school band follies

[Tabris]

Thanks, everyone, for the support and feedback.

I'm unwilling to contact the teacher at this point. She's certified etc, but it is an extracurricular activity *and* I believe it's her first year teaching. I don't want to frighten her. Doubtless she knows this whole thing is turning into a clusterfrizzle.

Lessons are about $20 a week privately. I'm not sure if the other students can afford private lessons or not, but I'm very tempted to pass out the instructor's business card at the winter concert. 

We've decided that I will carry the music stand into the school and I will label it with my name everywhere I can, plus carry it home after the final concert. I'm not sure how else I'm going to get it back.

The nice thing is, though, that The Boy is so tremendously excited about playing the saxophone. I'm trying to vent here rather than where he can hear me because I don't want him to realize that only being able to play the first line of Good King Wenceslaus is nto really the same thing as actually being able to play the song. (And I think only the third line is different from the others, right?)

The whole t-shirt thing smacked me of stupidity when we got it, and when I called the school to find out if it was a mistake, the school nurse snapped at me that "nobody else had complained" about the sizes, and that they just ordered adult smalls. I said I wanted the child size, and I was willing to pay the difference to have a shirt that fit him. And her reply? It's no more expensive for child sizes. So basically, this is my take: she doesn't want to have to order 14 smalls, 25 mediums and 18 larges and then figure out who gets what. it's much easier just to order 76 adult smalls and toss them at every band and chorus member who walks by.

A toast: To laziness! To stupidity! To making kids uncomfortable! To Tabris for resisting the urge to order an Adult XXL and tying it on The Boy with a rope belt and giving him a nun's headpiece to finish off the outfit. That would make it long-sleeve, effectively, and the tips of his kakhi pants peeking out the bottom would be sooooo cute!

Music Teacher asked for a parent volunteer to hit "pause" between recordings on the CD. This really, really doesn't bode well...

[RoseRose]

Tabris, I'm glad I had just finished my hot chocolate before reading this post.  Only play the first line of Good King Wenceslaus?  How long has he been in band?  I started band at the beginning of the school year in 6th grade (it was before school... I was volunteering to get up at the same time as the high schoolers to go to band) and by our winter concert (right around this time of the year) we were playing full songs.  Very EASY songs, but we were definately past one-liners.  Good King Wenceslaus was basically after the first month.  Of course, our band, because it was extracurricular, could charge, and because it was before school, they had 3 of the elementary school music teachers come and each teach an instrument group, for the basics.  Second year of band (in Jr. High), we only had one director.  That may be why my band got so much farther than yours, despite, after careful consideration, two of the three teachers having been incompetent (including the one for my section.  The only one who wasn't was also the NICEST of the directors.  Her son, who was in band, unfortunatly didn't pick that up.)  In fact, I'm suprised I learned as much as I did, because I didn't get a competent director until my Junior year of high school.  And I couldn't afford, nor did I have time for, due to multiple extracurriculars (though band became MOSTLY during the school day, aside from concerts and other events in 7th grade), private lessons.

I'm glad you've got Little Tabris in private lessons.  Even though I doubt I will play much ever again, I still love music.  And... I think this winter break, I'll pick up my instrument again, and just see if I can still play.  Thank you for this thread, and reminding me why I started band in the first place.

Good luck with that music teacher!

[Sirius]

Hey, if you lived anywhere near me, I'd be happy to teach you some stuff.

Hey, FreakyFemme.  I'm in the Portland area of Oregon. 

Sirius (aka Vegakitty)

No good.  I live in Barrie, Ontario, but I go to school in Quebec.  I don't drive, and I can't afford to fly, and you know, if you've been playing the clarinet since 1968, you're probably much better than me anyway.....I've only been playing since 1998, lol.

Not necessarily.  From 1978 until about 1995 or so I didn't play much.  My old clarinet got unplayable so I bought a new one.  By the way, that's something you might be able to help me with.  Can I e-mail you?  I've got a question about a quirk my clarinet has.

