S.
Carol of the Bells

Mason S.
Up on the Housetop

Cami C.
Silent Night

There was freezing sleet on my windshield when it was all over. Crazy to think it was in the 70's yesterday! Today's high was 30* or something. TOOOO COLD!!!!

Music Math while Daddy's gone

Me
Dean
+2 hours of piano lessons
_________________
Difficult
-Daddy
_________________
(Chaos)

At least Dean was happy for the most part. Let's hope the rest of the week goes at least this well...

Kids' music parents can listen to

Recently I've been on the hunt for good kids' music. It all started when I was in the kids' section at Walmart where they have music snippets blaring away. Dean was going crazy for it (I couldn't tell if it was the music or the flashing number telling which piece was playing). But boy was it annoying music! A couple years ago my brother made a mixed CD for my siblings with children of songs that kids like that parents can listen to as well. I didn't have kids at that point, so I don't have the CD (I'm sure I could request it). Anyway, I've been searching out music and I've come up with some interesting finds.

So far one of my favorite artists is Elizabeth Mitchell's You are My Little Bird. I think I may just download the whole CDs rather than pick out songs here and there. It is nice and mellow. (You are My Flower doesn't seem bad either, but I don't think I want the whole CD.)

Some funny songs include Barenaked Ladie's I don't Like and Crazy ABC's on the Snack Time CD.

Although Amazon didn't have a preview of the songs, I may just buy Jazz for Kids. I love, love, love Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong so I hope I'd like their (and similar artists') kids' music.

They Might Be Giants have a lot of kids' songs (as well as songs not made for kids but are apropriate for them to listen to). Among my favorites so far are No! and Istantbul (Not Constantinople)

I'm still looking. Anyone have favorite CD's (or songs) for kids that you enjoy as well?

Should have, would have, could have

Don't you hate that looming feeling of "I should have..."

Today I can't shake the feeling that I should have gotten a BA and/or MA of music or music teaching or piano.

But I didn't.

I always said, "I know enough to teach without a degree." But how much more effective I would be if I had learned more!! Sure I know enough to teach up to high intermediate, but I don't know how good or effective I really am. I often wonder if I'm doing my more advanced students much good.

And though it's not too late, it would be fairly impossible to do while living here. One day maybe. One day.

Celia the Saint

Last week one of my piano moms asked if I could turn the song "I heard Him Come" into a women's trio for girl's camp. I forgot how stinking long the song was! I didn't really know how big of a project this was going to be when I said I'd do it, but good heavens it took me probably 15 hours (maybe more) total!

I originally thought it was for 3 specific girls. I knew that they had some really musical young women, so I made the harmony fairly challenging. It sounded quite good, if I do say so myself. On Sunday the mom called and said they needed it this week and asked if I would be finished. Oh, and hopefully it's not too hard. I finished it up last night, hoping what I had done wasn't too hard. When she came to lessons today I showed it to them. She tried singing through the alto part while her daughter sang 1st sop. She struggled with a few of the passages, and then told me their whole young women's was singing the trio.

Ok. It wasn't going to work. Too hard for the non-singers in the bunch. So, I had to rework it tonight. After about 5 hours of additional work, I'm finally done. They have the 3 singing parts separately on their own staffs, and a piano version to play the parts easily while learning. I used the free finale notepad to do the musical notation. (While the free version has some limitations, it's a great program to have.) The song's printed up, and I wouldn't be sad if I never heard it again.

If I had charged the same amount I charge for piano lessons, this song would cost them around $375. Service is good for us, though, right?

I swear this song is probably available in an SSA arrangement that they could have purchased for a couple bucks. It would be just my luck.

Great Expectations

I made one of my students cry today.

Well, kind of. He's a particularly emotional kid to begin. High highs and low lows. He gets overwhelmed easily, especially if he's tired, hungry or worn out. And he was all of those things today. They came straight from school where they'd been taking the TAKS test for two days straight. Starting in 3rd grade, kids are required to pass the TAKS to move onto the next grade. It's heavily stressed here, and I've actually had students cancel lessons (3rd and 4th graders!) so they could study. Weird.

Anyway, we were working on his recital piece. I admit it is a challenging piece for his skill level. He was tired and stressed out. I was a little stressed because Dean was screaming his head off in the computer room with Matt, so I probably had a little edge to my voice. I kept telling him to stay focused, look at my hands, pay attention, just take it one measure at a time. I could tell he was in his Eeyore mode, and about half way through I said, "Forget it. We can't work on this anymore. You're too worn out. Lets just play some music games." I don't know if the tears came from his frustration or relief, but a few slipped out. He enjoyed playing on my large staff mat, and kind of cheered up a bit.

I was always up for a challenge, but I'm finding those students to be rare. It's hard to find the line between high yet realistic expectations and overambitious/outrageous expectations. Any ideas on how to successfully do that?

RESOLUTION!

Well, I just got a very welcomed call this morning. One of my piano moms just got my string of emails. Her husband is in the Bishopric of my old ward and asked the Bishop if we could have the recital there. They figured since it would be 95% Mormon attendance, a Bishopric member (a dad), an YM president (a dad), a YW president (a mom) and a YW councilor (a mom), that we should be just fine without going through all that other junk. It's practically a home evening activity anyway.

She also said if for some reason that did fall through, we could have it at their house.

Hallelujah.

Thorn in my side

I have been trying and trying to get my piano recital scheduled and I have run into so many problems!! Growing up my mom always held her recitals at the church. I naturally assumed I could do this as well. When I emailed the building scheduling coordinator about it, this was the response I received:

"Hello Celia - As this is a non-church sponsored activity, use of any church building must follow a designated process. This is true for either the stake center or the LF building. Attached you will find a link to the building schedules (both buildings). At this time the appointment is unconfirmed, and below are the steps you will need to take in order to have a confirmed appointment.

