Peter Pan and Slane
Okay, bear with me here for a moment - this is me being creative musically. I've had the week off from school, and I've ended up working on the Peter Pan ballet again, which is of course probably copyrighted from here to the moon. However, I've been playing with a section of the first act, where Peter and Wendy first meet, and I don't know why, but "Be Thou My Vision" seems to completely fit Wendy's proper nature and proper homelife (proper as in "prim and proper").
So, first off, when does the copyright on Peter Pan end?
Second, is "Be Thou My Vision" (the music only) currently in the public domain or is that still copyrighted?
So, why exactly was Rudolph's nose red? A more light-hearted blog entry.
Well, concerts are over, and two more days of school this week until WINTER VACATION!!! I know there's an Easter Island, but is there a Christmas Island? If there is, I'd really like to go there right now.
It's beginning to look like winter (public school - can't say the C word - unless it's in the name of an actual place like in the paragraph above), and, just to prove how ready we all are for this wonderful event, I pose a question. I actually pose a story first, and then a question, but hey, who's counting. I had to watch the first hour band in study hall this morning and as I was wandering, I was wondering. I saw a senior reading "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" to some freshman (ironically, one of the young men may have been a drummer) and some bells jingled in my brain as I thought, "Gee, why exactly did Rudolph have a red nose?" I then proceeded to ask a practice room full of students slacking off about this question. I also discovered today that our students have wonderful imaginations as they delved into their veterinary knowledge to diagnose poor Rudolph with everything from a little cold to a disease that is much more communicable (followed by some rather lewd jokes on the students' parts about Santa, the little Mrs. and the elves - besides how many kids have seen Mommy kissing Santa Clause?). Oh those faithful that come to all! It brings new meaning to "Here Comes Santa Clause!"
Thinking about it more now, we really don't know what color Rudolph was, so there is a good chance he could be an albino reindeer - the nose and irises of the eyes would be red (it's that or he has lupus - an autoimmune disease). If Rudolph really was an albino, he'd also be photosensitive and would only be able to travel out in low-light conditions (pigments protect our skin from UV rays and sunburn). He'd also be mocked by the other reindeer for being different, and not really be allowed to play their reindeer games (oh those friendly beasts!). Granted, as an albino, just a few pigment-producing genes would be effected, so he'd still be strong, unless he stayed away in his reindeer room, tucked in his manger, sulking, then he'd have no strength or endurance training.
Our other option that I can think of is that poor little Rudolph had Lupus Erythamatosis (oh the mercy and the grace of that though!); this is an autoimmune disease similar to allergies and arthritis all wrapped up into one. Not fun stuff. If Rudolph did have Lupus Erythamatosis (sp?), he'd first have to be human as only humans get that disease. However, for the sake of this argument, we'll say reindeer can also get it. He'd have a butterfly-shaped rash (maylor - sp?) over his nose that would be red and look as if you've been outside ice-skating for several hours. Hence, the red-nose. He'd also be photosensitive and get severe headaches from high levels of light. But then he'd be really ill, and that wouldn't be as fun for a children's story. It'd be kind of sad and depressing - not the stuff of winter fairytales. In fact, that would be a rather blue winter holiday.
Of course, a really good explanation is that he got too close to the chestnuts on the open fire and acually burnt his nose. Poor Rudolph needing a burn unit! It would probably be a severe third degree burn if his nose was bright, and it'd be bright enough to power a sleigh ride full of Santa, and toys, and eight reindeer! If any kid got forgotten ever, it's probably because the holly, jolly old elf himself had to give Rudolph CPR while they were over the river and through the woods.
More on Rudolph's differential diagnosis tomorrow. I need to look through some veterinary journals!
PS: This was how we (myself and the students) managed to get through today's post-concert boredom. Tonight however, there is no concert and it is quite silent. I can tell though that lately we watched one too many episodes of House, MD.
PPS: How many winter songs were mentioned in this entry? Look closely as words in names were rearranged. There are for sure twenty-one.
they sent Him off in style
Today is a day that will stay in my mind for a long time. On Friday, I found out about a family friend of ours passed on from cancer last week. On Saturday, I found out about another family friend passing on from cancer six months ago, but we just found out. On Sunday, I hid from the world, and today, Monday, I found out about CHS's top music advocate also passing on from cancer. Three cancer deaths in three days.
