Up&Up

We did it!

I cannot believe that since turning in my unit plan last Monday, I finished my first of 2.5 semesters of my Master’s degree. WHOA! I found out the other week that I will be graduating May 1, 2016! I will still have to finish up a couple summer classes, though, so I won’t be completely done until August 1st or so. But still! What a whirlwind of a school year so far. As I wrap up teaching and conduct one more concert this week, I am feeling very grateful and proud of myself for all that I have accomplished in this semester. I leave Alaska for the first time since I moved here a week from tomorrow, and I know I will step off that plane feeling like a slightly different person. And it excites me so!

Conducting the JAMM Chamber Group and the choir at the Holiday Pops Concert!

This past week knocked off 7 of the 8 total concerts I have had in the past two weeks, and they all went great! I conducted a Jazz Suite with the Thunder Mountain Advanced Orchestra, which was awesome- even when I had to speak about the piece to the audience! I somehow always forget that part of being a teacher and conductor means standing up in front of large groups of people and speaking to them, not just standing up there with your back to them. But I figured that out rather quickly, especially after yesterday! Yesterday began the 1 of 2 concerts in the Holiday Pops series this weekend. The JAMM chamber group joined the local 40-person choir to play the Pachelbel’s Canon/The First Noel arrangement and do a portion of the Christmas sing-along medley they performed at the benefit concert last week. The choir conductor, Sally Smith, conducted the orchestra and choir for Pachelbel (which I had prepared the chamber group for up until this week, something which Sally publicly recognized and greatly appreciated), and I conducted them for the sing-along medley. Because of this, I got to tell the audience how the sing-along would work and introduce myself as the conductor. We were in a very large room, and both concerts were sold out. I can’t even begin to guess how many people were sitting in front of me, staring as I stepped up onto the unusually high podium. But it was definitely a couple hundred. Eek! All in all, I’d say my speaking went well, as red-faced as I was, and the chamber group did a great job. The audience joined in singing as well, and it was beautiful! Everyone really loved the Pachelbel arrangement that had the choir singing “The First Noel” as the chamber group played “Canon in D”. There were many wet eyes in the room! I am unbelievably proud of these kids, especially after being with them from day one and knowing how far they have come. They not only mastered the notes, but they played each one with a light, smooth legato stroke that is very hard to achieve, especially at age 9 or 10. It was such an accomplishment for all! The audience members were so gracious as I walked back to my seat both performances, too. So many smiles, and “thank you’s” and “beautiful job’s” were offered.

Besides that, I continued teaching Spanish last week and am wrapping my mind around the idea that I will be teaching these students all on my own 3-4 days a week when I come back from break. I feel pretty nervous about teaching a content area that is not my area of expertise and requires a different form of preparation than teaching music or conducting an orchestra would. But it will be a good push...right?! I will also have my own orchestra to work with after break- Tyree, Sophia, and I all agreed that I should work with the beginning-intermediate players, and Sophia will take the advanced group of players. That way we can really hone in on the skills the groups have and choose repertoire that fits them, as we both also develop our own identities as high school orchestra conductors!

Me, Lorrie, and The Mendenhall Quartet with the JAMM Chamber Group!

The JAMM chamber group also performed at the Governor’s Mansion last week, which I conducted part of. This is a significant annual event in December- it feels like almost all of Juneau lines up outside the mansion to shake hands with the governor and walk through his elaborately decorated mansion, cookies and hot apple cider in hand. We not only got to meet the governor and take a picture with him, but we got to perform in a packed room for thirty minutes for all the cookie-eating passersby. There was actually not enough room for me to stand up in front of the group, so I stood against the wall at the back of the full room, conducting the group from across the room. It actually worked really well, and the audience members standing next to me were so impressed and kind! Their words of encouragement and awe in between pieces were such great pick-me-ups!

