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.

SPRING BREAK

It feels like a million years since the last time I've posted anything on this. Mostly because...

Several days after talking to Ben (refer to the previous post), I got a teaching job in the Ludington Area School district for the rest of the year. It's only one class at the middle school. But it's definitely a start, and if it dovetails into a teaching job either in Ludington or somewhere else, it'll be great. And I've had a chance to dip my feet into the water of working with students in middle school drama, middle school choir, and high school choir. It's been an absolute blast. Plus, I get to go with two of the high school singers who will be singing at State Solo & Ensemble in April. So I get a little bit of experience coaching/accompanying them like a voice instructor. My work really is a little bit of everything!

It's had its challenges, working mostly with middle school students, but I enjoy my job.

And on top of that, I had the wonderful surprise of working the final Quiz Bowl meet down in Newaygo. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to moderate, but in working Jordan's room, we made it like the WSCC tourney. Awesome. Plus a little extra cash is nice.

In other news, life in church music never fails to take its twists and turns. "Unfailing Love" with the Paynes was awesome. So was "All Because of Jesus" with Nate & Bob. I'll admit I was a bit frustrated with "Glory" and doing that with Lifted Voice, but it seemed to turn out well. I'm SERIOUSLY looking forward to the planning process/putting together "Desert Song" with the Paynes and everyone else involved. Hopefully it'll be fairly smooth, sound amazing, and most importantly, glorifying to God and minister to everyone who hears the song (yes, I'm geeked!)

And I might be headed to Center Lake for the weekend in April (maybe?!)

Life is good.

Oh how life changes in a week

I was talking to Ben just on Monday night. It was awesome because,

1. I miss my friend. College relationships are a blessing and a bummer. I love them, hate them, love to hate them, and thank Jesus for them so much.

2. We got a chance to ask each other how we could pray for one another. I mentioned stuff on my end about, amongst other things, teaching and finding a job.

Two days after that, I get a voicemail related to a part-time job at LUDINGTON. Two days after THAT, I actually HAVE said job. Two days from now, I start.

I couldn't be more thankful to, first of all, be WORKING, and second, in MUSIC EDUCATION, for the first time in about two years. It's such a great feeling to say, "HEY! I'm WORKING. I'm a TEACHER!" If this dovetails into a real, honest-to-goodness "big person" full-time job, it'd really be my dream come true.

But for now, I'll be thankful for what I do have. God answers prayer. (And I have to lesson plan REALLY FAST!)

Absalom, Absalom!

Being sick is no fun. So I attack it aggressively with sleep, hydration, lozenges, vitamins, blueberry-infused tea (with LOCAL HONEY!), and finishing up II Samuel.

Eric Whitacre joined me today, too. The end of the story of Absalom and King David mourning him (to the point of forgetting his job of being king) takes on a whole new dimension when you listen to "When David Heard." So does the song when you read it in the Bible while listening.

Now onward to lots of kings of Israel and Judah!

This reading through the Bible stuff is HARD. But SO COOL.

So I need to update so far on reading through the Bible in three months.

I'm a bit behind (today's date has me in about Nehemiah - I'm around the tail end of I Samuel). Getting there. And I still have a goal of being done by early May.

After talking to Ben tonight, who described reading through the Bible this fast as, "a blistering speed," I'm still musing at how much I've still gotten out of reading through the Bible at such a rapid pace.

1. The cool thing about reading through the Bible this fast, instead of a little study over three months, is exactly what it sounds like. I like to describe it like how Dr. Richmond sometimes describes things: "You get the whole pie." In this case, reading the Bible this has cast the taking of the Promised Land, the rebellion under the Judges/request for a king, and Israel as a nation pretty closely against the backdrop of creation, the Patriarchs, Exodus, and the Law. Reading the WHOLE Bible that fast gives you that, "JUST-READ for maximum freshness!" I'll be around the major prophets in a matter of weeks, the Gospels in April and the Mosaic Law was on the calendar about three weeks ago. Now THAT'S setting everything into context!

2. The Torah is FASCINATING. I loved it. I can't imagine being a boy "back in the good old days" of ancient Mesopotamia who would memorize the first five books of the Bible for his teachers by his bar mitzvah. Reading through them is lofty enough. That said, there's a lot of very interesting stuff in there. And the overarching themes I've noticed are,

• How people lived their lives and why actually MATTERED. It's so important.
  
• The Law gets repeated several times. I bet it matters.
  
• There's relevant content today, so this stuff is STILL worth knowing, even though we don't sacrifice cows, goats, sheep, and birds because of Jesus being the perfect sacrifice. It isn't wise to purposefully ignore this, and *I* think it's interesting.
  

3. Through some assistance from the notes in my study Bible, there were hints toward Jesus long before the major prophets, WAY at the beginning. It's left me speechless to read it again for myself (I haven't read some of this in TOO long). The prophets talked about Jesus coming too, but I love the little clues in the earliest books of the Bible.

One final note: after reading a few songs in the ESV, I'll confess: I'm SERIOUSLY getting geeked for Psalms. The composer in me might reawaken. :-)