A Really Long Blog...

November 17, 2006 at 3:34 PM

I've been meaning to post a blog for a week now, but whenever I get to the page, I feel a lack of energy to write. Oh well.

I did sectionals again last night, this time for a longer time, with both the Prep Orchestra and the Youth Orchestra. It was fun and the time flew by. I sat down this time, which took away an amount of authority I had standing (with the older kids) because I don't seem th at much older than them. I used my violin a lot with the prep orchestra because at times they just needed another strong voice to listen to. I really discovered the value of singing on pitch...sight singing. Singing the part while conducting (when I did conduct, it was just 2nd violins) was very helpful for them.

I've been writing. It is like music floating in my heat, but words. Phrases. Then when I'm not doing anything, they kind of pick a few phrases to go toghether and I rush in and write them down before I forget. It is a pleasant feeling when they are forming in my head randomly and so naturally. I'll post them gradually. I love writing, though it is just for personal enjoyment and to share with people who might like to read them. Like Terez was suggesting...

Sals,
JW

#2:
all the nodding pales between
acid and clamp
arching by navel and rib.
this cramp fell from versions engraved
stamps moulded
at the first cry of life.
which chose whom?
coming later or already stuck
lodged between skins-
blooming after trials and sins
like a pained rose
in no one’s side anymore?

#3:
a cat squeals out in the night
my hand, pausing on the doorknob
half turned-pulls away.
I turn around, searching the quiet,
finding no sound, no clue,
knowing
it is not mine,
neither is it mine.
Stained and broken by the cure,
humbled.
as if the good I had done,
the nourishment placed for something stray
had caused a violence
I could not understand.

From Elizabeth Smith
Posted on November 17, 2006 at 4:19 PM

About the issue of authority with students-- you're right, subliminal issues count, so it helps to stand, especially if they are sitting. But you can't always stand up. I started teaching college students when I was in my mid-twenties and I looked young for my age. I'm not a very stentorian type, either-- I'm softspoken. So I did some research after feeling that they were seeing me more as a peer than an authority. One thing I did was to change how I dressed. I took it up a notch or two in degree of formality, to separate myself from them and nonverbally announce 'I'm the professsional'. Pointy-toed (instead of blunt) shoes. I also learned that it helps to wear black or dark colors to suggest authority. You don't have to look dowdy, just more formal. I was amazed at how well this simple strategy worked to change the way I was perceived and received by the students.

From jennifer steinfeldt warren
Posted on November 17, 2006 at 6:37 PM

Thanks for the advice. I usually wear black, but I did take my jacket off because I was so sweaty. The jeans will have to go for something a bit more professional. I sat because last week I hurt a lot afterwards...and I was only standing for an hour. And I didn't walk this time, either. Sitting made a lot of difference, but I think I might sit differently. I caught myself with one leg crossed over the other, and cringed. Often.
Thanks!
JW

From Stephen Brivati
Posted on November 18, 2006 at 4:46 AM

Greetings,
I like the third set. My neighbour usually drops round for a doorstep chat every night. He happens to be the proud possessor of an extremely pudgy and unkempt moggie that was very cruelly treated in its youth. The mog has built up the courage to wander past me into my house on these visists and has now assumed it is his to use on cold winter nights since his real owner doesn`t get back until late. Thus, I was giving a cellist a two hour lesson last night and for the last hour one remarkably aggrieved feline sat outside the back door demanding to know why the hell I wasn`t opening it for him since, although he is nutless, everything else was damn cold,
Cheers,
Buri

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