Speaking of pick-me-ups, Sophia and I took some time after the Holiday Pops concert last night to reflect on how much we have done and learned since we arrived in Juneau in July. We stepped off the plane with our lives packed in just a few bags and our hearts filled with excitement and nerves. Our time of reflection last night left me feeling bewildered at my own strength and at God’s crazy-cool plan for my life. I never thought I would even visit Alaska, and yet I am living here. I never viewed myself as a teacher, and that has become a significant part of who I am since starting college. I never thought I could move across the country to a new place and just start over. And I did it! It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve made great friends (especially Sophia- she is my driving/pep talk/Gilmore Girls buddy) and have built a great life here. And I am so proud of who I am and what I have accomplished as a teacher. I am especially proud of my unit plan and all the work I did this semester with my UAS classes. And I’m getting up and conducting ensembles in front of hundreds of people- what?! My conducting teacher definitely would not have seen that one coming! I could not have done this semester without the cheers from so many people and the guidance of my mentors and friends.

You won’t hear from me again until after the new year, when I enter into my second and final full semester of this program. I will be leaving Alaska full of as much excitement and nerves as I had entering this state, dwelling on all that I have already done, and have yet to do, on my amazing Alaskan adventures.

It has been a sunny week in Juneau! This is my view as I walk between Thunder Mountain and Glacier Valley. :)

Survival Mode

I think I might be ready for a break...

I know I need more sleep when my main objective of the day is to try to speak coherently and stay awake while maintaining control over my emotions. Today was one of those days, which I definitely expected going into the day. Let me back up:

This past week was a total blur. Two words: PERFORMANCES and UNIT PLAN. Those took up my life, in addition to an essay, multiple lesson plans, and frequent rehearsals this week. The quartet began a marathon of performances on Friday morning, as we performed some of our classical chamber pieces for our general music classes and did some improv. based on Christmas songs and the songs our kids are learning right now. Check out the video below of us mashing together these different themes! We introduced the concept of improv. to each class and asked students to give a thumbs up when they recognized any of the themes. :) Performing for the classes and rehearsing in the school cafeteria when lunch was finished were the highlights of my Friday. It’s so amazing to share my music with kids and expose them to classical music played at a (fairly) high quality (I say “fairly” because that can be a relative term, but I’d say six years of intensive musical schooling did me a little good!). And the students and teachers are all so happy that Glacier Valley is filled with music! Lorrie definitely loved it and wants us to perform for the classes/rehearse in the school every Friday. I’d love that!

The Mendenhall Quartet at The Canvas!

The performances continued Friday evening: the quartet performed for First Friday at The Canvas, a fantastic art studio downtown that has a program called REACH that works with mentally disabled adult artists and showcases their work. There was a big gallery walk on Friday, and the quartet provided the music (mostly doing improv. and playing through the pieces we performed on Sunday) while hundreds of people streamed in and out. It was great to see so many people and to get our quartet name out there! We even put out a tip jar for JAMM and made $70. I really enjoyed partnering with The Canvas and playing with my quartet mates, but my shoulder and back were definitely in intense pain after performing all day. Thankfully, I went home and iced, and I felt much better.

Which brings me to a pause to talk about my shoulder! I had my first physical therapy appointment last Thursday, and it went great! My PT is SO nice and funny. She made me feel very comfortable, which is good because I feel like physical therapy has the slight potential of being awkward when you’re standing in a cami in front of someone as they touch your arms and back! I began my appointment by explaining in detail all the injuries and pain I have experienced from playing the cello since high school; after listing it all out in one sitting and watching my PT’s facial expressions (which basically communicated to me, “Wow, you have not been taking care of yourself!” in a knowing, humorous way) I realized that I probably should have gone to physical therapy years ago...but here we are! My PT echoed something I heard from a massage therapist I had last year when I was having intense back pain: because I have spent so many hours each day hunching forward to play my cello, my shoulder and pectoral muscles are very strong and my back ones are not. My old massage therapist actually told me that if I don’t do something to strengthen those muscles, I will have a hump back by the time I’m 30! AHH scary much?! I told my PT what the massage therapist had said and made a joke that that just means I need to find a husband in the next 10 years...she was very amused by my comment, which just shows the awesome relationship we are going to have as we work together these next few times! She wasn’t convinced about the extremity of the humpback diagnosis, but she did affirm that I need to strengthen my back/shoulder blade muscles. She showed me some daily exercises that use my back muscles, and she put kinesio tape on my back to keep me sitting and standing straight. That is a significant reason why I was in so much pain on Friday- I was not only playing a lot, but I was also having to stand and sit using muscles I don’t normally use! But I am hoping that doing my exercises, working on my posture, and laying on a roller every day (that’s my favorite part!!) will eventually help my pain subside. Then I just need to learn how to play the cello using mainly my back muscles...and I know, Mr. Balderston, you told me that so often in my lessons at DePaul!! I promise I will get that part down someday. :P