Got to school today with a renewed sense of energy; the last concert was tonight, and I had just graduated yesterday. I got into the band room and saw that SCT was wearing a tie and a suit, which he never wears. He let me put down my stuff and then told me about the advocate passing on. He then told me that a couple of years ago he and his friend were talking about their funerals, and SCT's friend said that when he died, he wanted SCT's band to play Hallelujah Chorus as his coffin was being wheeled from the church to send him out in style. Our students did that today, and I'd be willing to bet that there was not a dry eye in the church.
Unfortunately, I could not go to the funeral, but I instead watched a couple of high school classes with a licensed professional in the next room. I also took the eighth grade band on my own today, with a licensed professional in the next room willing to come to my aid if I needed it. The eighth graders did okay; what worked with them is when they were forced to listen to directions as I experimented with different noise levels with that group. They also focused well when there was background noise (Tchaikovsky and Copland recordings) competing against them and a swell of the orchestral sound. I managed to find a few leaders in the group who helped out too, so it made the hour more pleasant to run. I did a game with them today that would work in smaller groups. What I did was have them do a rhythm game which is fun in small groups, but I wanted to try with everyone. They were bored/frustrated after two minutes (I discovered though that the band cannot keep a steady beat as a whole). What I should have done was introduce it to them and then break them into smaller groups and have the winner from those groups compete. Then it would have worked better.
Choir concert was tonight and I am very proud of how the band performed as accompanists. They played/sang Hallelujah Chorus at the end of the concert, and it could have gone better, but seeing that they blended together as a group and got a beautiful baroque sound as a group, I was very happy. Went out with the high school choir teacher and the accompanist afterwards and I literally just got back from that.
Well, I'm getting up in about five hours. More later...
photo of the year contest
For those of you who don't know, I am an amateur photographer, and I also entered our area's regional paper for the photo of the year contest. My photo made it onto the paper's website, but in the scanning process or something at their offices, the color washed itself out a lot along with some of the detail being lost as well; this is something I've seen with scanners with other photography. Also, several other photos on their site had washed out coloring also.
Don't know when they will judge it, but I'm looking forward to finding out. I hope I do well, but only time will tell.
the sign
I just got back from the university portfolio exhibition a few minutes ago, and walking out of the classroom, I let out a huge sigh of relief. The grading portion of my college career is officially over!!! I got my pink bachelors of music tassle today and I even got honor's cords (cum laude)!!! As I sit here, I see my high school tassle on one side of the screen, my college tassle on the other, and the honor's cords just to my right. I wish I could bottle this feeling and just give it away to everyone, especially my students - they're good kids and they deserve to feel this way.
"The Sign" refers to the coda sign in a piece of music, which signifies the beginning of the end of the piece. I am about one month away from the last day of the semester, and I no longer have to fulfill grading requirements at the university. This is the happiest day of my life so far.
webweaving
I am currently sitting at my computer doing the same exact thing that every other student teacher from my college is doing right now - webweaving their e-portfolios. My portfolio has been done for the entire semester, but I was showing it off to someone today and discovered that two links do not work. Upon further investigation, another 50% of the links are the same way. More specifically, two don't link at all and the others link to non-existant pages. This is after spending two to three hours a day for the last three weeks fixing this same problem. This has come down to up to eighteen hours a week for a month for a one credit class. I think that's a little much. Of course, I'm spending 70 hours on a sixteen credit class. Mathwise though, my one credit class should be more like a four or five credit class.
Today at school I discovered teenagers' aprehension at performing a solo for Solo and Ensemble. I spoke with several students today who were holding out on doing events who are good enough to do so. I am proud though to have convinced six students today to sign up.
Then, anyone know the approximate price for a score and parts for Semper Fidelis (Sousa) published in about 1916? SCT showed the school's copy to me today and we decided to try to price it on E-Bay, but the only music that was on there was for piano. We want to know!
Back to webweaving!
snow day
It's the first snow storm of the year, and CHS actually closed!!! We were one of the last schools to call off for the afternoon of classes (9:43), and it was about an hour and a half after the other schools in our area closed for the afternoon. It was pretty ironic to see everything closed except our district. Administration says that there is a good chance we will not have school tomorrow, which would be kind of nice. Friday's the portfolio exhibition and it would be nice to have a break; today doesn't count as one as I ran around trying to cancel lessons with students who live in the country (which is all of them) and track down a fax.