[artk2002]

The school drama festival--she had to be there at 6:15 on Saturday morning. She had to dress up (and not just a nice outfit, a dressy one.) AND bring her drama t-shirt and jeans. AND money for the pizza, which they sometimes run out of, and then come home around eleven p.m.--late because they didn't finish the competitions on time. Oh, and she doesn't bring home a medal from the duet competition, because they only had ONE medal for a two-person event.

That's brutal -- and if it were her employment, illegal in most states.  As a parent, I'd be flipping out about this.  A minor can work in entertainment a maximum of 9.5 hours per day.  I've been getting an education in child/entertainment labor law this week, so it's on my mind.

The one medal thing is just wrong.

[Bethalize]

if you've been playing the clarinet since 1968, you're probably much better than me anyway.....I've only been playing since 1998, lol.

For the interested party, I know Freaky is being modest because she let slip that she is playing pieces that are of professional difficulty*, that only a very advanced amateur would even attempt.

  to Freaky who will now tell me that they aren't that difficult and she knows three people who can play them better. It's her natural diffidence talking.
 

*Professionals play easy pieces as well and make them sound good but there are some pieces that need a very high standard of technique just to get the fingering right and the sliding and tonguing right.

[Sirius]

If I'd have kept up with it, maybe I'd be a lot better than I am today.  However, I lost my motivation for playing for close to 15 years, and when I got it back my old clarinet wouldn't play so I had to wait until I could afford a new one.  Now I am the woodwind section of our church's orchestra.  I'm not exaggerating, either; our church's orchestra consists of three trumpets, a French horn, a part-time trombone and a part-time tuba.  And me, the clarinet player.  The brass players are all very good (the tuba player is quite a flirt, but nothing I can't handle) and I can keep up. 

Sirius aka Vegakitty

[freakyfemme]

Hey, if you lived anywhere near me, I'd be happy to teach you some stuff.

Hey, FreakyFemme.  I'm in the Portland area of Oregon. 

Sirius (aka Vegakitty)

No good.  I live in Barrie, Ontario, but I go to school in Quebec.  I don't drive, and I can't afford to fly, and you know, if you've been playing the clarinet since 1968, you're probably much better than me anyway.....I've only been playing since 1998, lol.

Not necessarily.  From 1978 until about 1995 or so I didn't play much.  My old clarinet got unplayable so I bought a new one.  By the way, that's something you might be able to help me with.  Can I e-mail you?  I've got a question about a quirk my clarinet has.

Sure.   By the way, are you sure you stopped playing because your clarinet became unplayable, or did the clarinet sort of crap out from lack of use?  That can happen sometimes, I'm not exactly sure how, but it's something to do with the fibres in the wood not getting stretched out enough from playing (warm air expands the wood), so they just sort of get "cold" and compress.

[freakyfemme]

Oh, Tabris, could you please post an update after the concert?

[kherbert05]

Music Teacher asked for a parent volunteer to hit "pause" between recordings on the CD. This really, really doesn't bode well...

If it is for the choir they might be using what we use. The currriculum CD's come with two versions of every song. One with singing, and one that is instrumental. Our music teacher recieved an I-Pod with her curriculum. Before public performances, I load the music for her. I've taught the art teacher to run the thing, so I can suppervise the kids taking stills and video taping the performance. The third grade performance is Thursday night, if looks to be better organized than the 5th grade one on Veterns Day.

[freakyfemme]

if you've been playing the clarinet since 1968, you're probably much better than me anyway.....I've only been playing since 1998, lol.

For the interested party, I know Freaky is being modest because she let slip that she is playing pieces that are of professional difficulty*, that only a very advanced amateur would even attempt.

  to Freaky who will now tell me that they aren't that difficult and she knows three people who can play them better. It's her natural diffidence talking.
 