So, after my PT appointment on Thursday and my performances on Friday, I spent my entire Saturday working on my unit plan. As I have described before, I am teaching a class of fourth graders a unit about jazz and cultural identity next semester (from March to April). I wrote my entire unit plan of 15 lessons, including introductory essays, in one sitting about 6 weeks ago. But then the final draft was due today...and Saturday was the first time I had looked at my unit plan since that day six weeks ago. I’m not usually so late in working on such a big project, but the only way I would have worked on the final draft of my unit plan was if I had done work over my two days off for Thanksgiving...and that was not happening if I wanted to maintain the little sanity I have left! So here I was, sitting in Heritage with Sophia from 10am to 6pm on my one “free” day over this past weekend. And I got a significant amount of work done! My professor, Scott, was already impressed with how much I had presented in my rough draft and only had a few comments. But they were big ones. And I also needed to seriously organize my lessons and write some of the materials for my unit. I finished writing out all my lessons and organizing them by Saturday evening and rewarded my hard work by going to an ugly Christmas sweater party at church. :) It was great, even though I had a big headache from sitting in front of the computer, doing work for 8 straight hours. And my back was killing me from having to sit up straight! HOT MESS.

The Mendenhall Quartet at the JAM Benefit!

And then...SUNDAY. The reason Saturday was my only day off this weekend was because we had a big JAMM benefit concert yesterday at which the Mendenhall Quartet, as well as a local pianist, and the JAMM chamber group kids performed. It was a big show for the quartet because it was our official introduction to the Juneau community, and we only had 5 rehearsals to put together 30 minutes of repertoire. It pretty much came together, but it was definitely a stressful process! There were so many other things to think about for that concert- performing with the quartet was just one among many stresses! I have been teaching and conducting the 20  JAMM chamber group kids three days a week during our after school sessions, so I was very focused on making sure the kids were ready for their big performance of a Christmas medley leading up to the concert. Not only did they have that concert to prepare for, but they have another one tomorrow with 30 minutes of repertoire and another two concerts next weekend. This is an incredibly busy time for me, as you can tell! So I have been almost solely preparing the kids for all these concerts. Check out the video below of them playing an arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon with The First Noel that Sophia adapted from a choral piece and arranged for the kids (go Sophia!). I feel pretty proud that I have helped these kids get to this exciting point of performing such an advanced piece for their age- these are fourth and fifth graders! It’s so crazy! The kids did a great job performing their Christmas medley last night, and I was happy to join the cello section and support them as Lorrie conducted the piece. They are sounding ready for their other concerts as well, so I know it will be good. :)

Because the concert was at 4 and we had to be there an hour and a half early and rehearse beforehand, my Sunday was completely filled with concert preparation and the actual concert, so I wasn’t able to make it to church. That has been one of the toughest things this year- I haven’t been able to make it to church very much as things get busier and I have other obligations. I have also been sick multiple Sundays or just felt completely exhausted after long workdays on Saturdays. I have seen my faith in a different light this year, as I’ve turned to God in my many times of desperation (basically whenever I feel completely overwhelmed or upset or scared...so like, once a week!) and not as much every day. I am sad that this season in my life feels too busy for certain consistent practices I used to have time for, but I know it will not always be this way and am making due. I’ve had great, tearful talks with my wonderful mentor here, Teri, and have learned to pray whenever I can. Hiking alone has become my favorite way of feeling close to God and listening to Him. So it’s definitely not all bad. ;)

