New Beginnings

I'm really trying to get back in the swing of things, but it's hard. Our family had such a wonderful vacation in Colorado, I got to see my daughter who lives in Honduras, only one person got sick, the weather was beautiful, we celebrated Jesus, ................and then school started! Which is great, because I do love my job. But this year more than most I'm having trouble shifting gears. Maybe it's because I'm older. My kids would say it is because I'm going to be a grandma. Part of it is that the semesters are so different in my class. First semester is musical, all-state, and Christmas. Second semester is solo/ensemble contest, pops concert, and Awards concert. So we really have to start over and that takes lots of organization and planning. So here's where we stand (in case you ever wonder what I do with my time).

So far this week, I have: chosen and ordered music for the chamber choir to sing at contest, sorted files and files of music looking for appropriate contest music, tidied the costume loft (something I wanted to do before Christmas), posted and partially graded a moodle assignment for this week, finished grades from last semester, ordered more music for SWI Honor Choir, made some preliminary decisions about music for the Awards concert in May, finished the Bye Bye Birdie picture collage (which hangs at the back of the room with the others from every production since I've been here), registered for honor choirs, checked dates for all spring events, tried to find an accompanist for chamber choir (any volunteers?), supervised band when Mr. Berry went home sick, prepared for and taught my classes, drove to Massena twice, and updated this blog!!!! Wow, now I'm tired.

On a different note related to planning: some of us are going to Des Moines to see the evening performance of Hairspray on March 20. I still have some tickets left if you want to go with us. Just let me know and bring a check for $28.50.

I hope you are enjoying your new beginnings!

One of My Favorite Things!

One of my favorite things at Christmas time is the Christmas Concert at ISU. It was very special when my daughter was in one of the ensembles that performed in it several years ago. It's a different kind of special to see my former students participating! The picture is of the Men's Choir, one of four ensembles that performed at ISU last Sunday December 7. Paul Wedemeyer has been a member of this group since he was a freshman. I believe this is his third Christmas Concert. This is the second year for Amy Williamson to participate. She is in one of the women's ensembles called Lyrica. Her sister Sarah also sang in it when she was there.

Why is this one of my favorite things? I love C.Y. Stephens Auditorium, for one thing. It seriously has the best acoustics of any performance hall in the country. Secondly, I love the music that the directors choose. It is traditional, yet different in a very classic way. I love the fact that all four choirs fill the stage to capacity and join their voices together for the finale! But most of all, I love it that my students are still singing. What a gift to themselves, to their communities, to their families, and to me!!

Holiday Happenings

By the time New Year's Day arrives, most music teachers are in Christmas music shell shock. We pick out our Christmas music in September, begin preparing it with our students in October, perform it for you in December, and then we don't want to hear Christmas music again for quite a while! Throw in a couple church programs and those of our own children, and we definitely get enough Christmas spirit to last for several months. That's not to say we don't enjoy it, though. We love helping you celebrate Christmas! We hope to see you at one of the Christmas concerts coming up soon: December 8 (7:00 Middle School) and December 11 (7:00 High School).

This might be a good place to tell you about my philosophy of celebrating Christmas with traditional Christmas music. You might be thinking that I'm quite politically incorrect. Well, if you know me very well, you know that label doesn't bother me in the slightest. However, I plan very carefully to include a variety of music on our Christmas programs. You will almost always hear Latin, (Gloria in excelsis Deo!) some kind of snow or Fa la la song, and definitely at least one traditional carol that you will recognize. I think it is important to remember our traditional musical roots when it comes to Christmas, and if you want more information on this, let's talk in person.

Until then, have a wonderful, music-filled Christmas season!

Crazy routine- delightful and unexpected!

Two phrases stuck out to me when reading my daughter's blog last night:
http://www.foreignheart.blogspot.com/
(please excuse the shameless plug)

"....routine.......crazy"

"..delightful, unexpected, life things..."

So, because she was asking for guest writers for this week (and it's already Thursday), and because I am enjoying a wonderfully relaxing day while my students are at an honor choir, I am sharing this tiny space of ...space... with her.

At some point in everyone's life, if they are productive and passionate and purposeful, (please note alliteration- I worked very hard at that), they find out that, oddly enough, routine and crazy actually work out very well together. The key is realizing that each have their time and place, and knowing when to roll with routine and rock with crazy. Flexibility! Those of us who are control freaks have a hard time with this, but believe me it's one of the most valuable lessons to learn in life. Side benefit: aids in learning to trust our Heavenly Father!

Which leads to the second phrase rolling around in my head. If we are flexing, trusting, rocking, and rolling, we will discover "delightful, unexpected, life things!" Those serendipitous moments that push us out of our routine and into crazy. Those "out of control" things that happen when we least expect it, but we learn to cherish because of their infrequency. Things like unexpected compliments, deep conversations, touching compassion, random acts of kindness, surprise encounters.
Enjoy your crazy routine, my daughters. In it you will find the delightful and the unexpected.

