Oh where, oh where is my peg/or sound post/ or tooth

January 16, 2009 at 3:41 AM

Since I do not have a classroom this year and my 3rd grade class is large, I have students drop the instruments off on the stage and I use my lunch/planning to get them all tuned, etc. Before class, one of my violin students who never drops her instrument off early says "My E string popped and I can't find the thingy it goes around". Now, we have been mostly on the D and A, so I am 99% sure that there is only one way the string broke. After we got down to the auditorium, one of my violin students trips over a cello. Oops. Well, the bridge falls, but it doesn't break, so I peer into the cello and see no soundpost. I gently shake it a little to where it has gone. THERE IS NO SOUNDPOST. What did my 3rd grade cellist do with the soundpost? I can't ask, because she doesn't show up for class. So after I have to give the requisite lecture about how we treat our instruments nicely, we finally can start our "Three Note March". So I model, we sing letter names and fingerings, we begin to play, and students are called away for a picture. Pretty much a very stinky class. All those interruptions prevented them from appreciating the giant red X on my left wrist (a visual aid for those students who continually substitute their wrist for head support.

At the end of the day, I can catch the kids who missed class, because they have to go wait in the auditorium to be picked up to go home. Excuse #1: I didn't have my violin because "I was in a rush". Did the sister have the violin? Of course. Did he leave his homework at home? Oh no. And why did the cellist not come? Because her teacher tells her she can't, she hasn't read enough books. This I believe, because the kids who miss are always from her class.

Hey, only 11 classes tomorrow. And since I already had one kid pull out a bloody tooth during an elementary music class on Wednesday, I should be good for the week, right.? And then I can begin my long weekend and start memorizing love songs for a strolling gig I have on Valentine's Day.

From Jodi Bernard
Posted on January 16, 2009 at 5:26 PM

Wow, sounds like you are working hard with all the excuses you get.

You are better than me.. I can't stand teeth pulling. I tell my own kids to go to the bathroom and yank out their own...ick

Jodi

From Anne Horvath
Posted on January 16, 2009 at 6:40 PM

One of my young students showed up this week with three less teeth. The Tooth Fairy dolled out $5.00 per tooth.

Inflation, I guess. Maybe something to keep in mind if the economy gets really bad?

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