But yes, there went Sunday! I got home by 6:30 and immediately engulfed myself in my unit plan. Which I proceeded to work on until 2:30am...you see, I sort of got into a groove and couldn’t stop. Scott had recommended we try to create “a good amount” of our lesson materials and submit them with our unit plans, but I’m not one for taking any chances of doing too little. So... I sort of made the materials for my entire unit. Every single lesson. I actually feel like I could walk into a classroom tomorrow and teach this unit, I’m that prepared! So while teaching on 4 hours of sleep and acting like a calm, clear-thinking human was even more of a struggle today, I think it was worth it! I feel SO relieved to be done with that, and I am very proud of my work. Lorrie read over my unit and only had positive comments. I am sure I will receive helpful criticism in abundance from Scott and others, but for now, hearing that my unit plan is flawless works for me!! Finishing my unit plan was my final assignment for my UAS classes this semester because I finished the assignments for my other online class, Incorporating Technology in the Classroom, three weeks early. I spent many, many hours on both of these classes and their big projects, so please check out my work if you are interested in seeing what I did!

My Unit Plan

My Technology in the Classroom portfolio with all of my assignments

So that was pretty much my week. My iPad came on Friday, which was a great source of excitement for me throughout the weekend. I can already see how useful it will be when I teach, and I am happy to not walk around with my computer in my backpack on school days (especially because I have to walk the mile between schools!).

Today ended up going a lot better than I expected, actually. I conducted the orchestra at Thunder Mountain this morning and then taught Spanish class. I was feeling surprisingly alert and alive...up until Sophia and I sat down for 45 minutes for coffee in between our classes. All of a sudden, I was no longer in “I need to force myself to be awake so I can fool my students into thinking I’m fully functioning right now” mode, and the sleepiness overtook me! But I fought through it and came out of JAMM classes fairly unscarred. Swarms of kids shouting my name at the same time and scratchy-sounding violins weren’t quite as easy to handle today, but what can you do?! I love these kids- even if they find the exact wrong times to all ask questions! ;)

So, TWO MORE WEEKS on school until break! TWO MORE WEEKS until I am finally reunited with my family in Detroit for a week and a half. After being so far away from them in basically a different country (as they like to say) for 5 months, I am so ready to be home, complaining about my hilarious, loving parents with my incredible, silly sisters. :)

Oh, but did I mention that I still have 6 concerts to either play in or conduct before then?!

LORD, HELP US ALL!

Here's a cute first grader who will help us all get through the week!

Seeking Out a New Path

The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life. -Robert Louis Stevenson

The view from Perseverance Trail, one of the new trails I explored yesterday.

Well, here we are- at the end of a nice, long break for a few days and ready to sprint to the finish line before Winter Break!

In light of just celebrating Thanksgiving and coming out of a break full of self-reflection (which had its ups and downs), I want to count the things I am thankful for in this post:

1.   

   Thanksgiving meal with Lorrie and friends!
   I made my mom's infamous 24-hour
   fruit salad this year. :)

   I am thankful for Alaska. I still cannot believe that no matter which way I turn, I see beauty. It fills my heart! I can't believe I was called to such an incredible place with so much adventure.
   
   
2. I am thankful for Lorrie and her mentorship, as well as Dick, my university observer. They have been my cheerleaders and supporters these past few months and have helped me grow so much.
   
   
3. I am thankful for a fantastic review with Dick and Lorrie last week! They had very encouraging things to say about my work, and they both believe I have what it takes to be a teacher; I’m still figuring out if that’s what I want to do, but that was so helpful to hear!
   
4. I am thankful for good food and animals. There is nothing like feasting with friends, cuddling with dogs, and eating 7 peanut butter cookies in one day.
   
5. I am thankful for my friends here. I have a wonderful roommate with so much spunk, three amazing friends going through this program with me, and older mentors who respect me and pray for me.
   
6.   
   I am thankful for solitary prayer hikes and being a true Juneau resident. I walked in the pouring rain on two new trails for two hours yesterday, praying out loud the whole time. Did I abruptly stop when I passed the three people I saw? Why yes, I did. Was I still happy when I came home soaking wet in my Xtratufs? Yes, I was.
   
   
7. I am thankful for friends and family from home with whom I still remain very close. I took the time to catch up with old friends and to talk to my parents this break, which made a world of a difference. It was easy to feel lonely, being so far away from my loved ones on a holiday for the first time, but connecting with them helped me a lot.
   
   

8.   

   I also bought this formline design killer whale
   for myself at the market!