Coaching

I've been thinking a lot about coaching the last couple of weeks for a couple of reasons.


First, my oldest son is in his first season as head football coach in a large school in Michigan. They are in the State Playoffs, and are 2 games from playing in the Championship game in Detroit on Thanksgiving weekend. We talk a lot about getting the most from our students, about preparing them to do their best, teaching them skills, about motivating them, pushing them, helping them to reach their potential when they have no idea what that is. We have a lot in common. Which is why the back of my musical shirt says: Coach.
We had a great conversation last night. He was telling me about the things he was doing to prepare his team for their big game Friday night. Things like: practicing at a school that has turf and setting a curfew and giving nutritional guidelines to parents. In the beginning of the season, the boys were unsure about their new coach. He had a lot of schedules and requirements. He was disciplined and organized and he expected them to be. He accepted no excuses and pushed them. Hard. But now they trust him because they have been successful. They will go to bed early, eat the food on the list, and show up ready to play because they trust him and they know that everything he asks them to do is important. Wow does that sound familiar.
As I think about Bye Bye Birdie, I remember the schedules and the requirements and the expectations and the discipline and the organization. And every one of those things are important for the success of the show. Every piece of the puzzle is calculated to culminate in a show that we are prepared to perform and can be proud of. Thank you, parents and students, for trusting me even when you weren't sure that what I was asking was all that important. Thank you for digging down deep to respond when I kept pushing you. Thank you for paying attention to detail. Thank you for helping each other. Thank you for making my job so enjoyable. Thanks for the memories of our oh-so-wonderful Bye Bye Birdie production. It was a joy.

Go CAM Cougars! Musical date changes!

There is only one reason why I would re-arrange the rehearsal and performance schedule for the musical because I am very committed to sticking with the dates that were published at the beginning of the school year. HOWEVER, when musical cast members and successful football team members end up being some of the same people, changes are necessary.

So I find myself in a good news/bad news kind of situation. I LOVE football. I have three sons who played football and our oldest is now a head football coach in a West Michigan town slightly larger than Atlantic. Our sons were also musical. They each had the lead in a musical during their senior year of high school. So the balancing act of keeping lots of balls in the air is very familiar to me. I am also highly committed to making sure no athlete or musician is put in a position where they must choose between the two. So the good news is: CAM Cougars are undefeated and are headed to the State playoffs, barring injury. And now for the bad news: We must be creative about getting in enough rehearsals to also make the musical a success.

Some background: The reason why we schedule the musical for the first weekend in November is because that is usually a week without any sports practices.....unless of course the teams are being highly successful and are going on in tournament play. This year is, of course, one of those years.

SO- here are the newly scheduled rehearsals and performance dates. I sincerely hope that we can have both a successful football team AND a successful, entertaining musical. Your support is needed and greatly appreciated.

Monday 10/27: 6-9
Tuesday 10/28: 7-10
Thursday 10/30: 7-10
Friday 10/31: 7-10
Saturday 11/1: 10-1 (new)

Monday 11/3: 6-9 if no football game
Tuesday 11/4: 6-9
Wednesday 11/5: 6-9
Thursday 11/6: 6-9
Friday 11/7: 6-9 if no football game
Saturday 11/8: 10-1 (new)
Saturday 11/8: Performance
Sunday 11/9: Performance (new)

and...........We're Off!!

The calendar propels us into the new school year, ready or not! I seemed to be in the NOT READY category for various reasons, but gradually I'm getting there. Between moving my children here and there (foreign countries, college transfers) and my own travels, it has been a very busy summer which I thoroughly enjoyed. But now I must turn my thoughts and energies to creative musical preparations (would you like to see a cameo appearance of the faculty barbershop quartet?), sequencing All-State music (how many times will it take me to get the counting right?), ordering music (what can we learn quickly for Homecoming?), and a thousand other details that seem to get lost in my foggy mind from time to time. Sometimes I think I have Hilary Clinton's disease: "I'm sorry, I can't recall........." (If you didn't get that, you are not old enough!!)
Here is some information you may be interested in: 1)I will be organizing a team of extras for the musical that will not need to be in vocal music and will only commit to coming to the last 2 weeks of rehearsal. To put it simply: I need more guys. Send them my way! 2)Yes, your kids will need to bring their computers to my class as well as the others. I have some activities planned that they will enjoy and will be delivering them on Moodle, which they should be familiar with unless they are freshmen. I'm also going to try to keep the calendar on Moodle so if you are unsure about a time or a rehearsal and the paper rehearsal calendar didn't make it home to the fridge, you can check it out on line.
There are lots of ways you can contact me: school phone, cell phone, email, blog. Please let me know how I can help you!

Off and running........
Mrs. Nichols