They DID it! THEY DID it! THEY DID IT!!!!!

The feeling hasn't really worn off yet.

This must be what it's like to meet your students, work with them like crazy on something, wonder if it will come together when it's showtime, and then you wait to find out the judges' ruling, and BAM!

I seriously couldn't be more proud to have been a small part of it.

I got thrown into the Solo & Ensemble cycle rather late this year, as it seems a lot of things happened with my teaching work. But the experience was well-worth the effort. My co-teacher asked me to work with two of the students here at Ludington in prepping for State Solo & Ensemble, which meant not only did I not get to work with them at Districts, but I had less time to work with these students and my first experience as an instructor/accompanist at S&E is at the state level! So no pressure at all to deliver.

But funny how things work out.

Out of the seven Ludington HS planned to take to state, I ended up only working with one of them, which kept things fairly simple for learning music, even if scheduling got a little bit tricky. In the end, it worked out quite well and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to basically teach voice lessons for a spell with this student. What was really refreshing was he took it all in and WANTED to take something out of it-I didn't sense he was merely parroting what I was teaching/saying, but thinking it through and sharing his own thoughts and watching the final product take shape. (And, might I add, I discovered at the festival that he also wants to be a music teacher! THAT makes me happy!)

The result? When it came for performance, EVERYONE gave pretty much everything they had despite a normal amount of anxiety. And the best part?

EVERYONE also earned an overall Division I rating, including one of them earning a straight Division I. I couldn't be more excited or proud of what was accomplished!

That, right there, is part of why I love teaching. Working with singers that WANT to sing, that WANT to get better, and WANT to go farther. And celebrating the victory together is the sweetener on top.

New instrument

Teaching as your job has a very obvious benefit. I'm not rolling in it by any means, but I HAVE made some money. I promised myself that I wouldn't go crazy, but I did want to treat myself to ONE thing nice. To something I've always wanted, and if it could help me, then all the more reason to get it too.

And I made my decision. I've wanted to learn to play the acoustic guitar for quite a while now. I'm not sure how long it's been, exactly. I admired my friends back at Hope who knew how, though I was plenty satisfied (and still am) with the ability to play the piano, and it keeps me busy right now. Playing for two of my students for State Solo & Ensemble has me occupied.

The other weekend, while Jack was home, he, Bill, and I went down to "the toy store," as we love to call our local music store and checked out guitars. We looked at a few, tried them out, and although none were really bad, I wasn't pleased with any until I found it. My instrument. I was drawn to it by sight and wanted to know if its beauty was beyond skin-deep. So we asked to test it and Bill & Jack liked it too. After waffling for a little bit, I finally bit the bullet and went for it.

And now, I have one! And I'm seriously geeked to learn how to play it! My fingers are killing me but it's okay. I can't wait to play music.

A good laugh from teaching

One of the things I've learned from working as a teacher again up here in Ludington is that laughter is important.

The past couple of days have been taxing, although we HAVE gotten some good things done with my kids. I'm still feeling encouraged by how well they're singing and am SERIOUSLY looking forward to our spring concert and my first one teaching on my own! *Happy dance*

Today (well, "yesterday," technically), I spent a bit of time working alongside Ms. Sopha with the Concert Choir while they were doing sectional assignments. I remember doing those in high school and at Hope with Dr. Richmond, and they're absolutely fascinating. The nuances of the human voice make vocal blend tricky yet interesting. But when you hear it come together, it's unmistakable.

And apparently, these high school students knew that *I* knew too. When Ms. Sopha working with the bass section, I was sitting out with the rest of the choir listening as she kept having students move around until the lineup was almost right, and then I thought I heard them find their sweet spot, as it were. Two of the guys switched places, and apparently I did something. One of the guys said, "Don't do it! Racey doesn't like it!"

I absolutely love it when students make me laugh like that.