   I am thankful for participating in my first Black Friday! I bought a new, more professional-looking pair of boots for teaching at Fred Meyer AND a used iPad Air in mint condition that was half the normal retail price! I’m excited to get my iPad, Lila, in the mail next week and use it in the classroom (and yes, I name inanimate objects). :)
   
   
9. I am thankful for Christmas music that makes me feel at home. I joined 12 other local cellists to play Christmas songs at the Juneau Public Market yesterday. I then walked around and found great deals on Alaskan Christmas presents!
10. I am thankful for God’s guidance over my journey. Every year, every adventure, I learn more and more about myself and how I want to live my life. And while it’s often not easy for me to see, I know that God is working all things for good and has blessed me with so much. So I appreciate all these gifts He’s given me and am thankful for this Alaskan journey in my greater journey of life.

Thank you to my faithful readers- it means so much to me to hear from you about your thoughts on my posts! If you’re in a particularly thankful mood (or maybe you’re not at all- then you should really do this!), leave a comment with a few things you’re thankful for. :)

I am also so thankful for each and every one of my students- even the high school Spanish student who saw me at a restaurant today and took a picture of me to send to her friends, no doubt, when she thought I wasn't looking. ;) Pictured here is the Glacier Valley JAMM Chamber Group I conduct!

The Glaciers

I love who I’ve become.

SNOW!

I took some time yesterday to talk with a dear friend from DePaul and caught her up on what I have been doing in Alaska thus far. And for some reason, I hung up the phone feeling frustrated and discontent. It had nothing to do with anything she said- it had been a very pleasant, nice conversation! But recapping to her all that I have been doing reminded me of how different my life is this year. And instead of focusing on the positives, I let it get to me and dwelled on all the stressors in my life this year. I have thought a lot about my blog posts and what my blog’s purpose should be- is it mainly a promotional platform for the future applicants of this program? Is it a place to vent and process through things? Or is it just a way to keep record of what I am doing to share with my loved ones how I am and what I have been up to? I think in some way, this blog is a little of all those things. Which means that it’s okay for me to be honest when things get hard. I’ve realized that even when I try to pretend like everything is great and I’m feeling good, my family and the people closest to me tell me, “Yeah, that post was depressing! What’s actually going on?!”. They can see right through the words! The reason I am saying all of this is because I want to recognize that the relentless grinding of the bedrock shapes the beautiful glaciers of life (give me a break- I live in Alaska!); because by recognizing it and even embracing it, I feel encouraged that while things are difficult, I can still see and enjoy the many wonderful things that come with that grinding.

I don’t think it was a particularly rough week for me- it was just very busy, and the stress affected me more than it has in the past weeks. I honestly think I’m ready for a break and am really craving to spend time at home with my family! Three more school days until Thanksgiving break and one more month until I’m home! The biggest struggle of this week was preparing my lesson plans (because I taught Spanish twice last week [which went super well!] and conducted my three pieces with the Thunder Mountain orchestra, in addition to teaching JAMM and general music classes at GV), while working on major school projects. It was a lot! I finally finished the rest of the big assignments for my Integrating Technology in the Classroom course last night, which was a huge relief! It still feels like there are mountains of other work to do. As a highly motivated person who greatly enjoys doing tasks such as homework, I never thought I would be part of a program that actually pushed the boundaries of my work ethic. It is both thrilling and exhausting to know that even when I’m weeks ahead in one area of my work, I still have loads of other things to do to stay on top of everything else! I really have accepted that this will be my life this year and that it’s totally worth it- but just like every other person, I get cranky when I don’t get a break. :P So I’m desperately trying to finish all my school work before Thanksgiving so I can fully relax over those few days off. I need to!

Some of this work gets me really excited, though. I actually took the initiative to help Lorrie with the application and advertising materials for the program for next year. I often think about my time spent working in the DePaul School of Music Admissions office and how much I loved guiding prospective students in such a big life decision. I also loved doing the administrative, organizational tasks; helping Lorrie with this project has helped me continue that kind of work! So I spent time last weekend researching schools and compiling a list of contact information of each school’s advisor or music department head so I can ask them to spread the word about the program to their students. The next step of that process was to work on the materials that I could send to the school contacts. That took a little longer! I met with Lorrie last night, and we labored over the scholarship application and its essay prompts, and the document that lays out the general overview of the program. It was fun to put my writing skills to good use, but I got home at 10:30 feeling like I had a lot of school work to do and stayed up until 2am working on a couple projects. But I have really loved helping with the outreach side of things and getting a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of this program! Check out the website Lorrie made and I helped her edit, which includes all the materials we worked on together. We’re super proud of it. :)

Moana and Talita were so cute
in their SmartMusic video!