*Professionals play easy pieces as well and make them sound good but there are some pieces that need a very high standard of technique just to get the fingering right and the sliding and tonguing right.

Well, look who came out of the woodwork.

Actually, the pieces I'm playing this semester *are* pretty difficult, especially the Brahms....and the only people I know personally who could play my pieces better than me are professional clarinetists who also teach.  I don't really see music as a competition, though, but rather, something I do for myself, and for my audiences, and if it's a positive experience for me and for them, it really doesn't matter if I'm not the best clarinetist in the universe.  Besides, if I were, then where would I go from there?  I'm only 22, and I'd hate to hit my musical peak this young, and I'm glad there are people who are better than me, because I can learn from them.  I always hated hearing Princess Flutezilla tell me how she "wasn't good enough" for the big schools in the states, because she was awesome, but I'm not exactly sure how much she *enjoyed* playing the flute.  She's doing an internship in Kentucky now, and we talk occasionally on Facebook, but I don't think she's been playing all that much anymore.

[Clara Bow]

I always wished I had learned to play the piano, or some instrument, but I think that I'm musically remedial. I can't even whistle! I really admire anyone who can play, it's a fantastic talent.

[freakyfemme]

I always wished I had learned to play the piano, or some instrument, but I think that I'm musically remedial. I can't even whistle! I really admire anyone who can play, it's a fantastic talent.

Hey, I have as much musical talent as anyone (enough to get into university, and hopefully I'll have enough to get out), and I can't whistle.  As for wanting to learn an instrument, that's wonderful.   There are lots of places that'll teach beginner-level lessons to adults, one time, I went to pick up my clarinet from having minor repairs done, and there was an older man having a violin lesson in the back.  I think he was playing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or something similar.

[Tabris]

I can't whistle either. I married the first guy to whom I confided that who didn't then proceed to whistle Beethoven's third symphony. 

In 2000, I started taking guitar lessons. I'd wanted to for a while, but I finally got off my butt and did it because my unborn baby had been diagnosed with a fatal condition, and I wanted her to hear music before she died. I don't care if that's a stupid reason to take guitar--it helped me more than therapy would have.    I continued lessons until 2004 when I just didn't have any more time to practice due to the arrival of two more healthy babies.

I recently was given (actually, forced to take) my stepbrother's old violin. When it comes back from the repair shop, I'm going to start re-learning it.

Adults can and should learn musical instruments. When you stop learning, you start dying.

Oh, and remember a long time ago, I posted that I'd found the perfect gift for a friend of mine? Well, she blogged it.    I didn't expect that at all.
http://x-expat.livejournal.com/56536.html
And as a result of her blogging it, another friend of mine bought herself a keyboard for Hanukkah...*and* my husband is now talking about renting a cello.

So no, musical instruments aren't just for kids anymore. 

[Bethalize]

 don't really see music as a competition, though, but rather, something I do for myself, and for my audiences, and if it's a positive experience for me and for them, it really doesn't matter if I'm not the best clarinetist in the universe.

That's a nice attitude to have, but I think a lot of musicians have a good view of who is directly in front of them and directly behind them in the pecking order. I think it comes from being paid more if you're lead. :-)

[freakyfemme]

 don't really see music as a competition, though, but rather, something I do for myself, and for my audiences, and if it's a positive experience for me and for them, it really doesn't matter if I'm not the best clarinetist in the universe.

That's a nice attitude to have, but I think a lot of musicians have a good view of who is directly in front of them and directly behind them in the pecking order. I think it comes from being paid more if you're lead. :-)

Well, see, I'm going to enjoy having this attitude while I still can, because I don't get paid *at all,* and while I'm not the only clarinet player at my school, I'm the only clarinet major, so I'm sort of in the lead by default.

Edited to add:  I might be going to a bigger school next year, but if I ever, EVER fall into the Princess Flutezilla mindset......somebody.......please shoot me.