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!