One of the projects I stayed up working on last night was my SmartMusic Independent Learning Project. It is something I am very proud of, as it explains how I became familiar with how to use the program and then showed other teachers and students how to use it. I even video-recorded two of our adorable fifth graders showing how to use it for my project and put it on my online portfolio. Please check it out on my professional e-portfolio, another project I have been working on as part of my technology course.

Hans, the Tlingit teacher, and two Tlingit elders!

Some cool things happened at school the past couple of weeks: first of all, last Friday, we had our monthly all-school assembly, which featured a performance by our Tlingit teacher and the students in his Tlingit dance and drumming class. It was really neat to see my students dressed up in Tlingit attire and perform Tlingit songs. Two Tlingit elders also spoke, which was so neat! Alaskan culture fascinates me! Sophia and I met with that Tlingit teacher later that day to talk about incorporating some Tlingit songs in our general music classes, which he is super excited about- as are we! We are going to teach our 2nd-5th graders a Tlingit canoe song, partnering with the Tlingit teacher so he can give them the historical/cultural background to it. These lessons will be a great example of place-based learning (a concept I have been learning about in my classes: essentially, tie your lessons to the place and community you are in- it will make the students more engaged and make your lessons more relevant) and will highlight a culture with which a good number of my students identify.

Four of my bass students!

JAMM had a big week because a new trimester session began! So I am still teaching bass, but only on Friday’s during the school day. On Monday’s and Wednesday’s after school, I am now teaching the JAMM chamber group with Lorrie and SmartMusic with the same awesome third grade teacher I worked with last session. I am really excited about working with the chamber group; this group is really more like a mini-orchestra, as there are twenty of them. These are the most advanced kids, so almost all of them are fifth graders, and they are our performing group for fundraising events. I am applying a lot of the knowledge I have learned about rehearsal techniques and conducting from my work at TMHS with this group, which is awesome! I’m growing so much in those areas! Speaking of fundraisers, I met with the quartet, Lorrie, and some other key fundraising helpers yesterday to talk about JAMM’s next fundraising performance, which will be December 6th. The quartet is joining with a very talented local high school pianist for a performance that will feature solo pieces by him, some Beethoven and Mozart quartets by us (AND some free improvisation., which we have been delving into as a group and I absolutely love!), and a performance of Christmas songs by the JAMM chamber group. It’s going to be great! And once again, I am helping out with the social media and advertising for that event. I really like doing that!

Adorable kindergarteners and their paper violins!

There was also the first kinder paper violin performance this week! All 50 of the kindergartners gathered in the gym on Friday to perform for the packed room of parents, and all the 2nd-5th grade JAMM students accompanied the kinders as they sang their cute little songs. They sang the “This is my Violin” song and the “Alaskan Twinkle Song” (you should listen to those if you don’t know them!) and showed their parents how they hold their instruments and bows. I was sitting next to the kinders with my back to the audience because I was conducting all of the cello and bass players for the concert, which were directly next to them. However, there were times when it was just the kindergarteners performing, and I was just sitting there. As the kinders were performing, I noticed a cute little one who was holding his violin completely backwards- I mean, this paper violin’s scroll was on his neck. Oops! So I casually scooted over to him and helped him out. No big deal. But then, chaos struck. Later on in the performance, the kinders were holding their violins and putting their fake bows (which are dowels) on their “strings”. I saw this same boy totally struggling with getting his bow on the violin, so I once again crawled over to quickly help him with his setup. Except when I went to help him put his dowel on the violin, he resisted me and the angle changed, and all of a sudden, instead of the stick ending up on the cardboard violin, it briefly ended up on his face. I accidentally poked him in the face with it! And then the screaming and crying came. Thankfully, it was brief, and I made sure he was okay before I returned with a red face to my conducting spot I maybe should have never left. I don’t think anyone else picked up on what happened, but it ended up being a sadly entertaining story later! Of course I feel awful that I accidentally poked him, but the fact that this all happened during a huge performance was slightly amusing. I saw him at the end of the performance and could tell he was fine. I was also proud of him for getting up there and performing, and Lorrie was grateful that I helped him out, even with that slightly unfortunate turn of events!!