It actually wasn't too bad to control the kids today after the school announced the closing, but that's probably because our classes by that point were done for the day anyway, and I wasn't needed at the middle school today (SCT was going).
That's about all, time to make a snow-man!
torn
This is a hard concept to put into an educational/professional blog. I just got home from my high school's mixed band and choir concert, where they had two professional jazz musicians join the groups for the concert. I fought with certain people at college to allow me to live at home this semester and student teach. More specifically, I fought to apply for a specific placement, which was my old high school that I graduated from. Tonight, I sat in the audience of that school, as a member of the community and an advocate of their music program, and within two measures of the first piece wish that I had done more to attempt to student teach in this community. I have learned so much from SCT and need to learn so much more to be competitive in the job market, and to get my band to sound like my high school's did tonight.
That's really all I have to say.
the morning after
Well, I was able to predict exactly what my body would do for this concert, the night after, and now the morning after. The concert went well enough, it was obvious that I was directing one of the hardest pieces as there were spots where it almost fell apart. Onstage, the group in general didn't have the focus that it usually had, and it made it hard; they seemed to regresst to where they were a month ago. I'm not used to that. They took all tempi about 40 beats per minute slower than they could play and then I had to fight them to get it to where they really are on the piece.
The setting just seemed too serious. When the band walked out onto stage, no one applauded, which got to me. They finally applauded for SCT when he came on, however, the audience was very quiet. I'm used to a much less serious audience that wants to have fun at a concert, not the kind that's forced to be there for their kids. Big difference. Entertain them!
Well, following my usual pattern, all that I need this morning is sleep, but that won't happen. I get this way with concerts. I'll be really nervous two weeks before hand and focus my attention on the music. From that point, nerves will wear on my for awhile until I crash and sleep. I then will not be nervous until the day of the concert, and then it will be in little waves like a roller coaster. I'll be fine until I either get to the site or step foot on stage, and then different nervousness hits me - one where I loose all focus. Then, I make it through the concert and am on a complete adrenaline rush for the next four-eight hours. Once I fall asleep or crash from the adrenaline, all I want to do is stay asleep for a day.
Gotta love nerves.
4 hours and counting...
... until the downbeat of tonight's concert, and I haven't been that nervous at all. I think that it was a really good thing that CBD talked me into trying for and later conducting campus band. CBD if you are reading this, thank you!!!
The day was productive for not having lessons. Well, we still had the eighth graders, but it wasn't that bad; they are getting better and should be a lot better than they were in spring. We can recognize the music, despite the fact that there are still plenty of bad notes being played.
Fun part of the day though was standing around with the middle school choir teacher and the middle school principal (a former band teacher) and just having them tell me stories. Really good stories, and I know they will happen to me (I just smiled during this and thought of the
student with the reed). I love hearing stories from people who have been in the field for longer than me - it's good learning and it's funny.
Well, need to get ready for the concert - two hours of make-up, hair, and other things should be enough!
12 hours and counting...
...until I'm on the road to the concert tonight! It's the morning of the concert, and I am surprisingly calm. I woke up before my alarm and tried to fall back asleep, but it didn't happen. I'm a little nervous, but surprisingly calm. We'll see how that stays once I'm near the students; no lessons today so I probably won't be near them that long.
Finished the SOE Portfolio last night, and I am greatly relieved that it's finished. All I have to do is get SCT's signature on an old form that I didn't photocopy before I turned it, and get both SCT's and SP's signatures on the official evaluation, and then scan those into a pdf file, insert them into the portfolio, link them, and burn the CD.
I can do this this week!
Solo and Ensemble officially kicks off tomorrow!
less than 24 hours
Just finished my e-portfolio for my Mued 400 class, and I am relieved. All that I have left to do is double-check links on the CD-RW and to add in the final evaluation by SCT. Now all that's left for the next 24 hours is to go through random waves of nervousness for the concert tomorrow night at 7:30. I know we're prepared, but every so often I have the thought, "What if _______ happened..." go through my head and I get jittery again. This is normal though with any concert for me.
Kind of wish I would have tried to convince SCT to let me teach something a little easier, however, I'm still up for the challenge.
