I recently received a cello for my 40th birthday coming up. It’s been on my bucket list forever, and my husband thought 40th birthday would be a great occasion for me to use as an excuse to try a new instrument. I didn’t argue.
How are those 2 random paragraphs related, and what does it have to do with a band email? Well, I’m glad you asked! For some reason, playing the cello sparks more joy in me than I ever imagined. I’m absolutely terrible at the cello! The rest of the family doesn’t often ask me to play a recital for them (although my dog usually stays in the room when I’m playing) But every time I walk by it I wish I could play it. I think about playing it while I’m at school, and I can’t wait to get to it when I get home. My kids think I’m a little weird. I already knew that. But the more I’ve been thinking about joy and playing the cello, the more I’ve wondered – do my band students feel joy when they look at their instrument? Do they feel joy when they play it? I believe that a majority of them feel joy when they perform with the band, at all of our various performance venues. Some love pep band, some really prefer the concert season. I also believe that for most of them, the band class period and rehearsals bring them joy, they bring me a lot of joy as well. Sure, we all have moments of frustration, it’s not always fun and games, but thinking back on it a majority of the time the rehearsals are joyful. But I don’t know if practicing on their own is very joyful, and I think we need to try to change our mentality so that working on something alone brings joy to the students because of the fact that they can say they accomplished it and contributed to the sound of the band because they could play their part perfectly! Picking up a brand new instrument at this age at first I thought was going to help me remember how to be a beginner and help me to teach the beginning 6th grade students better. But the challenges of trying to get better at this instrument apply to high school band students just as much as beginners. Over the first winter break I came to a piece in my practice book that was too hard. It sounded absolutely awful the first 25 times I played it. Suddenly I was a little reluctant to go into the music room and practice. But I decided to keep working on it and eventually after working on it for a solid week, I was able to play it and move on in the lesson book. It was in book 1 of my lesson book. (think 6th grade beginning book) Now I go back and play it all the time because I feel good about accomplishing that small challenge. I feel like being pushed to be a little better at something isn’t fun. It stings. Just like becoming stronger, or conditioning for a sport, it takes hard work, but the reward is priceless. The high school students that I am teaching right now do not like it if they can’t play the music the first time they see it. Believe me, they make that very clear to me. But, where’s the joy in staying only as good as you were in 8th grade? How cool is it to perform a piece of music that just sounded like trash the first time we played it! Only the kids know how bad it was the first time, but lucky for you, you get to hear the final product, without hearing all of the not so pretty moments that happen in class leading up to the performance. Anyway, with all of this winter weather causing us to miss rehearsals, and the concert date approaching very quickly, I’m really pushing the kids to practice outside of class. The expectation is that they if they can’t play their music perfectly with just in class practice then it’s their responsibility to learn it outside of class. So, while they’re practicing at home, I want to encourage them to work on the challenging stuff, and then play something they know they can play so that if they end frustrated because they can’t get the hard stuff yet, they can still spark a little joy in their hearts by playing something they know they’re good at. Or it might bring back a great memory and remind them that they do actually love playing their instrument and hopefully it will encourage them to take on the challenge and push themselves to better playing. =)
OK, that’s enough of my deep thoughts for the day.
Here are a few reminders:
- The pastry puffin sale concludes January 29. Please encourage kids to sell a few boxes or more, profit is 45% that goes towards Florida trip.
- Pep band games are Jan 29 and Feb 5. That’s all. Students are strongly encouraged to come to extra games even if they’ve met their 4 game commitment, so that we can make sure the band still sounds good for those last 2 performances. On Feb 5 the band seniors will be introduced, just like at football senior night.
- Pops Concert is Feb 13. HS and 8th grade portion of the concert starts at 7:30. The HS call time is 7:15 in the middle school band room wearing the usual concert dress.
- We have a few spots open and it’s not too late if there are any more students or parents interested in going on the Florida trip. If you’re interested, please let me know.
- Great news, Verizon is going to allow Remind to continue working like it has been, so we don’t need to download the app. Thanks to those of you who already did that. Crisis averted!