1) Read the section "HELP" on the building schedule website:

2) Comply with the section below on non-church sponsored activities

3) Send an email to me with confirmation of #2 above, and then we will book your reservation as confirmed.

Can I reserve rooms in the building for non Church sponsored activities such as weddings, wedding receptions, etc? If the building is not being used for a Church related activity and it is approved by your bishop you may schedule the building for a non Church sponsored activity including weddings and wedding receptions. Effective May 1, 2007 the policy/procedure for outside events/activities using the McKinney Texas Stake buildings/facilities will change as follows:

• All private parties (members) that request and schedule to use any McKinney Texas Stake building(s) for the purpose of weddings, wedding receptions, receptions or any other event/activity that is not Church sponsored, will be required to conform to the Hold Harmless Undertaking set forth by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This amounts to providing liability insurance for the event/activity. ( Click here to download Hold Harmless Undertaking form ).
  
• As well as providing liability insurance (proof thereof) the Church will require a $100.00 deposit to be held by your Bishop. This deposit is for the purpose of assuring that no damage or cleaning issues remain upon completion of the event/activity.
  
• The deposit check is to be made out to Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The deposit check will be returned if no damage or cleaning issues are evident upon completion of the event/activity.
  
• Your respective WBR (Ward/Branch Building Representative) needs to be involved in helping monitor the event/activity that takes place."

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Sheesh. I have to have liability insurance??? And all that other stuff? Ok. So that is out.

Then I tried other routes. The music store I buy my music from has a recital hall. I have enough points earned up there to get a 1 hour rental free. Great. But the day I had need is booked all day! And all use of the facilities must happen during normal business hours, so we must be finished by 6 PM! Not so good.
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Brainstorming, I decided to call the Jr. High choir director. I teach a couple of his choral students, so I hoped maybe he could just let us use his classroom for 1/2 an hour. He was very kind and very prompt, but the answer he received from the Principal was that I have to call central campus for permission. OK. So I just called and I was transferred to a leasing office for the school disctrict. I don't know how much they charge, but I'm guessing it's more than I want to pay.
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Community center is $50/hour with a 4 hour minimum!
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YMCA has no piano
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A recital hall rental in downtown McKinney is $100 an hour
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I have 12 students and their families. I'm planning on 40 people, so there's no way I can just cram them in my tiny living room! I considered moving our piano out to our patio slab and setting up chairs outside, but Matt says it's WAY too heavy and is worried we'll rip up the kitchen linoleum and/or hurt the piano. I am quickly running out of options here!!! Any other bright ideas out there?

Political Music

My dad sent me a link to this song by Johnny Cash saying it was appropriate for the election this year and that I might like his music. The song was pretty funny, and while he's a bit more country than I'm used to, I do like his voice. I need to watch Walk the Line sometime. I heard it was pretty good.

Piano resources to help you out of a rut

Recently I have felt very....routine...in my piano lessons. They come, play their songs, we give them new songs and they leave. I have two kids in particular who seem to be making little to no progress recently. One has even seemed to digress. Unfortunately they don't have anyone at home who knows enough about music to help them.

Additionally, I have been unhappy with my tendencies to be lenient about how much they practice at home, when the parents pay me, and making them start and end on time (though this really is only a problem one day a week). Almost all of my students are from my old ward, so I'm friends with all the parents. I know the families and tend to make more exceptions than I should as a professional.

I've been racking my brain and combing the internet for ideas to help make my lessons more beneficial, more organized, and more interesting. I really want to become a better teacher and expect more from my students.

There are a couple of sites I found extremely helpful for teaching ideas and resources.

Layton Music Games and Resources

Music Matters

Free Music Theory Workbooks

I've decided I'll not make many changes until next fall, but here are a few things I'll be changing:

1. I will create a practice log booklet for every student. In it I will have:
1. clear expectations for my lessons, payment, scheduling/rescheduling, vacations, etc
2. my piano schedule with names and phone numbers of the parents. That way if they have a conflict on their scheduled day, they can call another parent and try to switch slots for the week. I'm hoping this will help reduce the number of "extra" hours I have to come up with for make-up lessons.
   
3. a page with common musical terms and symbols
4. Key signature charts
5. Scales
   
6. a few workbook sheets according to level
7. Practice log/assignment pages. Students will have to keep track of how much they practice everyday. Parents will have to sign. Students need to see how much (or in most cases how little) they actually practice and be accountable for it.
   
8. Staff paper for various things. One goal I have is to help every student compose an original song by the end of the year. It will be on staff paper with dynamics and everything. Ambitious, I know.
   
9. Year end evaluations of progress
2. Every student will have to memorize a scale and musical term every week, regardless of their skill level.
3. I will have a reward/point system for things they do well. They will get points for practicing, bringing all their books, having their term/scale memorized, playing their songs well, etc. I'm not sure what the reward(s) will be. Any ideas? I have kids ranging in age from 8-14 yrs.
   
4. The first 5 min. of the lesson will be dedicated to some sort of "music game or challenge". This will include things like sight reading, flash cards, rhythm games, listening games, not identification, intervals, etc. I will have a jar with popsicle sticks representing each challenge they have to pull from. There are just too many things to cover in every 1/2 hour lesson.
5. I will have bi-yearly recitals with themes for the song choices. Our first recital will be in May, and I think I'll do "Classical Composers". The recital at the end of the year will most likely have to do with holiday music and their original compositions.

I guess that's it. Any of you other teachers have good ideas and/or resource pages?