Now, to find that skirt for tomorrow...
a riddle
If a copy machine is left to make copies on its own, will it still make the copies? I ask this because today SCT and I made all of the programs for Monday's concert. We then bribed/begged/solicited/etc... our students to fold the programs. About eight of us together folded 500 programs in less than an hour. Our students are awesome!!!
Semester is winding down - midterm grades for this term are due in on Monday at noon, and my project for the morning is to enter grades for the high school and eighth graders; don't know yet if we enter comments for this as the last midterm scoring session was a day that I was at college for a seminar.
On a more serious note, I'm worried about a student. This student has had a really rough life, and is now in the middle of a custody battle. No one really knows what will happen or which state this student will be living in in the next 48 hours, however, the student is taking it very well. We exchanged e-mails yesterday after her lesson so that if the student is no longer in the area as of tomorrow, I can still make sure that the student isn't have too many problems, or at least be there as a positive role model. Really hope that the court/lawyers pull together for the good of the student and not for the interests of the parents involved. I kind of wish I didn't worry about my students so much, but then again, that is part of me that makes me a better teacher and makes my students more willing to approach me (they even included me in the card for this student!).
More later...
parade and formulaic writing
Well, yesterday was the Christmas Parade and the high school band marched in it. It was small, only five blocks, if that, and we didn't wear uniforms. The middle school band marched in it as well, and they had uniforms that were purchased used from a high school that was purchasing new uniforms. They were so cute. Some of them thought they had to march with the high school so I was shoeing them away into their own band. When we finished the route, our busses were parked behind the middle school's busses and I got to look for our eighth graders in the line up.
Strangest parade though. The downtown has canned music playing from the cable company, so when we weren't playing, we heard music still going. Plus, the middle school band was just close enough to us that we could hear them too. We didn't use a drum major, instead SCT did whistle calls from where he marched. Most of the band was out of step, and lines were horrible. I guess though that's what to expect when you need the time to rehearse for the winter concert in five rehearsals.
Then, I noticed a connection between today's hit television shows and classical-era sonatas. Both are written to follow a formula. Now, I've noticed this before, but I've never really seriously thought about it. Sonatas have a formula that is followed by most composers, and the listener/player began to expect that formula (listen to marches and you'll hear it too). Deviation from the formula makes it interesting for the audience, while hinting at specific themes makes the audience recognize the peice easier. Such is the same with popular television today. It all follows a formula, and you expect that formula. Deviation from the formula is interesting, however, there are still inside-jokes and references that we expect from these shows as well.
Gotta love formulaic writing.
100th post!!!
Wow, I've already posted to this 99 other times before today and that makes this...
...the 100th post!!!!!!!
Not that there is anything really new today. Snowed last night and I got to school shortly after SCT (needed to get coffee first, or I would have literally pulled in right after him as he was behind me for awhile), and managed to see some kid doing donuts in the parking lot. I flashed my lights at him, he stopped, and we both parked. Gave him a lecture on driving safety when he got out of his car. He then said, "Well, I only do it when there aren't many cars around." And I said, "One car is too many. Don't do it again," and left him with a warning. I took down his license plate (even though it was a temp/applied for) and am going to wait to see if he does it again or shows evidence of it.
The day was really long. The whole crunch time thing has officially gotten to me and I'm looking forward to being able to sleep on Saturday for a little while. Even though we have a parade that morning, my plans are to come home, nap for awhile, and then assemble the rest of my DPI Portfolio. I just need to scan things in. SCT is working on my semester eval and will hopefully have that done by tomorrow. I told him he didn't need to, that I could send it in the mail to everyone and then have the needed people sign it, however, but I think he might just have it done by tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is my last eval by SP. SCT has given me the full hour to plan as I wish. I'm going to run two pieces, and then rehearse Hallelujah Chorus. SCT is also letting me play with Hymnsong of Philip Bliss, my favorite piece. I confessed to him today that I ran it once when he was in Iowa, and he didn't mind. I can't wait though. Hopefully I'll be feeling better tomorrow morning. I'm going to bed early tonight and laying off the caffeine for awhile as I think that's why I've felt rundown yesterday and today and hope that it does the trick. Halfway through rehearsing Festivo I was overcome with this and fought to make it through. I asked SCT for some advil, but he didn't have any (I already took tylenol) and neither did any of the other teachers I asked (only two). Ugh.
Well, off to do a little more score study before tomorrow morning. Need to get down the cues for Hallelujah and want to double-check Hymnsong.