Oh, the gowns at the doctor with the awkward
openings in the back!

A few more updates: I finally went to the shoulder doctor!!! It was a glorious day because of that AND because it snowed a lot and was absolutely beautiful. But here’s the bottom line: after getting an x-ray and having the doctor do some tests on me, he determined that I have bicipital tendonitis. So the tendon that runs directly in between my humerus and the cartilage of my right arm and shoulder is inflamed. His recommendation was taking Aleve often and working with a  physical therapist a few times. And rest it. Except we are about to enter into a very busy couple of months with JAMM fundraisers and Symphony performances, so that may not be an option! He also said I can come in and get a cortisone injection that may help relieve the pain and inflammation in the tendon. But it’s a little more drastic and should be a last resort. I’m relieved to know what it is but am also struggling with what this may mean for me as a musician. And I don’t know if anyone else feels this way about recurring health issues, but I just don’t feel like I have time for it!! I need a healthy body to be a musician, so it’s very frustrating. But I will definitely make time for PT and take care of myself because I want to be a cellist for the rest of my life. That’s something I’ve realized this year, since I haven’t been able to play as much- I love playing cello! And that’s awesome. :) I just need to make sure I can play without further injuring myself.

I also went to the movies for the first time in Juneau on Friday night with two girl friends from church, and we had a great time! The theater is definitely not comparable to the ones in Chicago- there were no comfy recliners in sight, and the concessions stand only took cash! Lame! But it was fun, nonetheless. :) AND- I saw three of my TMHS students and Scott, the director of the MAT secondary program and my professor! That was so funny!!! I also creeped on the couple sitting in front of me and noticed they were watching a video of the kinder paper violin performance from earlier that day!! You could spot those vibrant-blue JAMM shirts from anywhere. :) I almost said something, but I didn’t quite know how to not sound nosy: “Hey, I was watching what you were looking at on your phone, and I just wanted to say that I was there, too…” HA! It was neat, though. :)

Even after writing so much about what is going on, I still feel like I’ve only covered about half of it. But I’ll just say this: This program has been the hardest, most time-consuming, stressful thing I’ve ever done. I’ve also grown so much as a person here. It’s been a rollercoaster that has pushed me to explore who I am in so many ways. And I love it! I’m definitely feeling like I need a break. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am giving it my all every day. I am learning so much about who I am, what it means to be an effective teacher and community leader, and how to invest in children. I am working with incredible kids who I totally adore and incredible adults who inspire me. And so it is: the abundant beauty in the grind of life.

Winter in the Last Frontier

It’s snowing!!!

This is my first time seeing snow-covered mountains!

Ah, yes. A little piece of Chicago is finally with me! It began to snow this past week, and not in the usual rainy, sleety I’m going-to-attack-your-face sort of way. Graceful chunks of snow floated onto my head as I walked the mile from downtown to my house last night, and it was one of those beautiful moments that I paused to capture in my memory and will save for a rainy day (probably literally!). And taking those moments of reflection was my goal for the week; it’s the only way for me to stay healthy and happy in a very busy, stressful time.

Things are in full gear now, and this past week was also a little unique in its craziness. Lorrie was gone for the week leading an El Sistema training seminar in Boston, which left us quartet members to lead rehearsal with our chamber music kids (a group of about 20 fourth and fifth graders) during parent-teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday. We had a great, productive couple of days and got a lot of important work done with the chamber group, which is great because they will be performing for a few significant fundraising events in the next month- including a performance at the Governor’s Mansion! We had no school on Wednesday because of Veterans Day, but I definitely did not take a day off! I spent the entire day at the local coffee shop, Heritage (I LOVE that place!), doing work.

