Embracing the Struggle

Several years ago my auditioned choir, Prairie Voices, had a rough end to the year. A large number of my eighth graders who had been incredibly important to that choir and to my program just kind of quit on me: they collapsed into conflict and drama, they stopped working hard, and when I called them out on it, their response to me was essentially "we have had you for three years now, we feel like we've learned all we can from you, we don't really want to listen to what you have to say anymore." I was floored and incredibly hurt, but after some intense reflection I came to the realization that the complete implosion of this immensely gifted eighth grade class was pretty much completely my fault. As for why it was my fault? I'll get into that story in another post. This post is about the Mini-Camp that I have been doing with my auditioned choir for four years now, but the event I mentioned above was a large part of my motivation to start doing the camp with my Pr...

I am still processing my experience at this year's Colorado ACDA conference, because it was full of some genuinely beautiful and inspiring moments. I was already starting to get excited for the school year, but this conference has me feeling pumped and has sent me hurtling full on into prep mode as I walk away with over 50 new pieces that I want to program this year or in the future, strategies and ideas gleaned from interest sessions and great conversations with my colleagues, and of course the deep sense of renewal that comes from listening to some of the masters in my field. I have been going to these summer conferences for years, at least since I started teaching and possibly before that, and I am not sure I have ever had headlining clinicians who were as inspiring as Alice Parker and Dr. Rollo Dilworth. They are separated in time by nearly half a century, and yet both demonstrated and tried to enkindle in us a deep respect for the art of singing and the concept t...

Today was the first day of our three day state conference for our chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. I've always loved going to this summer conference: reconnecting with colleagues, finding new rep and hopefully walking away feeling inspired by the headliners and the clinicians presenting interest sessions. This is also the first summer ACDA in about six years where I haven't been on the Board, which means I am not responsible for setting anything up and I don't have to stress and worry about my reading sessions and interest sessions. I can just go to the conference and have fun, and it's pretty great. Some Highlights from Today: *Mack Wilberg is one of our headlining clinicians (music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and he gave an opening session/lecture celebrating what makes our choral art so special and important. He said a lot of great and inspiring things, and his whole demeanor and voice reminds me of Bob Newhart. Like not even jok...

I struggle with the summer. I know, I know. I’m a teacher, I’m supposed to love having the summers off. All the tired cliches would lead you to believe that teachers and summer are like Garfield and lasagna or whatever other hackneyed pairing our culture can come up with: “What are the three best things about being a teacher? June, July and August haha!” When I tried doing an internet search to see if teachers suffering from depression during the summer, all I found were comments and articles about getting depressed about going back to school in the fall. After the intense and insane schedule I work for ten months out of the year and everything that comes with that, (constant stress, lack of sleep, not eating well, not having enough time- or feeling like I don’t have enough time- to do anything fun) I know that I am supposed to take this time to rest and renew myself. The problem is, after about a week or two of rest and rejuvenation, I become agitated. I start feeling lonely and bo...