Month: February 2015

I played for a couple of Cameron’s choirs today up at UW-BC for a choral clinic. One group dropped out, so we got extra time for both of our groups. The clinician was from the Cities (I’m not sure exactly where), and he was amazing! Very good at working with the kids and had very good methods for getting them to do things. Of course, the Cameron groups are always so good that the clinicians can work on very picky things, which makes it incredibly interesting for me. Monday is there concert and I’ll be playing for two more groups for that. Their high school is about the same size as Chetek and they have 3 choral groups, with no overlap of people – a women’s ensemble of about 25, and mixed choir of about 60 and a chamber choir (by audition) of about 30.  Plus their 7th and 8th grade choir has about 75 and sounds (again) like a very good high school choir.

I haven’t played for them for a few years, because of schedule conflicts with Chetek things, but working with them again is going to make working with Chetek very frustrating, because I know the choir could sound so much better if someone cared enough to ask them for it. Let’s see…. one middle school choir is working on uniform shaping of vowels and placing the sound in their mask and the other high school choir is allowed to breathe just anywhere and the only diction is making sure t’s and s’s on the ends of words are together. Agggghhhhh!

This was the first of the lesson days at the college for the semester. I played for a one hour lesson at 9:00 and a 1/2 hour lesson at 10:00, then was free from 10:30 until 12:30. I just stayed there and worked on stuff on my laptop while the teacher practiced music she had to memorize. Then we had a student at 12:30, another at 1:00 – 1:30 or so and another at 2:00 until almost 2:30. She was actually the 9:00 student, but she came back for some more work since the regular 2:00 person was sick.  It was a fun day.

Now I’m home and waiting for my lessons to begin in about 1/2 hour. Seeing the passion Erin has for her teaching always is a boost for my teaching, not that I’m terribly un-passionate. But it is good to see how other people deal with things like poor preparation, etc.

Here is a very cute picture of the two dogs cuddled up on the couch.  And then, a picture of Dad relaxing in our new recliner. I feel like such a good wife when I come in and see him so comfortable in our living room!  His knees have really been bothering him, so you can see that he has ice packs (or maybe they are heat packs) on his knees. They don’t hurt when they are straight, so he can stand forever, but when they are bent, they bother him.  So the recliner is very comfortable for him. We got it at Menard’s, after shopping around quite a while. I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, and if I couldn’t get the style I wanted, I figured I might as well get a good price. At least the color is nice. Actually it is as comfortable as it looks. Just a little too puffy for my decorating tastes.

Have any of you tried Dim sum? I heard about it on the radio last night. They were doing a show on Chinese cuisine because yesterday was the Chinese New Year.

It is the coldest it has been so far this year. 15 below, with a bit of a breeze. The dogs DO NOT like going outside!

I really enjoy being over there with all those people at the Center. I got the March newsletter done this week and started a 6 week core strength class with 3 people. Everyone got along pretty well (no drama this week!), so I think it will just take time until all the hurt feelings start to melt into the past and be forgotten.

It is supposed to be really, really cold again tomorrow, but that won’t change the fact that it is Valentine’s day. We don’t have a thing planned, but it is still a nice holiday to celebrate with candy and cookies and whatever else. (Not so good for the diet, but what can I say??)

Then there will be about two months until we are off on our annual outing to see every one. I’m looking forward to that!

The city council voted to re-hire me last night, so I officially have a long-term job. Same pay as I left at, too, although a lot less hours for now. But that could change next year.  But I don’t need the money nearly as much as I did before, and I definitely need time to get all my accompanying responsibilities in, so it is good the way it is. I’m teaching one less class Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so I actually have about 2 1/4 more hours to get work done, which pretty much balances off the hours that have been cut. I certainly don’t feel rushed to finish things, so it is probably plenty of hours.  When there are special events that I have to stay late for, I’ll have to do some creative juggling of hours, but most weeks it will be fine.

I have to play for the annual High School State Honors choir auditions in Eau Claire tomorrow. I  leave around 10:00 and won’t be home until after 4:00, but I will have a break in the middle to shop at Sam’s Club, so it isn’t a totally wasted trip. Plus, I do charge mileage for the trips to Eau Claire, so I’ll get paid for my drive. Isaiah Jensen is one of the kids, and, of course, he is fabulous. Another is the Holmbeck boy, Noah. And there is another girl, too.

Other than that, my plans include making dog chicken and rice,  once I buy the chicken at Sam’s Club tomorrow, doing the weekly cleaning, doing the laundry… hmmmm, that’s about it. I also need to start working on the piano music I need to learn for the college, so there isn’t such a panic at the end. I have the music for the piano duet accompaniment for Carmina Burana, so I should start working on that. I don’t think it is going to be too hard, actually.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Today I interview for my job. There is really no reason to be, but still I am nervous. A person can never be sure of anything until it actually is. So, I have three lessons after school, then the Community Center Board meeting, then my interview, then I come home and give another lesson, then back for the rest of the meeting, at which time I find out (I think) whether I’ve been hired.

That is just the first step to developing the new normal. And you know how much I like things to be “normal.” Excitement is overrated. And stress I can certainly do without!