Nurse! Get a coffee line stat!!!!

Ever have one of those days that was brought to you by coffee?  Today is one of those days.  Tomorrow and Saturday probably will be too.  Here's the perfect description:

I just finished cup #3, thinking about cup #4, and I have a Red Bull in the staff lounge fridge.

Why, you ask?

Simple.  Today is a concert day.  2nd and 3rd grade, to be precise.  They're doing a program titled "Music Around the World."  It's all music out of Music K-8 magazine.  This is the best I have felt about a grade level performance in a long time.  We had our dress rehearsal performance for the whole school this morning.  If the kids can do as well tonight as they did this morning, this may be the best show yet.  I am hopeful to have some pictures and possibly some video, but we'll see.

The best part is that tomorrow I am helping a friend up the road and have to be in her band room at 7:00, then at work a little after 8, then I have to go to another friend's house and load up my car to do a craft fair on Saturday in Leesburg.  Nothing like a car crammed full of stuff, a 3 1/2 hour drive, 6-8 hours of craft show, reloading the car and a 3 1/2 hour drive home to get the blood flowing.  I may see about installing a coffee Camelbak in my car.  If I make it to Saturday night it may be a small miracle.

It's interesting, I was at a rehearsal a few nights ago talking with another music teacher who was telling me about how crazy things were schedule-wise in her house.  She and her husband are both elementary music teachers, and involved in different ensembles and whatnot, and constantly running in different directions.

Hooray for all of us crazy music teachers and all of the crazy things we're into.

Hooray.

Wow, it's been a while...

Greetings internet!

I should have realized that keeping up with this blog would become a challenge once the school year really heated up. Thankfully I come bearing good news.

As with many music teachers I find myself constantly fighting the practice battle with my instrumental students. Even the ones who are motivated. In some ways u feel like I am making proofread on that front through music selection and bribery (I may have offered baked goods in exchange for stellar performance in our most recent concert), but in many ways I feel like it is the same uphill fight to get students to pick up their instruments, let alone put in quality practice time.

Thankfully I was in Pinterest the other day and came across a fantastic article from NPR about practicing and how students might be motivated to do more of it.

Getting kids to practice music without tantrums or tears - via NPR.

I will definitely be employing some of the ideas from the article, and I already emailed the link to all of my band and orchestra parents.

I am especially intrigued by the idea of using practice beads as a visual reminder of what has been covered and accomplished. To use them as described would definitely take some training by both the teacher and parents, but it is something I am seriously considering adapting to use in my classroom.

So there is my thought for this evening, hopefully I can get some rest tonight!