Wednesday, 03 May 2006

New current status during exams: JUBILANT!

Here's the new rundown on exams... 8 and a half down, one half to go.

Cleared
-Exceptional Child Field Placement evaluation
-Encounter With Cultures
-Keyboard Skills
-Aural Skills II (final appointment)
-Piano Jury
-Middle School Music Methods
-Theory II
-Voice Jury
-Exceptional Child

Remaining
-Aural Skills II (dictation exam)

It has been a week with mostly ups and a few downs. I'm feeling better about Middle School Methods after earning perfect scores on all the projects turned in before exams. That class frustrated me to no end, but I'm glad to know I'm not completely incompetent. Once again, it comes down to practice... ugh, MORE practicing...

I think the Jenny Slager Soda Cocktail Open gave me strange dreams after the breakfast. It almost made me decide to hold off on the Theory II exam until Friday, but after taking it, I now realize that would have done me no good anyway. It will be good to be free Thursday at noon.

Jury sheets have been returned to me, and I couldn't have been much more pleased. However, it still boggles my mind that I did better on my piano jury than my voice jury according to the letter grades. Prof. Le seemed pleased and now I can completely enjoy playing the piano without fear of incurring someone's wrath. Thankfully, Dr. Buetter said he can't stand the thought of a teacher assigning me a letter grade based on one showcase of my abilities in front of them and said he's grading based on progress and how much we accomplished. It will be definitely interesting to talk to Dr. Richmond in the fall and hear his opinion on how he thinks I progressed this semester. I feel like Dr. Buettner pushed me harder and was more daring, which did make me work harder but I've grown from the experience.

FOR ALL READERS WHO WILL EVER HAVE TO DEAL WITH FOURTH SEMESTER JURIES IN THE HOPE COLLEGE VOICE DEPARTMENT: the keyword is to RELAX. The songs are usually pretty ridiculous, they are easy to learn, and it's nearly impossible to fail. I gave my best rendition of "You'll Miss Having Fun When Your Married" by John Philip Sousa and the responses from the four teachers ranged from snickering to outright laughter. Prof. Dykstra told me, "I know you have a flair for theatrics, so I couldn't resist giving you this song and seeing what you'd do with it." I'll take that as a compliment.

Last night was a party night-first Pete showed me his nifty house on 12th Street followed by a spirited Bible Studs party, hosted by Ben at Brownstone 230. It once again involved a lot of pizza (a rule when Bible Studs gather for parties), watching SportSCenter and offering our own opinions in addition to those from the talking heads. We decided the one guy looked like an accountant and then Paul called for another rousing good time shooting each other in Goldeneye 007. If Dr. Mario was a tradition last year, then shooting people is this year's tradition. I did well with the Moonraker Laser, but unfortunately Ben zinged me when we both had nine kills. I proudly won the "Most Innings" and "Most Dishonorable" awards-yay for longevity! This was followed by retrieving jury sheets, discovering that I did better at piano than voice in terms of letter grades, hanging out in Nykerk and doing almost NOTHING, and then a going away party for Sara in Cook Hall. THIS involved more food (ice cream cake!), Patrice's iced tea, lots of crazy pictures, Sara stories, and my realization that I should have studied but made the better choice of spending the time I have remaining with friends. Walker's stories about the deer hate crime and getting in a boxing match with a bass were pretty sweet.

The Exceptional Child exit interview went like CLOCKWORK. Kudos to Emily, Lisa, and Amy for helping to make it a good experience! We worked well together! And as I saw today, the Pine Grove is a great place to find wonderful people during spring exams. In simply walking towards VanZoeren for a really fast class evaluation, I ran into Brandon, Ben (who decided a mini small-group Bible Studs group hug was in order and nearly tipped me over), and J-Rich. When that happens, add a dose of this beautiful weather and I wish it would never end. I love my Hope College friends. I really do, and I don't want to say good-bye.

The rest of the week looks good-today involves not studying for Aural Skills, getting things ready to go home on Sunday, and just doing what I choose. Thursday involves my ninth exam, practice for Sean's recital, lunch with Rob and with conversation on everything that is fun in London, and a party in Grand Rapids in the evening!

Random exciting news: Sean Daenzer's senior organ recital is on Friday evening at 8 in the Organ Studio. It will be good because he's a talented organist and I'm one of his schola singing Gregorian Chant! I figure that's the least I can do for him after he worked as my accompanist this year. Plus it'll be my first time being involved in a private student recital and I've never tried singing Gregorian Chant before.

Comments(1)

way to go tyler! I as well have one more exam to go. Keyboarding tomorrow morning :) I will most def. not worry about next year's jury. thanks. have a great summer!

strummingalong