We Won a Silver!

Talk about a thrill... our band from Viscount Montgomery won a silver award at Musicfest yesterday. They did such a great job! I'm so proud of this group, I'm just bustin' my buttons.

We played O'Canada, Eagle Summit March and Ode to Joy. The adjudicator turned out to be Laura Thomas, a former colleague from McMaster days.

One of the kids, when he noticed that there was a comaraderie amongst all the music teachers and band directors, and that we all seemed to know each other, said, "You guys are like Jedi knights; a special elite corps."

"Yes," I replied. "For the good of all."

We got to hear Ken's group from Helen Detweiler. They were great and won a gold! Many of our kids were impressed by the excitement of the music and were trying to get me to do more interesting music when we got back to school. Then, on the bus they made me promise to look into getting band T-shirts, and silver medals to go with them, oh yeah and don't forget the celebration pizza party!

Am I too old for this? No! I just have to imagine my own kids and what I desire for them, and it's a lot easier to keep at it. Lord, help me to stay close to your heart's desire and be the music teacher you want me to be. It's not about me; it'a all about you.

Thank you, Lord, for such a wonderful experience yesterday, (and thanks for sending Ken to give me a boot in the pants when I most needed it.)

Thanks for the parents who helped out. Thanks for the courteous bus driver. Thanks for the three helpful volunteers from St. Catharines Collegiate who helped us find our way around: Lisa, Beth and Cynthia. And thanks to Steve Fralick for allowing our late entry into the festival. Thanks that all the kids got home safe and sound, and thanks that the girl who almost lost her backpack was able to retrieve it.

There are mercies and goodness on every side.

My son is a cadillac when it comes to music

I know I'm biased, but I'm repeating what my son's piano teacher said today, "We've got lots of Fords and Chevy's come through, but not many Cadillacs. You're son's a Cadillac." I think he was referring to Ian's ability to learn by hearing. He has a very strong pitch and melodic memory. The teacher suggested that Ian be putting his singing voice to good use. Are there any good boy's choirs in Hamilton? Unfortunately not... So, for now we'll just continue to do the piano lessons, and sing our five part blessing at every meal. I've heard dozens of creative reharmonizations and modal treatments, even polytonal renditions of "God our Father". It's hilarious; sometimes we all are so tired, or grumpy, that we can barely find the desire to sing. But Elinor usually gets us kick-started. Maybe someday we'll try something more ambitious.

Wow, my notebook PC works

As if anyone cares, I'm typing this on my newly internet-ready laptop. If nothing else I enjoy being able to sit in a comfy chair while I work!

Hopefully we won't starve because I spent 50 bucks on the PCMCIA ethernet adapter. My son looked at the price at asked, "Dad why don't you buy me a GameBoy SE?"

We agreed to split the cost at sometime in the not too distant future.

Internet Filtering in the Classroom

The only ongoing "problem" I have is with Launch.yahoo. We banned MSN Messenger at our school; a few kids have been secretly attempting to use it with heavy consequences. Some have found other instant messenging/chat sites. The number of kids who see the computers as a plaything for games, music and communication with friends is overwhelming. It is an ongoing challenge to convince kids that the computer is a tool for learning and self-expression and communication. The internet filtering piece is important; it's a constant reminder to the kids that they are being watched over, but its necessity should diminish as kids have a good, educational reason to be using the computers.

Band Trip Coming Up

Friday is the day! We're going to MusicFest in St. Catharines.

We had a practise this morning at 7:45 and almost all the kids showed up! This is so exciting...
They are working hard, and it's sounding really good considering the short time frame we've been working with to prepare.

I still believe that a short, intense band season is the way to go at this school. So many of the kids are involved in other areas and other teams.

I'll be tickled if we achieve a Bronze Award at MusicFest. If we can manage the dynamics and phrasing and have good stage conduct, then we've got a chance, although our selections are very brief. The other stickler is that no photocopied scores are permitted, so I'm gonna hand the adjudicator my conductors manuals for two of the songs!

We've got three parents volunteering to join us for the day. I'm tossing around the thought of taking the video camera...

Work to Rule, Day Two

"Thou shalt not perform the duties of a report card administrator."

That's what I've been told my work to rule is all about. It's kind of nice not having to contemplate the three week juggle of disks and the dozens of questions about this and that! Let someone else deal with it for a change! I have no idea how my principal will get the data template from our R drive at school; probably will be sent to him from the Data Warehouse.

Anyway, I'm just going to drop my disk off in his mail slot and that's it, I wait for my printouts to magically appear in time to hand them out.