Thursday, 02 March 2006

To piano or not to piano... that IS the question

Today was one of the wildest days I've had in awhile. Yeah, I'm not talking in the third person, so it's kind of serious. Sorry Angela, I can't make everything amusing every time.

My major declaration is hereby completed! After several weeks of filling out forms, signing them, typing, editing, wondering, sending stuff to Becky, and a meeting with my advisor, I finished declaring myself a vocal music education major! What did it mean? The following...

-A major declaration form. They ask for my name, where I live so they can hunt me down, phone number and whatnot, classes I've taken, if I want education endorsement, and oh yes, my major!
-A résumé. It once again includes my name, major, where they can hunt me down, when I arrived at Hope, and basically anything of significance I've done with music on campus and off campus.
-A professional statement. I get to sugarcoat my dreams and write something inspirational. Obviously not Xanga fodder.
-An application to the Department of Education at Hope. Basically they want my name, where they can hunt me down, what I want to teach, and who.
-A form signing my life away. Actually it's just saying I'll take IDS 200, which has been largely a waste of time. I hate what this class is about... Becky and Angela both torture me about it.
-Three faculty recommendations. Basically three professors tell the Education Dept. how much they like me and if I'll be a good teacher.

That's a lot! But it's all done and I'm now going to forget about it and not worry unless the big people don't like it. I'll worry then.

Small-group Bible Studs was good. After missing it last week (and having a very difficult week), it was so refreshing to sit down and just have a good talk with Nate, Ben, and Brandon. It's good to have friends who will pray for you. Paul was asleep. We missed him.

Unfortunately the day turned sour after I took a look at my test from Exceptional Child. 72 ain't so hot, but maybe after talking to my prof. my grade will go up a little bit. She claims I didn't address part of a question and I counterclaim that the "unanswered" part of the question was embedded in each portion of my answer. Who knows... I really couldn't care less at this point. The added stress of having a paper due today that I forgot about didn't help, but thanks to some rapid writing, quick thinking, and Becky's reliable editing saved the day once again. Chalk and Wire is still really stupid but I have no choice but to put up with it.

My voice lesson and Chapel Choir went well. Dr. Buettner is awesome - he doesn't get his feathers ruffled easily and he's been encouraging in a semester where I feel like I've been getting stressed out far too much. Which brings me to piano...

I'm really at a loss right now about what to do. Prof. Le is an amazing piano player and I admire his abilities, but I'm beginning to question his teaching methods. He doesn't have an education certificate and he's pretty fresh out of graduate school. I feel like I'm being forced to work like a piano performance major when I'm not even a performance major of any kind, much less taking piano as my primary instrument. I've wanted to run away from Keyboard Skills both days this week and my piano lesson was awful. This kind of stress isn't worth having piano lessons on my transcript. I love to play, but not when it makes me unhappy. Music becomes worthless when it's a hassle or unpleasant.

I hope when I'm teaching someday that I can always make music a positive experience for my students. I want to maintain high standards, but if I begin to make students truly unhappy consistently, I'd question what I'm doing. Like my screen name says, "Sing Joyfully!"

Sing joyfully... play joyfully... joyfully...

Comments(1)

Not amusing. Well, life isn't always amusing as much as I try to keep it that way. If you want to stop lessons that's okay, but don't stop playing. You like to play, remember that- and I like to hear other people play so you need to keep playing. Besides you have to learn Great Balls of Fire so you can play that for me.

chickenlittle27