Walking to Heritage and doing work there all day has become my newly-founded tradition for my “days off”. I have discovered that the wifi in my house is not super reliable- it usually goes out about twice a week. In addition to that, when I know I will be sitting at a computer all day, it’s just nice to force myself to get outside and walk for a little bit. Doing work at a popular coffee shop also increases my chances of having social interactions throughout the day! I ran into Lindsay, one of the other quartet members, on Wednesday, and Sophia on Sunday! So, yeah...Maybe they’re the only people I still interact with...but whatever!
It felt good to get things done, but I was pretty sad that I did not get any days off and that I still need about three more of those days in order to get all my homework and lesson plans done. My goal is to get as much work as possible done before Thanksgiving so I can just relax during those days (which is great, because Lorrie invited me to her place for Thanksgiving!).

Thursday was an intense reintroduction to school because I subbed for Lorrie again. But yay, money and teaching experience! I taught a second grade class about solfege and did musical jeopardy with them, which they loved. Seeing them get so excited about correctly answering a musical question made me realize that learning can be fun for kids; it’s my job to plan lessons that make that possible! I actually recorded myself teaching that lesson, which was very helpful to go back and watch. I noticed that I over-explain instructions and need to have faster pacing when talking and transitioning to new activities. I also noticed that I am sounding and looking a lot more credible, which is something I was working on!

Friday was JAMM orchestra day for the general music classes, which is always pretty crazy. Having 50+ kids with their instruments in a room always leads to organized chaos. But at least it was organized! At the end of a long week of teaching on our own, we quartet members were very proud of ourselves and very tired.

The JAMM reception spread- can you say sugar?!

But the work didn’t end there! Three wonderful Symphony members put on a benefit concert for JAMM this weekend. So Saturday and Sunday were spent setting up, attending, speaking at, and tearing down for these performances. But it was incredible to see the behind-the-scenes work that goes into hosting a successful fundraising event. I didn’t even know how much work and thought goes into every detail of an event. I have to tell you, there are a few incredible Glacier Valley parents who really give their all and make these events such a success. Between them, a couple other parent volunteers, the quartet members, and Lorrie, it really ran smoothly. We quartet members got up and introduced ourselves to the audience both times and were able to meet people afterwards at a wonderful reception. And I ate way too many sweets this weekend because of that reception! But the most amazing part of all of it- we raised $2,400! Praise the Lord! People were so generous and gracious. Heidi also made hundreds of homemade violin and musical note instruments that were (and still are!) for sale, so a lot of people purchased those. It was a huge success.

Heidi, Leslie, Sophia, Ali, me, and Lorrie at the JAMM Benefit Concert!
Leslie is a cellist in second grade, and Ali is a bassist in fifth. :)

Needless to say, it was a busy, not-so-restful weekend. BUT- I got to go to church with my surrogate “Christian Alaskan parents”, Teri and Eric, and went out to lunch with them afterwards (before they dropped me off for the concert), AND I attended an awesome folk music potluck party at my house! I just have to say how grateful I am for people like Teri and Eric, Rob and Koren, and Sue. I had prayed that I would befriend older people during my time in Alaska, and that is exactly what’s happened. These people are all a generation ahead of my parents, and they have decades of wisdom and experiences to share with me. At this time in my life where there are so many unknowns and lots of questions that sometimes weigh me down, it’s so helpful to hear from people who have been through that and are way on the other side of it. And they’re all so cool! People in Juneau are really down-to-earth and friendly. And Rob and Koren’s party was full of awesome musicians. I sat and talked with a local piano teacher for a long time (whose husband I teach bass with for JAMM!) while listening to a group of people jam to old timey folk music. It was such a delight. And there was MORE sugary food!

Taking the time to go to church, out to lunch with friends, and attend a party caused me to stay up way too late last night and inspired my decision to extend my blog publishing deadline to this afternoon, but it was so worth it! My thought is, when I look back on this time, sure- I’ll remember that I was very busy, got less sleep, and was pretty stressed. But I’ll mostly remember all the positive memories- the good teaching days, amazing hikes and scenery, fun friendships and game nights, and good conversations with friends and family back home. That’s what matters! This year is the perfect opportunity for me to strengthen my ability to handle stress in a healthy way, and I have felt myself get infinitely stronger every time I decide to do things like going for a walk, calling a friend, or going to sleep early. It feels so good!

So, no matter where you are and what it means for you, stop to look at your snowflakes.